Celt rockers The Chieftains rock IU Auditorium

Ireland's own Chieftains performed at the IU Auditorium on Saturday to a packed house. Even the stage was filled with featured guests, including the group Quagmyre, Triona Marshall on harp, Maureen Fahy on fiddle and Ryan MacNeil on keyboards.\n"Tonight was, musically, one of the best shows of the tour," said Jon Pilatzke. He added that "the gear and crew were fantastic."\nThe Chieftains came on stage and launched into the lively "March of the King of Laois," and after an introduction to everyone on stage, Kevin Conneff performed an unaccompanied traditional Irish vocal piece. Afterward, Conneff went back to the bodhran, a type of Celtic drum, and continued with the more upbeat songs "Santiago de Cuba" and "Muiñeira de Frexido."\nThroughout the show, transitions from slow to upbeat songs captivated the audience.\n"I liked the variety of the upbeat songs and the slower, more traditional type music," said Lance Like, a Bloomington resident.\nThe next piece was a melodic tune that began with band leader Paddy Moloney on tin whistle, accompanied by a harp harmony. It led into more upbeat dance music, then "The Downfall of Paris," which featured Moloney on the uilleann pipes, an Irish bagpipe. The group's rendition of "Cotton Eye Joe" followed.\n"That, of course, was the national anthem of Texas," Moloney joked after the song.\nThe traditional Irish music and dance group Líadan then performed "P Stands for Paddy" and followed with a dance piece. The Chieftains and others on stage played with Líadan, increasing the already large number of people performing. Maureen Fahy showed off her dancing skills, followed by a number of songs.\nThe audience seemed to enjoy the variety of songs that the stage was presenting to them -- from slow and traditional to upbeat, from instrumental to vocal, often accompanied with dancing from one or more of the performers onstage.\nAfter break, they came out with a mid-tempo song called "Gold Ring." Marshall performed a solo piece on the harp, which was eventually accompanied by the bodhran. This led into another dance piece where even more dancers came out.\nThe set gave Matt Molloy his chance to show off his talent on the flute, developing once again into a dance piece.\nThe last piece of the set continued until all instrumentalists played a solo. When Molloy had his turn, Moloney jokingly gave signs of impatience at the length of his performance.\nTheir inclusiveness that had been shown capitalized during the encore performance, when the Chieftains were performing and many of the other performers danced through the IU Auditorium in a line, adding audience members to the line as they went.\nAfter dancing around the auditorium, some of the audience members were led onto the stage, where the night's performance came to an end.\n "You can't leave the show without a smile gleaming from ear to ear," said audience member Skip Daley.