Intensity	Stupidity:Nudity Ratio 1:1	Budget Medium

Celtic Music is all a little compressed to me. It is a little too much on the beat and the harmonies lack the range I really like. Still, it can have a driving beat and I certainly appreciate the style. The Corrs are a family act, Andrea, Caroline, Sharon and Jim. All are strong musicians who learned to play at their father's knee. The show starts with a couple of their pop songs to polite applause, but then they do a traditional instrumental and the place is on its feet. Perhaps because of the venue, this is a more conservative crowd and at other shows the pop songs are better received. While I enjoyed all the songs, I don't find myself really wanting to hear them again. This I believe is a lack of appreciation on my part of the subtle aspects of the style of music.

Musically the show was well paced with great performances by the band and the backup musicians. Caroline played the drums in a style that reminded me of John Melencamp's old drummer Kenny Aronoff; stiff back and slamming hard on the backbeat. Sharon is a strong technical performer who seemed most at home doing backup, even during her solo performance she somehow seemed shy and Jim was about the same. The siblings left the front man duties to Andrea who did a fair job. Wearing a little black outfit with a slit up the sides and rather blocky high heels, she occasionally looked like a little girl playing in her mother's clothes. Her website states that she stopped wearing the high heels shortly after this concert and that may have helped. She moved around the stage, but never took command of it. If you want to see a woman own a stage, check out Gwen Stefani doing "Life goes on". Andrea's performance may have lacked stage presence, but I think the band sees themselves as musicians first, performers second and I can hardly disagree with that. My first qualification of any musician has always been "Can you entertain me with just one instrument and your voice?". If an act needs a ten piece band, backup singers, backup dancers, flashing lights and explosions to keep the crowd interested, then the musical ability of the act is always in question. The Corrs did not have and did not need any of this. Their show was driven by the music.

Andrea, like so many singers, has a much different speaking voice than singing voice. When she introduces the songs she has this throaty little Irish brogue. When she sings, she has this high, sweet voice. She seemed especially pleased to be playing at the Royal Albert Hall on St. Patrick's day and I am not sure if it is because it is such a respected theater or if there was a political significance to an Irish band playing on an Irish holiday in the heart of southern England. I lean towards the latter because of my memories of the terrible struggles that England and Ireland went through.

Midway through the show Mick Fleetwood joined the band on stage for a cover of Dreams. To me, this was the strongest song of the night but again this comes back to a musical preference on my part to more of a shuffle beat. Overall this was a very enjoyable concert film of a very talented band. Watching the movie it is incredibly easy to imagine Andrea, Caroline, Sharon and Jim sitting in their family's living room playing the music they love. These guys are musicians first and foremost and the show is a bare-bones concert. There is very little to distract you from the songs, no dancers, no costume changes, no TV screens showing accompanying video, just the band. If you don't like the style of music or the band, you won't enjoy the movie. If you can't handle a concert movie that doesn't have little interviews and videos of the band doing things other than playing music, you won't like this movie. But if you appreciate that rare combination of talent and heart, you will find it here.

Got a comment or different opinion? Send a message.