LONDON, Ont. - The Rankin Family's reunion tour of 2007 may prove to be a fare-thee-well, a bit like a last glimpse of sunshine on the waves off their Cape Breton home.

That would be a shame, because the best moments at the benumbed gathering at the RBC Theatre at the John Labatt Centre last night showed there is still Celtic fire and more in the four famous siblings and their talented niece.

Jimmy, Raylene, Heather and Cookie Rankin were joined by Molly Rankin before a crowd of about 2,000 fans who thawed out enough to cheer some fine fiddle duets, classics from the glory days, and an extended encore in a two-hour show.

"You've been sitting on ice all night," Jimmy Rankin said in urging the crowd to stand up and "warm up" for the main set finale, a Cape Breton raveup built around Mull River Shuffle. Rankin did ask them to stand up again during the encore. The fans were happy to be asked twice.

The show started with Roving Gypsy Boy and North Country, two blasts from the Rankins' past, and finished with Departing Song from the band's Reunion CD of 2006.

In between, there were Celtic moments, fiddle showdowns, Molly Rankin's lovely song Sunset from the new album, stepdancing from Molly, Heather, Raylene and pianist Mac Morin, amazing Rankin harmonies and more.

The fans loved -- quietly -- the old material, such as Fare Thee Well Love and The Orangedale Whistle, before being roused for the final 30 minutes.

The fans just as quietly resisted John Hiatt's Gone, a great song from Reunion, and proof the Rankins could move in a new direction if the fans want them to. The reunion was suggested by a Calgary promoter who said they would still be in the demand.

We'll see. It is much more likely the Rankin Family will be seen in its parts, with Jimmy as a solo artist, his sisters touring together and Molly, daughter of the late John Morris, emerging as a fiddler/stepdancer/singer/songwriter.

The band broke up in 1999 and it has been nearly a decade since the last album, Uprooted, before Reunion's arrival late in 2006. The Rankins have been through tragic losses in those years. Their brother, John Morris, died in a car crash in 2000 and their sister, Geraldine, died of a brain aneurysm just before the Reunion tour was to start. A traditional piano ballad John Morris had played early in his career paid tribute to both of them.

The family's sense of humour is intact. Being booked on Super Bowl night was obviously a gamble -- and there were hundreds of empty seats flanking the stage to show what that meant.

"They're almost through halftime and no body parts have been exposed," said Heather Rankin partway through the show.

Before walking away from their initial career, the Rankins released a number of platinum-selling albums, including the 1990 quadruple-platinum Fare Thee Well Love. They also won 15 East Coast Music Awards, six Junos, four SOCAN Awards and three Canadian Country Music Awards.

Opening for the Rankin Family was singer-songwriter Dawn Langstroth. Langstroth is touring with the Cape Breton band without making much fanfare about being Anne Murray's daughter. That task is being left to reviewers.

This one is happy to mention it -- and to add that You Don't Want Me, co-written by Langstroth and Ron Sexsmith, is a great, heart-breaking song and her mother should know about it, if she doesn't already.