Chieftains Celebrate 25 Years of Irish Magic

What if they gave a Chieftains concert, and nobody came? It wasn’t quite that bad at the Pacific Amphitheatre, where the Irish band performed Saturday. But even with the bulk of the seats and the lawn area blocked off with huge black partitions, the turnout looked pretty sparse.

What the audience lacked in size, though, it more than made up in fervent enthusiasm for the Chieftains’ delightful, often-dazzling performance of traditional Irish music. Among those in the crowd who appeared knocked out by the show was one Elvis Costello, a man not easily impressed.

If the sextet was disappointed at the sea of empty seats--after all, this tour marks the group’s 25th anniversary--it didn’t show. The concert began as the six very unassuming-looking men strolled on stage, took their seats and started a lovely three-song medley.

Toward the end of the medley, not only was the music and mood festive, but the sprightly segment closed with a brief, spirited burst of dancing by a member of Patricia Kennelly’s Irish dance troupe.

Over the course of the evening, another member of Kennelly’s group performed solo, and the entire 12-member troupe twice presented some snazzy, intricate dance pieces--one of many ways the Chieftains kept things enormously varied and refreshing throughout the concert.

Though one suspects the emphasis on variety was as much for the benefit of the band as the audience, after 25 years of playing, who could blame them? Besides, the breadth of the performance was inspired and inspiring.

In addition to a number of the eloquent airs and rollicking jigs and reels you’d expect, the nearly-two-hour show took on an international flavor, as the Chieftains played an “ancient Chinese tune” (as leader Paddy Moloney introduced it) as well as one from northern Spain.

Still more variety was achieved when, standing ever-so-casually at the lip of the stage, bodhran player Kevin Conneff sang two a cappella numbers in a sturdy tenor.

And spread out during two longer pieces, one in each half of the show, each Chieftain except Conneff took an extended solo. The first featured harpist Derek Bell, fiddler Sean Keane and Moloney--devoting his spot to uilleann pipes (he also plays tin whistle)--while the second one saw solo turns by flutist Matt Molloy and fiddler Martin Fay.

The vastly dissimilar solos not only helped widen the show’s variety but were so marvelously performed that they actually left you wanting a bit more from each musician.

And that’s exactly what you got when the Chieftains lit into “Drowsey Maggie,” a glorious group and solo showcase that concluded the set proper. Among the highlights was Bell, who had moved to a keyboard and rendered a sassy bit of ragtime that would have done Scott Joplin proud.

Although there just a small number of folks were on hand Saturday to celebrate the Chieftains’ 25th anniversary, it was still a great party.