Natalie Macmaster Concert

[Athdara]

Trucked up to Manchester, NH for the show last night. Good crowd; rowdier than the one at the Music Hall in Portsmouth a year ago, but slightly less rowdy than the crowd at the Rochester Opera House the year before. The audience danced at Rochester.

John Chiasson had a great jazz bit, which my fiance' wants to hear at our wedding now. Brad did a soul-stirring rendition of Danny Boy, which had me crying, remembering my dad, who we lost last year after a sudden stroke. There weren't many dry eyes in the house then, come to that...

Miche Pouliot is still the God of Drumming, he had some great stuff - my leg's still sore from keeping the beat! Matt MacIssac had a fantastic piper solo that brought the house down at the start of the second half of the show. And shy Allan worked his magic at the keyboards once again. The guy is pure Cape Breton. Fantastic stuff.

Such a great time... can't wait until next year!

Anyone on the boards here that was there? What did you think?

[j Padraig moore]

Nope - wasn't there, but wished I could have been. Love Natalie M!
btw, how was she? I don't think you mentioned that in your post.

[Athdara]

Natalie was AWESOME. Played two of my favorites off the live album, she was in full antic all over the stage. She did a lovely down home set with just Allan, and you could almost picture them at a CB kitchen party, seated near each other. Lots of step dancing - she did two or three step bits, in addition to her usual way of dancing as she plays. Natalie also sang her lyrics for "Appropriate Dipstick" a capella and told the story about getting the grant to film the video.

She looked amazing for having flown in from Cape Breton at 5am that morning. She'd bopped up to visit her folks for a short weekend. Very chatty with the audience. I get the impression that they really like the venue at Manchester. It's a very supportive neighborhood for this sort of thing, supplemented by folks from Maine and Mass. coming in for the party.