Celtic Cross

         I didn’t know what to expect from Celtic Cross before I saw them perform live at The Stephen Talkhouse in Amagansett, Long Island on March 22nd. Having heard about this Irish folk rock band from my Dad, I initially wondered what style this group represented: a straight-up Celtic chorus group, which embellished Mother Ireland, or a heavy metal band with a more modern Irish flair. Nevertheless, because it was the weekend of St. Patrick’s Day and this performance was available, my Dad and I agreed that it would be a fitting choice, and I was blown away that evening. Not only did Celtic Cross deftly infuse folk rock with Irish pride, they perfectly balanced a sense of nostalgia, modern sensibilities and casual enthusiasm. This balance was conveyed largely by the atmosphere of the venue and the emotions of the performers.
         Let’s start with the venue: The Stephen Talkhouse featured the perfect atmospheric blend of casual and nostalgic spirit with its fine-finished wood décor, its affable service, and its historic detail. The venue itself is named after a Native American resident who, in the 1800s, took daily, 25-50 mile walks from Montauk to East Hampton and Sag Harbor. There was even a large portrait of Talkhouse mounted on the back of the stage, indicating his significance to the venue. Along the walls, there stood innumerable photo stills of some of the most famous musicians to have performed at the venue from Laura Nyro to the Drifters to reggae artist, Jimmy Cliff.

         In addition to its historical spirit, the venue balanced its atmosphere with more modern sensibilities. The venue was a pub, which complimented the Irish vibe of the concert, and its people greatly elicited the casual mood and affable tone. The owner was surprisingly friendly to us, greeting us when we arrived and assuredly bringing me another Diet Coke upon my dad’s request. The audience was in a similarly positive mood: it consisted of predominantly middle-aged adults, who talked and dressed casually and attended simply to have a really entertaining concert experience. By far the most memorable and high-spirited moments of the show occurred when some of the female attendees stood up and danced to well-known songs being played on fiddle. Cue in extra touches, such as the use of subtle lighting and the integration of amplified speakers onto wooden posts, and you had a perfectly balanced atmosphere like no other.
         What reinforced this blend of timeless emotions with nostalgic and modern traits were the musicians themselves. As they charismatically performed on stage, they stood upright, dressed as casually as the audience, and calmly let their energy flow with the music. The instruments they played consisted of a diverse mix of traditional and modern tools ranging from accordion and fiddle to drums and electric guitar. These instruments not only sounded great when played in tandem, but the performers creatively varied how they were balanced: it became typical for songs to use select instruments more heavily than others.
         The varied instrumental structure perfectly complimented the diverse and poignant themes of the songs. Those such as “Shores of America,” which dealt with immigration from Ireland, tended to use more fiddle; others such as “Molly,” which tackled everyday romance, relied more on drums and guitar. Because of this, I would argue that the performers were more expressive through the music than the lyrics. Some songs, like “Monster,” didn’t even have lyrics, relying solely on the music to convey their mood. I finally want to give brief credit to the group’s lead singer, Kathleen Fee, because she arguably lent the most emotion and artistic talent to the music. All throughout, she sang in a consistently mellow tone of voice, which reinforced the poignancy of these songs, even as they presented different styles and themes.

         All in all, my concert experience with Celtic Cross had the perfect blend of energy, emotion, nostalgia and atmosphere. It totally blew me away with how much creativity and sophistication this group compounded into nearly an hour-and-a-half, and it was a concert I won’t soon forget (I have a signed album to prove it). I greatly enjoyed Celtic Cross and would love to see them play again in the future.

-Anonymous, Spring 2014

Serenade Duo

         I attended a performance by the Serenade Duo with Michelle LaPorte playing flute, and Gerry Saulter on Classical guitar. The program was called “From Brazil to Barcelona” including pieces from Brazil, Argentina and Spain. I originally wanted to attend a Pink Floyd tribute show, but the time wasn’t there, so I attended this without knowing much of what to expect.
         The concert was held in our auditorium at the Eastern Campus of Suffolk County Community College. It is a nice, big room with comfortable chairs that wrap around the stage in a half crescent. I sat in the furthest row directly in the middle where I had a great view of the performers. The setup of the auditorium, along with the silence of the audience, allowed the music to be heard loud and clear by all. Surprisingly, there were not many people in the audience: a wide age range of a few students and familiar teachers that I have noticed go to music events on campus. People dressed casually as it took place during common hour on an average school day. The performers however were dressed very elegantly. Michelle LaPorte wore a very nice, black dress as Gerry Saulter played in a sharp, grey suit. The audience behaved as most would in a small, formal set up as such. At the end of each song, I wanted to give a standing ovation, but my fear of embarrassment being the only one stopped me from doing it, which I regret.
         The performers had a great introduction and got to know the audience. They continued by teaching us a little about the origins of the music. Before the start of each song, they gave us interesting facts on the inspiration for how the pieces were written as well as insight on how they were received by the audience at the time. LaPorte played the flute standing up on the left as Saulter played his nylon acoustic sitting down next to her. They collaborated very well by taking turns speaking to the audience, and even better as they played together. Although they didn’t have any extras, such as light shows or dancing, the music being played was enough to transport the audience somewhere culturally diverse and peaceful. I enjoyed the show immensely and I will now consider going to more Classical shows.
         This was the first time I experienced a duo with guitar and flute. The word that comes to mind when I think of the music is beautiful. Although it sounds corny, the music was soul-touching, and I believe every audience member had some emotion tapped into by each piece played. There were no lyrics in any of the songs, but with the introductions to each song and the performance to back it up, everyone understood the song and how it could portray its title. For example, the piece called “Nuages,” which means clouds in Portuguese, painted a vivid picture of wonderful scenery full of nature and happiness created by a slow-paced and relaxing rhythm. The last piece, “Progessiones para Pauline,” was about a woman the original writer knew, who passed away fairly young. He described her as a friendly, helping and loving woman. The piece was touching as the audience was placed in the life of Paulina, which had an overall upbeat and positive feel to it.
         I was extremely fond of how Saulter utilized his guitar differently during some parts to make a distinct sound. This was demonstrated by his tapping on the guitar to provide a beat and what looked like bumping the strings to partially mute them for a moment. That gave the performance an exciting push that somewhat wowed the audience. I also paid much attention to LaPorte, since I am not used to watching flute players. I was really surprised by how long she could hold notes and play her music while making it look easy and fun. She continued to smile throughout playing and I could tell she was enjoying herself, which made it easy for me to enjoy it as well.
         I would definitely attend another concert that includes flute and guitar. My experience with that genre of music is not much, and it left me with a different perspective on music in general. Classical music is the ultimate form of a universal language that speaks directly to emotions and other aspects of what makes us human.

-Leonardo Figueroa, Spring 2014

Brad Paisley

         On February 16 of this year, my girlfriend and I went to see Brad Paisley perform at the Nassau Coliseum. Brad Paisley is a country singer and an amazing guitar player; he puts on a really awesome show. Two performers opened for him and they were Danielle Bradberry and Chris Young. This was of course a country concert and I picked this concert to go to because it was a Valentine's Day gift between my girlfriend and myself and we both enjoy some country music.
         The Coliseum itself is nice for hockey games, but for a concert it feels a little crowded and the seats are uncomfortable. We stood up most of the time, so the actual seating had no effect on the concert experience. The music is played very loudly, but inside the Coliseum, which is not very big at all, the performers sounded pretty clear and well practiced.
         The audience including myself cheered a lot and took part in singing along to most of the songs. The performers would sometimes sing a few lines then hold the microphone out to the crowd for us to finish, which is not uncommon at a rock/country type of concert. It was clear to tell that all of the audience were fans of Chris Young and Brad Paisley, but not much for Danielle Bradberry, who is a young singer and is just starting out. She has a really nice voice though. The people of the audience were all ages from young children to older folks with gray hair, who still like to have a good time. For the most part, everyone wore jeans and a t-shirt or sweatshirt, but many others had on their cowboy boots and hats with flannel shirts to fit in with the style of music. Of course, beer was served, but they were $9.50 each so no one got too rowdy. Other country concerts I have been to, the crowd was much more wild and free.
         Danielle Bradberry is only a teenager still and new to the stage, so she did not interact or get the crowd going like Chris Young or Brad Paisley. She got up, dressed kind of flashy and just stood with the mic and sung her songs, and was very surprised as I could tell at how much the crowd enjoyed her performance. Chris Young I said could have been a stand up comic as well as a singer because he told jokes and drank liquor up on stage like it was a regular thing for him, which it is. I could tell he had a good time and really got the crowd dancing and singing along with his attitude.
         Brad Paisley played last and of course was the star of the whole show. He played about 10­-12 songs and many, many guitar solos; he is an extremely talented guitarist. The show was originally supposed to be the Thursday before, which was Valentine's Day, but was moved because of the snow we had. Brad started off by saying things like, “Damn, you Long Islanders are some real country freaks to want to still come and wouldn't let a little snow get in the way, and I didn't know they made country fans this far north.” I could tell he was a good performer just by how comfortable he was up on stage and how he could really communicate with the audience and make us feel like he knew us personally. He was also dressed with his American Flag t-­shirt, boot cut jeans with cowboy boots, and of course, the white cowboy hat:

Brad played all over the stage and even played while walking around the Coliseum floor. There were lights and a projection screen to show signs or animations of things that went along with the songs he was playing. The songs differed a little from the album, but I was not going to complain; it all sounded great.
         Each performer sang and had guitars, bass guitars, and drums on stage and even electric fiddles. Most of the words were clear and easy to understand, but it’s country music, so of course, there was some slang, such as “gunna and cause.” The songs were about breakups, alcohol, mud on the tires of a truck, love songs, all the fun stuff and upsetting stuff that you would expect to hear in a country band. There were some slow songs sung by Danielle Bradberry and a very soft dynamic song by Chris Young called “Gettin' You Home” about coming home with his girlfriend and just having some fun. And the songs by Brad were all over the board: happy songs, slow songs, fun songs, dancing songs and drinking songs. One song called “Mud on the Tires” is about buying a new truck and grabbing his girl and taking it down a back road to get it all dirty and broken in: “I've got some big news / The bank finally came through / And I'm holdin' the keys to a brand new Chevrolet / Have you been outside / It sure is a nice night / How about a little test.”
         They each have their own sound, and with the instruments, they make the music and their lyrics sound like one. With songs about working hard, coming home to relax after a long day, cracking open a beer and loving your baby, this concert was awesome and I would definitely go see Brad Paisley and Chris Young again. I really enjoyed the show- my girlfriend and I had an amazing time.

-Matt Chepinskas, Spring 2014