Im going to see Altan in New Mexico this Saturday. This will be my first concert by a major Irish supergoup. Is anyone else headed to this concert? Have you seen them already this tour? Or do you plan to see them later in the tour?
Joe
Joe, do ’em a favor and take a nice bottle of wine to the green room either before or after the concert. It’ll be much appreciated, and you’ll get to thank Mairead, Ciaran, Dermott, and the gang in person for bringing their wonderful music to New Mexico. And be prepared to be blown away--their cds are fine, but Altan’s concerts are outrageous--the most fun you can have sitting down.
i don’t know,Will - i get great enjoyment when sitting on the throne after touching cloth in splendid isolation!
coat!!!
Okay, so some people would rather pinch a loaf than go to an Altan concert…you have my sympathies B.D. (*snort!* 🙂 🙂 🙂
Joe, just to continue on Will’s theme, Mair
I’ll try to enjoy both of the above mentioned pleasures although Altan ranks higher on the list. In this very dry part of the world, I’ll try to find a bottle of West Texas’ own LLano white. (Dont laugh, they win awards and stuff!) It should at least make their visit memorable.
Joe
A great concert. Great Audience, beautiful theater. A fun weekend in the mountains. Altan played music mostly from the Blue Idol cd but snuck in a few standards such as the Mountain road and I believe, the Gravel Walks.
Everything was great for me until some audience member (an older man I think perhaps a season ticket holder) yelled, “Make Charlie Daniels proud!” The band responded with some pleasantries but I wonder if this kind of general ignorance drags down a group of the calibre after a while. It would have been im-modest to say from the stage “Actually we are much more accomplished on our instruments than Daniels and while we rank among the worlds best in our style, Daniels doesnt make anybodys list. At least anyone who knows what they are talking about!” This was my dream - no professional would do such a thing.
Great seats and binoculars allowed me to check out all the right hands. Thats where all the action is and I hope I learned alot in addition to having a great time.
Catch em if you can.
Joe
I have seen Altan several times in the Washington, DC area. We have tickets to their upcoming concert at the Barns of Wolftrap in mid March. I second everyone’s statements that they are one of the best live bands I have every seen. They have a way of making the audience feel like they are part of the family.
p.s. they officially ARE the best live band!!!!!
What official would that be, Martin? ;)
Just saw them here in Colorado……they were at the Boulder Theatre for the e-town radio show……all who were able to see their concert is very lucky, we only got a couple songs out of them 🙂…..but yes, Mairead is my hero 🙂 (you too Zina 🙂……the way she and Cairan play make my heart go all a flutter!!! 🙂 🙂
-Karen
Oooo, cool you got to see them, Karen (I was out of town, as usual during a great concert). Beth Leachman was there and said it was a righteous concert -- she also liked the other guy who was sort of a Tom Petty sound-alike. She told us a story about Altan asking him if he ever thought about doing soundtracks for movies (when they found out he’s from California), and he answered that he plays in front of the television with the sound turned off often enough that he should be good enough at them… 🙂
Did you get to see Bohola? Great players as well, them.
Zina
yep, saw the Tom Petty look alike…..and he also was talking about a fiddle/guitar battle, and then he played his guitar and it sounded like a fiddle!!!
No, did not get to see Bohola…I was at the camp…..but there are a couple of friends who said they went and had a great time!
You need to stay in town more often, give me your e-mail and I’ll keep you up-dated!!!!!! 🙂
Sorry if I just went really off-topic, so anywho, Altan rocked!!!….love dreaming about being able to play like that someday , but I’m thinking I’d only sound like that if I started playing from the minute I was out of the womb!
How did the camp go? Did you get to take a lesson or two from Liz Carroll?
I’d love to stay in town more often. Every time I go out of town, I miss something that I’d rather be there for. But it’s usually work stuff, so I can’t help that.
Beth said the Bohola session was even better than the performance. I was really sad to have missed that. Ah well, next I’m in Chicago I’ll have to go take a class from Sean Cleland at CCE to make up for it…
Sorry all, if this is going waaay off topic, but for some reason e-mails are not making it to Zina.
The camp went really bad, unfortunately….but I did get to meet Liz, she is the nicest person!!!! 🙂….and so great at teaching, but she only taught one beginners class, and the rest advanced :( :(
I understand, and I hope you enjoy the trip to Chicago!!!
Karen
back on topic…. Altan proves you don’t need electric _anything_ nor drums to be kick-butt. They Rock! all on their own….