"Felice" Means "Happy"

I went to the Bright Eyes concert this past weekend. I’ll write about that at another time, but now I’d like to talk about the most pleasant surprise of the night: the opening set by The Felice Brothers.

A lot of times you go to a show to see a certain performer and have to suffer through some other acts beforehand. I didn’t even go to the Bright Eyes show on time because I’d never heard of the other artists on the bill. But as I strolled into the venue about forty minutes late, I was pleasantly surprised by one of the more enjoyable bands I have seen and heard in a long time.

The Felice Brothers are made up of three actual brothers from upstate New York and another member, a big accordion player named Christmas. Despite playing on a large stage with a lot of room, the brothers occupied an intimate space the size of a closet. They danced and stomped around. They banged on their instruments, dropping drumsticks and bumping into one another along the way. They whooped and hollered through a bunch of songs that sounded like good-ole whiskey-soaked sing-a-longs from some Irish bar. And actually, one of the tunes was called “There’s Whiskey In My Whiskey.” Three of the four guys sung lead at one point or another, and they all chimed in throughout their set.

The thing that struck me about the Felice Brothers was how much fun they were having. They smiled through every song and just genuinely seemed to be enjoying what they were doing. They were real musicians too. It seemed like they were playing for the playing, not for the money or the crowd or for anything else. The music just banged out of them, echoing through their limbs with every note and beat of the drum. I don’t know that I’d say they were great musicians or guys who were adroitly skilled at their instruments, but they were obviously swept away by their songs and their enthusiasm was infectious. I loved them. LOVED them!

In the end, this post will never do justice to the wonderful performance from the other night. I just can’t stop stomping my feet, can’t stop swaying with music that hasn’t stopped playing and can’t stop yelling out lines in answer to some happy call-out from some other place. So if you get the chance, check out The Felice Brothers. You won’t be disappointed, because like they said the other night, “Felice” means “happy.”