Despite being at least the third show by Blaggards to have made the weekly LOVIEE feature, this was my first time actually making it out to see them. Tonight’s show was missing Chris Buckley, the violin/fiddle player, but I still think overall it was worth the trip, as the remaining three members (Patrick Devlin, Chad Smalley, and Michael McAloon) showed us they are very capable of rocking any venue.

The show was scheduled for 9:30pm and started at 9:33pm (the first song had been going for about a minute when I checked my time which was actually 9:34pm). This is a great way to make a good first impression; some acts don’t really care about starting on time and it’s refreshing to see one that does. I’ve been to a show where the time was mis-announced as 3pm when they meant 4pm, and even then the first notes didn’t come out of the speakers until 4:30pm if I remember right.

I made an attempt to keep track of the set list, which was a real challenge; I was only familiar with the songs available on the band’s Myspace page. I quit trying to keep up after what I counted as the fifteenth song at 10:22pm; the band took a break after what I think was three more songs. Here’s what I had (most of these are guesses based on the prominent chorus lyric, I’ve withheld some that I’m not sure if the lyric was actually from the chorus):

1. (not sure)
2. (not sure)
3. Bonnie Rae
4. Dirty Old Town
5. (announced as a cover song, didn’t recognize tune)
6. Stand and Deliver
7. Brown Eyed Girl
8. (not sure)
9. Boys of the Old Brigade
10. (announced as “for Turi”)
11. (announced as “for Emily and Brandon”) Lost My Heart to a … Girl
12. We’re on the Road Again
13. (not sure)
14. Prison Love Songs
15. (not sure)

In addition I remember Suspicious Minds as the first song after the break, which would be probably about the 19th or 20th song of the set. (I may lack knowledge in some areas, but I know my Elvis songs. I am of the opinion if one has not studied The King at least a bit, one really has not learned about rock and roll.)

During the break I was able to talk to the members of the band and learn a bit about some of their upcoming shows and happenings. It turns out this is a regularly scheduled show for at least the next few weeks, after which it will likely be scaled back to once monthly.

The bigger news is the information about the band’s organization of a guided tour of Ireland coming up, 2010 March 26 through April 2, for fans and friends. I won’t go into details here, but instead I will refer the curious to a page about the tour on the Blaggards Web site. If circumstances allow, I hope to make it to this (hey, I’m a Quinn, it would be only fitting my first trip out of the country is to Ireland).

I also left with a copy of the band’s album recorded in 2005, which I have been listening to quite a bit after returning. This album is well worth the $10 it sells for.

I will note I was not able to stay for the entire show but that was not by choice. I left maybe a half hour after the break. Hopefully this won’t be a problem at the next show I attend.

Somewhere in the middle of this I was asked by a young woman in a group of three to take a picture of her group. I was hoping to catch them but they left but that didn’t happen. If you’re out there reading this, wherever you are, yeah, this was written by the nerdy-looking guy in the black T-shirt and dark green pants that was nice enough to take the picture for you.

Speaking of pictures, I hoped to have some but my camera’s battery was too low to use flash reliably. Yeah, I’m kicking myself too. Maybe next time.

So in summary, a great show, from great musicians, who are also great people. It doesn’t get much better than that.

Update 2009-11-23: Errors in the band’s lineup fixed. That’ll teach me to trust the liner notes from an album released in 2005…