Scrap the Irish Descendants, bring on The Cottars

By Lawrence Powell

Spectator

NovaNewsNow.com

Scrap The Irish Descendants from Newfoundland. Bring on The Cottars from Cape Breton.

The sold-out King’s Theatre performance by The Irish Descendants December 15 was cancelled last week after Revenue Canada pulled the plug on the Newfoundland band’s current tour. The band’s front man, Con O’Brien, owes more than $100,000 in back taxes and the taxman put a lien on the tour – which the band promptly cancelled.

“I was very disappointed,” said King’s Theatre general manager Geoff Keymer. “We had a sold out show. We put tickets on sale the beginning of November and they sold out in two weeks.”

With 220 seats already sold, and no band to perform, Keymer spent Thursday and Friday on the phone and on the weekend struck a deal with the internationally renowned Cottars who have packed concert halls to rave reviews around the world.

While disappointed that the plug was pulled on The Irish Descendants, Keymer is breathing a sigh of relief that he was able to pull off what some music lovers would consider a coup in signing The Cottars.

“Yes, I’m very excited about The Cottars,” Keymer said. “They’ve shared the stage with The Chieftains.”

In fact, The Cottars did a 25-city tour with The Chieftains in 2006, finishing at Carnegie Hall where they were joined by Elvis Costello.

On Monday, staff at King’s Theatre were in the process of contacting all 220 people who bought Irish Descendants tickets to see if they wanted refunds.

“But my hope is that everyone will join us for The Cottars,” said Keymer.

Ticket holders for The Irish Descendants concert can use those tickets for The Cottars. But King’s Theatre will offer refunds to those who want their money back, thus freeing up seats for others. He suggested that anyone interested in seeing The Cottars should call the theatre at 532-7704.

“We’re hoping for a full house come what may,” said Keymer.

The Cottars, two-time ECMA winners, is comprised of lead guitarist Bruce Timmons and Ciaran MacGillivray, Fiona MacGillivray, and Claire Pettit. The latter three are all talented singers, musicians, and stepdancers.

They have entertained national and regional political figures and, in various combinations, have shared the stage with stars such Danú, Bruce Cockburn, The Barra MacNeils, Natalie MacMaster, Altan, and many, many others. And they’ve performed privately for the likes of Wayne Gretzky and Senator Ted Kennedy. The group has toured New England and has made concert and festival appearances across the United States, including the Newport Folk Festival where they shared the bill with Bob Dylan. The Cottars have toured Japan several times and are popular in Denmark.

Keymer said he is pleased about bringing in The Cottars on such short notice.

“I couldn’t be happier,” he said.

For information, check out www.kingstheatre.ca