HIS venue's steep and narrow seating reversed the normal performer superior balance of power and made it difficult to establish rapport. Triona Ni Dhomhnaill (vocals, piano, synthesiser), Brian Dunning (flutes) and Micheal O Domhnaill (guitar, vocals, whistle) opened the band's first: Irish gig reservedly with a piece dedicated to a treasured nephew. Dunning's alto flute set the moody tone for this, the concert instrument and whistles dipping in and out.
Stand in fiddler John Fitzpatrick let caution rule, and here the regular's (Scot John Cunningham's) tunes were a strong part of the repertoire. Guest Adele O'Dwyer kept an American identity for the recently returned exiles, holding wonderful cello drone on Toys, making her melodic mark expertly in the seamlessly swapped parts of the developed, mouth music Fionnghuala encore. Strongly contemporary in White Snow, parlour in End of Evening, Ni Dhomhnaill worked most impressively on piano in Waterfalls, with guitar picked nicely in its niches. Dunning's Moondance was an exquisite display of timbre and pitch play, his Silky Flanks beautifully orchestrated, using a tongued, percussive monotone.
Cricket's Wicket brought in cello again, and cafe style violin, developing a big band sound that saw them out on a standing ovation.
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