A Christmas Symphony at Boettcher Hall in Denver, CO (12/05/2022) - My Review

Back in February, my older sister gave me the best birthday gift ever: tickets to see Celtic Woman at the Pikes Peak Center this past May (which was my first Celtic Woman concert ever). To return the favor, I gave her, my younger sister, and our mom (as well as myself, of course!) the early Christmas gift of tickets to see Celtic Woman with the Colorado Symphony Orchestra in Denver. At first, I was (foolishly) worried that the magic of seeing Celtic Woman live would fade after the first time. However, Monday night’s show was just as mind-blowingly amazing as their Postcards from Ireland show that I saw in May (if not even more so)!

THE SHOW:

Ding Dong Merrily on High
- The concert started off with a wonderful classic from CW’s A Christmas Celebration album, sung beautifully by Muirgen, Megan, and Hannah with energetic and lovely music from Tara and the orchestra. It was such a treat hearing this song again!

Angels We Have Heard on High
- This is my all-time favorite Christmas song, perfected by my all-time favorite music group. The upbeat tune, gorgeous orchestration, and incredible vocals have made this version of the song a Holiday staple for me ever since it was first released back in 2019!

Do You Hear What I Hear?
- The first solo of the night, performed beautifully and soulfully by the lovely Megan.

O Come, O Come Emmanuel
- No Advent season is complete without this song. Originally performed in Celtic Woman by the gorgeous Mairead Carlin, Muirgen definitely does the song justice.

Deck the Halls
- A fun, festive little group number that the audience enjoyed immensely. My younger sister especially got a kick out of the “La!” “La!” “La!” part at the very end of the song and couldn’t help but giggle!

The Toys’ Waltz
- I adore this song! It truly encompasses the feeling of Christmas and makes me feel like a little kid counting down the days until December 25th again!
When this song was over, Muirgen introduced us to the wonderful and incredibly talented newest member of Celtic Woman: Hannah Traynor. The audience warmly welcomed her with loud cheers and thunderous applause. “This is Hannah’s first tour with Celtic Woman,” Muirgen continued. “AND… today also happens to be her birthday!” She then encouraged everyone in the audience to sing Happy Birthday, along with the orchestra playing the tune. Such a sweet moment!

White Christmas
- Speaking of Hannah, after a warm welcome and a birthday song to her from the audience, it was her turn for her first solo of the night. I hadn’t heard much of her singing before Monday night, but I knew she would be incredible, and, as a matter of fact, she exceeded my already high expectations! She’s such a wonderful addition to the group!

Across the World
- Tara’s first solo of the night. This song is great any time of year, but it does have a festive feel to it that makes it especially enjoyable at Christmastime.

Mise Eire
- I was very pleasantly surprised to hear them perform this gorgeous song on Monday night. The orchestral music and beautiful vocals almost brought me to tears and made me feel incredibly peaceful.

The Wexford Carol
- A magnificent performance of a Celtic Christmas classic.

Amazing Grace
- A wonderful Celtic Woman staple that’s great to hear them perform anytime, whether it be during their Spring tour or their Christmas tour.

I Saw Three Ships
- My favorite song from Christmas Cards from Ireland and one of my all-time favorite Christmas songs in general. My mom was completely dazzled by this performance (as was I), and once it was over, she leaned over and excitedly whispered to me, “That was so good!”

After I Saw Three Ships came a 20-minute intermission, during which time, my sisters went to get more drinks. I have to give some well-deserved praise to Boettcher Hall here for giving patrons the option to preorder a drink for intermission time before the show even starts, which my sisters did. Because of this, they were able to skip the line and come back to their seats in less than five minutes!
The intermission came to a close with a brief Christmas song medley played by the immensely talented Colorado Symphony Orchestra. Then Tara came out onto the stage to begin the next song.

Carol of the Bells
- Another phenomenal song that made my mom’s jaw drop. I was already having a great night, but seeing her and my sisters enjoying the show so much made me feel even happier!

O Holy Night
- While I do prefer the A Christmas Celebration and The Magic of Christmas arrangements of this song, their newest version is still beautiful, and I really love the addition of Uileann pipes.

Greensleeves
- I love this instrumental; another song that makes me feel cozy and at peace. Thank you Tara!

We Three Kings
- This has always been my favorite song from the Home for Christmas album, and Muirgen performs it so stunningly well! I had chills throughout the entire song!

The Christmas Song
- Hannah truly did this song  justice. Lisa K would be proud! When this song ended, my mom leaned over once again and said, “She was a very good choice (for Celtic Woman)!” to which I agree!

It Came Upon a Midnight Clear
- Megan seriously knocked this one out of the park! It was just as great as Susan’s version, which is saying A LOT!

Danny Boy
- Not exactly a Christmas song, I know, but as Tara said before the song started, it’s a very important song for Celtic Woman, and regardless of what time of year it is, I always enjoy hearing them perform it.
After Danny Boy, the girls encouraged us to give a round of applause for the orchestra’s conductor, who then walked over to the piano for the next song:

Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas
- Such a wonderful, cozy little song! These girls harmonize so beautifully!

Sleigh Ride
- This performance was so adorable! I loved the girls’ little dances throughout the song, and it was obvious that they had a ton of fun with it (as did the audience)!

Auld Lang Syne
- It was then time for the finale. I knew this would be the last song of the evening, and I’m so glad I brought tissues because this song always makes me cry, no matter how many times I hear it. Apparently I’m not alone, because I heard a lot of sniffling all around me during the song.
At the end, the entire audience was on their feet, cheering wildly. I also heard several people talking about what an incredible show it was. Even my metal-head older sister loved it, and she had lots of praise for “Merida” (which is her nickname for Tara)!

FINAL THOUGHTS:
Even two days later, I’m still completely in awe of Monday night’s show! Well done all around - to the girls and to the orchestra - and welcome Ms. Hannah to the Celtic Woman family! And thank you all for such an amazing night!

NOLLAIG SHONA DAOIBH!

Oh My!! Looks like it really was something epic!! How I wish I was there... I especially agree with you about Oh Holy Night, David's version for me is the best of all, then I still prefer Gavin's version and then the new one, but it's still Wonderful 

The Christmas concert in Denver was absolutely magical! I loved it so much! It was such a joy to see a Christmas concert again after three years. As I write this, I'm at the airport heading to Chicago to see the show again tomorrow night, which will be my final Celtic Woman concert this year.

The ladies were all so wonderful! Hannah is amazing, loved her instantly! It was really fun getting to sing her Happy Birthday too. Muirgen in her first Christmas tour was outstanding. Megan was brilliant as always. And oh my goodness the highlight of not only the night but of this entire year of Celtic Woman concerts was Tara performing Greensleeves. It was breathtaking! I really really missed her performing the gorgeous slow songs like that, which really should have been in the Celebration and Postcards tours. The harmonies were stellar. I loved everything so very much!

We talked to all four ladies at the stage door after the show. It's so fun that the existing members tell new members about us, because Hannah already knew who we were and said she'd been hearing our names. Love it! She's super friendly and we had lovely chats with all four of them.

Super excited to see the show again tomorrow, woohoo!

@ Evening Star: Thanks for the review! During the show, I was hoping someone would post the set list. It went by so fast. Interestingly, there was no intermission @ the 1st show in CA. Auld Lang Syne was definitely one of my favorites of the show (and of all time) too! Have you heard Lisa Lambe's version?

And oh my goodness the highlight of not only the night but of this entire year of Celtic Woman concerts was Tara performing Greensleeves. It was breathtaking! I really really missed her performing the gorgeous slow songs like that, which really should have been in the Celebration and Postcards tours.

@ Tracie : 100% agree! I was cheering at the top of my lungs after that one. She adds her own flair in the middle, and the finish is slow & grand. Reminds me of the concert version of 'For the Love of a Princess'. So good!

I have to agree totally with Evening Star's review.  I saw the show on Tuesday night in New Philadelphia, Ohio after seeing Chloe and the Atlanta Pops on Sunday night. 

New Philly was not generally someplace I would have expected CW to be at, but great venue.  Only 1,100 seats, but most were full.  OK, the first two rows were various University and Foundation officials,  Guess where some of the empty seats were?

I had planned on printing out the setlist, rather than making notes.  Of course, I forgot to do it.  It did seem like it was the same list, which is not surprising.

Anyway, great show.  I loved Hannah's voice. Yes, there were a few blending issues, but nothing that won't get fixed with some more shows and rehearsals.  Too bad we won't see a show for another year (at least).   

The show was definitely worth all the hassle that flying Frontier causes!

Forgot to mention...

They were selling CW Christmas ornaments!!