Chieftains - Live at Montreux 1997
Released 2009
A DVD of the Chieftains live is a bit of a tough thing to review for me. Because? Well, for starters, I think fans of the Chieftains know who they are and what they are about, and probably pretty much what to expect live. Anyone that would like them probably already knows about them and therefore writing for someone that doesn’t know them is kind of pointless and not going to make anyone want to listen to it. Also, and this is the real crux of the problem, it leaves me with just a review of whether it is good or not.
And herein lies the problem: I like the Chieftains but I would have to say I’m not really a fan, so to approach this as good or bad in comparison to their other work is a bit difficult. And hell, as anyone who knows the Chieftains will say it’s not going to be bad. So I guess the thing to do is really to get outside of this and try to review it as a representation of their work.
Now, that said: if you are not familiar with this band they are essentially an Irish folk band formed in 1962 notorious for putting Irish music on the map and popularizing it. According to their website, they are responsible for bringing Irish traditional music to the world’s attention and have worked with the some best musicians of Ireland to not only pay homage to the music of the past but to move it into the future. Som yeah, crash course over.
Now another big confession that I have to make is that generally I don’t enjoy live videos. Like, okay maybe a song or two. But a whole video of watching someone play live makes me somehow feel cheated, like you can see a bands musical prowess, but you miss the whole energy of the crowd and you know you miss that guy standing or sitting beside you that keeps shifting uncomfortably and that you really you just want to pop out their eyes; You know that experience.
And this was recorded live in 1997at the prestigious Montreux Jazz Festival, started in 1967 in Switzerland, recognized as one of the world’s greats. So in terms of credibility this has that in spades. There is a bit of everything one would expect from traditional Irish music; lots of fiddle and flute, and pipes and all kinds of nice other things. We even get treated to a little bit of Irish step dancing which is alright in my books.
Most of the songs are played in medleys showcasing the Chieftains various albums, notably the Long Black Veil and Santiago which at the time had been recently released and the group was promoting them.
Really, the whole live experience comes across as quite invigorating and pretty amazing. As a DVD I feel things are a bit lacking though having just the concert and well that’s it. No special features or extra shows or anything which really would have been nice. And the opening credit montage is quite ridiculous and really serves to take away from the music that is about to play. With this sort of lame elevator electronica.
Okay I know I know it is just for the company name set et al, but still.
But aside from that it gives a really great impression of the Chieftains live, like really you feel like you’re right there and there were some pretty freaking sweet songs played. So I guess if you can’t actually see the Chieftains live this will make up for it. And as someone that doens’t really appreciate live footage of bands I actually watched the whole thing through, and instead of getting bored I really rather appreciated it.
