Danu concert review
Apr. 1st, 2006 09:26 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dragonlady7So last night Z and I went down to Rockwell Hall at Buffalo State University to see Danú, a traditional Irish folk band we've seen and enjoyed before. My parents, and in particular my mother and youngest sister Ann, have been big fans of Danu for a very long time, and saw them play in tiny venues in Saratoga several times. The last time we saw them was at the Irish Festival at Altamont (near Albany), perhaps two years ago; Mom bought a CD and got it autographed by the bodhran player Donnchadh Gough and told him he was a "rock star", which he wasn't quite sure how to take.
Needless to say, I was excited to see them last night. We sat towards the back, but right in the middle, and were shown to our seats by Michael Kirwan, Audience Services Assistant (and little brother of one of Z's high school buddies).
I read the program with interest, but noted that while the cover showed seven musicians, there were only six chairs onstage. Sure enough, in the listing of the band, there were only six names. (Benny McCarthy, Muireann Nic Amhlaoibh, Tom and Eamon Doorley, Donal Clancy, and Oisin McAuley.) Sure enough, it was Donnchadh that was missing. Which grieved me sorely, as he is, indeed, a rock star.
Come to find out, however, that they are all more than rock stars. The program's bio revealed the darker truth.
So we asked after the show and apparently Donnchadh Gough was wounded in action. Fortunately he was not killed, and is expected to make a full recovery, but for the meantime is defending the pub back home in Ireland for fear of retaliatory raids.
April fool's, of course, but what's amusing is how little of that is actually fiction. The bio was typically overwrought and Z kept whispering in my ear, "Donal Clancy once killed a man."
I think my favorite song title was a reel they played called "Mary Cut Your Toenails You're Tearin All The Sheets". I went and bought their new album on the iTunes Music Store because, to my astonishment, they're on there now.
The other really noteworthy thing about the concert was that Z and I were the youngest people in the entire concert hall by, like, twenty years. Seriously: old people.
Not that that kept them from jumping up and down and acting like fools all through the end, which netted us not one but two encores, including Muireann and Donal doing a beautiful rendition of The Parting Glass which made me cry. I am hopeless, really, but I love that song so much.
Needless to say, I was excited to see them last night. We sat towards the back, but right in the middle, and were shown to our seats by Michael Kirwan, Audience Services Assistant (and little brother of one of Z's high school buddies).
I read the program with interest, but noted that while the cover showed seven musicians, there were only six chairs onstage. Sure enough, in the listing of the band, there were only six names. (Benny McCarthy, Muireann Nic Amhlaoibh, Tom and Eamon Doorley, Donal Clancy, and Oisin McAuley.) Sure enough, it was Donnchadh that was missing. Which grieved me sorely, as he is, indeed, a rock star.
Come to find out, however, that they are all more than rock stars. The program's bio revealed the darker truth.
The beating heart of Irish music is, as it has been for centuries, the seisun. These informal music gatherings, where any and all can gather to play traditional tunes, have kept Irish music a social format at a time when most other folk styles exist almost exclusively on the professional concert stage.
Danu has gained a worldwide reputation for their wild spontaneity and breathtaking musical power onstage, making them arguably the most in-demand touring band to emerge from Ireland in the past decade.
But don't let their swashbuckling stage energy fool you into thinking this band is not deadly serious when it comes to the music they love. Dónal Clancy once killed a man with the strings of his guitar in his passionate defence of the music for which he lives. The others are equally committed to their craft, and while the details are shrouded in mystery, nearly a dozen disappearances of prominent music critics and corrupt government officials have been linked to the band.
So we asked after the show and apparently Donnchadh Gough was wounded in action. Fortunately he was not killed, and is expected to make a full recovery, but for the meantime is defending the pub back home in Ireland for fear of retaliatory raids.
April fool's, of course, but what's amusing is how little of that is actually fiction. The bio was typically overwrought and Z kept whispering in my ear, "Donal Clancy once killed a man."
I think my favorite song title was a reel they played called "Mary Cut Your Toenails You're Tearin All The Sheets". I went and bought their new album on the iTunes Music Store because, to my astonishment, they're on there now.
The other really noteworthy thing about the concert was that Z and I were the youngest people in the entire concert hall by, like, twenty years. Seriously: old people.
Not that that kept them from jumping up and down and acting like fools all through the end, which netted us not one but two encores, including Muireann and Donal doing a beautiful rendition of The Parting Glass which made me cry. I am hopeless, really, but I love that song so much.
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no subject
Date: 2006-04-01 05:01 pm (UTC)Happy Fools Day B and Z
Date: 2006-04-01 06:43 pm (UTC)Is that job description what used to be known simply as "usher"?
Is his boss an Audience Services Supervisor?
Accuracy in rumour-mongering please...he used his spare guitar strings...there was no premeditation such as implied in first removing tuned strings...and it was back in the Clancy Brothers days...which explains much...he is a kinder gentler man now...and Benny holds the spare strings...just in case...really...
Re: Happy Fools Day B and Z
Date: 2006-04-01 07:20 pm (UTC)- Z
Re: Happy Fools Day B and Z
Date: 2006-04-03 07:59 pm (UTC)I can't believe I just giggled. I am not a giggly sort of guy. A chortle perhaps, a laugh certainly, but a giggle?
We mustn't confuse the alumni and undergrads, the audience services assistants and the ushers...
I have this sneaky feeling that the real difference is that the fancy title is actually in lieu of payment? Or am I just feeling that old college 'pick the alumnis' pocket' chill coming over me...
It is I, Allen
Re: Happy Fools Day B and Z
Date: 2006-04-03 04:30 pm (UTC)Re: Happy Fools Day B and Z
Date: 2006-04-03 07:43 pm (UTC)Mea culpa.
In my defence I can only say that I only read instructions when, strangely, parts are left over, there is electrical arcing, or someone says 'read the directions, fool'.
It is I, Allen.