Bill Callahan – National Concert Hall, Dublin – Live Review – 21/07/25
by Killian Laher

Bill Callahan has gone from the kitchen sink troubadour of Smog, singing at times downright awkward songs, to a more sage-like figure.  He used to be darker…. but the 2014-2019 hiatus seems to have made him…. happy.  Which is what has landed him in the National Concert Hall!

Support came from Jerry David DeCicca, who entertained the audience with guitar, harmonica and a baritone which at times had shades of Lloyd Cole, or even Stuart Staples.  Long Distance Runner and Good Ghosts did enough to maintain your attention before finishing off with the charming Watermelon.

In contrast to last year’s appearance at the Button Factory, this time Callahan appeared solo, with electric guitar, drum, cymbal and loop pedal.  As it was the last night of the tour, he seemed to try and cram in as much music as he could, starting his set a few minutes early and taking what could only have been a 60-second pause between set and encore.  His set was made up largely of improvisational versions of solo material and a few from his iteration as Smog.  A loose adaptation of Jim Cain worked pretty well, but he played fast and loose with the melody of Eid Ma Clack Shaw and Riding for the Feeling.  Callahan seemed more comfortable with more recent material, such as 747 and Natural Information, but it didn’t all work; a ropey rendition of Partition wasn’t helped by incursions into noise on the loop pedal.

Reworks of Cold Blooded Old Times and Teenage Spaceships fared better, but Bill Callahan was at his strongest when he allowed his rich, deep voice to do the work, on lovely versions of Too Many Birds and Say Valley Maker.  In what has to be a first for the National Concert Hall, the singer roared out “fuck all y’all” in The Well before finishing with In The Pines.  He raced back out for a swift version of Let’s Move To The Country before ending the night with a gorgeous Rock Bottom Riser.

Bill Callahan still has a deadpan wit, as he showed flickers of it between songs, but in the main, he immersed himself in the music.  His songs were fleshed out and played around with, and while it didn’t all work, you could appreciate an artist pushing himself, and the audience, by and large, went home happy.