Yesterday I had the great pleasure of taking my eight year old daughter, Rachel, to see the Chieftains live, in concert at the Chicago Symphony Center. Rachel has become quite a fan of Irish traditional music, mostly through listening to the Chieftains. This all started during the summer with horse riding lessons. Rachel took to it right away, and thinking she might enjoy the Chieftains soundtrack album to "Ballad of the Irish Horse," I picked up a copy. She absolutely loved it. Hence, the concert last night.
The Chieftains have justly earned their status as a living cultural treasure. They've been playing for fourty four years now, earned 6 Grammys, an Oscar, many other awards. Seeing them live is an experience. The bandmembers are mostly in their 60's now, but they maintain a busy touring schedule, and on stage they show the vigor of men half their age. As many years as they've been playing the music, as tough as the tour schedule is, on stage they continually show the joy and passion for traditional music that keeps them going year after year.
I'd brought a few bottles of mead with me, thinking the Chieftains would appreciate the gift. From the message we got back from the stage people, they certainly did. They told us that as soon as the band members heard that someone was bringing them mead, they all got excited. Unfortunately, the band was still working hard to get the stage set up for the concert, so we weren't able to present the meads in person. Paddy Moloney, leader of the Chieftains, was kind enough to thank us on stage, giving Rachel a thrill. "Dan and Rachel McFeeley are with us, and they brought us four lovely bottles of mead! We're going to have a good time tonight."
The meads I brought were a Chipotle mead, a smoked chile pepper mead that is quite good, but quite hot. The Chieftains enjoy Thai cuisine, so I thought they'd appreciate it. There was also a Cranberry melomel, a traditional mead and last of all . . . drummmm rollllll {symbol CLASH!} Ancient Orange!
You heard it folks! Ancient Orange goes Irish!
It was a wonderful concert.
The Chieftains have justly earned their status as a living cultural treasure. They've been playing for fourty four years now, earned 6 Grammys, an Oscar, many other awards. Seeing them live is an experience. The bandmembers are mostly in their 60's now, but they maintain a busy touring schedule, and on stage they show the vigor of men half their age. As many years as they've been playing the music, as tough as the tour schedule is, on stage they continually show the joy and passion for traditional music that keeps them going year after year.
I'd brought a few bottles of mead with me, thinking the Chieftains would appreciate the gift. From the message we got back from the stage people, they certainly did. They told us that as soon as the band members heard that someone was bringing them mead, they all got excited. Unfortunately, the band was still working hard to get the stage set up for the concert, so we weren't able to present the meads in person. Paddy Moloney, leader of the Chieftains, was kind enough to thank us on stage, giving Rachel a thrill. "Dan and Rachel McFeeley are with us, and they brought us four lovely bottles of mead! We're going to have a good time tonight."
The meads I brought were a Chipotle mead, a smoked chile pepper mead that is quite good, but quite hot. The Chieftains enjoy Thai cuisine, so I thought they'd appreciate it. There was also a Cranberry melomel, a traditional mead and last of all . . . drummmm rollllll {symbol CLASH!} Ancient Orange!
You heard it folks! Ancient Orange goes Irish!
It was a wonderful concert.
