Why not celebrate St. Patrick’s day almost exactly a month in advance? The Irish Descendants provided the perfec
t soundtrack for an early St. Patrick’s Day at Coyote Joes, Feb. 16.
St. John Based The Irish Descendants (frontman Con O’ Brien, fiddle player Patrick Moran fiddle , bouzouki player Ronnie Power and bassist Justin Hickey bass) played a couple of solid sets of authentic Celtic and Newfoundland music.
They show wasn’t really well promoted, but for a Tuesday night, they had an impressive crowd ready to sit back and party.
There were sociables a plenty as the audience cheered enthusiastically after each song. While most of them weren’t in the mood to dance, though a handful of girls took to the floor by the end of the set.
They played a variety of traditional Celtic/ Newfoundland classics as well as a few of their own songs, all designed to showcase the instrumental talents of the band, especially fiddle player Patrick Moran.
The stripped down set was all acoustic other than a bass amp on stage, so you could clearly hear every note, not to mention all of the outstanding vocal harmonies. Frontman Con O’ Brien was an affable host, raising his glass and shouting “Sociable” every other song. He related some of the history of he more traditional material. They also played a beautiful version of Rawlins Cross’ “Colleen” and a rare love song by Stan Rogers.
But each of the members sang lead for some of the show. Moran, in addition to being a fine fiddle player, showed he had a gorgeous, lilting tenor voice.
Their second set featured familiar fare including “I’se the B’y” which had the audience singing along.
They played an excellent cover of Steve Earle’s “Galway Girl” which was a treat as Moran’s other band the Punters do a wicked version of it. That brought the set to a rollicking close, after showing off their fantastic vocals on an a cappella version of “ Barrett’s Privateers” which also had the audience singing along.
But they returned for an encore featuring a toe tapping set of traditional Irish jigs performed by Moran. The show started early, so everything was wrapped up before 10 p.m.
