The Gathering

by Agnew / Malamet / Scott

From a tiny green island in the bluest of seas
We've travelled the world throughout history
From the taverns in Boston to the streets of New York
You'll find someone Irish in ever city and port
And though we may wander from the south and the north,
We carry on when life steers us off course.
(And) Rivers of memories flow through your veins
And the heartbeat of home is calling your name

Chorus:
Gather near, gather far
Wherever you are
In the name of céad míle fáilte
Here's to you and I and the times gone by
Won't be long 'til the next slán abhaile,
So raise your glass and sing with me for the gathering (choir backing: raise your glass up)
So raise your glass and sing with me for the gathering (choir backing: raise your glass up)
For the gathering

So I call to the millions of us abroad
Don't ever forget its erin go braugh
So I'll bring the stories and you bring the laughs
And we'll drink 'til the morning like no time has passed

Repeat chorus

So come along say sláinte
Come along say sláinte
Come along say sláinte
In the name of céad míle fáilte!

Gather near, gather far
Wherever you are
In the name of céad míle fáilte
Here's to you and I and the times gone by
Won't be long 'til the next slán abhaile,
So raise your glass and sing with me for the gathering
So raise your glass and sing with me...

Gather near, gather far
Wherever you are
In the name of céad míle fáilte
Here's to you and I and the times gone by
Won't be long 'til the next slán abhaile,
So raise your glass and sing with me for the gathering
So raise your glass and sing with me...for the gathering!
Sláinte!


Some notes on the lyrics:

Céad míle fáilte:
- A traditional Irish Gaelic greeting and means "a hundred thousand welcomes."
- Pronounced "kayed MEE-leh FALL-cha" or "kay-od MEE-leh FOYLE-cha"

Sláinte:
- Means "health"
- Used as a drinking toast (ie. "cheers")
- Pronounced "SLWAN-cha" or "SLWAN-cheh"

Slán abhaile:
- An Irish phrase used to bid goodbye to someone who is travelling home.
- A literal translation is "safe home" or "safe homeward"
- Pronounced "SLAWN-a-WALL-ya"

erin go braugh:
- Means "Ireland till the end of time"
- Pronounced "erin go braw"

In the first verse I have "and" in brackets once. On her Reimagined album recording, she doesn't use "and" there, but she did have "and" there when she hand-wrote the lyrics out for me. I guess it's optional. Lol.

Finished listening to the whole album and they are in a lot more tracks than I originally thought: 18 out of 23, I think!

There are 8 CaraNua songs on the Aurora album that are not on A Celtic Christmas!

So if you're reading this and your name's not Tracie, you may be wondering what this is...because as far as I know CaraNua didn't tell anyone about it. Also, I didn't get notified by any of the platforms on which I subscribe to CaraNua (Spotify, YouTube, PlayMusic, etc.).

But apparently CaraNua released a digital album called A Celtic Christmas December 25, 2019.

Thanks to Matt for telling Gregg and Tracie, who told me.

Is it too early to listen to Christmas music on January 1, because I listened tonight.

It's sooooo gorgeous! The arrangements are enchanting, the sound is immensely soothing, and the vocal harmonies are hauntingly beautiful.


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Track list:

1. Shooting Star
2. All Through the Night
3. CaraNua Carol of the Bells
4. O Holy Night
5. Aurora
6. A New Dawn
7. Winter Angels of Evermore
8. I Saw Three Ships
9. What Child Is This
10. Baby Jesu Joy
11. Winter Magic Enfolds


Thoughts:

I may add more after work tomorrow when I listen to the album again.

This is as gorgeous as everything we've come to expect from CaraNua. Crystal clear and gorgeous harmony.

Shooting Star sounds like an original song, is performed in English and I think David might have heard it while he was at Evermore Park. Alex is the lead singer in this song.

All Through the Night is similar (possibly identical) to CaraNua's previous release of the song as a single and on their Celtic Dreaming album. I'll have to go back and listen to the other version to compare. It's immensely soothing.

CaraNua Carol of the Bells is sung in Irish. The CaraNua arrangement manages to turn what is normally a frantic-paced song into a soothing one. It's really quite remarkable how they made this sound so intricate and beautiful.

O Holy Night is another song CaraNua approached totally differently than one might expect. They hum the entire song and I don't know that I've ever heard such a unique and enchanting arrangement of the song.

Aurora is an original song I think. I've never heard heard it before. I'm pretty sure it was written for the Aurora soundtrack at Evermore Park. It's in English, the voices are angelic, and the sound is sublime. Lynn is the lead singer in this one.

A New Dawn is also probably an original song for the Evermore Park soundtrack. It's performed in English and is deeply soothing. The profound resonance Alex gets out of some of the notes in this song is incredible! An absolutely enchanting song!

Winter Angels of Evermore is a re-arrangement of "Angels of Evermore" from "Evermore Park, Vol. 1: Soundtrack of Magical Lore." Like the songs that preceded it on the album, it is hauntingly lovely. I don't have the capacity to describe how beautiful all these tracks are. You'll just have to listen.

I Saw Three Ships is the first song on the album that has a skip in its step. It's performed softly, but it's arranged like an Irish jig, the tempo carried by the tin whistle and some light percussion. The harmony, as in all the songs on the album, is lovely.

What Child Is This starts out like a light snowfall as a soft instrumental. Then CaraNua adds gentle, intricate humming to the melody.

Baby Jesu Joy is performed as soft, soothing humming.

Winter Magic Enfolds is a re-arranged and extended version of "Magic Enfolds" from "Evermore Park, Vol. 1: Soundtrack of Magical Lore" and "Celtic Dreaming." The third quarter of the song becomes really creepy. If I heard that in a dark hallway at night, I'd be intrigued, but also scared out of my mind! That was an unexpected twist to end the album. It sounded like something out of a haunted house fright track.

On December 6, 2019, I saw Chloë ’Tis the Season to be Merry in Roswell, GA at the Roswell Cultural Arts Center. The show featured Chloë Agnew and the Atlanta Pops Orchestra Ensemble!

This was my first time seeing Chloë since her guest appearance in Lisa Kelly's show in early May and I hadn't met her since early December 2018. I was missing Chloë pretty badly.

I had seen Tim Janis (featuring Mairead Nesbitt and Lynn Hilary) at Carnegie Hall the previous night. I flew out of Newark, NJ mid-morning to Atlanta. Car rental at the airport in Atlanta took longer than expected (in excess of 45 minutes before I even got the keys).

I drove from the airport up to Roswell, GA. My GPS usually has a lot of problems around Atlanta, but this time, it got me where I needed to go without getting too squirly. Traffic however wasn't great. It took over an hour to get from the airport to the hotel in Roswell, GA. That was mid-afternoon, before rush hour.

I had originally planned to walk Vickery Creek Trail at Old Mill Park in Roswell, but with the delays at the airport and in traffic and with the late addition of a pre-show fan gathering near the venue, I decided to skip the trail, in spite of cool but dry weather. I had a quick shower and went straight from the hotel to the fan gathering.

The fan gathering, a meal at Lucky’s Bar & Grill, went pretty well. I think there were around 15 of us there. I was surprisingly sociable and I guess I've established enough of a presence on social media now that I didn't feel like I was sticking out like a sore thumb in the midst of so many long-time super-fans. I was especially surprised I was in the mood to talk considering the day had started with a pretty harsh bout of anxiety and depression. It took quite a bit of effort, but I managed to get myself back in a reasonable emotional state over the course of the afternoon so that I could have a chance to enjoy the show.

From the fan gathering, I went straight to the venue, the Roswell Cultural Arts Center. It wasn't too fancy, but it was adequate. We arrived pretty early, before they were letting people in. I walked around to find the stage doors. There were quite a few possibilities around the building. But as it turned out, there would be a "surprise" Meet and Greet after the show within the venue lobby anyways.

I was in the second row for this show, having mulled over whether or not to go for quite a while before finally deciding to get a ticket and risk conflicts with weather or other shows during the holiday concert season. It was a pretty good seat, though quite a way from the stage at this venue.

I wasn't sure she could see me at first. She normally at least gives me a smile a few times during her shows, but I didn't get any love or looks at all in the first half. I guess she found me at some point because in the second half, she gave me a shout-out for having traveled the furthest (that she knows of) to see her at the show! I'm genuinely surprised to have gotten a shout-out at that show as there were plenty of fans in the audience that have done FAR more to support her over the years than I have and have been to dozens or hundreds of more shows.

Chloë was accompanied by an ensemble (subset) of the Atlanta Pops orchestra. It sounded really good, but there's nothing like hearing her perform with a full orchestra behind her.

Chloë was in about half the songs, with the Pops orchestra doing their own thing in between. Most songs were Christmas songs, but she performed some songs from her regular set list as well. Her and her long-time boyfriend Dermot did a few duets together. Chloë looked and sounded great!

You Raise Me Up has never been my favourite Celtic Woman cover song. It's never really had the same wow factor for me as a lot of their other songs. But for some reason for the second night in a row, that song really affected me. Both Mairead's version at Carnegie Hall and Chloë's version in Roswell were tear-inducing.

It's my policy not to post set lists for Chloë's shows anymore, but I do have the set list if anyone is interested for some reason in having it shared privately.

Chloë was having LOTS of fun on stage during this show. Beyond her vocal talents, she's got a very engaging personality. Because I waited so long to write this report without having made adequate notes to reference, I don't remember a lot of the details from the show. There was a pretty funny moment though where Chloë came out with two jackets for the audience to choose for the conductor. The conductor wore the selected jacket for the rest of the show.

After the show was a "surprise" M+G (it was announced during the show). It's my general policy to not get any gifts for the performers unless there's a guaranteed Meet and Greet announced well in advance of the show, so I didn't have anything for her. This was my first time seeing Chloë since her Indiegogo campaign and album release. She seemed pleased to see me. Some of you know why.

In spite of there being no pre-announced Meet and Greet, I did have some things to say to her, planned and rehearsed. Like my previous Meet and Greet with her, Chloë could sense I was nervous and about to pour my heart out in front of her, so she took my hands and squeezed them for support. I've said it before and I'll say it again: Chloë's Meet and Greets are the best I have ever experienced. She doesn't give out tons of free stuff like Lindsay Stirling does, but she gives you the time you need to say what you want to say with her. She's there to offer genuine support to you. And she's so appreciative to everyone she meets. She gave me some really big amazing hugs.

After the Meet and Greet, some of us went over to a nearby IHOP for some food. I had strawberry banana pancakes this time, which were really tasty. I must say the before-and-after fan gatherings were some of the best I've experienced so far. Everyone was easy to get along with. I had some good conversations about Chloë and what she and Celtic Woman have meant in our lives.

2020 is just around the corner.

2019 was my most ambitious concert-going year so far:

- 9 Celtic Woman shows (4 Ancient Land shows, 5 Magic of Christmas shows)
- 18 total Celtic Woman related shows (featuring current or former members)
- 17 flights
- 10 different states
- 2 countries

The concert season started off with a bit of a disappointment. Sarah Gannon (former choir member) was part of the Murphy's Celtic Legacy show for a while, but left shortly before the show I saw. The next day was a long but rewarding trip to Youngstown, Ohio to see Mairead Nesbitt for the first of 5 times this year. The even longer drive back home however was pretty terrifying for a number of reasons.

Later that month was the first of 4 Celtic Woman: Ancient Land tour shows of the year for me. For the first time, there was a "no hugging" policy in place by the venue. In humiliating but increasingly familiar fashion, I forgot was I was going to say to Megan. "The new girl curse" perhaps as I had experienced that problem with Tara several times prior to that. I already loved all the songs from the Ancient Land album / DVD and also loved all the new songs they added to the tour. Ancient Land would end up being my favorite Celtic Woman tour so far. Mairead's astonishing live version of Newgrange and the new Bean Phaidin arrangement were among the many highlights of the set list.

Shortly after a second Celtic Woman: Ancient Land show in Detroit, I flew to be part of the Celtic Heart DVD recording audience, featuring Tim Janis, Lynn Hilary, and Mairead Nesbitt. I wasn't sure what to expect. In particular, I wasn't sure how much of Lynn and Mairead I would actually see. I was pleasantly surprised to experience both of them in almost every song! The music was gorgeous and for those that haven't seen it yet, I can't wait for it to be available to you on PBS and DVD in 2020!

In May came one of two gauntlet-trips, with shows on 4 consecutive days and multiple flights in the same trip. I saw Lisa Lambe twice in NY, followed by Lisa Kelly (and Chloë) in Peachtree City, followed by a Celtic Woman: Ancient Land show and Meet and Greet in Calgary (via connecting flight) the following evening. The Calgary show was kind of a bitter-sweet end to the trip. In order to make that show, I had to skip Lisa Kelly and Chloë's extremly-short-notice "couch-and-greet" at the Lisa Kelly Voice Academy that morning. So another year gone by without meeting Lisa.

The Calgary Meet and Greet was probably the best I've experienced so far. My legs were extra-shaky from anxiety and travel fatigue, but I'd come up with perhaps my best prepared statements for the girls that day and for the first time, I delivered everything I wanted to say pretty much exactly as I wanted without any awkward forgetfulness.

Later that month, I got to see Celtic Woman for the Ancient Land tour final on my birthday at Red Rocks with Meet and Greet. Pretty difficult to top the Ancient Land DVD recording at a castle in Ireland with my friends Gregg, Tracie, and David in 2018. But Red Rocks on my birthday was pretty epic. The storm in the background over Denver served as both a unique and cool aspect of the show and as a distraction. I'll have to do a better job of mentally blocking out the weather-factor next time so I can enjoy the entire show.

All this in May came in the midst of a historic playoff run by the Toronto Raptors and another humiliating 1st-round exit by the Toronto Maple Leafs.

I thought at that point my concert season was pretty much finished. I decided to add Mairead Nesbitt's show in Canton, MA to the schedule! It turned out to be a great weekend with amazing friend Tracie.

Then came the long and difficult time between Celtic Woman shows. I could feel for the whole first half of the year that the protective bubble of joy with which Celtic Woman had surrounded me over the past few years was going to burst and sure enough around August or September, it did. A sudden and devastating rush of anxiety and depression filled the void between shows. The next few months were plagued by relentless waves of emotional difficulties. It was by far the worst I've felt since 2015 (aka "the year of hell").

There were a bunch of key album releases around the same time: Celtic Woman: Ancient Land (Deluxe), Celtic Woman: The Magic of Christmas, Orla's "A Winter's Tale," Chloë's "Reimagined," Tim Janis' "Celtic Heart," CaraNua's "Celtic Dreaming" and Lindsey Stirling "Artemis" to name a few.

In spite of all those exciting album launches, I went stumbling into CWazy Christmas (the final show-gauntlet of the year) in a highly destabilized emotional state. It was very swingy from hour to hour and there was a legitimate concern I wouldn't be able to enjoy any of the shows after the stress of travel was added on top of an already fragile psychological predicament. I managed to block out the negative emotions for the first 2 Celtic Woman: Magic of Christmas shows, which I thoroughly enjoyed. I got to finally see a show at the Morris Performing Arts Center in South Bend, Indiana, where the Emerald DVD had been recorded. In Indiana, I got to meet all 4 girls at the stage door at the same show! I wasn't so lucky in Findlay, Ohio, where I waited an hour and 25 minutes in the cold before having to drive 2 hours to my next destination. The girls apparently came out just after I left. That drive was a nightmare and I'm lucky I made it to Detroit for my flight to New Jersey the next day.

The Tim Janis show at Carnegie Hall was pretty good. At the Celtic Heart DVD recording, I had feared Mariead and Lynn would be underutilized. At Tim Janis' Christmas show, that fear was realized. Mairead was on stage for a few songs but Lynn and her gorgeous voice weren't featured nearly enough.

The next day, I flew to Atlanta to see Chloë's Christmas show with the Atlanta Pops Ensemble. I hit a huge emotional downswing that morning and it took a LOT of effort to scramble back in mental shape before the show. There was a nice fan gathering before the show and I was surprisingly sociable by that time. Chloë sounded fantastic, although she sounds even better with a full orchestra (rather than a subset) behind her. The Meet and Greet after the show went pretty well. Chloë once again was incredibly patient with me as I worked through all the stuff I had planned to say to her. I guess I must have delivered my content well, because both Chloë and I were in tears by the time I was finished.

Having held myself up for the show and the Meet and Greet, the next day (which included a flight to Denver) was accompanied by another brutal bout of anxiety and depression. The flight over was terrible from an emotional standpoint and most of the evening (thankfully no show that night) was lost trying to recover mentally. I am so thankful my friends were there to get me through that.

By the next day, I was finally feeling better and the show in Denver and that night, with my best friends at my side, I was able to fully appreciate the Celtic Woman show in Denver. As Tracie and her shoulder well-know, I enjoyed that show so much I was in tears of joy for pretty much the entire evening. We got to meet all 4 girls after the show at the stage door and take a rare group photo with all 4 of them.

Only 2 Celtic Woman shows remained at that point: Milwaukee, WI and Cedar Falls, Iowa. I finally got to meet Glen! The tour finale in Cedar Falls was my 18th Celtic Woman show and 40th Celtic Woman related show. I'll try to do a more extensive writeup for those shows over the next week or two.

Technically, the last show of CWazy Christmas, 2019, and the decade, was a non-Celtic-Woman show, but it was a pretty spectacular one: Trans-Siberian Orchestra. It's an elaborate and high-energy production. The lighting, stage, and music were all fantastic, although I think last year's Trans-Siberian Orchestra Christmas production was even more spectacular.

2019 was a pretty busy year! I finally got to meet Lynn Hilary (after Tim Janis' Celtic Heart DVD recording in Maine). But I still haven't seen Alex perform live or seen CaraNua. I got to see Mairead Nesbitt a lot, but didn't get to see Chloë nearly as much as I had wanted. But I saw my 2 all-time-favorite tours (Celtic Woman: Ancient Land and The Magic of Christmas) a total of 9 times! The best times of the year though were the shows I got to see in the company of my best friends. <3

The New Year, 2020, looks like it will be even more exciting. I already have tickets to 12 Celtic Woman: Celebration tour shows (including 3 in Ireland). I'm going to be going to the Fox Theater Atlanta show in 2020 one way or another as well (just waiting on a M+G that's more reasonable than $750 or else I'll get a regular ticket in the balcony somewhere). That will make it 13 Celtic Woman shows for 2020 so far. I also have tickets for at least one Chloë show a plans for a second show in the works.

I wish all of you here at the forum a Happy New Year.

Here's to the year ahead and all the joy it will bring in to our lives courtesy of the group we love, Celtic Woman.

Lisa was in a movie called Float Like a Butterfly. She also performs on the soundtrack in the movie.

References:

IMDB

Facebook


Trailer: https://youtu.be/E7WY7NtNsf0

My apologies for the significant delay in getting this posted. It's been a little hectic.

On December 5, 2019, I finally saw a show at Carnegie Hall for the first time!

I flew from into New Jersey in the morning and took the train to Manhattan. I walked around Central Park for an hour or so and then had dinner with Mr. Peabody and some other superfans. I then walked off the dinner by rushing to see the Christmas tree at Rockefeller Center before heading back to Carnegie Hall for the show!

It had been an adventure getting the tickets. I had ordered them for Mr. Peabody and I while he was flying back from Europe. I couldn't ship to Canada for some reason so I sent them to him...only they never arrived. I had to have them re-printed and held at the box office instead.

The show was in the Stern Auditorium. It was visually impressive, with a deep orchestra section and a total of 5 levels (4 narrow balconies at the back and around the sides of the theater.

The stage was pretty large and somewhat high relative to the first row where I was sitting, next to Mr. Peabody.

The opening performance wasn't actually in the program (I'm trying to confirm who it was), but it was incredibly impressive. That guy had one of the most ridiculous vocal ranges I've ever heard.

Mairead Nesbitt got 2 solos (Carol of the Bells and You Raise Me Up) and accompanied on stage in a few of the other songs.

You Raise Me Up, for which Lynn accompanied a singer (not Lynn), really hit me hard this time. Mairead's been there for me through some mental struggles over the past few months and I'm grateful for all the times she's been there to raise me up. There were a lot of tears shed during this song.

Lynn, unfortunately, didn't get any solos. She sang a duet of Merry Little Christmas with Colbie Caillat. It sounded nice (though I much prefer the Celtic Woman group arrangement). Lynn's mic didn't seem like it was turned up high enough though. Colbie Caillat was definitely the dominant voice in that song. I could hear Lynn's harmony but not nearly as distinctly as in CaraNua. In the "group" numbers for which she was on stage, she was basically singing backup. I thought they could have done a much better job of using Lynn's gorgeous voice in the show.

Lynn seemed a bit shy that day. She was standing off to the side of the stage and had to almost be coaxed up to the microphone by Colbie Caillat.  As someone that's very shy myself in most situations, I empathize with her and I actually thought it was adorable.

One of the non-Celtic Woman highlights of the show was Lisa Fischer's performance of "On the Wings of an Angel" (a Tim Janis song). She sang with a tremendous amount of heart.

Tori Kelly also did a great job with her solo, Never Alone.

Another of Tim Janis' own songs, Solid Ground, peaked my interest. At the time, it sounded really familiar but at the time, I wasn't sure why. I later realized I had heard Hayley on YouTube perform the same song (possibly at one of Tim Janis' show at Carnegie Hall a few years ago). Tom Rhoads did a good job with it although I'm admittedly biased toward Hayley's performance.

Most of the songs in the show were performed in contemporary styles. There was a mix of traditional Christmas songs, contemporary Christmas songs, religious songs, and generally uplifting ones. Most of the songs/performances were good, though not necessarily anything I would fly to see were it not for Lynn and Mairéad.

Eimear McGeown (who plays flutes whistle, and some other wind instruments) was in a few songs. She was one of the performers in the Tim Janis Celtic Heart PBS special and DVD, which releases nationally in 2020.

Tim Janis himself was backstage for most of the show. He came out to play piano for a few songs and to talk about the charities.

There were a few interludes where people close to the charities (Forever Young Foundation music therapy, Sophie's Place, and The Golden Hat Foundation). I'd encourage you to find out more about each of the charities. There were some really touching stories about the charities during the show. There was a story about a little girl's wish list: one item of which was simply to "change someone's life." There was also a song written by Sophie, who had always dreamed about performing in front of a large audience  but never got the chance. The song was performed by her siblings.

I'm a believer in music therapy and the ability of music to calm our minds and heal our hearts. I really connected with some of those charity stories and they were a highlight of the night.

There was no Meet and Greet for this show. The show ran close to 2.5 hours with no intermission. By then it was too late to wait at the stage door for Mairead and Lynn. I had to rush to the subway to catch the train back to NJ. I made the train (barely) with one minute to spare.

Overall, I enjoyed the show. It had variety and some good performances. Given how little Mairead and Lynn were in the show and that there was no M+G, I not sure if I'd fly to one of those in future years ... unless the timing and lineup are just right.