Chieftains Keep Tradition

Now that the Chieftains are pop stars--the Irish traditional group’s Grammy-nominated collaboration with Van Morrison even made the pop charts last year--they could have at least acted the part Saturday at the Wadsworth Theatre.

Sure the band’s “look” (six middle-aged bank employees) is a great gimmick, but hey, where are the laser lights and smoke? OK, so maybe being the planet’s premiere purveyor of Celtic music is enough of a twist--especially when that involves presenting a few hundred years’ worth of the most spirited and/or loveliest tunes in the known universe.

The only drawbacks Saturday were that the Chieftains’ shows haven’t really changed much over the years (even the tongue-in-cheek jibes tossed around on stage seemed a tad stale this time), and that the formal concert setting limited the audience involvement the music is intended to inspire. For all the chamber-orchestra qualities of the arrangements, this is essentially pub music . . . and there’s usually plenty of smoke in pubs.