Nothing if not ambitious, Dara O'Toole surrounds himself with a phalanx of musicians. At the last count, there were 10 people on the stage at Whelans: a four-piece rock band, a backing vocalist, a string quartet and Dara himself, a self-conscious conductor leading the ensemble.
Along with the Guinness Book of Records approach in attempting to cram as many people on to the stage as possible, there was also the matter of liberal usage of dry ice and strobes. All that was missing was Stonehenge. The message to the untrained eye and ear is that if the songs don't get you then something else will. But strip away the overt bluster and pomposity of such an undertaking and you're left only with the songs, some of which were excellent, others of which proved to be below average if prettified pub rock.
Whatever about the quality of the songs, there was no denying the propulsiveness of the music - if the rock-based rhythm section didn't get you kicking, then the relentless sawing of the string quartet did. Occasionally the two welded together to create an ELO/Led Zeppelin hybrid that was genuinely exciting, but moments such as these were few and far between.
Not that there isn't something here: O'Toole's talents as an arranger and melodist are obvious, but the balance between style and content is seriously misjudged. Toning down the more ostentatious string-driven additions and losing at least three of the meat-'n'-veg songs might stop the show looking as if an ego has run riot. At the moment, however, it looks like it could be a bit of an uphill struggle.
Dara plays at The Roxy in Waterford tonight and at UCG on February 29th.
