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Celebrating 35 years of Irish music to a SRO crowd!

Uilleann pipe/tin whistle performer Paddy Moloney probably never dreamed when he was a young boy from the Donnycarney, north Co. Dublin region of Ireland that a band he would form in 1962 would still be going 47 years later. A member or two has changed since the early days, including the passing of pianist/harpist Derek Bell in 2002, the same year that Martin Fay, one of two fiddle players to appear on this DVD, The Chieftains: Live at Montreux 1997, would retire. During that span, the band has recorded over 40 albums, appeared on nearly as many albums by other artists as well as made over a dozen videos/DVDs.

Live at Montreux 1997 catches the band performing nearly an hour-and-a-half and celebrating 35 years together in front of a packed audience that begins dancing to the reels from the 14 song set. They also have their own pair of dancers (Donny Golden & Cara Butler) performing on a handful of songs. If you’re a fan of Riverdance, then you’ll enjoy this couple.

The show begins in a revealing fashion as one band member after another begins to appear on stage as their music cue comes in for “Opening Medley: O’Neill’s March/Rosin Dubh/Reels and Dance.” It takes a few minutes before all 6 members are in attendance. Besides Bell, Fay & Moloney, the band consists of Matt Molloy (flute), Kevin Conneff (bodhran/vox) and Sean Keane (fiddle). Martin Murray also joins the band on fiddle for a tune and vocalist & gaita (Spanish/Portuguese version of a bagpipe) performer Bea Riobo plays on a couple of songs with the group. She sings Linda Ronstadt’s studio role on the song “Santiago” which was the title track for one of the two albums the band was promoting at the time. The other album was The Long Black Veil.

The Chieftains perform a couple of other medley’s to try and get pieces of crowd favorites into the show. Some singular titles played throughout include “Changing Your Demeanour,” “Lady Dillon” and “Carrickfergus,” a song featuring Fay on the fiddle before being joined by guitarist Tom O’Farrell for a flamenco style on “Maneo.”

The entire band each get their time to shine, especially during the closing number of “Did You Ever Go A Courtin’ Uncle Joe” in which they all solo and Bell gets to play a little honky-tonk and ragtime piano. They finish with all of the dancers and special guests on “Give Me Your Hand/ The Trip to Durrow/ Flogging Reel.”

This ‘97 appearance was definitely a memorable event for the fans and the band. It’s easy to see by their joking and bantering on stage why they have survived for so many decades and are the modern godfathers of Irish music and it’s presentation to an international audience. 6 Grammy awards and millions of albums later, the band is still touring up to the holidays of 2009 and then beginning in 2010 they go back out on a North American tour throughout February and March.

The DVD is widescreen and provides audio options of DTS, Dolby 5.1 Surround Sound and Dolby Digital Stereo. There is a short 4-page color booklet with a brief history of the band and that evening in Montreux. There are no bonus features, which an interview from that era or interviews with the remaining members about that evening would’ve been a great addition.

Live at Montreux 1997 is a must for any fan of the band or Irish music. If you’re new to the genre, this would be a great place to start. Slàinte!

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