Rbaltimore4 - Page: 1 of 1

Since Baltimore was the next to last performance on the current tour with the song list remaining largely unchanged from all the previous reviews, this one will be just a series of impressions of the concert in general.

The concert was held at the Hippodrome Theater, a beautifully restored old theater in Baltimore. The theater looked to be almost sold out, the only empty seats in the orchestra section being at the rear on the very outside edges. As mentioned in previous posts there was some confusion regarding"first row" seating, but first row, second row or third all provided excellent views of the stage.

The tenors came to the stage following the familiar overture to a very warm welcome, wearing the usual white jackets with dark vests and blue buttonholes which looked from a distance to be tiny blue orchids with forget-me-nots (could be wrong, did not get a close view) which looked very nice against the white of the jackets. All were in very good voice and spirit on this particular evening.

When Ronan came to introduce the lineup the other two were offstage, so he just mentioned their names and birthplaces as usual.

Each of the tenors had his own moment to shine and for me on this evening, Finbar stole the show with South of the Border. As usual, the audience giggles a bit when the song begins but as Finbar puts his heart and soul into this song he takes the audience along with him, the whole thing finishing with a flourish and much loud applause from the people. Anthony's best moment, for me, was The West's Awake. His voice captured the audience so much that at the end of the song there was a moment of stillness, finally followed by thunderous applause. Anthony responded to the ovation by doing a little curtsey. He was funnier last night than I've ever seen him. One of my favorite songs that Ronan sings is Grandfather's Immigrant Eyes, and he's never done it better than on this night. No one puts emotion into the words better than Ronan - I hope he continues to do this song often.

Also, big thanks must go to Arnie Roth for another beautiful job. Lets hope he remains a part of the "new" Irish tenors.

There was all of the usual silliness in the ensemble pieces, eg. the Spanish Lady washing her hair with candle light, shaving and waxing her legs, Finbar's falsetto "bride" in the Wedding Jubilee song. The best of the ensemble songs came, for me, in the encores, especially good old Whiskey In the Jar. At this point, it wouldn't be a tenor concert without it. It always has the audience whooping and hollering and wanting more.

Both Finbar and Ronan made a point of thanking the "ladies in the front row" for all their support over the years (there was at least one gentleman in the group and we were spread over the first two or three rows, but we all understood what they meant). Finbar said that we'd have some "big news" from the tenors by the end of the year, and on leaving the stage for the last time Anthony said "see you next June." These are all encouraging signs. Though the group is splitting none of these people are "going away" so hopefully the split will create even more group and solo concerts and good times in the future.

A Friend of the Website