The Irish Tenors – River Rock Show Theatre – December 19, 2014
The River Rock Resort was bustling with anticipation as the audience gathered for The Irish Tenors to take the stage on Friday night. The River Rock Show Theatre was a great venue for the trio and their 24 piece backing orchestra, great sound and sight lines meant every one in the full house came away satisfied with their 90 minute concert.
Broken into two acts, the first 45 minutes saw the trio; Finbar Wright, Anthony Kearns, Ronan Rynan, perform a series of their classics, including; “When Irish Eyes Are Smiling”, “Toora, Loora, Loora”, “Danny Boy”, “Galway Bay” and “Mine Eyes Have Seen The Glory”. Each of the singers also performed a couple of songs on their own with the orchestra. The audience, presumably filled with expats and fans of the trio’s PBS specials were happily singing along to the familiar tunes.
The second act was a set of traditional Holiday classics in whole or in medleys. The show’s only ‘miss’ happened during this set as it seemed Kearns and Rynan has technical issues with their earpieces making the trio’s harmonizing out of sync. The audience didn’t seem to mind as they really came alive singing along to amp up the festival feel of the concert. The casual and light nature of the Christmas tunes let the group’s personalities shine through as they had fun with the songs, becoming more animated and even dancing while carolling with the fans.
The more mature members of the audience (many walkers and wheelchairs) showed the multi-generational appeal of The Irish Tenors and the Holiday Celebration Tour made a great occasion for those audience members to share the music of their generation with their children. A great way to celebrate the Holiday Season.