"I don't think anyone wants to hear you preach on the stage. That was never my intent. I think people come to my shows to be entertained, plain and simple, and they probably walk away with a better sense of who I am at the end of the show."
Phil Coulter said those words during a recent interview with the Irish Voice, and he delivered what he promised:, a night of entertaining yet timeless tranquility at St. Rose's gymnasium in Belmar, New Jersey last Saturday.
"I played Carnegie Hall and Tokyo, and now I can finally say I have arrived," said Coulter to a roaring crowd as he took in the sports memorabilia around the gym after he opened the show with a honky tonk "Danny Boy." He peppered his set with many humorous anecdotes drawn from his decades of experience in the music business.
He is sentimental on this tour, celebrating 20 years since he released the groundbreaking Tranquility series of albums that single-handedly spawned a new genre of Celtic New Age music.
"When I go to faraway places and people see that I am from Northern Ireland, they instantly assume I am from this war-torn land, and that is a real shame," he said. "After all, a place that hatched people like Liam Neeson and Van Morrison can't be all bad."
As proof of the beauty that exists in the North, he launched into "My Lagan Love," one of the most romantic songs ever produced from that region.
As he predicted, one did get a sense of the man behind the music during the set, and I am here to report that the man is deliciously schizophrenic! Coulter hopscotched from gospel to blues to New Age to spiritual hymns during the two hour set.
His charm and sense of self-deprecating humor was in full display in both the stage banter and his choice of song. "Coultergeist," a tune from the Grammy nominated Highland Cathedral, is a witty musical interlude Coulter wrote in response to the omnipresence of his music in bars and lounges all over Ireland.
"My band went bar-hopping from lounge to lounge one night and in every place, one of the Tranquility albums were playing," he explained. "One of the girls with us said, 'I think there's a Coultergeist following us,' and I had to steal the idea."
In a live setting, the piano-based instrumentals that soothed the savage beast when you play the records at home become more muscular under the weight of the live drums and spirited nine-piece orchestra. That musical firepower came in handy when he tackled some of his beloved anthem pieces.
"We will fight until we can't fight no more," he sang defiantly before the chorus of "Ireland together standing tall, shoulder to shoulder we'll answer Ireland's call," on the soccer anthem "Ireland's Call."
Coulter is very unselfish when it comes to sharing the spotlight on his tours. He has brought unknown singers like Aoife Clancy with him in past shows to expose the new artist to his audiences.
This year, he found the talent on the pillow next to his own. "It's great to get out
of the kitchen," explained a radiant Geraldine Brannigan, Coulter's wife.
Her husky voice suited "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down" perfectly. She joined the band for a handful of songs in the middle of the set.
"I think I just found my retirement ticket," joked a beaming Coulter as his wife left the stage.
Coulter broke into a somewhat bizarre tribute to his idol, Jimmy Durante. While the ragtime revival went down well with the many blue-haired gals in the audience, it did produce more than one eye roll in this reviewer's head.
He repented for this set list sin with a heart bursting rendition of "The Town I Loved So Well."
After enjoying some small talk with Coulter at the souvenir table, I retreated to my local pub, St. Stephen's Green in Spring Lake Heights. My usual table by the fireplace was taken, reserved for none other than Phil Coulter!
We enjoyed a pint or two with his wife, and Coulter could not stop raving about the tour and his new band, Celtic Thunder. He is the musical director of their show that he describes as a collection of "real men."
Is that a gentle slap to the High Kings, the other show on PBS this spring? Coulter is too much of a sly fox to take my bait when I ask.
"I don't know why the hell I stayed away from my audience here in the States for seven years," he said as he shook his head. "I am definitely coming back next year."
"You'll be taking me with you," joked Brannigan, who was clearly energized by her first taste of American audiences. "They just took to me right away, and I was so grateful for that. They are very open minded here."
Based on the success of Celtic Thunder and his sold out tour, something tells me we'll be seeing a lot more of Phil Coulter this year!