Enter the Haggis brought their unique blend of Celtic rock fusion to Fitzgerald’s in Berwyn, IL on Saturday night, March 28, 2009. The Canadian quintet is currently touring in support of their new album, “Gutter Anthems,” and songs from the new CD were prominently featured throughout the night.

Fitzgerald’s is a quality venue with a comfortable ambiance and a good selection of imported and domestic beer on tap. By the time the show started (delayed to 9:30 so that the club could observe Earth Hour by dimming the lights) there was a full house of long-time fans, newcomers and club regulars unfamiliar with Enter the Haggis’ particular mixture of rock, pop, funk, jazz overlain by a strong Celtic influence.

The band opened with the high-energy The Litter and the Leaves, an Irish punk-sounding call-to-arms against the status quo. The sound quality was excellent, with guitarist Trevor Lewington and piper Craig Downie blending perfectly. Brian Buchanan, normally on keyboard or fiddle, looked perfectly comfortable wielding a beer bottle instead as he riled up the crowd with strong vocals.

Enter the Haggis followed up that rousing opener with Lancaster Gate, an instrumental from their third studio album, “Soapbox Heroes.” Bassist Mark Abraham really shone with his melodic style of playing. Smoking hot versions of Another Round and the new pop-rock tune DNA followed, inspiring some enthusiastic dancing.

Buchanan picked up his fiddle for “Fiddle Set,” a lively compilation of several traditional Canadian tunes. A competent keyboard player, Buchanan really shines on the fiddle with his high level of technical talent combined with true musical artistry. Downie’s antics during this tune drew the crowd further into the groove.

The rest of the set was a mixture of older tunes interspersed with new songs from “Gutter Anthems.” The only slight hitch occurred at the end of the set when Buchanan’s battery died during “Down with the Ship” forcing him to forgo the soaring fiddle solo that usually closes out the tune. However, drummer James Campbell more than made up the difference with his heart-shaking drumming.

The second set opened with a new instrumental from “Gutter Anthems,” Murphy’s Ashes. Downie proved on this and several other tunes that he’s far more than a traditional Highland piper, pushing the boundaries of his instrument to its limit and beyond. Enter the Haggis followed that up with the haunting, country-influenced Ghosts of Calico and then a mix of new tunes and crowd-pleasing favorites.

The most powerful moments of the night came from two of the band’s older tracks, One Last Drink and Congress which showed two distinct sides of the band. One Last Drink allowed the band to show off their vocal prowess with perfectly blended harmonies. The instrumental Congress showed off the high level of technical ability that each member of Enter the Haggis brings to the table along with pure, joyful showmanship.

Always friendly and accessible to their fans, the band stayed after the show to mingle and sign CDs. Enter the Haggis continues the tour next weekend with shows in Ohio and West Virginia, followed later in April by a string of East Coast dates. Tour information can be found at http://www.enterthehaggis.com along with audio streams of the band’s last four CDs.

I have my typical Haggis hangover this morning. My feet hurt from dancing, I’m hoarse from singing and cheering, and I’m *so* tired. Totally, totally worth it. This is the first of two posts about the show. This one will be an informal trip report. The next will be a more formal review of the actual show.

The Canadian and I got up Saturday morning at 5:00 and were out the door by 6:00. The trip was mostly uneventful but UGH…southern Illinois. I-55 between St. Louis and Chicago has to be the most boring drive on the planet. There are no cows, no houses, no horses, no trees, no scenery, no hills, no towns. *nothing* Just fields and grain silos.

We got to Chicago about 3:00 and I immediately collapsed for a nap while the Canadian went to do some reconnaissance at the venue. The hotel room was amazing! Hotels.com rocks. $88 for a suite at the Write Inn, a gorgeous, vintage 1920s hotel. The suite had a jacuzzi tub, kitchenette, and a gas fireplace! The hotel even had one of those old-fashioned elevators with the doors you open yourself. The Canadian woke me up around 5:00 and I spent the next hour or so making myself sufficiently beautiful. Chicago is a big city and I wanted to look stylish. Besides, we were meeting friends I hadn’t seen in almost nine years.

We headed over, scored a great parking space and met up with our friends at Wishbone, next door to Fitzgerald’s where the show would be. It was a real treat to see my friend and her husband. We hadn’t seen or talked to them in almost eight years. Facebook is the devil, but it can come in handy for reconnecting with old friends. The restaurant’s contemporary Cajun and Creole cuisine was a welcome surprise. It’s rare to find creative vegetarian food where I’m from and Wishbone really hit the mark with a large section of delicious-looking vegetarian dishes. I settled on the hoe cakes with grilled vegetables, described in the menu as “Roasted red peppers, spinach, portabella mushrooms and zucchini sautéed in white wine with a touch of cream smothered over a cheese grit cake.” It was rich, yet not too heavy and the vegetables were cooked perfectly. We carried our food over to Fitzgerald’s to eat, as the host had invited us to do. As we ate and drank, the waitresses set out candles and the club dimmed all the lights for Earth Hour which made for a really nice ambiance.

At this point, I need to digress about beer. Imported honey wheat beer by the pint does not equal domestic beer by the bottle. I forgot to get the name of it, but whatever it was, it was a lovely, sour honey wheat with a lemony undertone. Very refreshing, smooth and *deceptively* alcoholic! It really snuck up on me and I wound up being a lot more…erm…tipsy… than I like to get. But the Canadian tells me that I handled it relatively well and didn’t make an apocalyptic fool of myself, so it’s all good.

We also met up with some online friends, both awesome guys. As we all talked and got to know each other we realized that three of the couples, including us, had had home births! Three homebirth families in a crowd of about…150? is an amazing coincidence.

So, back to the show. Enter the Haggis opened with “The Litter and the Leaves” off their new CD, “Gutter Anthems.” It was wacky high-energy. I’ll write more about the actual show in my more formal review in my next post. Suffice it to say here that the first set was excellent.

Here, I’ve got to put in a note about the “dancers”. There was one woman…good god. I’d talked to her outside. She was super drunk and ranting about Obama being a terrorist, if that tells you anything. Anyway, inside, she was…amusing. Advice for posterity? Attempting to step dance in high heels is not a good idea. Honestly, I didn’t notice her much, being lost in the music as I tend to get. But from other people’s reports it was quite the spectacle.

After the break, another full set including the *best* version of “One Last Drink” that I’ve ever heard. (That might have been in the first set, my memory is a bit hazy on the order of things.) Also, “Ghosts of Calico” which was exactly as amazing as I knew it would be. Like I said, I’ll write more about that in my next post…

I was Craig-side during the show, a vantage point I’d never had before. He’s hilarious and clearly loves what he’s doing. He gets a twinkle in his eye that’s just a joy to see. It was also a new experience for me to see the guys so close up. It made seeing intricate tunes like “Congress” so much more amazing, just from being able to see Trevor play up close.

After the show, prodded by the Canadian and friends, I managed to actually speak with each of the guys and get my picture taken and my CD signed. Some of you may realize what a huge deal that was for me. Social anxiety sucks sometimes. It’s not like a star-struck thing, either (that, my friends, is a whole separate post). It’s just terminal shyness around anyone I don’t know.

Discovered that the car battery had died, but thankfully a friend was able to give us a jump and we headed back to the hotel to collapse. Trip home was uneventful and boring. The snow that started to fall in the night stopped about an hour south of Chicago, so didn’t slow us down as much as we’d feared. Got a Twitter from the band that made me laugh. They made it back to Canada before we made it home one state away! That either speaks to how big this country is, or to what insane nuts we are for driving so far in the first place. I’m thinking the latter…

Peace out…look for the show review within the next day or so.