By BILL BROTHERTON
LYNN – The Chieftains, led by the venerable Paddy Maloney, kept the St. Patrick’s weekend party rolling with a lively, eclectic, entertaining two hours of traditional Irish music, dancing and more Sunday night at Lynn Auditorium.
Ireland’s musical ambassadors are on their 56th anniversary tour, and Maloney, who will be 80 in August, remains an energetic, genial host of this loosey-goosey Celtic-themed variety show.
Maloney (tin whistle, uilleann pipes) and longtime bandmates Matt Malloy (flute) and Kevin Conneff (bodhran drum, vocals) were assisted by four talented musicians, two dancers and a seemingly never-ending cast of special guests.
Guests included former astronaut Cady Coleman, who lives in Western Massachusetts and who in 2010 played Maloney’s tin whistle and Malloy’s flute on the International Space Station 93 million miles from Earth.
Cara Butler and Nathan “Crazy Legs” Pilatzke took Irish step dance to new levels. Vocalist Alyth McCormack shined during a tender reading of the classic “Red is the Rose” and “The Saw Set,” a jaw-dropping display of Scottish “mouth music,” during which she sang rapid-fire to a fast beat.
Tara Breen shined on fiddle, sax and even a mad early-show dance. Canadian Jon Pilatzke also danced, but dazzled during a solo showcase on fiddle that included frantic reels from Cape Bretton and Quebec. Triona Marshall was terrific on harp and keyboards.
Local talent also upped the show’s pleasure quotient. The Ruby Slippers, the a cappella choir from Wenham’s Academy at Penguin Hall, wowed during a “Shenendoah”/“The Long Journey Home” showcase and a gospel number. Six young women from the Goulding School of Irish Dance in Medford impressed, and the kilt-wearing North Shore Pipe Band added oomph to several numbers.
The show ended on a wondrous note. While the band reeled and rocked and Maloney, the Hendrix of uilleann pipes, wrestled with his unwieldy instrument, dancers and singers started a snake dance on stage and moved up and down the aisles, adding audience members at every step. At show’s end, there were nearly 100 people on stage.
It was a good weekend to be Irish — even Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy won the PGA’s golf event in Florida — and the Chieftains’ visit to Lynn made the festive weekend more special.
Nearly every one of the 2,100 seats in the auditorium were filled, and the Chieftains and crew were able to make this seem like an Irish session in an intimate Irish pub.
Bill Brotherton is the Item’s Features editor. Tell him what you think at itemlive.com
