From the movie satire of Blink to the smoky stage of Hangar 9, the Drovers, a Chicago-based band, plays with guts wherever it goes.

Saturday night’s show was a promotion for the band’s latest CD, Little High Sky Show. Most of the songs in the band’s two sets were taken from the new release.

The band plays with a level of intensity that surpasses earlier recorded material. While some bands seem to play at an audience, the Drovers’ live music is played through the audience. It is as if the music is the only reality.

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The band doesn’t say much while playing. The live show draws fans to the front. Some closed their eyes to block out everything but the music and their bodies moved in time with the sounds that emanated from the stage.

The appeal of the band is in the Celtic rhythms that breathe life into the music. Celtic music is an ancient form of music with an almost tribal nature to it.

Sean Cleland, the fiddle player, and guitarist Mike Kirkpatrick work well together in creating a sound that is rooted in traditional Irish music. Images of pints full of Guinness and couples dancing the jig come to mind when they play.

While the music has a traditional quality to it, it is still very modern. It is not an updated version of something old but a creation of something new. The music of the Drovers is unique because it is neither traditional Irish music nor is it modern rock with a fabricated Seattle sound.

The band has successfully blended the ancient Celtic styles with a form of pop music that leaves crowds wanting more. The two-hour show was done before most realized it. The band was able to make its music the focus of the attention. It became the medium for the music to flow. The smoke-filled stage created an illusion of an ethereal plane as its music touched the soul.

Its new release is perhaps the first from the Drovers that comes close to capturing the same intensity the band exhibits live. The band plays with emotion as it puts on an unforgettable performance. The Drovers proved it is a band with the ability to pull an audience into a show and hold them captive.

The new CD is full of that same emotion, going beyond the 1994 release, Kill Mice Elf by allowing the listener to experience some of the emotion and drama the Drovers displays in its live show.

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The sound came together, said David Callahan, lead vocalist and bassist for the band. It was not a formula.

Kirkpatrick said the CD is one he can sit down and listen to as music.

When we were done (recording), we had some new examples of our music that none of us had ever heard before, Kirkpatrick said.

Kirkpatrick said he has been to Ireland several times. There he played with older musicians, learning some of the more ancient styles of Celtic music.

In addition to playing new songs, the band played some new versions of old tunes. Kirkpatrick played some very interesting licks on The Boys and the Babies, from the first album. The sound comes across as a sort of haunting yet melodic lead that takes on a futuristic quality. The Boys and the Babies is rooted in Celtic music, but when the lead takes on a spacey sound, it added a new dimension.

The Bag, a song from the new CD, left the crowd speechless. The studio version is good, but when done live, it is a whole new experience. The tune is exactly what the name suggests it to be, a mixed bag. It is actually a combination of seven different songs and is more of a musical movement than a song.

The live version was a sort of Celtic symphony that reached a variety of emotions. As the song progresses, the mood changes. At one point, the mood is angry, and at another, it is gentle. The tune showed the progressive nature of the band and the traditional roots that makes its sound so unique.

The live experience is what the Drovers’ music is all about. It is what keeps the fans coming time and time again. It is also why the Hangar 9 was so packed that fans were turned away before the band even played a note.

Organic Rain opened the show. The local band has a 60s sound marked by the long improvisational jams it does at the end of its songs.

The band does a jam in which each member of the band plays a percussion instrument. While the beats are not necessarily related to the Celtic pulse of the Drovers, the sounds of the two bands complimented each other well.