Sorry for the belatedness of this review. It’s been a week.

The Dublin Pub…nice venue. The owner was awesome. A true publican who made sure everyone was comfortable and having a good time. It was already packed when I got there around 7:30 and I ended up in the back by the bar among the people who preferred to talk rather than listen.  Most of the crowd seemed to be people who came to their favorite bar and, ooh, look, a band!

I would like to say for the record that I was not the only crazy person there. I met a guy, Dan, who had flown in from Alexandria, LA! We debated who was nuttier. He’d come farther, but I had driven the whole 10 hours. I think it was a tie.

OK, the show. The first of the two sets was…interesting. The first two songs were great (The Litter and the Leaves, Lancaster Gate). Then it got sort of uneven. Not bad, just not as tight as I’ve come to expect. The guys seemed to be having trouble finding and holding a consistent groove. I’m not sure if it was something technical going on, or the odd crowd, or what. Or maybe it was just me in my vantage point among the talkers.

However, things changed in the second of the two sets. Not only did the guys find the groove, they caught it, wrestled it to the ground, kicked its ass and showed it who was boss. It was the best single set of Enter the Haggis I’ve heard in the ten years I’ve been seeing them.

A thunderous version of Murphy’s Ashes opened the set followed by Ghosts of Calico which is catchy and haunting all at the same time. Apothecary with a gorgeous new intro…I love it played this way! Couple more solid tunes then Craig played “Amazing Grace” as the intro to “Long Way Home.” Apparently, a Dayton police officer had fallen the day before and this was a tribute. That few minutes alone would have been worth driving 10 hours to hear. It was moving and technically spot-on. Some more really solid stuff, then Broken Line. It is not hyperbole to say this song is a masterpiece, both live and on the CD. Lanigan’s closed the set and Brian had fun playing with his new toys (violin effect pedals), much to the delight of the crowd, who finally seemed to get into things. Particularly, when Trevor decided to be a rock star and jumped up on one of the tables to close out the tune!

The encore was Lights and Cars which never fails to move me, Congress and Gasoline. Trevor had to get a bit acrobatic for the drum-guitar bit during Congress because the stage was so small. All in all? Completely worth the 20 hours in the car. Completely. Bravo, guys!