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Ancient Land / Ancient Land PBS Special: Review and Thoughts
« on: November 24, 2018, 11:25:54 PM »
Here's my write-up on the Celtic Woman: Ancient Land PBS special!
The writeup got a little long so I split it into two parts, the first being mainly the concert itself and the second being dedicated to the PBS portions of the broadcast.
I hope you enjoy the read!
Beware, this write-up contains a lot of spoilers, so if you haven't seen it yet and want to be surprised, you may want to wait until after you see the special to read it.
--- ANCIENT LAND SPOILERS BELOW ---
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--- ANCIENT LAND SPOILERS BELOW ---
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Set List:
Ancient Land
Homeland
Intro by the girls
Moorlough Shore
Ae Fond Kiss
Amazing Grace
Pledge Break #1
Long Journey Home
Sive
Eabha introduces Megan as the newest member of Celtic Woman!
Shenandoah
Love & Honour
Ballroom of Romance
Pledge Break #2
Follow Me
Mná na hÉireann
Over the Rainbow
Tara's Tunes
Danny Boy
Pledge Break #3
Siúil A Rún
Be Still
Going Home
The Enchanted Way
The Parting Glass
Track Notes:
They basically showed the entire set list from night #1 in order, but with mostly night 2 footage.
They didn't have any of the extra songs from night #2 on the PBS special. I'm guessing they will be on the DVD:
- County Down
- Garden of Eden
- Faith's Song
Before The Parting Glass, they didn't include any of the girls introducing the song or their tribute to Dave Kavanagh. It's possible they could include that extra footage on the DVD, but it's possible it was just be one of those special moments reserved for the audience at the castle.
The music was absolutely gorgeous!
If you've heard the album, you already know how good the harmony is.
There are some things that you didn't hear on the album.
Over the Rainbow:
- This was really, really good!
- This was arranged as a duet and performed by Megan and Mairead Carlin.
- They sound incredible singing this together!
- Megan's voice is soooo powerful and beautiful in this song.
- The harmony in A New Journey was more intricate.
- But this new arrangement struck a fantastic balance between simplicity and captivating harmony.
- The ending...WOW!!! Absolutely stunning!
- I don't usually like comparing different Celtic Woman arrangements across years and performers, but in this case it has to be said: maybe there are even better versions out there, but this is definitely the best arrangement of this song I have ever heard. <3
Siúil a Run:
- This was outstanding!
- Tara performed the harp.
- Eabha sang and also played a whistle (I'm not sure off-hand which variety of whistle it was)
- The harp accompaniment and Eabha's instrumental bridges on the whistle were enchanting! It was really fun to watch and listen to.
- I found Orla's version all those years ago soothing and enchanting.
- But as a duet and with that phenomenal instrumental bridge, it sounds even more interesting!
Amazing Grace:
- During Amazing Grace, Anto came in through the crowd from the left of the screen. I guess there wasn't a practical way to get up on the castle roof and back down in time for the end of the song.
- There were large flames coming out of the fountain in front of the castle. That was a pretty cool effect.
- The arrangement was similar to the recent tour versions.
- Through the course of the tours, this arrangement has evolved from the Voices of Angels album version into something truly special.
- Much like Over the Rainbow, this arrangement benefits from its simplicity.
- The Songs from the Heart version sounded spectacularly pretty and had a lot of fancy harmonies going on.
- The Ancient Land arrangement has a more pure sound in my opinion and for me, that makes the harmony even more satisfying and powerful.
Danny Boy:
- On the tours, Tara has been playing the harp in Danny Boy.
- In Ancient Land, she played the violin instead.
Be Still / Going Home:
- I found it interesting that they went straight from Be Still into Going Home without pausing at all
- I thought that was an interesting choice
- At the castle, there was kind of an awkward silence, especially on night #1 when we were so enchanted by Be Still that at the end of the song, we were all still, but also silent.
- Maybe the whole "moment of silence" vibe without clapping didn't work well on TV so they went right into Going Home?
Follow Me:
- This is a lot of fun to listen to and is even more fun to watch!
- It has lots of energy and the girls manage to dance around the stage while still singing beautifully
Tara's Tunes:
- Tara enchants the dancers on stage during The Enchanted Way, but she even has the lights dancing and pulsing excitedly in Tara's Tunes!
- It's soooo much fun!
Tara's dancing:
- Tara has some sweet dance moves and she looked pretty graceful!
- During Enchanted Way, Tara directs the 4 tap dancers with her bow. I think if she pointed her bow at me, I might feel compelled to dance as well, though not with nearly the same skill as the dancers on stage.
Overall Music:
One of the few criticism I heard about the Ancient Land album was that it didn't have any really big, spectacular number, like "Sing Out" or "Spanish Lady" from A New Journey, or "Mo Ghile Mear" from Songs from the Heart or Homecoming. My counter-argument is that neither the Ancient Land album nor the PBS special needed such a song and such an arrangement might have seemed out of place with the other tracks. All the songs were very good and there were plenty of songs that had lots of energy. Destiny and the non-Deluxe version of the Songs from the Heart album had a healthy assortment of soft, slow songs and both of those are among Celtic Woman's most beloved albums.
Ancient Land has my favourite overall selection of music ANY Celtic Woman concert special and considering I absolutely love all of Celtic Woman's previous DVDs, that's saying A LOT!
Megan:
Megan has a great debut with Celtic Woman in Ancient Land! She doesn't come across as nervous at all on the PBS special. In fact, she sings with a reassuring confidence. She has a very strong voice, but it's also somehow immensely soothing. She fits in very well with the other girls and her presence on stage is astonishing, especially considering those were her first two shows with the group.
Her performance of Shenandoah was described by PBS as "haunting" and the way she performed Over the Rainbow with Mairead was breathtaking. I'm so glad she's a member of Celtic Woman!
The Stage:
The stage had a short staircase up and back down from the back to the main stage. There main stage was a large circle that had a stylized logo on it like the one CaraNua uses (the symbol that appears in Newgrange). There were 2 side platforms on either side, as well as a ramp at the front of the stage. It wasn't overly elaborate, but it looked fine.
The presence of moisture on stage did come across on camera, but unless you were there, I don't think you'd realize just how wet and "slippy" it actually was.
The Dresses:
Act 1:
- They were really gorgeous and they looked like they belonged together
- Colors:
* Eabha: dark green, almost an aqua
* Megan: a lighter shade of green
* Mairead: Deep blue
* Tara: greyish
- The tops were glittery and the bottom was smooth and silky
- The dresses had some extra pieces around the shoulder area for the opening number which were removed for the rest of the show (kind of like A Christmas Celebration)
Ballroom of Romance:
- All wore brilliant silky green dresses with yellow sashes
Act 2:
- White for Eabha and Mairead
- A light, subtle pink for Tara and Megan
The dresses all looked amazing! One of my all-time favourite Celtic Woman dress sets!
No, Synan did not do the dresses. Should that matter though? Synan did some incredible work for Celtic Woman for many years. These dresses looked absolutely stunning though and while maybe they weren't as intricate and personalized as Synan's work, I thought they fit the concert and setting very well and looked amazing on the ladies.
Crowd Shots:
While most of the main shots were from night #2, there were quite a few night #1 shots of the crowd. They sometimes used crowd shots from both nights within the same song, so people were sitting in different places at different times during a particular song. LOL!
Our section got no love at all. No front closeups. At least the girls showed us a lot of love and we got to show them lots of live love in return.
Some of the biggest superfans (Karsten, Mike, and a few others I know) did get some really nice closeups though and I suppose that's fitting. As much as I love Celtic Woman now, there were so many people at that show that have been supporting Celtic Woman for much longer, some since the very beginning. While I suppose it would have been nice to have been in at least one closeup, I'm very glad that "The Celtic Woman Elder" fans got to be featured.
There were a lot of shots from behind of all of us. Honestly, I was pretty self-conscious while I was there about doing something that would look silly on camera ... and I kind of did. There are a few shots were I'm doing really awkward head bobbing that felt natural to me, but didn't come across well at all on camera. There were a few shots where I was rocking back and forth, enjoying the music, but it looked like I was having a meltdown or something. I can't even imagine how annoying that head movement was to the people sitting behind me and I apologize for that.
Considering how self-conscious even that made me while I was watching the PBS special, I'm actually glad I didn't get any closeups, because that probably would have felt even more awkward.
I didn't notice Sue in the crowd shots during my first watching. I did see Glenn and Ronan on camera between Mná na hÉireann and Over the Rainbow.
They did a pretty good job with crowd shots overall. There were a few awkward ones, like during Shenandoah, when someone in the crowd was clearly amazed by Megan, but the shot they chose with her mouth open just looked weird (not in general, but for that point in the song) and didn't feel right for the moment. But there were also some really, really good ones. I don't recall any powerful "face-full-of-tears" shots as I've seen in some of the other DVDs though.
Johnstown Castle:
They definitely captured the beauty of the castle and grounds in this concert special.
The show opened with a drone shot, soaring across the pond and grounds behind the castle. It was most likely the morning of the second show.
I'm so glad that Tracie, Gregg, and I decided to go walk around the grounds the afternoon of the second day of recording. It would have been nice to have met the girls while they were by the lake recording their interviews, but they could have just as easily been doing them during the afternoon when we were there or the day before. I suppose we could have spent both full days at the castle, hoping to be in the right place at the right time while we were there. But I think we just got unlucky to have missed them.
If anyone is lucky enough to be in Wexford, Ireland, Johnstown Castle is definitely a place you want to see!
The castle lit up at night with an array of colored floodlights looked very pretty. The fog, which was prevalent on night #2, did muddy a few of the shots of the castle. But the floodlights scattering off the mist created a lovely effect too. The fog gave the concert a mystical feel and I think it added much more to the shots than it took away.
Overall Impression:
Ancient Land is like a love song about Celtic Woman's homeland, from its rich history to the diverse and beautiful country it is today. Johnstown Castle, the lighting, and the dresses are absolutely stunning!
A New Journey and Songs from the Heart were visually spectacular and pretty much impossible to top, but Ancient Land is up near that same caliber.
It's definitely in the top three as far as my favourite Celtic Woman concert specials.
The music is, in my opinion, the best overall selection of music Celtic Woman has ever produced in a concert special! It's excellent in quality and certainly the most fun to listen to.
I'm so grateful that I was there in the audience when they recorded Ancient Land. On TV, they managed to capture the beauty of the castle, as well as the energy and heart of the performers. I'm so happy with the way this turned out! I love Ancient Land and I hope lots of people out there, from new listeners to long-time fans, will love it too. <3
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
--- ANCIENT LAND SPOILERS ABOVE ---
... FOR PART 2 (PLEDGE BREAK / INTERVIEW WRITEUP) SEE THE NEXT POST BELOW ...
The writeup got a little long so I split it into two parts, the first being mainly the concert itself and the second being dedicated to the PBS portions of the broadcast.
I hope you enjoy the read!
Beware, this write-up contains a lot of spoilers, so if you haven't seen it yet and want to be surprised, you may want to wait until after you see the special to read it.
--- ANCIENT LAND SPOILERS BELOW ---
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
--- ANCIENT LAND SPOILERS BELOW ---
.
.
.
Set List:
Ancient Land
Homeland
Intro by the girls
Moorlough Shore
Ae Fond Kiss
Amazing Grace
Pledge Break #1
Long Journey Home
Sive
Eabha introduces Megan as the newest member of Celtic Woman!
Shenandoah
Love & Honour
Ballroom of Romance
Pledge Break #2
Follow Me
Mná na hÉireann
Over the Rainbow
Tara's Tunes
Danny Boy
Pledge Break #3
Siúil A Rún
Be Still
Going Home
The Enchanted Way
The Parting Glass
Track Notes:
They basically showed the entire set list from night #1 in order, but with mostly night 2 footage.
They didn't have any of the extra songs from night #2 on the PBS special. I'm guessing they will be on the DVD:
- County Down
- Garden of Eden
- Faith's Song
Before The Parting Glass, they didn't include any of the girls introducing the song or their tribute to Dave Kavanagh. It's possible they could include that extra footage on the DVD, but it's possible it was just be one of those special moments reserved for the audience at the castle.
The music was absolutely gorgeous!
If you've heard the album, you already know how good the harmony is.
There are some things that you didn't hear on the album.
Over the Rainbow:
- This was really, really good!
- This was arranged as a duet and performed by Megan and Mairead Carlin.
- They sound incredible singing this together!
- Megan's voice is soooo powerful and beautiful in this song.
- The harmony in A New Journey was more intricate.
- But this new arrangement struck a fantastic balance between simplicity and captivating harmony.
- The ending...WOW!!! Absolutely stunning!
- I don't usually like comparing different Celtic Woman arrangements across years and performers, but in this case it has to be said: maybe there are even better versions out there, but this is definitely the best arrangement of this song I have ever heard. <3
Siúil a Run:
- This was outstanding!
- Tara performed the harp.
- Eabha sang and also played a whistle (I'm not sure off-hand which variety of whistle it was)
- The harp accompaniment and Eabha's instrumental bridges on the whistle were enchanting! It was really fun to watch and listen to.
- I found Orla's version all those years ago soothing and enchanting.
- But as a duet and with that phenomenal instrumental bridge, it sounds even more interesting!
Amazing Grace:
- During Amazing Grace, Anto came in through the crowd from the left of the screen. I guess there wasn't a practical way to get up on the castle roof and back down in time for the end of the song.
- There were large flames coming out of the fountain in front of the castle. That was a pretty cool effect.
- The arrangement was similar to the recent tour versions.
- Through the course of the tours, this arrangement has evolved from the Voices of Angels album version into something truly special.
- Much like Over the Rainbow, this arrangement benefits from its simplicity.
- The Songs from the Heart version sounded spectacularly pretty and had a lot of fancy harmonies going on.
- The Ancient Land arrangement has a more pure sound in my opinion and for me, that makes the harmony even more satisfying and powerful.
Danny Boy:
- On the tours, Tara has been playing the harp in Danny Boy.
- In Ancient Land, she played the violin instead.
Be Still / Going Home:
- I found it interesting that they went straight from Be Still into Going Home without pausing at all
- I thought that was an interesting choice
- At the castle, there was kind of an awkward silence, especially on night #1 when we were so enchanted by Be Still that at the end of the song, we were all still, but also silent.
- Maybe the whole "moment of silence" vibe without clapping didn't work well on TV so they went right into Going Home?
Follow Me:
- This is a lot of fun to listen to and is even more fun to watch!
- It has lots of energy and the girls manage to dance around the stage while still singing beautifully
Tara's Tunes:
- Tara enchants the dancers on stage during The Enchanted Way, but she even has the lights dancing and pulsing excitedly in Tara's Tunes!
- It's soooo much fun!
Tara's dancing:
- Tara has some sweet dance moves and she looked pretty graceful!
- During Enchanted Way, Tara directs the 4 tap dancers with her bow. I think if she pointed her bow at me, I might feel compelled to dance as well, though not with nearly the same skill as the dancers on stage.
Overall Music:
One of the few criticism I heard about the Ancient Land album was that it didn't have any really big, spectacular number, like "Sing Out" or "Spanish Lady" from A New Journey, or "Mo Ghile Mear" from Songs from the Heart or Homecoming. My counter-argument is that neither the Ancient Land album nor the PBS special needed such a song and such an arrangement might have seemed out of place with the other tracks. All the songs were very good and there were plenty of songs that had lots of energy. Destiny and the non-Deluxe version of the Songs from the Heart album had a healthy assortment of soft, slow songs and both of those are among Celtic Woman's most beloved albums.
Ancient Land has my favourite overall selection of music ANY Celtic Woman concert special and considering I absolutely love all of Celtic Woman's previous DVDs, that's saying A LOT!
Megan:
Megan has a great debut with Celtic Woman in Ancient Land! She doesn't come across as nervous at all on the PBS special. In fact, she sings with a reassuring confidence. She has a very strong voice, but it's also somehow immensely soothing. She fits in very well with the other girls and her presence on stage is astonishing, especially considering those were her first two shows with the group.
Her performance of Shenandoah was described by PBS as "haunting" and the way she performed Over the Rainbow with Mairead was breathtaking. I'm so glad she's a member of Celtic Woman!
The Stage:
The stage had a short staircase up and back down from the back to the main stage. There main stage was a large circle that had a stylized logo on it like the one CaraNua uses (the symbol that appears in Newgrange). There were 2 side platforms on either side, as well as a ramp at the front of the stage. It wasn't overly elaborate, but it looked fine.
The presence of moisture on stage did come across on camera, but unless you were there, I don't think you'd realize just how wet and "slippy" it actually was.
The Dresses:
Act 1:
- They were really gorgeous and they looked like they belonged together
- Colors:
* Eabha: dark green, almost an aqua
* Megan: a lighter shade of green
* Mairead: Deep blue
* Tara: greyish
- The tops were glittery and the bottom was smooth and silky
- The dresses had some extra pieces around the shoulder area for the opening number which were removed for the rest of the show (kind of like A Christmas Celebration)
Ballroom of Romance:
- All wore brilliant silky green dresses with yellow sashes
Act 2:
- White for Eabha and Mairead
- A light, subtle pink for Tara and Megan
The dresses all looked amazing! One of my all-time favourite Celtic Woman dress sets!
No, Synan did not do the dresses. Should that matter though? Synan did some incredible work for Celtic Woman for many years. These dresses looked absolutely stunning though and while maybe they weren't as intricate and personalized as Synan's work, I thought they fit the concert and setting very well and looked amazing on the ladies.
Crowd Shots:
While most of the main shots were from night #2, there were quite a few night #1 shots of the crowd. They sometimes used crowd shots from both nights within the same song, so people were sitting in different places at different times during a particular song. LOL!
Our section got no love at all. No front closeups. At least the girls showed us a lot of love and we got to show them lots of live love in return.
Some of the biggest superfans (Karsten, Mike, and a few others I know) did get some really nice closeups though and I suppose that's fitting. As much as I love Celtic Woman now, there were so many people at that show that have been supporting Celtic Woman for much longer, some since the very beginning. While I suppose it would have been nice to have been in at least one closeup, I'm very glad that "The Celtic Woman Elder" fans got to be featured.
There were a lot of shots from behind of all of us. Honestly, I was pretty self-conscious while I was there about doing something that would look silly on camera ... and I kind of did. There are a few shots were I'm doing really awkward head bobbing that felt natural to me, but didn't come across well at all on camera. There were a few shots where I was rocking back and forth, enjoying the music, but it looked like I was having a meltdown or something. I can't even imagine how annoying that head movement was to the people sitting behind me and I apologize for that.
Considering how self-conscious even that made me while I was watching the PBS special, I'm actually glad I didn't get any closeups, because that probably would have felt even more awkward.
I didn't notice Sue in the crowd shots during my first watching. I did see Glenn and Ronan on camera between Mná na hÉireann and Over the Rainbow.
They did a pretty good job with crowd shots overall. There were a few awkward ones, like during Shenandoah, when someone in the crowd was clearly amazed by Megan, but the shot they chose with her mouth open just looked weird (not in general, but for that point in the song) and didn't feel right for the moment. But there were also some really, really good ones. I don't recall any powerful "face-full-of-tears" shots as I've seen in some of the other DVDs though.
Johnstown Castle:
They definitely captured the beauty of the castle and grounds in this concert special.
The show opened with a drone shot, soaring across the pond and grounds behind the castle. It was most likely the morning of the second show.
I'm so glad that Tracie, Gregg, and I decided to go walk around the grounds the afternoon of the second day of recording. It would have been nice to have met the girls while they were by the lake recording their interviews, but they could have just as easily been doing them during the afternoon when we were there or the day before. I suppose we could have spent both full days at the castle, hoping to be in the right place at the right time while we were there. But I think we just got unlucky to have missed them.
If anyone is lucky enough to be in Wexford, Ireland, Johnstown Castle is definitely a place you want to see!
The castle lit up at night with an array of colored floodlights looked very pretty. The fog, which was prevalent on night #2, did muddy a few of the shots of the castle. But the floodlights scattering off the mist created a lovely effect too. The fog gave the concert a mystical feel and I think it added much more to the shots than it took away.
Overall Impression:
Ancient Land is like a love song about Celtic Woman's homeland, from its rich history to the diverse and beautiful country it is today. Johnstown Castle, the lighting, and the dresses are absolutely stunning!
A New Journey and Songs from the Heart were visually spectacular and pretty much impossible to top, but Ancient Land is up near that same caliber.
It's definitely in the top three as far as my favourite Celtic Woman concert specials.
The music is, in my opinion, the best overall selection of music Celtic Woman has ever produced in a concert special! It's excellent in quality and certainly the most fun to listen to.
I'm so grateful that I was there in the audience when they recorded Ancient Land. On TV, they managed to capture the beauty of the castle, as well as the energy and heart of the performers. I'm so happy with the way this turned out! I love Ancient Land and I hope lots of people out there, from new listeners to long-time fans, will love it too. <3
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
--- ANCIENT LAND SPOILERS ABOVE ---
... FOR PART 2 (PLEDGE BREAK / INTERVIEW WRITEUP) SEE THE NEXT POST BELOW ...