One of the highlights of the "My Song" session was the participation of "The Chieftains", arguably Ireland's most famous musical export after U2. Glass Tiger keyboardist Sam Reid travelled to Ireland to produce the Chieftains recording session. Those tracks were then transferred onto the master tape prior to mixing.

The Chieftains session went very well, as did the video, which was shot in a Dublin pub. However, when asked to pose with their instruments for the video, Paddy Maloney was quite adamant: "Sorry - the Chieftains never perform in pubs".

Drinks were "on the house" during the video filming and, being Irish, The Chieftains weren't about to disappoint their hosts. A few pints of Guinness later and the next thing you know, the instruments are out of their cases and The Chieftains are playing a rousing set for the fortunate pub patrons.

Sam Reid and Paddy Maloney remained friends and stayed in touch after the Dublin session, so when The Chieftains played in Vancouver in 1995 Sam was kind enough to request tickets on my behalf, and he also arranged for my wife and I to meet Paddy and the boys backstage after the show.

The concert was held at The Orpheum, a grand old theatre built in the 1920s. The Chieftains put on a superb performance, which included a guest appearance by a (then unknown) young violinist, Ashley MacIsaac.

My wife and I had special "after-show passes" which we presented to the security guard after the concert.  We were taken to the stage door and told to climb the stairs to the third floor, where we'd find the band's dressing room. I was recovering from back surgery, so it was a bit of a "slow go" up the stairs ... but we finally reached the third floor where a dozen other after-show fans were waiting to meet the band.

Just then the theatre's fire alarm began ringing loudly, and we were forced to make our way back down the stairs and out the fire exit onto the street ... a very slow process due to my recent surgery. As it turns out, we never did get to meet the band!

A few days later Sam called from Toronto to ask if we'd enjoyed our visit with the The Chieftains. When I told him about the fire alarm he started laughing. Apparently The Chieftains are quite generous about spending time with their fans after the show ... as long as it doesn't interfere with "last call" back at the hotel bar! The Vancouver show ended later than expected, and the band were probably concerned about keeping their appointment with the bartender.  Apparently it wasn't the first (or last) time they'd pulled the fire alarm to hurry things along!