I had the wonderful opportunity to see the Chieftians in San Francisco while on business in March.

The Chieftians played on Sunday March 23 to a full house at Davies Symphony Hall in San Francisco. The temperature outside was about 30C but it got much hotter inside as the Chieftians led by Paddy Maloney hit the stage. This show featured the songs and tunes that have made the Chieftians famous for more than 34 years.

With the boys on this afternoon was Carlos Nunez so a good portion of the show was dedicated to the Santiago CD. The show was off to a light hearted start as the introductions hit a snag when the intro drummer got locked "on" the stage, finally after some hearty laughter the side doors opened and he made his escape.

An interesting new piece was played by Paddy as a solo on the pipes, this tribute to the Famine and the lives that were lost was haunting. Paddy indicated that he played this piece on Grosse Ile (Quebec City) where the graves of more than 15000 Irish are buried, those who did not make it to the new world. I can hardly wait to hear that piece in its entirety.

The show ended with 2 encores and the dancing started in the aisles and flowed back to some of the local Irish pubs in the city.

This was the first time I had the opportunity to see the Chieftians live and I can hardly wait to see them again.