Old Blind Dogs plays traditional Scottish music with influences from jazz, blues, French Canadian and Breton music, reggae and rock. The band has long delighted our Folk Music Society, with tickets sold out for some of its prior six concerts at Caltech.
Old Blind Dogs formed in 1992 in Aberdeen, Scotland, and first played for our group (then the Caltech Folk Music Society) in 2002. The band’s personnel has changed some over the years, though it’s still the same as for their excellent 2019 Caltech show. The players are original-member Jonny Hardie on fiddle and vocals, with Aaron Jones (cittern/guitar/vocals), Ali Hutton (pipes/whistles) and Donald Hay (percussion/vocals).
“The Old Blind Dogs play with a compelling energy and intoxicating rhythm, …as players and audience seem to share a wild ecstasy of emotion,” says a reviewer for The Scotsman, a Scottish national newspaper. The band is known for soaring fiddle playing, stirring pipes, and fine singing, punctuated by extraordinary percussion. A reviewer for the Bright Young Folk website says the current members “create such a tight sound with rhythms, harmonies, melodies and lyrics that sweep you along in whichever direction they choose.” Included on their newest album Knucklehead Circus is The Thin Man, highlighted in the video below.
Tickets: $25 for adults and $10 for youth (18 years and under). Available from the Caltech Ticket Office in advance by clicking the link to the below, by phone at 626-395-4652 (no service charge) between 10:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m., Tuesday-Friday, Closed weekends and Monday, (temporary hours), or at the door.
The event will be held in Beckman Auditorium (just changed from Ramo Auditorium), located at the southern end of Michigan Avenue (332 S. Michigan Ave.) This is the distinctive round, white building, just east of our usual Beckman Institute venue. Please note that because of COVID restrictions, there will not be any refreshments available during the show’s intermission. Free parking is available in the lot next to the building (spaces that are labeled with Caltech faculty names are open to use in the evening hours.) There are handicapped parking spaces. If you have specific handicapped needs, you can call (626) 616-4559. There are also two parking structures one block west of the Auditorium on Wilson Avenue that are also open during evening hours. Some street parking on Wilson may also be available.
Caltech requires that all guests wear a high-quality mask (surgical, N95, KN95, KF94) indoors at all times. In addition, proof of full vaccination and booster, along with a government-issued ID will be required to enter Beckman and Ramo Auditoriums. For all public events, children under 5, who are not yet eligible for vaccination, are not permitted inside the auditoriums.