The Chieftains kicked off their 40th Anniversary Tour on Saturday night in Sacramento. My son and I went along to the the theater 4 hours before the show started to see whether we might get to see them backstage. My son Colin who is 14 and plays the uilleann pipes was keen to meet them in person. We walked right into Paddy who said they were just starting their sound check and asked us to hang out in the orchestra seats. I enjoyed the sound check almost as much as the concert itself, with the cheerful banter,jokes and goofying around. Following the sound check which lasted about an hour, Paddy came over to talk to us and a couple of local fiddle players and guitarists who had also showed up. He wanted to know if they wanted to join in on the encore. He asked what 2 tunes they’d like to play..they had to be fast reels. One fiddler suggested ‘The Mountain Road’ and Paddy then asked Colin what he’d like to play and he said ‘Mistress of the House’. Paddy knew it as ‘Woman of the House’, but reassured everyone that they should just keep playing and not worry about bum notes and variations they might play. It was going to be a jam session after all. Colin didn’t know the ‘The Mountain Road’ but quickly learnt it from one of the local fiddlers. The road manager gave us backstage passes so we just mingled around chatting and listening in on the warmups and taking photos and getting our CDs signed. They were all pretty friendly and it was a thrill just to be there.
The concert was great as always, and we got to watch it from the side of the stage. At the encore Colin got to sit with his pipes right up front, next to Nathalie McMaster who was the Chieftain’s special guest. She later gave him a lovely personalized autograph. Paddy asked the locals to start it up and said the rest of them would join in, as he tapped out the tempo. It was pretty wild with dancers joining in and the audience going crazy! I did make a surreptitious recording of the encore on minidisc…I guess I could get into trouble for this but after all it’s only for personal memories, and something for Colin to cherish and to tell his kids about.
Jessie