Just heard the lads last night here in Ohio. Dynamite! With three of them playing whistles from time to time, there is more whistling in a Lunasa concert than just about anywhere.
They all played well, but in particular Kevin Crawford (flute guy and band leader) and Sean Smith (fiddle) are both astonishingly good at high and low whistles.
They did lots of stuff from the new CD.
Cheers…
I’m seeing them with a fellow Chiff and Fippler this coming Tuesday in Cleveland.
I saw them in Chicago last week. Don’t miss this show if it comes near you. When people say that Lunasa is best heard live, they’re absolutely right. There’s nothing in their CDs that gets close to the energy they have in a live show. And when they do their 3 whistle things, it’s pure magic.
I saw Lunasa a couple weeks ago in Somerville, MA. I’ll echo everyone’s statements that you should make the effort to see them live. It was worth every penny to hear the virtuosity of this group. I had seen other bands use whistles, but more to provide a break from the other music. Lunasa was the first band I’ve seen live that integrated the whistles into the band as both solo and ensemble instruments. Hearing 3 part whistles was awesome! I even got to say hello to Kevin Crawford after the gig and have him autograph my new CD.
I was also at the concert in Springfield, OH on Friday night. Awesome! I would echo what everyone else has said about Lunasa. It was so enthralling to hear whistles on almost every piece and especially together.
On one song, Kevin Crawford played both a low D and a high D whistle at the same time. He played the low d with his right hand and the high d with his left. He held the whistles apart at about a 35 degree angle and played the lower three holes on both whistles at the same time, playing sustained notes on both whistles sort of like chords.
I did not get to meet the lads because I had to leave as soon as the concert was over, but a friend did get a poster signed for me and I got the new CD before the concert started.
If you get a chance to go see them, it will be well worth the ticket price.
Dayna
I saw the band (for the third year, actually) in Reston some weeks ago. There were some technical problems on stage, and Kevin seemed to be in an unusually talkative mood, so we got quite a few humorous tales and anecdotes. At one point (after Sean played a solo) he said, “Well, there, isn’t Sean a mighty fiddler? And now, having heard his mighty fiddling, we’ll get a chance to hear some of his mediocre work on the whistle.”
To be fair, afterwards he said “He may be better on that whistle than I thought.”
– Scott
Has there ever been a Lunasa show when Kevin wasn’t in a talkative mood? (Excepting the early shows when he was not yet a member, of course.) In my experience, during their shows he is always blabbing away, saying any bit of amusing nonsense that enters his head. Or as my wife said at the start of their concert Sunday night, zero to BS in four seconds.
BTW, the Sunday show (Cincinnati) showed the boys in top form. Lots of sets from the new album sounding great, lots of sets from the old albums, frequently with pleasant little twists to keep things fresh. (Almost nothing (one and a half sets, I think) from Redwood.)
Lunasa played in Cleveland last night and FJohnSharp and I were in attendance. What can I say? Their individual musicianship was astounding. As a band they were nearly incredible. They obviously respect the tradition but without treating it like a fragile china doll that needs to be protected from outside influences. They looked like they were having fun playing for us although the audience numbered no more than 150 people crammed into a back room of Nighttown pub. All in all a very enjoyable evening. And I bought their new CD, The Kinnitty Sessions, but I haven’t had a chance to listen to it yet. If you get the opportunity to see them don’t miss it.
Mike
I second that. Man were they tight and together. But it never felt stiff.
What surprised me was that Sean Smith was such a good whistler. He played the second tune in the Almost Reel set and it was amazing.
They were selling a tunebook, which I refrained from buying. But it is available on their website.
Sean won All-Ireland on whistle as well as fiddle. He is a terrific whistler, quite possibly better than Kevin Crawford.
He is the whistle player on the “Almost Reel” set on the Otherworld album, too…
I didn’t refrain from buying the tunebook. I looked it over during the show, seemed quite keen. I especially like having little notes on where each tune came from – maybe not a lot of detail, but vastly better than nothing. I haven’t had a chance to play anything out of it, however, and won’t until sometime next week.