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Frank Patterson delighted a crowd at Lowell Memorial Audito rium yesterday with a concert of traditional Irish ballads and pop favorites. sun/sandy hillPatterson s Irish tenor soars at AuditoriumMy Wings,” and Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “Music of theBy MICHAEL FAUCHERSun CorrespondentIrish tenor Frank Patterson captivated nearly 1,200 local fans at the Lowell MemorialAuditorium yesterday, showcasing his velvety voice with classic Irish folk songs and a handful of some of his favorite modern pop hits.CONCERT REVIEW:Frank Patterson, with comedian Hal Roach, Lowell Memorial Auditorium, yesterday.Patterson, whose album Faith of Our Fathers recently became the highest selling album in Irish history, was accompanied solely on piano, gracefully played by his wife,Eily O’Grady.It was a small group for Patterson to perform for, considering that Ireland’s Golden Tenor has sold out New York’s Carnegie Hall, as well as London’s Royal Albert Hall, and has 34 albums in six languages under his belt. His rendition of “Danny Boy” was featured in the Coen brothers' black comedy masterpiece, Miller’s Crossing and he even portrayed the fictional tenor Bartel D'Arcy in John Huston’s last film. The Dead.Patterson chose to cover some of the most popular, and overdone, contemporary hits such as Celine Dion's “My Heart Will Go On,” BetteMidler’s “The Wind BeneathNight” from Phantom of the Opera. But he also gave a healthy dose of traditional Irish-American ballads such as “Wild Irish Rose” and “When You and I Were Young,Maggie.”Holding the microphonenear his waist, Pattersoncould have put it downentirely as his powerful voicefilled the hall writh rich ariasand passionate tales of loveand the Irish countryside.•»Lively Irish comedian Hal Roach broke the mostly older crowd up before Patterson’s tw o sets with parables of his favorite watch (“My grandfather, a fine Scotsman, sold it to me on his deathbed ... so I wrote him a check” and charmed the audience with a few words of wisdom,lt;“Remember to love your enemies ... after all. you made them!”).The highlight of the concert was surely when Patterson’s violinist-son Eanan joined his mother for a soaring version of “The Last Rose of Summer, then immediately accompanied his father for a moving rendition of My Son.Patterson, who moved to the United States in 1987,honored his adopted homelandwith an honest and lofty “Battle Hymn of the Republic” and the most famous Irish ballad of all, the emotional “Danny Boy,” to close his 90-minute show.
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