Gaelic Storm Review October 30
Gaelic Storm is a very good band. This was my second time seeing them. I saw them for the first time last December. They were scheduled to play at Gypsy Tea Room in the ballroom, but when we got there was a sign saying that they were playing in the tearoom which is on the other side of the block from the ballroom. I was confused about the actual start time. The tickets listed the doors opening at 9. The Gypsy Tea Room’s website listed 8 and the band’s website listed 8:30. We got there around 9:30 only to discover the opening band had already played. The name of the opening was Trampled By Turtles.
Gaelic Storm took the stage about 15 minutes after we arrived. The band consists of Patrick (lead vocals) who is Irish, Steve (guitar) who is English, Ryan (drums / percussionist) who is American, Ellery (fiddle) who is American, and Peter (bagpipes) who is Canadian. As you can see they are a very diverse band. I describe their music as modernized traditional Irish music.
They played some crowd favorites Kelly’s Wellies and Johnny Tarr. Both are really good and funny songs. Both Patrick and Steve have a really good stage presence and really good sense of humor.
They play a variety of instruments during the set. Patrick plays the accordion, percussion, and harmonica. Steve plays mainly guitar during the encore, he did play the mandolin for one song. I wish they utilized the mandolin more. I love the sound of it. Peter plays the Great Highland Bagpipes and Uilleann pipes. He also plays some sort of electronic chanter.
I highly recommend you go check them out if they come to your part of the country.