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.
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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
