Cheers darlin’
The prince of pensive pop ballads returns to Hong Kong for an intimate performance in Wan Chai
amien rice’s debut album O, with its aching, melancholic ballads such as The Blower’s Daughter and Cannonball, shot the Irish singer to fame and fortune back in 2002. The 12 tracks included three top-30 UK singles and went quadruple-platinum in the UK alone. Rice was off to a cracking start, but following disappointing sales of his second album, 9, in 2006, he vanished to Iceland and—much to the heartbreak of his fans—stopped making music. Rice was feeling pressured by the industry to produce records and simultaneously suffering a creative block. The world was barely to hear a peep from Rice for the following eight years. Thankfully, the silence was only temporary as the troubled troubadour returned from hiatus in 2014 with the album My Favourite Faded Fantasy. Last year, he blew away fans in Hong Kong when he headlined the Clockenflap festival on the main stage. Returning to the city on May 31, Rice will be giving an intimate performance at The Vine Centre in Wan Chai. For the few hundred fans lucky enough to get their hands on a ticket, this will be an amazing opportunity to see this awardwinning multi-instrumentalist in an up-close-andpersonal setting. ticketflap.com/damienrice