Solas may not be strictly traditional Irish music since they can get a little jazzy at times. But they are a not-to-be-missed group.
For those of you (which may be none) within driving distance of Missoula, Montana, Solas will be playing a concert here on April 10. Just trying to give you plenty of heads-up in case you’re passing through the area when they are…
http://www.solasmusic.com/index.html
I’m going to see them tomorrow night in Cambridge Mass. They are a bit commercial, I guess, but they are playing a really nice venue, and I’m sure I will enjoy them. I’ll et you know how they are.
So what did you think?
It was very good! They are all very talented and obviously practice together A LOT, because thier sound is very polished. My personal taste in trad music a more rough around the edges style. It would interesting to see them in a pub, or lower brow venue, but that will never happen. What’s really great about them is the fact that are an Irish-American group, and that cultural mix is refelcted in the music. They even played a couple of songs by American folk musicians such as Dylan and Woody Guthrie (sp?). You’ll definitely enjoy it. They’ve got two people playing low whistles, which is cool. Post a review after you see them…
I saw them in Cleveland two or so weeks ago at a pub with no more than 150 spectators. I was one table away from them. They are incredible musicians individually and even better as a band. They are very tight and well rehearsed but I didn’t get the feeling that they were playing the tunes like automatons. There was still a feeling of spontaneity and life to their performance. You will enjoy them very much.
Mike
The big weekend is over. The Solas concert here was almost a sell-out (1000 seat theater).
First let me say that I enjoyed it thoroughly. Regardless of the genre, the musicianship was admirable. Like many groups, just listening to the recordings doesn’t do the group justice. Nothing beats hearing the tunes and absorbing the energy that goes along with them.
What can I say; I liked the reel sets best. This is where the energy soars. They did only one set of jigs but that was good too.
They have their own sound person and for the most part the sound was great. If I could make any suggestion, I would say that I thought Winnie (the fiddle player) had too much reverb. Some of the “super groups” are tending to make the fiddles sound a certain way, trying to give them a “big” sound. But it starts to lose some of the nuances. There was one point where Winnie was trying to play this slow aire with just piano accompaniment. She was struggling to try to play some soft parts to the point where the bow was so light that the strings starts to sound scratchy and wavery. The other thing was that Seamus’ whistle/flute mic was set to make the low D whistle sound right but when he really leaned into the flute, it got too loud and distorted, which disappointed the whistle/flute player in me. Which isn’t to say I couldn’t enjoy Seamus’ virtuosity. And he’s a pretty good front man.
I know some people don’t like Solas’ departures from ITrad, and I would admit that some of their contemporary ballads sound like they could be in any other singer’s repertoire (e.g. Celine Dion); they don’t come off as necessarily Irish. But these folks can really rip on a reel, so I don’t think you can take that away from them.