Cleveland- Friday & Saturday, October 30-31, 2026

    Weekend #4 of the "Month of Craziness."  This weekend is the last of the four to happen, but it was the first one that was planned.  Scott got a ticket to the see the Longest Johns at the House of Blues in Cleveland for Father's Day back in June.

     The Longest Johns are his favorite band- at least, among bands that are currently active.  They are a trio of sea shanty singers from Bristol, England.  "Sea shanty" definitely understates what they do.  They started together singing traditional acapella sea shanties, but their repertoire has grown to include a lot of original songs.  They often cross close to pop similar to the way that Great Big Sea did.  Their songs can be as moving as Stan Rogers' best tunes but can also be very whimsical and funny.  Scott listens to the all the time, and saw them live with Julie once before in Toronto.  They have built up quite a fan base by constantly posting videos on YouTube.  They look like they are having a lot of fun in what seems almost to be a surprise career for them.

      Scott took a half-day off of school, even though it was already a half-day for students.  He picked up Abby early, while she was still wearing her unicorn costume from the Halloween activities that day.  After Julie got out of work, the three of us were off to Cleveland.  We made a brief stop for dinner at the McDonald's in Erie that has the play area, and we arrived in Cleveland a little after 6:30.

      Scott had reserved a room at the Crowne Plaza Cleveland at Playhouse Square because it was just a short walk to the concert and Julie wouldn't have to pick him up.  He had also arranged for valet parking because he had no idea how hard or expensive it would be to park.  Playhouse Square is the theater district here.  Abby asked about the name, "Playhouse Square" because it is written up in lights in several places, and she was probably disappointed to find out it didn't have anything to do with playing in houses or playgrounds.  Still, she was excited to get to the pool, where she and Julie spent a large part of the evening while Scott went to the show.

     The concert was only about a 10-minute walk down Euclid Avenue.  Scott arrived at the House of Blues about 7:00 when the doors opened and there was already a line to get in.  Once through the doors, Scott got into an even longer line for the merch table.  While in line got to talking with a nice guy who had never seen the Longest Johns before.  Once Scott made it up to the merch table, he was happy to hear that they had his size and brought a bright blue shirt inspired by their current album cover, "The Ends of the Earth."   Instead of standing for the entire concert like he had in Toronto, Scott had a reserved seat in the balcony.   By coincidence, the guy that he had been talking to in the merch line had a seat that was almost right behind him.   The view was ok, but was a little obstructed by a high safety railing at the end of the stairs.

      Like in Toronto, Seán Dagher opened for them.  His biggest claims to fame are his "Shanty of the Week" YouTube channel and the fact that he provided the tavern music for several of the Assassin's Creed video games.  He plays an Irish bouzouki instead of a guitar which gives a haunting sound to his already interesting voice.  He opened with several shanties and got the crowd singing along right off the bat.  He told us we had no choice because we had agreed to it when we clicked on the "terms and conditions" when we bought our tickets.  The crowd seemed to enjoy him and joined in enthusiastically.  Scott met him after the show and bought his two CDs when he made a second trip to the merch table.

     The Longest Johns played for well over an hour.  Of course they featured a lot of songs that they have on their current album, "The Ends of the Earth."  They also revisited quite a few of their most popular songs.  Scott hadn't taken any pictures or video when Seán Dagher was onstage because he didn't want to have a problem with the security guy who was sitting a short distance away, but when he saw a number of other people using their phones to do so after the Longest Johns came out, he got braver and took quite a few.   They opened with the song, "Ends of the Earth."  During the course of the evening, they also sang other songs from the album, including "The Mallard" and "The Jolly Roving Tar" which Scott likes most.  From their hits, they sang "Oak and Ash and Thorn", "The Llandoger," "Hoist Up the Thing," "Bones in the Ocean," and many more.  The several hundred people in the audience were singing along with all of them.  On stage, from the audience's left to right, they were Robbie on mandolin (and a few other instruments including a harmonium and a toy piano), Andy on banjo, and J.D. on guitar, with a bass player and a drummer joining behind them.  When they came out for an encore, Robbie said that they hadn't technically sung any true shanties yet, and they sang a rousing version of "Santiana" and, of course, "The Wellerman."  Their final song was Stan Rogers' "Northwest Passage," and the crowd was singing along so well that the band let them sing the final chorus.  It was a great way to end.

     When Scott had seen them in Toronto, he and Julie left during what was probably the last song because they had to rush back home in order to be ready to teach the next day.  This time, Scott was able to stick around after the show in the lobby to get a picture with the band.   He walked back to the hotel where Julie and Abby were fast asleep after their evening of swimming.  It was after 11:00 when he got in.