Lunasa at Ulysses – Tuesday March 9th, 2004
By Alice Farrell in New York

In the weeks leading up to St. Patrick's Day in New York there is always a plethora of gigs to draw from when looking for some traditional entertainment, and probably one of the most fun and truly energetic of the lot was the gig that Lunasa gave at the wonderful new downtown nightspot Ulysses.

The pub itself is a grand space, located on the edge of the Wall Street Financial district and the South Street Seaport, created by the co-owners of Swift and Puck Fair, in the same style and ambience of music, camaraderie and good times! They've situated a lovely room at the back, complete with a ready made seating section and small stage, ideally suited for the likes of trad and small band gigs alike.

The show started off, as many of Lunasa's shows do with the Kevin Crawford Comedy show. He is a man of amazing wit, as well as virtuosic talent on the flute, whistles and bodhran, and within minutes of their arrival onstage had the audience in stitches recounting the story of a high school they had just played in Rochester , New York . Evidently the students they were going to play for had learned practically their entire setlist of tunes, and played them for them at a pre-concert performance they put on for the band. Thus leaving the band to scramble to cobble together a new setlist so as not to overshadow what the students had just played.

Like the rapier sharpness of his wit, so was their playing this night, and they launched into the show with a hearty rendition of three reels in honor of Declan McCarthy, the Wedding Reel, Good Morning Nightcap and the Galway shuffle, immediately setting the tone for the speed and brilliance that the evening was going to be all about. I got the feeling we had all jumped on a musical train that was about to take us magical places, leaving the entire audience breathless by the end.

A good portion of the evening was devoted to new tunes from their just released Cd The Kinnitty Sessions (look for my review in the coming weeks), and next came a lovely slow reel entitled “Easter Sunday” with Kevin on low whistle, intertwining with the lilting and lyrical playing of Sean Smyth on the fiddle.

Other highlights included a Donagh Hennessey original “Come Back With my Car you…” which was actually inspired by a night when some rough Galway lads made off with Donagh's car, another hysterical story from Kevin of course and through the music of the rambling reel you could almost envision the naked Donagh chasing the lads up the road in the dark.

And the lovely, upbeat, joyous and almost giddy “Sean in the Fog” featuring the blistering fiddle playing from Sean and the amazingly sturdy backbeat of Donagh on guitar and Trevor Hutchison on bass.

There were shining moments for all the players over the course of the night and some of the most brilliant playing I've heard from Cillian Vallelly on the pipes in ages. His newfound mastery of the regulators on the pipes lended and incredible richness and depth to the slow air “The Wounded Hussar” which he undertook in the second half of the show.

The playing continued fast and furious, causing Kevin to remark that they were sure to get speeding tickets from the trad police in residence that evening, but who could fault them for the spitfire brilliance with which they bring it on. They had the whole room rocking and screaming for more!

Finishing off with a fiery set of reels that left me in a shambles on the floor, I wanted the exhilarating music to continue all night, but I had to suffice myself with taking home the new CD, and trust me that doesn't disappoint either!