I figured I should establish my cred as a reviewer of live music by giving some history of the shows I’ve gone to over the years. This is part one of two, and will deal with everything but the Grateful Dead shows, which need their own post.

Since I was a tiny kid, my parents took me to all kinds of live music. Symphony, folk music, musicals, things like that. I always loved it but I didn’t understand the full power of live rock music until 1984. That year, I went to what I now call my first real concert: Van Halen on the 1984 tour when David Lee Roth was still with them. OK, yeah, I’m kind of old. Whatever. I will never forget perching on the back of my folding chair, in heels, 20 rows from the stage, dead center. The music was ear-splitting, the crowd was wild and intense, the air perfumed with joyful sweat and marijuana smoke (what *do* people call it now?). I was 15, a social outcast, and I left the Philadelphia Spectrum that night with the sense that I’d finally found a place to belong, even for just a brief span of time. As a historical footnote, the video for “Panama” was filmed the night I was there.

The next year, I saw U2 on their “Unforgettable Fire” tour, again at the Spectrum. To this day, it is still in my top ten list of live music experiences. The CD hadn’t been out for very long at that time, but I was enough of a fan to know all the new songs. That same year I saw Bryan Adams (*cringe*) about two weeks before Live Aid. To this day, I can’t believe I missed Live Aid. I was *right there*, an hour from Philadelphia. Watched it on TV though.

During my college years, I saw quite a few prog rock and punk shows. Dead Milkmen, Marillion, Butthole Surfers, stuff like that. As well as many, many nights of listening to my college friends “bands”. I also saw U2 twice more for “Joshua Tree” during that period of time. Of all those, Marillion stands out the most. They were *huge* in Europe at the time, selling out soccer stadiums, but we saw them in teeny tiny bars in places like Poughkeepsie and Albany.

After college, I almost immediately discovered the Grateful Dead, which will be covered in a separate post. In my 20s, I saw all kinds of music. Jam bands, jazz, classic rock, pop, bluegrass, blues, anywhere and everywhere I could get. I haunted the clubs in Baltimore and saw bands like The Counting Crows way before they were well-known. I had a friend who had a band, jammy jazz influenced original stuff and for a while, every Saturday night, we’d go hear them. It was during this time that I discovered some of what remains my favorite music to date. Bela Fleck and the Flecktones, Blues Traveler, Eric Clapton, Phish and more.

Then I got married and immersed in real life and it all kind of…stopped. For a period of several years, I didn’t see any live music at all. I’d lost interest in standard radio music. The local alternative station in Baltimore changed formats. I was in grad school and broke. I got divorced somewhere in there. Then, one of those random, life-changing things happened and I managed to discover Great Big Sea while living about 1,000 miles from Newfoundland. I met my now-husband, which is a story in and of itself, and started seeing all kinds of East Coast bands, celtic rock bands, etc. when we lived in Toronto.

After moving to the cultural wasteland of South Florida, my primary exposure to live music came at Ren faires. I was still missing that bone-shaking, full-body, rock concert experience. We moved to Missouri. More bluegrass and Ozark folk music. Then…then I saw Enter the Haggis at the Milwaukee Irish Festival in August, 2007. I’d seen them before, more than a few times, but for some reason the experience of standing out in the pouring rain, drenched, freezing and singing my heart out, resonated with me in a way few live performances had ever done before. I bought “Northampton” at that show and I was gone. Never looked back. It was *exactly* the kind of musical experience I’d been missing so much. Adrenaline rushing, ear-ringing, bone-vibrating, and alive.

So…that’s my concert history. What’s yours?

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!

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.