Rover’s Songs And Wit Hoist Listeners’ Spirits
The Irish Rovers Sunday, March 12, at the Opera House
From the looks of it, St. Patrick’s Day came a week early this year in Spokane.
First, the St. Patrick’s Day Parade was held Saturday.
Then on Sunday, Celtic folk king the Irish Rovers played the Opera House.
The performance was the last dance for the Irish Rovers in Spokane, since the band is billing this tour as their last in a 30-year run.
From the get-go, the band promised the green-speckled audience: “We’re going to lift your spirits.”
And that’s exactly what the band did.
They did it not just through music, but by nodding to their old variety show days in which the Celts interacted with the crowd, yielding plenty of Irish charm and tons of Guinness-soaked wit.
One Rover even rationalized why the band chose an afternoon performance by quipping: “We can all get to the pub before it closes.”
They played like they were playing before their close friends in a dark and cozy Dublin pub. Their robust harmonies had the vigor of a hundred men. The only problem: None of us had pints of stout to swing proudly in the air while singing along with the choruses.
The Irish Rovers’ songs, even the ones older than the wrinkles on the five members’ faces, still invoked the audience to feel something, especially during the soft, caressing “Summertime is Coming.”
It was also during the softer songs where the Irish Rovers shined. The songs proved that the boisterous, “good-time” band could croon romantically beautiful and delicate harmonies.
Bands like the Irish Rovers are the reason why Celtic folk continues to have such a wide appeal.
Sunday, the band took the audience on a trip to a land where most of us had never been and gave us some perspective on Ireland’s rich and lasting history.
What also made it special was that the band’s music beckoned us to sing and clap along.
In the end, we left Sunday’s concert wearing a smile, walking with extra spring in our steps and humming the chorus of “Wasn’t that a Party.”