The "Could be" Be Good Tanyas concert

On Saturday night, Frank and I went to see the Be Good Tanyas, our first concert in the Whistling Swan series of concerts in Anchorage. You know, I really was in the mood for a good concert, from the start. We wound up being in the front row as subscribers, which was great, and the PAC is just a beautiful place to see a concert.

So I really wanted the Be Good Tanyas to really be good.

The first set was done by the Derry Aires, a local group of women with incredible voices doing four-part harmony. Most of the songs were humorous in one way or another, although there were some good Irish-American influenced tunes thrown in as well. At first, I thought it would be a bit tiring, but the songs and the voices really made the set enjoyable. If you get a chance to see these ladies in Anchorage, definitely make an effort to go see them! For those of you not in Anchorage, here is a link to their CD:


I was ready for the main act. The Be Good Tanyas came on with vintage outfits on. Great, I thought, this band was going to be good!

The musical style of the Be Good Tanyas is kind of like Over the Rhine with a bit of a southern influence and more guitar. The style of the singing is ethereal, and the melodies were beautiful in moments. Unfortunately, by the middle of the first song I was underwhelmed. I don't know if it was the fact that we were so close (distortion), sound was off, or what, but I swear I could not understand a word of the songs, which makes it hard to really enjoy the music. It was like listening to a good album underwater, or listening to good singers who just had dental surgery or something. I'm sure that many other people either could understand the lyrics that I couldn't, or they already knew the words. At least the person right behind me was digging it as he kicked the back of my chair during the entire set.

Anyways, it was all I could do to sit through the entire set and encore (I have this thing about not leaving during a performance). Perhaps if I'd listened to the CD (I'm wondering if on the CD they enunciate better) and boned up on the lyrics a bit, the performance would have been better, because clearly the Be Good Tanyas have a lot of potential to live up to their name.