onfire: onfire presents Mark Eitzel @ Tobergal Lane café, Sligo

onfire is thrilled to announce that Mark Eitzel (American Music Club) will be rounding off his upcoming mini-Irish tour with his first performance in Sligo at Tobergal Lane café (upstairs) on Friday, November 13th. Eitzel first came to attention during the 1980's and early 1990's gradually establishing a phenomenal reputation as a singer/songwriter and performer with the release of four successive masterpieces - (Engine, California, Everclear, Mercury) - with his band American Music Club. Removing myself from the fence for a moment, 'California' was the record of the 1980's. Each album seemed to surpass the previous in terms of critical acclaim (Eitzel won Rolling Stone's Songwriter of the Year award for 'Everclear'), yet ultimately, AMC were never quite able to translate this into commercial success.
The band split in 1995 and Eitzel immediately went on to release the wonderful '60 Watt Silver Lining'. Again, despite near unanimous critical acclaim, the world chose not to listen and '60 Watt' remains an album of criminally ignored yet beautifully crafted songs, including a sublime cover of Carole King's 'No Easy Way Down'.
Several solo albums followed and there was also 1997's collaboration with R.E.M.'s Peter Buck, entitled 'West'. With little or no fanfare, AMC decided to give it another go in 2004, releasing 'Love Songs For Patriots' and last year saw the release of the wonderful 'The Golden Age'. This October sees the release of his 6th solo album entitled 'Klamath' which Eitzel is releasing independently in the U.S. (Decor Records will be releasing the album in Europe).
Eitzel's live shows are wonderfully cathartic affairs - as a front man Eitzel seems to crave and yet shrink from the spotlight but when he loses himself in song and that voice sings;
"Some of them smile and it's phoney,
Some of smile and it's not,
Some of them never tell you just how much love they've got....."
Come see.
Tickets will be available from this Friday (October 2nd) from Tobergal Lane café and Third Wave Records, O'Connell Street priced €15 (€18 on the night).
Doors open at 9pm.