With his debut album being one of the year’s best, it was interesting to see how Ed Romanoff would deliver his songs live. Although his first Dublin performance was sparsely attended, the show delivered and was engaging and entertaining. Romanoff proved to be a natural performer, both of his songs and with his introductions. He has a charismatic warmth that immediately has the audience on his side, and you know that the next time he comes the audience will be bigger as the word spreads.
Unusually for a first visit Romanoff brought a full band with him. They brought much to the overall delivery of the songs, adding depth and texture and bolstering Romanoff's vocal prowess. For a man who only started writing songs in the last few years, he has a talent that many would envy. The band was led by guitarist John Putnam whose Telecaster leads lines were effective and engaging. Benjamin Champoux provided subtle percussion and Dublin based Kim Porcelli added much with her cello and backing vocals. For three numbers Romanoff brought up local singer Sharon Murphy, whom he had spotted busking on Grafton Street, and invited her to join him for the show.
The songs were mostly from his eponymous debut, including his take on the Hank Cochran/Harlan Howard classic I Fall To Pieces, which takes thefamiliar lyric to darker places. His own songs include his tale of being abandoned by a girlfriend in Ireland on July 4th (Breakfast For One on the 5th of July), his discovery that his Russian parents had adopted him and that on taking a DNA test he had discovered that he was 50% Irish and related to Niall of the Nine Hostages, or as he said "nine sausages" which brought laugher all round (St. Vincent de Paul). There was a humourous element to the evening even though most of the songs tend to hale from the darker side of life.
Other songs included Potholes, Curveball and I Must Have Done Something Right. Two Yellow Roses was written, he told us, from the perspective of a guy who has lost everything. When You're Dreaming was written with his former flat mate Josh Ritter. Many of the other songs had been written with the album's producer Crit Harmon. All are good songs and well worth hearing. He closed the show with a solo acoustic rendition of Sacred Wreck which showed that even without his worthy band, Ed Romanoff can put across a song with feeling. One new song was titled I'm A little Less Broken Now and was inspired by a comment of a colleague who had gone through surgery. When he went to see her he was afraid to give her a hug in case it would hurt her and she said that she was ‘a little less broken’.
Romanoff will be back soon, as he felt very much at home here. Make sure you get along next time as it is a powerful, yet enjoyable evening out.
Review by Stephen Averill. Photography by Ronnie Norton