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The Shows => Ancient Land => Ancient Land on Tour => Topic started by: Tracie on April 10, 2019, 11:54:43 PM

Title: Ancient Land Tour - Tracie & Gregg's Experiences
Post by: Tracie on April 10, 2019, 11:54:43 PM
Hi everybody! Gregg and I flew out to Pennsylvania this past week and went to 3 Ancient Land shows 3 nights in a row. It was an incredible trip! And we are thrilled that we'll still be seeing Ancient Land 3 more times!

The show is absolutely stellar! We loved it so much! The harmony is phenomenal. Incredible setlist. Gorgeous stage design. Fantastic song introductions. Everything was just....wow! If you haven't seen the show yet, I highly recommend it! The new versions of Bean Phaidin and Orinoco Flow are both so much fun. I can't get Bean Phaidin out of my head! Mairead's Newgrange is a jaw-dropper and her Ae Fond Kiss is a tear-jerker. Eabha's Moorlough Shore is so beautiful and Garden of Eden is so fun and catchy. Tara's Love and Honour is breathtaking and her Enchanted Way and Tara's Tunes are both incredibly fun. Megan's Fields of Gold and Shenandoah are both so gorgeous.  Eabha & Tara's duet of Siuil A Run is fabulous. I really love the harp and whistle combination. And what can I say about Mairead & Megan's Over The Rainbow other than WOW!! Every group song is wonderful, especially my fave Going Home. I love that they kept The Kesh Inn. Ancient Land, Follow Me, Ballroom of Romance, Mna Na hEireann, Sive, Homeland, Long Journey Home, Danny Boy, The Parting Glass - all gorgeous! Tip, Tap, Toe with the dancers and drummers is super fun. There is a lot of dancing in this show which I love! It also has many intimate moments with only harp or piano and a voice, which felt very romantic.  I could just go on and on about how phenomenal Ancient Land is!

The 3 shows alone would have been enough to make our trip wonderful, but to make it even more thrilling, we had successful stage door meetings every night!

Night 1 was in Philadelphia at the Academy of Music. What a gorgeous theatre! As we were waiting outside for the doors to open, Carl came out selling programs. We got our program from him and asked for a picture. Also told him how much we loved being at Johnstown Castle. He called dancer Colm over and told him we were at the filming and then we told both of them how fabulous it was and how much we loved their dancing. Then got a picture with both of them. Off to a good start right away! I had told Gregg earlier that day that I really wanted a picture with Carl - check! We were in second row and gave several standing ovations so of course the ladies saw us and gave us smiles and nods, which we always love. After the show, we went out to the stage door. Tara came out first and was so sweet autographing a little girl's violin book. Then she came to us and I gave her a hug and told her how much we loved the show. She told us thank you for all our support. We got a great picture with her and told her we were going to the next two nights of shows also. When she went to talk to the next person, we could see Mairead, Megan and Eabha all walk out behind some equipment, so they couldn't see that there were fans waiting. When the equipment had moved, Eabha was about to get on the bus behind the other two, but me and another person both called out her name and waved to her and she walked over. I hugged her and also told her how incredible the show was and that we were so excited to see it again the next night. She also said thank you for all the support we give them. We got a great picture with her too. She apologized for being in her bathrobe, but what do we care, she's one of our favorite singers in the world!

Nights 2 & 3 were in Lancaster, a fairly short train ride from Philly. That's what made these shows so appealing - 3 shows for 1 flight! We talked to both Carl and Colm again in the lobby, telling them both how much we loved the prior night. Gregg told Carl he should add back flips into the show next year and Carl said he's done it before, could work on it again, and will talk to management about giving Gregg credit for the idea. Love it! Carl also called me by name (we hadn't told them our names the prior night, he must've seen it on instagram) and said it was great to see me again. Awwwww! For night 2, Gregg sat in the second row on the floor and I sat in the first row of the balcony. I like seeing the choreography from that perspective (as long as I have other shows up front!) but Gregg wants to always be as close to the stage as possible. So we sat separate for this one. We had joked beforehand that we were going to really confuse the ladies - well, they really did notice, which I'll explain in a bit! At the stage door, Megan came out first and gave us our biggest jaw-dropper of the trip, and actually probably ever. We had never met her before, but she walked right up to us and the first thing she said was "I'm so sorry I didn't meet you last night." Clearly Tara and Eabha had told Mairead and Megan that we had been at the stage door the night before! I said that's ok and told her our names and while I was saying our names, she said "I know, I know, I'm so glad to meet you!" Whaaaaaaaat!?!? How I managed to not go completely speechless at that, I'll never know. We are absolutely floored that she already knew who we were. Wow. But I kept talking and told her how beautiful her voice is and how much we loved both her solos. We got a picture with her that doesn't have the greatest lighting, but good enough! Tara, Mairead and Eabha all came out at the same time and Tara was the first one over to us. She walked up to me and said "ok where were you tonight because I saw him but not you!" So I explained our second row/balcony split and told her how much I loved seeing the choreography from the balcony. She talked to other fans too, but before she got on the bus, she looked back at me and asked if she would see me again the next night which I confirmed and Gregg said with meet and greet and she was like, oh great! She's so sweet! Mairead and Eabha came over to us together and since we had talked to Eabha the prior night, I started talking to Mairead first, telling her how Ae Fond Kiss put tears in my eyes and how Newgrange sent my jaw to the floor. She was saying oh wow and thank you so much, and took a picture with us and I said we'll see you again tomorrow night with meet and greet. I meant to talk to Eabha next, but she went and got on the bus while I was talking to Mairead. Sorry Eabha! I felt bad and wasn't meaning to ignore her, just wanted to make sure we talked to and got a picture with each of them at the stage door in case we didn't get another chance and we had missed Mairead the night before. I got to make it up to Eabha the next night though 😊 We also got a picture with Tommy that night. Each night, Gregg was yelling out "yeah Tommy, woooo!" as he walked by, so he walked up and told Gregg he wanted to shake his hand for knowing his name. Love it!

Ok, it's nearly midnight on a work night and I better go to sleep. Enjoy the first two nights for now and hopefully I can write up night 3 tomorrow. That one has official meet and greet plus stage door talks with all 4 of them! Good night!
Title: Re: Ancient Land Tour - Tracie & Gregg's Experiences
Post by: Tracie on April 11, 2019, 10:51:29 PM
Ok, night 3 in Pennsylvania - we had an official meet and greet for this one. It started plenty early and we weren't rushed, which was really nice. Although I did feel like I rushed myself, which is just from being so excited. I'm going to force myself to slow down at the next one. Gregg and I went up to them separately to get individual pictures this time (me with all 4, him with all 4). I went up first and as I was shaking all their hands, I was saying that we had the most incredible time the past two nights and also that we thought it was so phenomenal being at Johnstown Castle and that we loved it so much. They were thanking me and Mairead said they loved having us there. Awwwwww! After taking my picture with them, Tara asked where I would be sitting that night, floor or balcony, and I told her where we would be on the floor and she said "brilliant!" Gregg went up next and told them how much he loved the show the past two nights. Without thinking, I had taken my phone back and was snapping some candids of him, but Stephanie needed it. We got a really funny picture where he's pointing at me like "she stole the camera" Lol! After taking his picture, Stephanie asked if we wanted one together. Absolutely! I walked back up and Megan told me she loved my necklace. We got really great photos, plus a friend took a video for us. Watching the video is what really made me see how much I rushed myself, because I didn't feel like I was rushing as it was happening.

We were in row 12, which is what came with this meet and greet, but they could definitely still see all our standing ovations. Next meet and greet is front row - now that's more like it! After the show, there were a bunch of people at the stage door, so we decided to not ask for any more pictures and just talk to them. It was quick since there were so many people, but all 4 of them took the time to go all the way down the line of people. They are so considerate with their fans, I just love it! Tara was by us first and I told her that she always amazes us, even when we know we're going to be amazed. She was holding our gift bag that had Larabars and Mikey Ikeys and Gregg said enjoy the Larabars, so she then clutched the bag tightly like "mine!" Megan was next and asked if we enjoyed the show. Silly question! I said I enjoyed it so much. Eabha was next and I told her how much I love Garden of Eden, that it's a wonderful song, she's a great writer and how we're constantly amazed by the shows. She kept thanking me as I was saying all of that. Mairead was last and also asked if we enjoyed the show, to which I responded "always!" There's that silly question again, lol! I then told Mairead that she has the most gorgeous voice and that every time I listen to her I'm in complete awe. She told me thank you so much. And the final really cool moment of our three nights of meetings was that as Mairead opened the door to enter the bus, we could see Tara sitting inside reading the card we had written to them. Awwwwww!

What an amazing three nights! Making it even more fun was meeting several other huge fans all three nights. We had such a blast going out to dinner with a group, going to meet and greet together, talking in the lobbies and at the stage doors. It was especially fun sharing stories of past shows and meet and greets and stories of our trips to Ireland. We'll see many of them again at Red Rocks, which will be awesome!

We're beyond excited to see the show 3 more times and to keep hanging out with other fans! The ladies know we have more shows coming up, but don't know exactly when (unless they have paid really close attention to our comments on social media), so we'll see if they're surprised at our next one! I'll add more write ups as we go! If you'd like to see pictures, my public Instagram account is tracie_dorn
Title: Re: Ancient Land Tour - Tracie & Gregg's Experiences
Post by: VegasDavid on April 12, 2019, 11:52:58 AM
Nice writeup, Tracie!  It sounds like you guys had three really great nights, and had nice conversations with the ladies and other performers.  Does Mairéad know that she is your favorite yet?

You mentioned every song in Tom's set list but Amazing Grace.  They're still playing that one, right?  Where did John Hunt appear at the beginning?

--David
Title: Re: Ancient Land Tour - Tracie & Gregg's Experiences
Post by: Kevin R.I. on April 12, 2019, 12:08:04 PM
aren`t the bus`n greets fun???? Megan asked the same question like 3 times to the people waiting outside"did you enjoy the show?"....yes....keep singing and we`ll keep going.
Title: Re: Ancient Land Tour - Tracie & Gregg's Experiences
Post by: Tracie on April 13, 2019, 12:04:30 AM
David - Yes, Amazing Grace is still in the show, I missed it in my write up. In Philadelphia, John was up in one of the balcony suites at the beginning and on stage for the end of the song. Impressive! In Lancaster both nights, he came walking up one of the aisles, starting at the back of the theater and ending on stage. Although I'm kinda sick of the song (which was pretty much a group consensus when talking with other fans), it does have spectacular harmony.

Does Mairead know she's my favorite? If she pays really close attention on social media, maybe. I certainly was heaping on the praise both nights I was talking to her! But I think I would feel weird coming right out and saying it to her because I really do love all of them. ❤

Kevin - Yes, bus and greets are fantastic! I love how they are all so considerate to their fans. They make sure to talk to everybody who's out there, sign autographs for anybody who asks, take pictures with anybody who asks. They're such wonderful people! It's such an honor to be able to say that I've met them and that they know who I am. It's pretty cute how they keep asking if we enjoyed the show. Ummmmm, YES! Keep touring and we'll keep coming! And keep being so nice to your fans and we'll keep coming to the stage doors and meet and greets!

I realized that I forgot to write something from night one - after talking to Carl and Colm outside the theater, I talked to Carl again in the lobby. I told him his Takeover Tuesday was fantastic. He thanked me and said he loved doing it and loved including everybody throughout the day. I told him we fans loved that he was including everybody too. He said he really hopes he gets to do another takeover. I then said he raised the bar for everybody else and he laughed and said other people had told him the same thing. He's such a nice guy!

I've been thinking about something else since our amazing weekend. I fairly often see comments on social media, mainly Facebook, of people saying that the current ladies don't connect with their fans like the former ladies did. Well, I call BS and I've got the stories to prove it! They legitimately know who people are, remember people, smile, nod and wave to people they recognize in the audience, are super friendly at stage doors, and even notice when they can't see you in an audience they know you're supposed to be in. They have hearts of pure gold. Give these ladies the love they deserve and they give the love right back to you! ❤
Title: Re: Ancient Land Tour - Tracie & Gregg's Experiences
Post by: Tracie on April 13, 2019, 11:09:57 AM
I keep realizing things I forgot in my write up - apparently too much awesomeness happened to remember it all as I was writing! On the 2nd night when we were talking to Carl in the lobby, we also told him the final 3 shows we'll be going to - Rosemont, Minneapolis and Red Rocks. We also said Minneapolis is the one where we live. He had forgotten that Minneapolis was on the tour and asked if it's near the end, which we confirmed. He said that he always loves Minneapolis and is excited to come here. Yay!

Gregg and I fly to Chicago today for the Rosemont show, which is right next to O'Hare so really convenient. The show is tomorrow and we have meet and greet with front row. Will be awesome!
Title: Re: Ancient Land Tour - Tracie & Gregg's Experiences
Post by: Romds9 on April 13, 2019, 10:42:48 PM
Hi Tracie,
      Nice write up and nice to have met you and Greg. We’ll See you again at Red Rocks. 😉
Title: Re: Ancient Land Tour - Tracie & Gregg's Experiences
Post by: Tracie on April 14, 2019, 09:57:52 PM
Thanks Bill, it was so nice to meet you too! See you again soon!
Title: Re: Ancient Land Tour - Tracie & Gregg's Experiences
Post by: Tracie on April 16, 2019, 11:21:23 AM
Gregg and I are at O'Hare now waiting for our flight home from our second Ancient Land trip. We had an amazing time again, as always! We had meet and greet and front row seats for this one and it was a Sunday matinee. There was a snow storm that morning and the wind was blowing so hard the snow kind of hurt when hitting our faces. We were pretty doubtful that a stage door meeting would happen, so were glad we had official meet and greet.

While waiting for meet and greet to start, Carl spotted us from across the lobby and waved. We talked to a guy who said he didn't have a phone or camera and asked if we would take his picture with the ladies and text it to his sister. We said of course! There were 23 people for meet and greet and everybody made it through the snow storm. We were toward the back of the line, with just two people behind us. We saw that Mairead and Megan were in the middle for this one and I asked Gregg if I could stand next to Mairead and he agreed. This means I now have meet and greet photos where I'm next to each of them, since last weekend I stood next to Megan and Tara, and last year I stood next to Eabha. I had been hoping I could stand next to Mairead for this one!

While I was handing my phone to Stephanie and the gift bag to Sett (we wrote a letter to the ladies and gave them candy), Gregg walked up to them first. He said he went to Eabha first and told her it was great to see her again. Mairead was next and said "hi Gregg!" and he says he thinks he said hi back, but it turned into a blur of excitement after she called him by name! He told Megan it was nice to see her again and asked Tara if she shared any of the larabars we had given them in Pennsylvania, and she said NO! Lol. Megan told him Tara ate them all and said they go through a lot of them. Well, we were happy to supply them with two boxes!

I then walked up and as I was approaching, Mairead said "hi Tracie!" and I said hi back, while inwardly thinking, OMG Mairead just called me by name! We knew that they knew who we were, but it's exciting having them call us by name! I'm sure those of you who are reading this understand that! Mairead then told me she loves my hair and asked if I had colored it and I said, no I just used a straightener. When I straighten my hair, it makes it look lighter, so I can see why she thought I had colored it. While I was shaking hands with each of them, I said I wanted to tell them all something and they all kind of curved in closer so I could talk to them all at once. I said you all know how much we love your music and love your shows, so today I want to say thank you for being such wonderful people. Everytime we meet any of you, you're all so sweet and friendly to us and it really means a lot. Tara responded with "you're always so nice to us!" and then Mairead said that they love our energy and love the letters that we write them and it fuels them. Awwwww love it! We took our picture and then Tara asked where we would be sitting for this show and I said front row, you'll see us, we'll be standing! Sett was handing my purse back and asked if the gift bag was for the ladies and I said yes and then Tara said we don't have to keep getting them stuff and I said oh we like doing it! Stephanie was handing my phone out to me and I told her to take the next guy's picture on my phone because he doesn't have a camera. I was facing the ladies and the looks on their faces when I said that was like, awwwwww! So that was an awesome meet and greet!

We are about to board our plane so I need to click post now, but I'll come back and finish the write up later!
Title: Re: Ancient Land Tour - Tracie & Gregg's Experiences
Post by: Kevin R.I. on April 16, 2019, 06:35:45 PM
Did Tara think it odd when you asked her if she`d whack you in the arm again with Roger`s case??? ;D ;D ;D
Title: Re: Ancient Land Tour - Tracie & Gregg's Experiences
Post by: chandlermattson on April 16, 2019, 09:13:32 PM
Aw, the CW ladies are so sweet!
Title: Re: Ancient Land Tour - Tracie & Gregg's Experiences
Post by: Tracie on April 16, 2019, 10:31:19 PM
Kevin - 🤣🤣🤣

Chandler - yes, they really are! 💕

Ok, the rest of the Rosemont write up. We had front row seats all the way to the left side. One of these days we hope we get lucky and get front row center. We had second row center in Philly, which was awesome! For this one, there was a piece of lighting equipment right in front of our seats that made it so when the ladies were standing further back on the stage, it blocked our view of at least one of them. When they came forward on stage though, which was most of the time, we could see just fine. We were singing along, dancing in our seats, clapping along - they LOVED it!  Mairead in particular loved watching us sing along with the songs. She and Tara each looked right into our eyes and gave us huge smiles multiple times throughout the show. Eabha and Megan each did a handful of times as well. Plus Carl and Lloyd. They were all seeing how much we were loving everything and they were giving the love back to us. It was so awesome! Mairead also gave us a huge smile when she saw that we had switched seats with each other at intermission, Gregg giving me the better view for the second act. I did enjoy seeing the show and choreography from the balcony in Lancaster, but nothing compares to having our favorite ladies look directly at us and give us huge smiles all show long. It never gets old! We're thrilled we have front row again for Minneapolis!

The Rosemont crowd was awesome! Best one we've been in so far this tour, although none have been duds like a couple in the past (Rochester MN & Grand Forks ND). This crowd was cheering loudly, clapping along, had several people giving standing ovations throughout the show, including me, Gregg, and 3 other people in the front row giving a standing ovation after every song. I would have reserved mine for my favorite songs, but hey, if those folks are standing for every song, then so am I! The ladies deserve all the love! The full crowd standing ovation after The Kesh Inn went on and on and on, and the joy was just radiating from the ladies' faces. Mairead kept saying "oh my goodness" and they were motioning for people to sit, but we kept on cheering! It's so much fun being in a great crowd like that. Every show we've been to, the ladies, band, choir, dancers, everything, has been phenomenal. So what makes certain shows stand out to me above others is how good the audience is. This was an excellent one. Still doesn't beat the Minneapolis Voices of Angels insanely epic crowd two years ago! I really hope the Minneapolis show next month is the same!

At intermission I walked past Carl selling programs in the audience and said "awesome, always!" He said "thanks Tracie!" and then I told him I was sorry we had brought all the snow with us from Minnesota. He laughed and said yeah it's freezing! Also, at the end of The Kesh Inn, he mouthed something to me and Gregg, but we have no idea what he said. We'll try to remember to ask him at the next show. If you're reading this and have never met Carl, walk up and talk to him when he's going around selling programs. He is such a super friendly guy!

After the show, the snow was still falling but much more gently, so we figured we'd try the stage door. Unfortunately, the security guard for this venue wasn't allowing anybody to wait there and sent us away. Bummer! Well, we had our official meet and greet and had the ladies smiling at us the whole show, so it was still awesome! Now we wait more than a month until the next one. It's gonna feel like forever after 4 shows in 10 days!
Title: Re: Ancient Land Tour - Tracie & Gregg's Experiences
Post by: VegasDavid on April 20, 2019, 01:38:47 PM
Sounds like that Rosemont concert was a top-notch Celtic Woman experience for you two, except for the snow and security guard.  Nice!
Title: Re: Ancient Land Tour - Tracie & Gregg's Experiences
Post by: Tracie on June 18, 2019, 10:49:36 PM
Hey Everybody!  I’m getting caught up on my final show write-ups of the Ancient Land tour.  Gregg and I had quite the busy spring!  After the Rosemont show, the next show we went to was in Minneapolis on May 18th.  David flew out from Las Vegas for the show and we spent the weekend hanging out with him, which was a lot of fun.  We’ve been really enjoying meeting so many friends and going to shows together.  It just adds to the already awesome experience of a Celtic Woman show.

A few hours before the Minneapolis show, Gregg and I were wandering around the vicinity of the theatre, of course hoping to run into any of the ladies or band members, but we didn’t unfortunately.  The theatre connects to some restaurants and shops, so we were able to get into the lobby quite early.  When we stepped into the lobby, we were greeted with the sound of Mairead’s soaring voice singing Newgrange – we could hear sound check!  We then of course just hung out in the lobby listening.  In addition to Newgrange, we heard parts of Fields of Gold, Faith’s Song and Love and Honour.  The sound was crystal clear and we could hear perfectly even with the theatre doors closed.  So awesome!

After having dinner with David, my dad and his wife, the theatre was open.  We stopped to talk to James for the first time, telling him how much we’ve been enjoying the show and his dancing, and he thanked us.  Then we saw Carl and had to talk to him, as we had at each show of this tour so far.  He told us we were going to see some surprises in this show and then paused and said “wait, no, you probably know the show better than I do!”  I did know what he was referring to, which was Faith’s Song and County Down replacing Shenandoah and Ae Fond Kiss.  I laughed and told him that friends of mine had seen the show in the past couple of weeks and that I knew there were two new songs in it to which he replied “ok yeah, you already know!” Lol, it was such a fun little exchange.  Carl’s such a nice guy! He then pointed out another fan who he had been talking to before talking to us and asked if we knew the guy and we said we didn’t.  So Carl went and grabbed him and introduced us, saying “you need to meet Gregg and Tracie, they’re super fans too!”  I feel bad that I can’t remember the guy’s name, but he was really nice and told us about being at the Songs from the Heart filming and where we can see him in the dvd, and we told him about being at the Ancient Land filming.  I can’t say enough how much I enjoy meeting and talking with other fans, it’s such a blast!  My co-worker and her husband then arrived for their first Celtic Woman concert and were wanting to meet the performers, so I got Carl to come back over and meet them, which they really enjoyed.  With two co-workers, both of their husbands, my dad and his wife, I knew six people attending their first Celtic Woman concert that night!

Gregg, David and I had front row seats.  It was a really high stage, so we were lifting our necks up the whole time, but could still see just fine.  We started in the three end seats of the front row, but at intermission we were able to move to three seats in the center since two people hadn’t shown up and another couple slid down to let the three of us take the center seats.  That turned into our first time sitting front row center and it was awesome!  As usual when we sit so close to the front, the ladies were looking right at us, smiling and nodding all throughout the show.  They seem to really enjoy watching us sing along with the songs, Mairead in particular.  She kept watching us with the biggest smile on her face.  We were also doing a bit of dancing, including me doing the little finger wave to “she can go back to her mother” during Bean Phaidin, which just about had Mairead and Carl busting out laughing.  We love interacting with the performers like that during the shows and love seeing their reactions to how much we are enjoying the show.  It’s so much fun and makes front row so incredibly appealing!  After Tip Tap Toe, we were giving a standing ovation (which we did for just about every song) and James ran up to the front of the stage and gave us high fives.  So awesome!  We absolutely loved hearing County Down and Faith’s Song, having not heard them live since Johnstown Castle.  Both were stellar.  I also really loved hearing the story behind County Down, which brought new meaning of the lyrics to me.  Mairead introduced the song saying that during the troubles in Northern Ireland, there wasn’t much work for men, so many moved to England, Australia, USA, etc in search of work.  County Down is about a mother whose son moved to London to find work and she’s wanting him to come back home. 

As always, everything about the show was absolutely phenomenal.  Gregg and I had been really looking forward to the Minneapolis show since first finding out about it, hoping that the crowd would be as roaring loud and appreciative of these amazing ladies as they were during the Voices of Angels show.  I am thrilled to report that the Minneapolis crowd was every bit as incredible as they were two years ago!  The roaring started right when the band stepped on stage to begin the show and it never stopped.  Fantastic cheering and applause for every song and clapping along loudly in all appropriate places.  We weren’t in any dull audiences on this Ancient Land tour like a couple that we have been in past years, but the Minneapolis crowd is something extra special.  It’s so much fun to be part of that roaring group.  After The Kesh Inn, there was a standing ovation that went on and on and on, prompting the ladies to ask everybody to sit back down.  It was so awesome!  When the crowd settled after quite a long time, Mairead said “we need to tell you something – Minneapolis wins the award for best audience!” which re-ignited the standing ovation.  They then were saying how they were talking backstage about how electric the audience was and how much they always love coming to Minneapolis because they always get this kind of reception here.  With this being our fifth show of the Ancient Land tour, we knew that this was unique and that they don’t say things like that to every audience, which made it more special.  If anybody reading this wants to come experience it with us, I’m very hopeful next year’s tour will have a Minneapolis show again and would love to go with more friends!

After the show, we went out to the stage door and met up with the other people I knew who were attending their first Celtic Woman show.  They all loved it and all said it won’t be their last!  Megan came out and we got to take pictures with her and I told her how much we loved hearing Faith’s Song.  Megan then went back inside and a security guard told us to go down the street and around the corner because the girls were going to come out a different door.  Thank you security guard!  So much better than the one in Rosemont who wouldn’t even let us wait at the stage door.  So we went down there and then Megan and Tara came out a back door together.  Megan asked us if we enjoyed the show and we were like, of course!  I told Tara how much I loved the show and she said “thank you so much for coming to see us again!”  She then said “you’re coming to Red Rocks, right?” which we confirmed and said we had meet and greet there.  Eabha walked by and I said again how much we loved the show and she thanked us and got on the bus.  They seemed to be in a bit of a hurry, which made sense because they had about a 10 hour drive to the next day’s show and it was a matinee, so they’d be driving all night and heading straight to a show pretty much.  But then Mairead came out and hung out for a while, which was so much fun!  She chatted with another fan first and then turned to me and Gregg, looked at me and opened her arms for a hug.  Ummmmm, yes I want to hug you Mairead!  I love that she initiated the hug!  I told her how much I loved hearing County Down and that it was so beautiful.  I said I had a question for her and asked if I could hear her songs for Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings somewhere or if they were in the movies (the previous night, she had been on instagram talking about singing for those movies).  She said the songs are in the movies and that she was part of a 15 person choir.  Cool!  I told her I love to hear anything with her voice it in and she thanked me.  Then Gregg said how excited we are for her album and she thanked him and said it’ll be an EP and that she’ll be recording it in July.  By this point, everybody who was out there had formed a semi-circle around her and she was chatting with everybody at once.  We had such a good time and it was so cool that she just hung out with us for so long!  We got pictures with her also, which came out so good!  My co-worker and her husband who were wanting to meet some of them were out there, but I think were nervous for a meeting and were standing way back.  I called them up and told Mairead they wanted to meet her and they got to chat with her.  She asked them if it was their first Celtic Woman show and they said it was, but that it won’t be their last and told her it was incredible.  They told me later how much they enjoyed meeting her and that they want to do more stage door meetings in the future.  Of course I’ll do that with them!  Before Mairead left, we said we’d see her again next week at Red Rocks!  It was such an awesome stage door meeting, we really loved it.

Afterwards, a group of us including David, my co-worker and her husband, and a couple of other fans who I met for the first time that night at the stage door, all went to a nearby Irish pub that had a live Irish band.  We had so much fun talking about how amazing the show was and our stage door meetings.  I really love meeting and getting to know so many wonderful people through our mutual love of Celtic Woman music.  It was a great way to end a fabulous night!
This one got way longer than I thought it would, so if you made it all the way to the end, thanks for reading!  Our next and final show of the Ancient Land tour was Red Rocks, so that’ll be my next write-up.  I’ll try to get it written soon, we just always have so much stuff going on - sorry for the delays!
Title: Re: Ancient Land Tour - Tracie & Gregg's Experiences
Post by: VegasDavid on June 18, 2019, 11:32:50 PM
It was so great to spend time with you and Gregg on most of Saturday and Sunday, and experience the front row with you!  Thanks for the hospitality.

Your high five at the end of Tip Tap Toe was epic.

P.S. I still have three May write-ups to do but I keep procrastinating.
Title: Re: Ancient Land Tour - Tracie & Gregg's Experiences
Post by: Jack1949 on June 19, 2019, 07:56:11 PM
Hi Tracie and Gregg, I was at the Sat Lancaster concert in the same row as Joe Y, who I met for the first time, but am friends with him on Facebook.That was my 16th concert, but never had met the girls in person.It sounds like the stage door meeting is a good idea.I really love the Lancaster venue, they have the most amazing Christmas show also.I
didn’t know there was a M @ G at Lancaster, but Joe Y got his thru a local PBS station.Hope to meet you and Gregg sometime.
Title: Re: Ancient Land Tour - Tracie & Gregg's Experiences
Post by: Tracie on June 19, 2019, 10:27:41 PM
Hi Jack! Gregg and I met Joe, his wife, and two others for dinner before the Saturday Lancaster show. It was a lot of fun! We met quite a few other fans also at the stage door. We really enjoy both official meet and greets and stage door meetings.  The ladies are all so sweet and friendly.  We're already talking about going back to PA next year if the schedule is similar to this year. Having three nights in a row in Philly and Lancaster was awesome! Would be great to meet you! We'll have to plan something!
Title: Re: Ancient Land Tour - Tracie & Gregg's Experiences
Post by: Tracie on October 16, 2019, 09:59:58 AM
Gregg and I are at the airport to fly to Amsterdam today! We just had to go see the phenomenal Ancient Land show again!  The desire to see the show again is a mix between how much we love it and how much we feel like we need some relief from the stress and anxiety of every day life. Nothing helps us more than these wonderful ladies and their incredible music and shows, so we decided to go. We're going to the opening two nights of the Europe tour in Amsterdam and Antwerp.

As I came in here to write this, I realized that I never actually wrote about Red Rocks. Fail! Since I'm just sitting here waiting for the flight, I'll write it now.

Red Rocks was epic, phenomenal, amazing, fantastic, all the good words you can think of and more! If you ever have a chance to go there, no matter what artist it is, do it! Just being at the venue was an incredible experience. The acoustics there are wonderful. I have no other experience to compare to hearing the gorgeous music of Celtic Woman soaring through Red Rocks. Next time they are there, we will absolutely be there! Red Rocks and Johnstown Castle are the two most phenomenal experiences of my life, and quite different from each other.

I've already written about the Ancient Land show, so here are some standout memories from Red Rocks - we had 5th row center seats, which were perfect! There are about 9500 seats and it was very close to full, if not completely sold out. The looks on the ladies' faces when they saw the huge crowd was priceless. Megan was so stunned that she tripped on the step, but quickly got back up without missing a beat. It was so cool to see John start Amazing Grace standing on top of a big rock on the side of the stage and that song prompted a full audience standing ovation. I turned around and looked at everybody standing and cheering behind me and it was so cool. I've seen differing opinions of the crowd there, but I thought they were great! Very enthusiastic cheering and clapping along. After The Kesh Inn, the whole crowd gave a roaring standing ovation that went on and on and on and on. Seriously it was never-ending and had the ladies all in tears. They talked about how it was the most incredible night of their lives and that as performers they live for shows like that. They then had to ask the audience to sit back down so they could sing The Parting Glass. The big group of us that had a fan gathering before the show all had clear plastic cups with battery-operated candles in them (thanks Dee!) and we lit them up after the bagpipe solo, which got huge smiles from the ladies.

The atmosphere was literally electric, with a lightning storm off in the distance. We could see it from our seats above the stage and several miles away and it made for a really cool background effect. I saw some shocked looks on the ladies' faces when they heard the thunder rumbling. It was also very windy, which prompted them to take down the curtains early on the second act. Taking the curtains down allowed a better view of the rocks that are behind the stage, so that was really cool. They used spectacular lighting on the rocks throughout the show.

We had meet and greet, which was really fun to have at an amazing venue like Red Rocks. It was Tom's birthday and we sang happy birthday to him while waiting for meet and greet to start. I got to hug each of them and I told Megan how much we loved seeing her debut performance at Johnstown Castle and then being at Red Rocks and everything in between. I told Tara how phenomenal I thought the Ancient Land tour was and how cool it was to be at Red Rocks. And I told Eabha and Mairead that because our first show was on the Destiny tour, we have seen the two of them in every show. This prompted Mairead to do a really cute fist pump and say "yesssssss!" She also told me for the second time how much she loves my hair and noticed that I had cut it. I was very impressed by her attention to detail considering I had only cut off about an inch! Eabha told me thank you so much for all the support you give us. It was an awesome meet and greet.

One of the things that made Red Rocks so special was being there with amazing friends. We had already been planning on going with Tom and David and we also spent a lot of time with both of them doing touristy things around Denver. We also met many more people at the fan gatherings both before and after the show. Many of them I have seen since then at Mairead N's show in Boston and I'll be seeing many of them again on the Christmas and Celebration tours. I can't express enough how special it is to go to these shows with the people who have become our best friends and I'm so excited to see them again! Thank you to this forum for bringing us together!

Title: Re: Ancient Land Tour - Tracie & Gregg's Experiences
Post by: Kevin R.I. on October 16, 2019, 12:06:03 PM
I have some Dutch friends that are CW fans. Tracie, you and Gregg should try to book a show at the Providence Performing Arts Center in R.I. The theater is an old one and has really great acoustics.It one of the best places for a bus`n greet because the CW coaches have to park on a side street next to the building and everyone exits the stage door and walks up the street to the buses.
Title: Re: Ancient Land Tour - Tracie & Gregg's Experiences
Post by: Tracie on October 16, 2019, 03:21:08 PM
I have some Dutch friends that are CW fans. Tracie, you and Gregg should try to book a show at the Providence Performing Arts Center in R.I. The theater is an old one and has really great acoustics.It one of the best places for a bus`n greet because the CW coaches have to park on a side street next to the building and everyone exits the stage door and walks up the street to the buses.

I'd love to! Gregg and I like to travel to see Celtic Woman shows. A couple of trips that I've had in mind have been to rent a car and follow them around Florida and follow them around the northeast. We're doing the Florida trip on the Celebration tour, so I think northeast will be great for 2021!
Title: Re: Ancient Land Tour - Tracie & Gregg's Experiences
Post by: Tracie on November 10, 2019, 09:57:36 AM
Gregg and I wrapped up our Ancient Land experience with the opening two nights of the Europe tour a few weeks ago.  This brought our Ancient Land total to 10 shows over 13+ months - the two nights of DVD filming, six US tour shows and two Europe tour shows.  We loved seeing the phenomenal Ancient Land show so many times!

Opening night of the Europe tour was in Amsterdam, Netherlands and the second night was in Antwerp, Belgium.  We had never been to either city, but we really enjoyed them.  There's such beautiful architecture and Amsterdam's beautiful canals.  We had a wonderful canal dinner cruise the night after the two shows.  We love to travel and see new places and we will be continuing to choose our travel destinations off of Celtic Woman's tour schedule so that we can see lots more of their incredible shows!

I feel like I have run out of ways to explain how amazing the Ancient Land show is, how much we love it every time we see it, and how the ladies and the entire band and dancers blow us away each time we see them, so I'll just talk about the things that were unique to the Europe shows.  The major differences were that Mna na hEireann was removed from the setlist (we missed it!) and that there were two dancers (Carl & Colm) instead of three.  It was interesting to see how they re-worked the choreography with one less dancer because there are so many songs in this tour that they dance to.  The most adorable moment came out of that during Ballroom of Romance when Megan and Tara grabbed hands and smiled very cutely at "like hand in glove, could this be love". Awwwww! Towards the end of the US tour, Mairead had swapped Ae Fond Kiss to County Down and Megan had swapped Shenandoah to Faith's Song.  In our two Europe shows, Mairead went back to Ae Fond Kiss while Megan kept Faith's Song.  We did see Mairead in both shows - it was a few days later when she got appendicitis and left the tour.  Another difference in the Europe shows is that they changed up some of the song introductions (most noticeably for Moorlough Shore, which no longer had the whole story about Charlie O'Neill emigrating to the US), and changed the way they introduced Megan, now saying that it was her first Europe tour rather than saying that she was new to the group.  The Amsterdam show started about 15 minutes late.  Lloyd came out on time to start the show, but nobody else came on stage.  He stopped playing the music and the lights in the theatre came back on.  We sat and waited for awhile, then Mairead came on the speaker system (Gregg and I were like "hey Mairead!" when she started talking) and said sorry, we're having technical difficulties, but we're coming out to start the show right now, woo! And as I mentioned in David's thread, Megan coughed during Faith's Song in Antwerp.  I really don't mind when stuff like that happens (we're all human!) because while I have never once thought that they lip sync, it gives me stories to share when other people question it.  They absolutely are singing live!  Gregg and I gave Megan a standing ovation after that song to show our appreciation to her and I think she appreciated that support because she gave us a big smile as she walked off stage.

The Amsterdam theatre was part of a big convention center and although we spent some time earlier in the day walking around it, we couldn't figure out where the stage door was, so we unfortunately didn't meet the ladies in Amsterdam.  We did meet them the next afternoon in Antwerp though!  We had a long conversation with the four of them, which was wonderful.  We had told them via instagram that we were coming to Amsterdam, but never said anything about Antwerp so we could surprise them at that one, knowing they would see us there because we had a front row seat.  When we met them in Antwerp then, they certainly were surprised and Tara said they didn't realize we were coming to Antwerp too, to which we said we kept that one a secret!  In Amsterdam we were in row 8 and weren't sure if they noticed us that far back or not.  But when we talked to them, Mairead said they could hear us cheering in the Amsterdam crowd because we were always the first ones to start the cheers.  How cool is that, that they know what our cheers sound like!? Awesome!  Valid too, because we've seen the show so many times that we were always a second ahead of the rest of the crowd in starting to cheer after each song.  We talked about the upcoming Christmas tour and Megan said they're putting a very special show together and it'll be amazing (no doubt about that!).  We told them we're coming to four Christmas shows, the first of which being the Minnesota show that is only five miles from our house.  To that Eabha said, wow that's a little bit easier than Belgium!  Haha, yup just a little bit!  We said we already have tickets to eight Celebration tour shows and are still getting more.  Mairead looked really surprised at that and said they didn't even really know where they were going for Celebration yet because they had just gotten their schedule a few days ago.  That was really interesting to hear.  We explained how some venues list the shows and put tickets on sale very far in advance and that we started buying Celebration tickets back in May.  We told them that the main reason we had decided to come to Europe is because we've had a lot of stress and anxiety and that their music and shows are what gives us relief and that we were feeling very much in need of that relief.  I didn't see it, but Gregg said that Megan put her hand over her heart like awwww when I said that.  We got a lovely group picture, which is on my public instagram page (tracie_dorn).  And ever since our Lancaster show in April where Gregg sat up front and I sat in the balcony, anytime we have met them before a show, Tara has asked us where we would be sitting that night.  She continued that in Antwerp and we told them how we got one front row seat from David and then bought one in the balcony and that we would switch seats with each other at intermission.  Mairead said she hoped somebody else with a front row seat wouldn't show up so that we could both sit up front.  Wish granted Mairead - I sat in the balcony for the first act, but nobody showed up for the seat right next to Gregg, so we both got to sit in the front row for the second act.  I really do enjoy watching the choreography from the balcony, but nothing compares to being right up front where they can see us and interact with us during the show.  And when the show ended, as Mairead was walking off stage, she was waving to the crowd in general.  When she got in front of me, she stopped, locked eyes with me and then smiled and waved to me and gave me a thumbs up for getting the front row seat.  Carl and Lloyd also waved directly to me and Gregg as they walked off stage.  Carl knows who we are from all of our lobby chats with him, though unfortunately he wasn't in the lobbies at those two shows.  And Lloyd frequently watches me sing and dance along when I'm sitting in the front row and always gives me big smiles.  So much fun!  We hadn't figured out where the stage door was in Antwerp either so we didn't meet them after the show, but we were fine with that since we had the really long conversation with them earlier in the day.  And that meant that my final moment with the ladies on the Ancient Land tour was my favorite singer on earth giving me a smile, wave and thumbs up (I love them all, but don't think it's any secret that Mairead is my favorite) <3.  Absolutely love it!

Thanks so much for reading about all of our Ancient Land adventures!  The 2019 Christmas tour is right around the corner (our first show is 26 days from now!!) and we'll have lots more to report back on.  Can't wait!!

Title: Re: Ancient Land Tour - Tracie & Gregg's Experiences
Post by: Gregg on November 10, 2019, 02:23:19 PM
Delicious
Title: Re: Ancient Land Tour - Tracie & Gregg's Experiences
Post by: VegasDavid on November 10, 2019, 03:29:26 PM
I'm glad that all of my speculative Europe tickets went to such good use.  That was so cool that Mairéad gave you a thumbs up from the stage!  Now that all our Ancient Land stories are done, it's time to make some new stories happen for the next two tours.