Julie Feeney - Live Shows

Live Shows

Feeney has performed her own show extensively in Ireland, England, Scotland, France, Germany, Italy, Holland, America, South America, Canada and China and she performed to a capacity audience of 1200 at Ireland's National Concert Hall in Dublin to a 10-minute standing ovation in 2010. In The New York Times in 2012 during her 10-night run at the Irish Arts Center in New York, Jon Pareles said, “A brainy, adventurous Irish songwriter lives within the flamboyant theatricality of Julie Feeney…intricate, articulate … Ms. Feeney’s songs don’t shout. They tease, ponder, reminisce, philosophize and invent parables, and she sings them in a plush, changeable mezzo-soprano that usually holds a kindly twinkle”. Jon Pareles also described her songs as, "…songs that set character studies and philosophical musings in elaborate musical confections, often with long, internally rhymed lines.” He continued, “Ms. Feeney’s music draws on sources across centuries. Her ensemble, including strings, trumpet and sometimes a recorder, often sounds like a Baroque consort, spinning contrapuntal arpeggios; it also hints at folk-pop, Minimalism and the metrical gamesmanship of progressive rock. “One More Tune” used syncopated handclaps reminiscent of Steve Reich and a trumpet line hinting at a village brass band, while a new song, “If I Lose You Tonight,” which she sang accompanied only by a few notes from a mandolin, had the melodic purity of a traditional Irish ballad. Her best-known song, ‘Impossibly Beautiful' could almost be a pop motet, with vocal harmonies from her band members”. About her theatricality he commented, “…transforming her face from otherworldly composure to private mourning to nutty intensity, song by song. But the showmanship was a bonus; her songs easily stood on their own...Theatrical on the Shell, Intricate at the Core”. One of Feeney's performances in London in 2007 received a five star London Evening Standard live review and stated that she "...captivated the crowd from the moment she stepped on stage...". Hot Press stated that she had "mesmerising stage presence and eccentric pop genius".The Huffington Post in a live review in 2012 described Feeney as, “a Weird and Wonderful Irish Import”. The Huffington Post commented, “Feeney presents an entrancing and startling evening of poetic imagery, well crafted stories, delicate emotions, unexpected cadences, sudden silences, coy humor and tightly-wound tunes with hit-caliber hooks, sometimes delivered with cool detachment, at other times with a riveting directness...It's high-wire performance art in a well-crafted show–blocked, lighted and rehearsed like a theater piece–that flows and eddies on shifts in tempo, mood, dynamics and instrumentation”. In relation to other performers it continued, “Vocally, she's been compared to Sinead O'Connor and Björk (a fellow traveler in extreme fashion) and to musicians ranging from Laurie Anderson to Elvis Costello, from David Bowie to Tori Amos. Other iconic musical performers came to mind–Leonard Cohen, Paolo Conte, Tom Waits—singers and songwriters with their own original hard-to-categorize, highly original styles. I also heard echoes of French film soundtracks, Pachelbel's Canon, Nino Rota (known for his Fellini and The Godfather scores) Philip Glass and a long forgotten carousel ride." In relation to Feeney's microphone technique The Huffington Post commented, "And her technique in using the microphone almost as a musical instrument reminded me of jazz legend Betty Carter”.