PictureHouse and Rod Stewart, a day in the life and a life in a day...

There is a spine chilling feeling you get at a live concert that never happens when you're listening to an artist's album, when all the elements surrounding the event combine, to make that moment 'magic', for want of a better word. I remember watching Van Morrison as he opened his headlining set on the last night of Feile in Semple Stadium, Thurles, with 'Moondance' and a bright, shining full moon hung in the August summer night above his head. Or the unassuming JJ Cale, when he strode onstage in the National Stadium, unannounced, picked up his guitar and launched into 'They Call Me The Breeze" while harassed roadies scurried about him to complete their tasks. There have been many others that I'll always treasure such as Bob Dylan at Blackbushe, The Clash in TCD and Bob Marley singing 'Natural Mystic' in London's Rainbow Theatre in 1977. You couldn't recreate it and it can never be bottled, but when it happens, everyone knows. I got that feeling last night at the PictureHouse show in Vicar St to mark the launch of the band's new album, Evolution and the relaunch of the band for whom the '90s was so full of sparkling, pop promise but who disappeared without trace amid bad decisions, contractual wrangles and changing fashions. It happened when they sang Heavenly Day, All the Time in the World and Somebody Somewhere and suddenly, the band was playing but the audience was doing the singing. There were young fans in the audience, people who'd come along on the strength of the airplay garnered by Some Night She Will Be Mine but the majority of them were people who first discovered PictureHouse in the '90s and these songs became the soundtrack for their first serious love affairs. By the time they got to Sunburst, the entire hall was standing, hands aloft and clapping, singing in one voice. I've experienced the same feeling just occasionally, at a Rod Stewart concert. And it wasn't when the stadium chorus crooned Downtown Train, Sailing or You're In My Heart; no, the hairs on the back of my neck rose with the opening chords of Mandolin Wind or You Wear it Well, both songs written by the tartan terror, himself. OK, so the latter song sounds suspiciously like another early hit of Rod's, Maggie May but it's still a great song. Dave Browne of PictureHouse is an incurable romantic; that's his strength. Evolution is aptly named as the songs on this new collection reflect a more worldly, even cautious and experienced approach to life's traffic bumps. But rest assured, Dave's lamp still blazes brightly for lovers. Rod Stewart's new album is called 'Life' and the opening track, 'She Makes Me Happy' is like a manifesto as he declares the love he's found has saved him. On the second track, 'Can't Stop Me Now', he reflects on how it all started and if you close your eyes, you can visualise that dyed mod mop of hair, sleeves rolled, perma-tanned, tartan clad pop star taking on the world and winning. He tackles divorce, fatherhood, wealth, religion and age. There's a freewheeling rocker called Beautiful Morning that should have a future as a Top Gear soundtrack or a Goal of the Month compilation. I like both these albums even if both are presented in a style to which I would not, as a general rule, hitch my wagon but what the hell? Rules, be damned, they make me smile.