Chieftains at Orchestra Hall: Celtic blunder or wonder?

Paddy Moloney is the Lawrence Welk of Irish music. Under the guise of the Chieftains, he trots out a cavalcade of musicmakers and dancers with impish delight. He talks so fast that it's hard to decipher what he's saying, but, whatever it is, he is certainly amusing himself. And Moloney and the Chieftains certainly entertained a near full house at Orchestra Hall on Sunday night Matt Molloy sparkled on flute, Kevin Conneff did a couple of nice vocal turns and was steady on bodhran, and Moloney supplied the humor and spirit as well as some tin whistle and Uillean pipes. But the two-hour show didn't belong to just the core members. Canadian Jon Pilatzke was flashy on both fiddle and tap dancing (in concert with his brother Nathan and American Cara Butler). Scotland's Alyth McCormack showed off her lovely vocal pipes, especially with Celtic mouth music. And a parade of local guests – the Shamrock School of Dance and the Macalester College Pipe Band – added energy as well as authentic costumes and sounds to the festivities. Even though the 48-year-old Chieftains are known as the world's foremost purveyors of traditional Irish music, the two-set program was more about Moloney's love for genre blending. His mix included country music, rock, Spanish, South American, bluegrass, folk, Scottish and, of course, Irish. The Chieftains offered a sampling of Mexican-tinged songs from their forthcoming CD, "San Patricio," inspired by a battalion of Irish-American soldiers who switched sides during the Mexican-American war. Some concertgoers may have been disappointed by the global eclecticism at the expense of Irish sounds. Definitely disappointing was the quality of the sound. There was a constant hum/hiss in the sound system; you'd think after 898 performances at Orchestra Hall, the Chieftains would have it worked out by now. Also, Moloney's Uilleann pipes droned on annoyingly while McCormack tried to sing a quiet passage.