The Red Hot Chilli Pipers – Best. Concert. Ever – Again!

These guys couldn’t give a bad show if you paid them.

Saturday night was the long-awaited Red Hot Chilli Pipers concert at the Warner Theatre in Torrington. First, a moment of wistful silence for the absence of Malcolm McEwen who, if I have a favorite in the band (and, really, how can I?) might be it; he was not present for this one. I am informed that he is on tour in Asia with his fiancee – and they just missed the calamities in Japan. Thank God – or it would have been something a lot stronger than a moment of silent wistfulness. Safe travels, Malcolm – hope to see you soon. I’m still seriously thinking about red glasses.

However: there still was a modified drum duel, with the two magificent Stevens (Steven ‘Stav’ Black and Steven Graham of the Ferrari hands), so I couldn’t be disappointed – and filling the bass guitar gap admirably was Ben Holloway, whom I had not “met” before. I hadn’t realized there’s a rotating cast of bandmates, which accounts for the different faces now and again; and Ben was fantastic.

Our seats were very good; last time I thought for some reason we were going to be front-ish and center, and we were … not; we were in the balcony. This time I found a seating chart of the Warner that seemed to indicate we’d be in the front corner of the second section of the orchestra. And … we were! It was excellent.

I’ll get two beefs (beeves?) off my chest early. 1) I’ve never quite understood the concept of paying a decent amount of money for a ticket and then getting so drunk you’ll never remember a minute of what you paid for. There was a couple in the last row of the first section, so just ahead of us, who had been going at it hard prior to the concert; he seemed far worse off than she, and she was at least two sheets to the wind. I think he was up to four. Put this way: when you go to clap your hands over your head, and you miss, it’s time to go home and go to bed. Also, when you go to fist-bump a friend, and you miss … see sound-of-one-hand-clapping, above. They did disappear shortly after intermission; I was literally praying that they were staying in the hotel across the street.

2) There was a very young, very full-of-himself security boy in a yellow shirt scurrying around constantly during the concert. He didn’t seem to do anything but scurry and get in our way, but every five minutes or so, there he went. He seemed remarkably put out about people dancing in the aisles for someone working in a theatre that sells alcohol – he tried (ineffectually) to put a stop to it a couple of times, I think, which was futile, earpiece or no earpiece. Officious twit. My sister was beginning to threaten to catch him, tie him up, and put him in a corner. I was more than ready to help.

OK, and that’s all the negativity I have about the concert. (Except the parking was rubbish.)

I’m not going to even try to provide a set list, but among the songs were a breathtaking Amazing Grace (People always ask two questions: can you play Amazing Grace, and what’s under your kilt: yes, and covered in the intro to Gary O’Hagen); “Hey Jude”, which will never be the same in my head again (our side won in the nana-off); Coldplay’s “Clocks”, which I really do prefer with the pipes – I miss them when the song comes on the radio; Snow Patrol’s “Chasing Cars”, just gorgeous; and two new-to-me covers: War’s Low Rider (that was a surprise) and The Who’s Baba O’Riley (wow). I’ve got to say that now I listen to the radio with an ear toward what might be adapted to the pipes. And every time one of “their” songs comes on I smile.

Stuart asked who had been to Scotland, then who wanted to go to Scotland; his two pieces of advice for going to Scotland were:
1) Bring clothing appropiate for all weather, because in the space of one day you could go from shorts and t-shirt and sneakers to six pairs of socks and a jumper (which he adorably corrected immediately to “sweater”), to a raincoat. (So – like Connecticut, then.)
2) Go to Argyll. He believes it to be the most beautiful part of Scotland; it has lochs, and glens, and the Loch Ness Monster, and wee haggises running about (having just a few days ago come across this  I almost fell out of my seat) … A Scottish POW in WWII was so homesick for his Argyll that he wrote a song about it – and Dougie gave it to us on his pipe, which was goosebump-raising, and the Manchester Regional Police and Fire Pipe Band rejoined them. Again, I have never, ever, seen a standing ovation in the middle of a concert. Much less several.

Stuart has in the past told about how he wrote a song in college, and misplaced it for a while, and then rediscovered it. This time all he said was: Two things we should know about him were that he’s always late, and he always gets lost. “This is The Lost.” I’ll need to learn it for the many times I’m lost. I have a new theme song. (I love Dougie and Kevin – but I voted for you in Pipe Idol, Stuart!)

Among the Chillis, who as I said are all my favorites, I have to single out Nick “The Firestarter” Hawryliw, who is just tremendous, and I’m not just saying that because he left a comment on my blog last time. He does, indeed, put the “rock” in “bagrock”. One of my favorite things in all the world is a lad in a kilt and sneakers, and Firestarter is not only that: he is a rock god. It has to be said that telling many people I know that a guitarist in a bagpipe band is a rock god would raise skepticism. All I can say is “You haven’t seen the Firestarter.”

And they were all very patient and sweet after the show as well - sorry about the blinding flash...

Stav and Kev

I talked in my post about my first RHCP concert about the deep and awed adoration I feel for these guys, in which it’s very obvious I’m not alone (it was, I heard, a sold out house, most of which tickets went through CPTV pledging, with twice the cost per ticket). What’s wonderful is that they seem to feel the same way about their audience. There is a sheer indefatigable joy in their performances, in the giving and in the taking. Stuart as spokesman expressed it: they’re grateful, they never dreamed they would be playing – especially playing bagpipes – in front of screaming sold out audiences. And they know how lucky we and they are to be able to enjoy ourselves so thoroughly when so many are in the midst of so much trouble. And they don’t forget how they came to be here. (Thank you again, Gail, and again, and always.)

After the concert I happily tracked down Gail McClellan of The Olde Burnside Brewing Co./Ten Penny Ale and Pipes in the Valley, who with her husband Bob were responsible for contacting CPTV and saying “We have a show you need to see”. “We hear that a lot,” said the CPTV rep who introduced the concert. But this was different. This was the Red Hot Chilli Pipers. Gail said the boys will be headlining at Pipes in the Valley again this summer (*clears schedule*), and after that – who knows? With luck, nothing but onward and upward. And it might be awhile before they hit Connecticut again. And I hope that’s true, in that they deserve a fully national stage – they deserve to be well-known throughout the country. We mustn’t be selfish. But lads? Remember: Connecticut loved you first. Y’all come back now, y’hear?

 

They’re here!

Warner Theatre, Torrington CT, March 19 – Red Hot Chilli Pipers!  It took CPTV long enough to get ‘em out, but they’re here, and they didn’t change the concert date on me this time. 

I need to start working out to be ready for this. 

*is excited*

 

CPTV, this is neither kind nor fair

I told you I can’t afford another pledge, not even to get hold of tickets to the Red Hot Chilli Pipers.  I told you.  But did you listen?  Nooooo.  No, you had to air BLAST LIVE  AGAIN tonight.  I made it through what, four? airings this past weekend – but – my willpower is only so strong (that is: not very).  *hangs head* I am weak. 

Weak in will – but strong in fangrrlishness.  I pledged.  That side mirror can just go on dangling. 

“Your tickets to the Red Hot Chilli Pipers will be arriving two weeks prior to the concert, March 19, 2011 at the Warner Theatre in Torrington.  Enjoy the show!” 

Aye.  I think I can do that.  *happy dance* (Hope to see you there, Gail!!)

 

Chilli Pipers Redux!

I hate pledge drives.  But that’s when CPTV puts the Red Hot Chilli Pipers on!  They’re not stupid – they had a huge response last summer, so they’re taking advantage of the addiction they helped foster.   That’s nefarious. 

Sadly, this time I don’t have the cash to pledge for tickets to – wait for it – the return of the Chillis to Connecticut! March 19 at the Warner Theatre in Torrington… I can only hope there are seats left after payday (and not the next one, she added, thinking of the side mirror dangling from the driver’s door of her car).  If they come back to Connecticut and I can’t go, I … will be very sad. 

In the meantime, BLAST Live was on this afternoon, and faith it’s on again now, and for the rest of the evening.  (Oh – they also taped the pledge break chatter, and are airing that again.  Well, that’s what the mute button is for.)  “Clocks”!! I love “Clocks”.  I said it before, I’ll say it again – when they play the mundane version on the radio, I miss the pipes.  I’ll take the bagrock cover any day. 

Stuart says “The man who puts the ‘rock’ in bagrock is – - G-man!”  Yes.  He did.  (Though I have to admit a real preference for the Firestarter whose last name I need lessons in pronouncing, who was truly great in Hartford last September.)  But every man on that stage rocks, by at least two definitions.  It’s a good thing I wasn’t watching this afternoon with anyone less patient than my mother, or the constant giddy repetitions of “I do love these guys” would have gotten me thrown out into the snow.

But I do love these guys. Here’s hoping for March.

 

Red Hot Chilli Pipers: Best. Concert. Ever.

I’ve seen some of my idols in concert. I’ve seen legends in concert. Billy Joel, Billy Joel with Elton John, James Taylor, Simon & Garfunkel. (KISS.) I loved the shows (except when the beer was dumped on me at BJ); I remember the incredulous smile that stuck to my face all throughout S&G. This, though? This was the most fun I’ve had at a concert, and the hardest I have ever loved the performers. This was the best concert I’ve ever been to.

One factor in that, I have to say, was the setting. Not just the Bushnell – which is a lovely, lovely theatre (we were in the Belding Auditorium) – but also the fact that the audience was entirely, or almost, made up of people who were sitting home one night in either June or August minding their own business when CPTV, in the midst of a dreaded pledge drive, put on a concert by a group of insane Scotsmen. (Sorry – that is an oxymoron, I know.) And they – we – picked up the phone and pledged and required as our thank you gift two tickets to this concert. Well, tomorrow’s actually; they had so many ticket requests they had to add a second show. So this was a hall filled with people who paid more than the advertised ticket price to be there, and who were there purely out of love of the band. Well, usually people go to a concert because they love the band – but this was a PBS group who were willing to sit through pledge breaks to see the concert on CPTV. That’s love. Not a bad way to stack an audience.

We left home early; it’s supposed to take a bit over half an hour to get there, but neither Shar nor I knows Hartford, so: extra time. Fortunately. Yes, we got a bit lost. Yes, there are some kinda scary areas up there. Yes, we visited a couple of them. We made it out again, and arrived only an hour or so early – yay. This meant good parking.

The show was opened by a gentleman from CPTV, which was actually rather nice; it felt like a communal effort. And he announced that, as an opening act, there was a surprise: the Manchester Regional Police & Fire Pipe Band (oh! Formerly the 53rd Stewart Highlanders!) came out, 12 pipers strong with four drums (including the massive bass, and one snare whose player was a drumstick acrobat). It was pure, straightforward, classic bagpiping (and drumming), and they were wonderful, and were given a rousing welcome and sendoff, well deserved.

Oddly, then, the house lights came on … Not just up, but fully “bye now” on. When they finally went back out a quarter of an hour or so later, it was all the way out, to set the stage for:

THIS

Accompanied by dramatic lighting, as appropriate. Halfway through the band trooped out and took their places, those without kits to stand behind taking up stances with their backs to the audience. I wish I could tell you the first song they gave us, but they rocked the place for two solid hours – it’s all a marvellous, giddy blur now … These are not only young guys with wonderfully twisted senses of humour and mad skillz at arrangement – these are fiercely talented musicians, every one. 

(If only I could figure out the lineup; I didn’t retain enough names!  I know Stuart Cassells, host and bagpiper extraordinaire; the other two pipers were Kyle Warren the tall dark and handsome and Kevin McDonald of the prodigious moves.  Drumkit was Steven ‘Stav’ Black, and fantastic; snare drum was (from the site) ”twice world champion snare drummer Steven Graham”: “fastest hands in Scotland” indeed – it was like watching (or trying to watch) a hummingbird hover over the snare.  Stuart called him a Ferrari on the drums – which is utterly perfect.  Percussion and guitar and red spectacles was Malcolm McEwan – he and Steven Graham engaged in the drum duel, with backup from Stav: I’ve said it before, I think, I love drums, and this, with these guys, was to die for.  Heh.  Bongos and bagpipes were peculiarly, wonderfully made for each other.  Gary O’Hagan was the wonder behind the keyboards … which leaves the axe-man.  And a few folks in the Facebook photo albums I can’t reconcile with the rocker dude in the sneakers … Who was – there is no other word – awesome.  Hm. (ETA: Firestarter.  Aptly named.)

Regardless.)  Coldplay’s “Clocks” was meant to be played on the pipes – I think I prefer the RHCP’s version, and I love the original.  Snow Patrol’s “Chasing Cars” was gorgeous – it shouldn’t have been as good as the original, but it was.  And “Smoke on the Water” … they’ve been playing it on the radio quite a bit lately, and I miss the bagpipes, is all.  Tonight Stuart dedicated a song to Bill Millin, who accompanied British troops in the landing at Normandy carrying no weapon but a bagpipe.  British high command had banned pipers from accompanying troops to try to prevent casualties, but Lord Lovat told him “Ah, but that’s the English war office.  You and I are both Scottish, and that doesn’t apply.”  He passed away on August 17 – and I think he’d appreciate the honour done to him tonight.  “Amazing Grace” began on the keyboard in almost a gospel mode, picked up by Stuart on the pipes.  About when I thought I was going to have to sit sobbing, the song broke out into a tremendous full company riot.  It was (channeling Mia Michaels) ridiculous. 

There was so, so much more – like the encore halfway through the show (please don’t ask me on which song, because my brain has officially begun to shut down) of the Manchester Regional Police & Fire Pipe Band – I have never seen or heard of a standing ovation in the middle of a concert before.  It was a joy. And, of course, “We Will Rock You”.  Come on.

I know there are a lot of people who don’t like – or who hate – the bagpipe.  I feel terribly, terribly sorry for them.  The only musical instrument to (afaik) ever have been used as a weapon – the pipes are wild, uncontrolled, plaintive or joyous, heartbreaking or inspiring.  (I love the image of a phalanx of Scotsmen – wild-eyed, hairy, kilted – making for enemy lines skirling on the pipes … I’d run away rather than oppose that.)  So often the traditional pipes bring nostalgia, make me wish for the past (a past that never was, really); they stir up the collective Scots half of me and make me wish I’d been born a long time ago.  Bagpipes in the hands of these men make me glad I’m here and now and able enjoy the honor of being in a RHCP audience. 

I don’t think I was the only one loving them with a deep and awed adoration tonight.  I hope they felt that.  Can’t wait till I have the chance again.  (There’s a new CD out October 17!)

 

Who was that kilted man?

OK, so I told of my joyous discovery of the Red Hot Chilli Pipers in the last post.  I can’t afford the music on iTunes or anything at the moment (having made an unexpected pledge to Connecticut Public Television for some reason), but I can listen on YouTube - and lo:

I had wondered while watching the show if one of those pipers might not have been, well, this one:

- – And then I saw that the RHCP’s actually do “Hey Jude” … But apparently not. Still, I wonder if Lee – or one of the producers or advisors? – knew about the RHCP?

Which leaves the question open: Whoever was that man behind the sporran??

 

Mad genius on the bagpipes

This is wrong.  It’s just wrong, I tell you.

No Reel 13 tonight, no Britcoms – pledge drives on PBS. I can’t normally sit through pledge breaks, so no matter what incredible shows they trot out for the drives I don’t watch. However, tonight on 13 they had James Taylor and Carole King – which concert is top 5 of the dozen or more shows this summer I want to see and won’t – and I was just about to happily settle in with that … when I happened to check the onscreen guide.   On CPTV, there was something called the Red Hot Chili P – no, wait.  I took another look.  Red Hot Chilli Pipers. 

Bagpipes. 

Doing songs whose writers never, ever thought of bagpipes. 

Example:

That’s just ridiculous. It’s insane. It’s flipping crazy genius. I LOVE it.

Even madder – they take on Ravel’s flipping Bolero. (Bolero – which Torvill and Dean skated to in the 1984 Winter Olympics. Bolero! Sweet merciful lord.)

And Queen. And AC/DC. If they had intro’d into a KISS song I would have had to be scraped up off the floor. I LOVE THESE GUYS.

I haven’t had this much fun in I don’t know how long.

They hit me where I live, PBS did, and I pledged – with a thank you gift of two tickets to the concert they’re giving in September. (Huh – it’s not listed on their website.)

Kevin Macdonald, Stuart Cassells (who was in the studio for the pledge drive), Gregor James, Steven Graham, Malcolm McEwan, Steven Black (the kit drummer), Chris Russell, Kyle Warren, Dougie McCance – I went from never having to my knowledge heard of them to being an out-and-out groupie. 

(See, this is why I said “to my knowledge – they played on the soundtrack to Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire?!)  I have always loved the pipes.  There’s Lochanside at the New York Renaissance Faire and the Irish Festival - Feis – that has graced our town for – what, over twenty years? –  has always featured New Haven’s Gaelic Highland Pipe Band in the main tent.  One of my favorite things in all the world is to sit not far from the circle of pipers and feel the music vibrate around my heart.  (They often have an ad in the town paper looking for members.  I … am … tempted.  I can’t carry a tune in a bucket, I had a difficult time in grade school just learning the recorder – but I’m tempted.)  (I think I should just stay on the sidelines and remain a groupie, though – much as the idea of the discomfort of some of our neighbors enchants me.) 

It’s listening to the pipes that I really begin to think there’s something in genetic memory.  I can’t listen to bagpipes without feeling a slightly manic light rise in my eyes and a mildly demented grin twist my mouth.  I’m a pacifist, really, despite the number of drivers I express my desire to dismember as I drive the roads of Connecticut.  But I get this sort of idea that had I been born some three hundred years ago and a few thousand miles north (and, probably, male), I would have followed the pipes into battle. 

Who knows – maybe I did. 

I can’t wait for September 10.   I am, truly, a groupie.

I don’t believe these guys are related to TRHCP, but – who cares?  How cool is this?