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Author Topic: My Experience at the Derry Jazz Festival  (Read 2110 times)
Tracie
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« on: June 23, 2022, 10:57:47 PM »

Hi Everybody!  Well I've been meaning to write about this for quite awhile, it's time to actually do it!  It was 8 weeks ago already that I saw Mairead & Ronan perform in the Derry Jazz Festival in Derry, Northern Ireland.  Side note - does anybody know how to type the fada over the e on a computer?  I can do it on my phone, but am on the computer now and have no clue on here.  Anyway, I'm sure most of you reading this know that Mairead is my all-time favorite singer and has been since the first time I saw her perform.  I've been loving her online stage it concerts, but nothing compares to being there in person, so literally within minutes of finding out that she'd be performing in this festival, I was looking up flights and starting to plan my trip.  I wasn't going to miss my first opportunity in more than two years to see her in person!  I traveled on my own since Gregg used all of his vacation time on our spring Celtic Woman trips and on our upcoming trip to Ireland, and he's holding onto a couple of days for the Christmas tour.  I thankfully have a massive bank of available vacation time because my company allows unlimited carry-over, so I accrued tons of hours in 2020 and 2021 using so little.  That banked vacation time is going to be invaluable coming up I'm sure because I'll keep time set aside specifically for Mairead's performances.

So I traveled to Ireland and Northern Ireland by myself for these performances.  I spent the first few days just outside of Dublin and enjoyed Portmarnock Beach (lovely recommendation from Mairead!) and the Howth Cliff Walk.  I also went into Dublin one night for dinner and live music.  I took the bus to Derry the day before the first performance.  In 2018, Gregg and I were in Derry for just a few hours (the day before the Ancient Land filming!) as a stop on our bus tour around the country.  On this trip I spent a lot more time walking around the city, which is really beautiful.  I did a lot of what Mairead recommended to me and loved it.  It's a great city to walk around and explore and was even more fun with the jazz festival going on.  There was live music all over the city for that whole weekend, in hotels, in pubs, out on the street, everywhere.  I saw quite a few performances and loved it and would absolutely go again anytime Mairead is in it!

Mairead & Ronan performed for three consecutive nights, two hours each night, at the City Hotel.  There was a stage set up in the lobby and lots of comfortable couches, chairs and tables.  It was a small, intimate setting and I loved it!  I sat super close to the stage and had a great view each night.  There was a lot of activity of people walking in and out and talking, but all the background noise actually didn't bother me.  I was able to focus in on the music and have it drown out the background noise.  It was a bit bothersome when people would walk right in front of me and block my view, but that would only last for a few seconds at a time, so it was fine.  Mairead & Ronan performed sooooo beautifully each night!  I can't even fully express how much I loved the performances.  So amazing!  I love the folk music that they were performing and of course I was hearing my favorite voice on earth in person so loved that too!  A lot of what they performed we've heard before, either from Celtic Woman or from the stage it concerts.  I'll list out the songs at the end of this post.  Ronan went back and forth between guitar and piano for all the songs.  Most were sung by Mairead, with some duets and some Ronan solos added in.  Really really fabulous, loved it so much!

The outstanding performances were only a part of what made the whole weekend so special.  Mairead and I spent tons of time talking about lots of different things ranging from random chit chat to a wonderful heart to heart.  I also spent time talking to Ronan and to their family members, who I was introduced to the first night and then sat with the second and third nights.  They're all such wonderful people and I had such great time with them.  I also met a fellow Mairead fan and enjoyed talking with him as well.  He and I were the two people there from North America specifically to see Mairead.  There are more personal things that happened throughout the weekend and I think I'm going to keep those to myself, but suffice it to say that Mairead gave me so much love and attention and it was absolutely amazing!  The whole weekend was exactly what I'd been hoping for and I went home and told Gregg it was the best Celtic Woman experience I'd had yet.  Things like being in the audience for the Ancient Land filming at Johnstown Castle and going to Red Rocks were absolutely epic, but this weekend with Mairead had so much personal touch to it, on top of how much I love her voice and performances, that it topped all the other epic experiences.

It was a long two years from March 2020 to April 2022 waiting to see Mairead in person again.  I was so sad when she left Celtic Woman (let's be real here, I was crying when she announced she had left the group!), but I'm finding it to be so incredibly fulfilling and rewarding to support her as a solo artist.  I can't speak highly enough about this experience in Derry.  As Mairead performs more, I will be in attendance as often as I possibly can!  Listening to her sing, watching her perform, and getting to spend time with her all completely fill my heart with pure joy.  Love love love love it!  And I'm also so excited to see Ronan perform in Trinity when they get out on tour soon!  There's going to be a lot of fantastic performances to come and I would highly recommend to anybody to go see Mairead and Ronan perform anytime you can!

Here's the list of songs performed and who sang them.  The songs stayed mostly the same from night to night, with a few changes.  I wouldn't be able to tell you what order they were sung in and the order did change from night to night, so I just have the list alphabetical.  They put together an excellent setlist.  I'd say my favorite song from the weekend was Feels Like Home.  The lyrics and the way in which Mairead performed it (the second night in particular) really struck me on a very personal level. <3

Caledonia - Mairead
Carrickfergus - Mairead
Cold Outside - Mairead
Dancing In The Dark - Ronan
Dreams - Mairead & Ronan duet
Falling Slowly - Mairead & Ronan duet
Feels Like Home - Mairead
Galway Girl - Mairead
Have I Told You Lately - Ronan
I Can't Make You Love Me - Ronan
I See Fire - Mairead
Kiss Me - Mairead & Ronan duet
Lovefool - Mairead
Man In The Mirror - Ronan
New York State of Mind - Ronan
Ride On - Mairead
Show Me Heaven - Mairead
Songbird - Mairead
The Nearness of You - Mairead
The Water Is Wide - Mairead
The Whole of the Moon - Mairead
True Colours - Mairead
When You Say Nothing At All - Mairead
You Take My Breath Away - Mairead
Your Song - Ronan
 
« Last Edit: June 23, 2022, 11:01:36 PM by Tracie » Logged
Tracie
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« Reply #1 on: June 24, 2022, 08:15:24 AM »

Here are some pictures from these three amazing nights!
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ÊnioBR
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« Reply #2 on: June 25, 2022, 05:17:23 PM »

💞💞💞💞💞💞💞💞💞💞💞💞💞💞💞
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VegasDavid
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« Reply #3 on: July 04, 2022, 12:57:23 PM »

I'm glad you had such a good time, Tracie!

I'm not sure about laptops or small keyboards, but if your keyboard has a numpad on the right side and you are using Windows, try Alt+130.  That is, while holding down Alt, type in 130 with the numpad, and then release Alt.

https://www.irongeek.com/alt-numpad-ascii-key-combos-and-chart.html

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Tracie
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« Reply #4 on: July 18, 2022, 09:05:29 PM »

That worked, thanks David!
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dbbii
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« Reply #5 on: July 19, 2022, 12:05:25 PM »

I'm jealous!

I was seriously considering going to Ireland to see CW this year.  I've traveled over the past couple years even with all the COVID stuff.  My main reason for not going really has to do with airlines.  Based on all the cancelations/delays/etc, I just decided I didn't want to deal with the hassle.  I saw Postcards 4 times this year, so this was as much a visit Ireland trip as it was to see the show again.  Oh well.
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Tracie
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« Reply #6 on: September 06, 2022, 06:49:22 PM »

Hopefully you get to Ireland sometime soon! I've been there twice already this year - in April to see Mairéad and in August to see Celtic Woman. Both trips were amazing! Or if you don't make it over to Ireland hopefully Mairéad comes to the US soon so lots of us can see her outstanding performances!
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CWFella2011
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« Reply #7 on: September 13, 2022, 04:52:19 PM »

Wow.
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Five (six soon I hope) shows.
Songs from the Heart -- 4/26/2011.
Voices of Angels -- June 11, 2017 (plus meet & Greet).
Ancient Land -- May 18, 2019.
PFI — April 16, 2022 -- After two pushbacks due to COVID.
Symphony: December 9, 2023 — At last.
20th anniversary tour -- I hope so.
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