Sound is big, even if crowd isn't

The Rat, with its twin rows of pillars running through the room, is not the most ideal venue to host a musical performance. If the Rat was filled to capacity or perhaps half of its capacity, there would probably be numerous complaints regarding viewing obstructions blocking out the makeshift stage along the windows.

Fortunately, or perhaps unfortunately, the size of the crowd was around a meager 20 people, with the staff arguably outnumbering the audience.

The opener, Jay Leonard, made a comment about how his family members were the only ones in the room who knew his name. Relative to the size of the crowd, his family was a sizeable group.

A metal detector and Boston College Police were on site, but after seeing the sparse and relatively dispirited group clustered in different corners of the Rat, people were allowed to bypass the metal detector and many of the officers left.

As the security slacked, members of the staff gathered to watch Jay Leonard's very smooth and mellow acoustic set, which covered a variety of tunes.

For the most part, the crowd was uninvolved, conversing or chattering on in the background and paying as much mind to the performance as they would elevator music.

But Leonard's cover of "Four Green Fields" stirred full applause and shouting not characteristic of such a scanty grouping of listeners.

He prefaced the song with an anecdote about his middle school years and how the song had been firmly ingrained in his childhood.

The crowd responded well and drew closer, setting a better tone for the upcoming performances of the Irish Dance troop and the headliner, Seven Nations.

The intermission featured the BC Irish Dancers with its performance of the Four Hand Keel. They gathered in a circle, tapping and clicking their heels to Irish Folk Music.

This little dance combo was followed by the Treble Reel, a dance choreographed by one of the Irish Dancers.

Remarkably, the audience swelled in number as the Irish Dancers took center stage. The number of people subsequently shrank as the dancers finished their routine.

Thus, Seven Nations arrived to a dismally small cropping of students.

Struby, Crisco, Dan Stacey, Kirk McLeod, and Scott Long took to the stage, bearing bag pipes, a fiddle, and electric guitars.

Before starting their set, they gave many thanks to those in attendance and showed no signs of dismay at the unexpectedly small audience. Their performance of "Midnight" was fast-paced, especially with the added dynamic of Dan Stacey's adept fiddle playing.

The bagpipes, played by Scott Long, offered depth and a filled out sound to round out the rest of the band.

With such a complete instrumental sound, however, the lyrics became a bit difficult to discern and the vocals were somewhat drowned out.

With "three slip jigs and one reel," Seven Nations drew the audience in and involved them to get into the dance and beat. Seven Nations, which has performed in front of 40,000 to 50,000 people spectators, went unnoticed but not unappreciated.

An enthralling five-man ensemble out of Orlando, Seven Nations certainly exhibits their cultural roots and enthusiasm with their energy and unique hybrid sound. Even at the Rat on a Wednesday night, Seven Nations did not allow its robust liveliness to peter out.