Paddy Moloney is quite a talker, but when it comes to the expectations he sets for a show, there is nothing of the bragger about him.

Wednesday night’s performance by The Chieftains at Stephens lived up to all its hype.

It was a performance by eight virtuoso musicians who didn’t script every note. This band has skills to amaze the most stony of witnesses.

The night is not a dead, solid perfect performance by any means. There are always a few screw ups. The mistakes were as much fun for the audience as anything else about the night.

It wasn’t a stand up and dance in the aisles kind of show, especially since most of the audience got in on the senior discount, but even so, the two and a half hours was like a night spent with close relatives without all the emotional abuse.

Moloney spent a fair portion of the night ragging on the other members of the band, feigning disinterest as they played, checking his watch and, at one point, making his tin whistle sound like a ringing telephone, all in good fun.

Most the night’s music consisted of old favorites from past albums, traditional jigs and reels.

Touring with The Chieftains is Gabriel Donohue, a flamenco guitarist from Galway, Ireland. He sat in with the band and one point treated the audience to a taste of Spain. This guy has magic fingers and his performance was masterful.

Molly Fahy also joined the band. She is a violinist, singer and a former dancer with Riverdance. She lent the proper feminine touch to the night taking jabs at Moloney at one point before performing a song about not trusting women when it comes to love.

“I don’t agree with this one, but I’ll do it anyway,” she said.

She also joined in the dancing. This may have been the most impressive part of the show since she did it while wearing leather pants. She will no doubt be paying for that one.

The highlight of the performance was the inclusion of local Irish dancers and traditional musicians. They lent the evening the appropriate level of amateurish glee that The Chieftains are themselves known for.

You wouldn’t think while watching them perform that they had been together for 38 years. They keep things fresh.

You don’t get the same show they had in Houston a few days ago, and that makes the night seem kind of special.

It is no wonder that these old boys can sell out concert halls all across Europe and America time and time again. One would hesitate to see them as often as possible knowing that each performance is different. The one Ames got was certainly worth it.