CONCERT REVIEW: THE ELDERS

Above: The Elders set the Uptown ablaze on Saturday night / BILL BROWNLEE

The Plaza lighting ceremony on Thanksgiving.  The Royals on opening day.  Add the Elders on St. Patrick's Day to the short list of Kansas City's most beloved seasonal traditions.

The Celtic rock band's fifth consecutive St. Patrick's Day Hoolie packed the Uptown Theater Saturday night.  For many of the approximately 1,700 in attendance, the event is less a concert than a ritualistic celebration.  The Elders' most devout adherents count on the Kansas City band to throw a life-affirming party.  They didn't
disappoint.

"We're half-dead but this is the best night we'll have in our lives," vocalist Ian Byrne pledged as the band launched into the rousing "Packy Go Home."

The six men in the Elders had good reason to be exhausted. They toured Ireland earlier in March and had just returned from a performance in Colorado.

Yet they're named the Elders for good reason.  Decades of combined experience have taught the band smart stagecraft, superb showmanship and taut professionalism.  Their one hour and 50-minute show was well-paced and consistently entertaining. 

Many superstar acts would envy the level of audience participation the Elders achieve on favorites like "Moore Street Girls."  Melodic anthems including "Gonna Take a Miracle" and "1849" also roused the audience.  Four bagpipers joined the Elders on a moving rendition of "Men of Erin."  This nice touch provided the evening's emotional anchor.

Since they're far from a traditional Irish act, the Elders are at liberty to pick and choose among the catchiest bits and pieces from both Irish and popular music. The result is a marriage of the heartland rock of John Mellencamp to the most engaging bits of the Chieftains and the Clancy Brothers.

This mongrelized approach may not fly with purists, but it thrilled their rabid fans in the Uptown Theater.  In fact, The Elders are the only active band based in Kansas City capable of filling the large venue.

All six Elders are gifted craftsmen.  Brent Hoad's fiddle work is particularly valuable.  His staged duel with Steve Phillips' versatile guitar on "Green and Gold" was remarkable.  The enormous arena rock drumming of Tommy Sutherland also plays a key role in The Elders' vitality.

The Elders' encore, a loose take on The Police's "Message In a Bottle," was a well-deserved victory lap.

The Elders asked two sets of friends open the show.  The familiar O'Riarda Academy of Irish Dance provided a well-received demonstration. They were followed by New Orleans resident Beth Patterson.  With her long blonde hair, bare shoulders and affected accents, Patterson came across as a likely celebrity on the Renaissance festival circuit.  Her pleasing voice and fine playing on the bouzouki received polite applause from the cheerful audience.

| Bill Brownlee, Special to The Star