by Fran Gray- Two Louies Magazine

Brendan Wires
Live show 7/10/04

At outdoor festival venues, you expect people to circulate, coming and going during shows as they sample performances on various stages positioned across the grounds. They seek what suits the particular auditory need of the moment.

The sonic flavors at festivals usually run the gamut from rock, pop, blues, folk, and jazz to world beat and some musical hybrids that would seem impossible in other settings. Bands, trios, duos and singer songwriters fill the stages one after the other and a spectator can expect anything but a moment of dead air from the start of the day till the next morning as many performers are lined up to play sets at club venues around town at night. For any performer to capture an audience of this type through the strength on his music alone would be remarkable.

When a rock band plays you pretty much have an idea of what that’Äôs going to look like and sound like. Duos and soloist usually have at least one guitar but never has this reviewer walked up to a big stage to see a lone bass player captivating everyone within hearing range.

Like zombies, people wandered across the festival grounds when their senses became aware of the unusually intoxicating and rhythmically complete solo bass performance of Brendan Wires.

His low notes cut through everything toppling the mish-mash of combined music and like little ghosts, floated through the air haunting every listener with a siren call drawing them into Wires’Äô bass-centric world.

On his 6 string Tobias bass, he stood alone in the middle of a large stage where with both hands he covered rhythm and lead simultaneously.

With feet planted firmly, the rest of his body captured the emotion of his music as he stretched towards the bottom of the neck of his instrument to play the far away notes. In an almost writhing contortion of motion, his upper torso moved in semi-circles over his electric instrument.

Wires only said a few words about his CD’Äôs being for sale and the rest of the time he played and people just stopped what they were doing to absorb every note. The audience maintained a nearly reverent silence. Not a word was uttered until the instantaneous explosion of applause after each song was finished.

There was no need for Wires to do anything more than stand there and play.