ICONS Day 2: As a matter of fact, we are having fun

(NOTE: Sorry for the odd text-photo combinations further down; a bit of a formatting problem which I'll try to resolve as soon as possible.)

You know, this business of playing music -- especially of the folk/acoustic variety -- can be awfully serious, what with traditions to maintain and preserve, artistic style to develop and, yes, CDs to sell. Fortunately, there are seem to be plenty of people who have fun when they play music, and ICONS had a bunch of them in sight on Saturday.
For starters, there's the fine people in Boston's Hanafin-Cooley branch of Comhaltas Ceoltoiri Eireann under the benevolent leadership of Larry Reynolds (in photo below right), who keep the ceilidh fire burning bright inside their tent practically all day long, and a good portion of the night, too. They certainly have fun.








Scotland's Tannahill Weavers have been having fun for way too many years, but just try and stop them. Especially Roy Gullane (below right), YouTube's No. 1 NSFW cult favorite.

Cara Dillon certainly seemed to have fun. She and her husband and fellow band member Sam Lakeman brought along their 20-month-old twins on tour; this day they sported matching red t-shirts that read "Thing 1" and "Thing 2."
(Incidentally, she'll be back in Boston -- along with her entourage -- for the Christmas Celtic Sojourn show in December.)









Of course Crooked Still was having fun: This was their first visit to ICONS with their new line-up, featuring Brittney Haas (fiddle) and Tristan Clarridge (cello). They get into one of their justly famous grooves, like with Nathan Taylor's "Did You Sleep Well?," no way they don't have fun.

Seamus Connolly seems to have as much fun talking about music as playing it. He noted that at a gig in Portland, Me., the other week, his accompanist Barbara Magone played a piano whose most recent user had been none other than Sir Paul McCartney. "So now," said Seamus, "Sir Paul can say that he played the same piano as Barbara Magone."










OK, here we go: The David Munnelly Band. How can they not have fun, churning out the tunes in that wild West Mayo style?










And their guest step dancer Nic Gareiss? He has more fun than any three people put together.
















Well, almost any three people. After all, these are three people who know how to have fun: Robbie O'Connell, Aoife Clancy and Donal Clancy, performing as The Clancy Legacy.












Footworks (below left) and the Harney School of Dance. Fun? Fun.























Certainly the acts performing at the Boston Celtic Music Fest Showcase were having fun, like The New Tyme Sisters.



















And Laura Cortese, who at various times brought up guest stars such as Kristin Andreassen, Hannah Read and that one-man fun machine Nic Gareiss.






















Annalivia had great fun closing the BCMFest Showcase, mainly because they trotted out their newest member, New Tyme Sister Emerald Rae, as well as special guest John Whelan, who is absolutely incapable of not having fun.










It must be fun to be Luka Bloom, when you can listen to your audience sing the chorus to "Sunny Sailor Boy" -- and you don't have to do anything but keep playing your guitar.









When you come down right to it, of course, most people have fun when they play music. Or they should, anyway -- why do it otherwise? But it's always a treat when you have so many of them enjoying themselves in one place...like at ICONS.