At The Broadway in Bedford-Stuyvesent, Brooklyn, Cork, Ireland’s The Frank & Walters returned to NYC for the first time since 1998 as an acoustic duo of founding singer-songwriter Paul Linehan and new member London-via-Cork’s Dylan Ó’hEochaidh, a dazzling multi-instrumentalist, and played 17 songs over a delightful two sets to a sold-out audience, some of whom journeyed from Quebec, Canada, Nebraska, Washington, D.C. (and western parts of Brooklyn) to rejoice in an unexpected appearance after so many years.
While the band hasn’t released a new LP since 2016’s Songs for the Walking Wounded, which included the moody single “Stages,” featuring a spoken word section from fellow Cork musician (and now Oscar-winning actor) and early fan Cillian Murphy (his voice appeared via laptop at the show), Linehan responded “yes” to his booking agent’s question, “Would you like to play New York?” and we were the lucky beneficiaries as Linehan brought out old fan favorites including their biggest hit “After All” and “Indian Ocean,” peppy, jangly love ode “Colours,” catchy singalong “Tony Cochrane,” and poignant Lately” from fantastic 2nd LP The Grand Parade, as well as the surreal vagaries of style commentary of 1993 single “Fashion Crisis Hits New York” and the anthemic anti-anthem 2nd single “This is Not a Song.”
Linehan’s arresting baritone-jumping-to-tenor vocals were in fine form, perfectly pitched to his remarkably reflective lyrics that manage to find underlying hope in life’s existential struggles, adorning his propulsive melodies that never wear out their welcome. He was also drily funny between songs, culminating with a crowd Q&A portion that kicked off with the mushroom story behind my favorite Frank & Walters song “Walter’s Trip” (sadly not played in the acoustic duo set).
Even though no encores were offered, near the end, Linehan announced a surprise free encore show the next day at The Dead Rabbit in the Financial District, which brought out some of the same fans to a narrow, sweaty, noisy pre-St. Patrick’s Day Irish pub for a repeat of the two sets, a surreal loop that brought back memories of when the band lived in Brooklyn in ‘97-’98 and regularly played around town. Hope this warm NYC welcome back beckons a full-band visit much sooner than this decades’ wait, Paul!
Setlist for March 15 and March 16
Set 1:
Memory Lane (unreleased new song)
Tony Cochrane
Stages
Trust in the Future
Lately
Landslide
Each Tree
We Are the Young Men
Set 2:
Goddess of Athena
The Model (Kraftwerk cover)
After All
Colours
Fashion Crisis Hits New York
This Is Not A Song
Daisy Chain
The Clock
Time
Encore (March 16 at The Dead Rabbit):
Indian Ocean
Brooklyn-via-Cork singer-songwriter opener Niall Connolly, founder/curator of long-running NYC songwriter salon Big City Folk, was also living a dream by opening up for the band that inspired him as a teenager to pursue songwriting. He played a fine set of moving, tuneful ballads (“May 12th, 1916: A Song for James Connolly,” the recorded version with vocals from Glen Hansard, was a standout with the audience joining in as Connolly’s backing choir) and pulled out his treasured ragged talisman of an original 1991 Frank & Walters t-shirt that has accompanied him throughout his NYC journey.
Setlist included:
I was Born Ready (I Got Distracted)
May 12th, 1916: A Song for James Connolly
It’s a Beautiful Life
To be a Stone
