Ich Liebe Dich

Gavin Friday - Ich Liebe Dich poster - 2001

Gavin Friday and Maurice Seezer marked their first high profile return to the live stage since 1996 with Ich Liebe Dich (“I Love You”), a production based on the music of Kurt Weill. The show, which encompassed songs from 1920s Berlin to the Broadway musicals of the ’40s, was staged in the Tivoli Theatre from Monday October 8th to Sunday 14th (except Wed 10th).

The Friday/Seezer ensemble included Michael Blair, the percussionist best known for his contributions to the blue-lit soundscapes of Tom Waits’ mid-80s classics Swordfishtrombones and Raindogs, and also long-time Friday/Seezer collaborators such as multi-instrumentalist Renaud Pion and English avant garde/classical cellist Julia Palmer. The line up was completed by Irish jazz veterans Dave Fleming on double bass and guitarist/slide/banjo player Des Moore.

For Gavin Friday, Ich Liebe Dich was the fruit of a fascination that stretches back to the days of The Virgin Prunes. During his later days with the band, he “was travelling a lot in the early 80s around Germany and France, and I really started delving into the world of Brel, Brecht and Weill. I became an obsessive, getting every recording I could, finding different translations from American recordings, European recordings, whatever. I’m proud to say I must have one of the strongest collections of Weill’s stuff in the country. It’s just a labour of love.

“I wanna bring people on a fantasy, a trip for two hours, sorta tiddle them and fuck with their brains at the same time.’ And within that there are some incredibly evocative and emotional songs as well as some ridiculously camp and aggressive ones. It’s just like getting lost for two hours. I do think it’s quite of the moment in the way that Moulin Rouge is so out of kilter but it’s not. I love putting on a show or making an album as a form of escapism that haunts the fuck out of ya, makes you think, makes you feel happy/sad, or question shit, y’know?”

Ich Liebe Dich ran for six performances in The Tivoli in Dublin between Monday, October 8th and Sunday, October 14th 2001.

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