Venue

I attended 3 of Alex's 6 shows in Richmond, Utah this October.

The concerts were held in the 3rd floor ballroom at the Cherry Peak ski resort in Richmond, Utah. The building was part way up a mountain. The roads were clear in that particular area while I was there, but I'd be very reluctant to drive there if there was any snow on the road. Given the steep slope and all the sharp turns, the chances of stopping a vehicle on ice, or even on snow for that matter, would be slim, even with decent snow tires.

The dinner, served on the 2nd floor of the building before the show was fantastic! What ended up happening though is a lot of people rushed through dinner or skipped it entirely to claim their seats. On night one, I ended up with second row, but only because a couple of seats had somehow been overlooked. Most of the seats were already taken by the time I got up there. On the other two nights, I went to claim a front row seat before starting dinner so I could get first row.

In the ballroom where the concerts were held, there were seats for around 100-200 people. Some of the vues would have been slightly obstructed due to pillars in the room. Alex and the band were on a shallow stage in front of the seating. The dancers had a separate stage off to the side (earlier in the week, the dancers had been in front of the main stage, but they were  later moved to a large raised platform at the side so people could see their feet). There were 2 pillars in front of the dancers' stage, so from where I was sitting, I had an obstructed view of them on all three nights.

Alex's band flanked her on the main stage. She had a drummer in the back behind a plastic shield, a guitar, keyboard, violin, cello, and a multi-instrumentalist who played double-base, guitar, tin whistle, bagpipes, a frame drum, sang, and probably played a few more instruments.

Set List

Irish Eyes (Rose Betts)
Spanish Lady
Sí Do Mhaimeo Í
Landslide
Dance: Gypsy (from Lord of the Dance)
Breathless (The Corrs)
Fields of Gold
Dance: Walls of Limerick (4 volunteers from the audience learned and participated in the dance)
It's So Easy (Linda Ronstadt)

Everywhere (Fleetwood Mac)
Here, There and Everywhere (The Beatles)
Dúlamán
Longer (Dan Fogelberg)
Dance: The Reel (by Secret Garden)
Blackbird (part in Irish, part in English)
Why Walk When You Can Fly (Mary Chapin Carpenter)
Over the Rainbow
Dance: A Capella Dance
Broken By Design
Atlantic Sky
The Parting Glass


Alex played bodhran during the first 2 songs and played tambourine during Everywhere.

During the 2nd and 3rd of the shows I attended, pianist Steve Young joined Alex as a guest for a few songs. He played on a grand piano that had a fantastic sound. Steve performed "Morning Has Broken" as a piano solo in place of the dance lesson piece. He also accompanied Alex as a duet on "Here There, and Everywhere" and "Over the Rainbow." I greatly enjoyed the piano arrangements.

For most of the time, Alex was the only singer. Sometimes, one or more band members sang harmony with her. There was a portion during Dulaman where the audience was encouraged to sing along.

The dry air in Utah was making things difficult on her voice. She had to keep hydrating throughout the show. She sounded great though!

Highlights:

Alex had lots of fun up on stage. She was jumping and dancing around her limited stage space while singing. She told jokes and funny stories between songs. She even did a few impressions. Her body language and the whole way she expresses herself while performing are remarkable.

The room had quite a bit of energy and Alex had us all clapping for about half the songs in the set list.
My favourite songs were Breathless, Over the Rainbow, and Atlantic Sky.

The Celtic Woman versions of Over the Rainbow have pretty harmonies, but as a solo, it's a lot easier for a performer to fully use her voice to convey emotion. Alex got her start as a professional performer playing Dorothy in a stage production of the Wizard of Oz. At the time, she was actually homeless, so getting the role meant the world to her. Dreams really do come true. She sang this really well!

Atlantic Sky was written by some of Alex's friends in Utah. The instrumental backing arrangement was a little different than the version on her EP. The live version of the song was amazing, even better than the version on her EP! I could really feel the emotion she was projecting from the stage.

The Parting Glass, like the David Downes and Gavin Murphy arrangements, had the chorus end in a major key instead of a minor key. It even included a bagpipe bridge. It was much more like the David Downes arrangement than the Gavin Murphy arrangement although the Celtic Woman versions do sound more clean.

I was a bit of a celebrity-fan at the show, the last show of the week being my 82nd Celtic-Woman-Related performance attended (if I manage to see all the shows for the rest of the year I have tickets for, I'll be at 89 by the end of the year, assuming my count is still correct, which would make Mairead Nesbitt's show in January my 90th show overall).

I met a fan that had tickets to the Songs from the Heart DVD recording, but ended up not being able to go due to travel costs. It's likely there were people from Utah there who have seen Alex more times than I have, but there wasn't anyone else there who has reached my level of insanity.

Post-Show:

After the shows, Alex stuck around to meet with the fans. The first two nights I was there, it was a free-for-all, where she mingled with various people in the performance area. On the third night, it was more like a PBS meet and greet: it had a line and was rushed. As usual, I waited until near the end to allow people that haven't gotten to meet her much a chance to do so.

Journey and Sightseeing

There wasn't any reasonable direct flight, so I took a connecting flight with a layover of a few hours to accommodate delays to the first flight.

I made a stop at the State Railroad Museum on the way from the Salt Lake City airport to my hotel in Logan, Utah. It was small but had a lot of information. They had full-sized train engines and train cars on display outside. Inside, they had a cool model railroad system that spanned multiple rooms, illustrating the different sections of the transcontinental railroad and the construction challenges along the way.

Logan Canyon Scenic Byway was the scenic highlight of the trip. It's about an hour drive (1 way, without stopping) from just east of Logan all the way to Garden City. I was about 3-4 weeks late for the fall colors, but I was instead treated to spectacular snow-capped mountains, sometimes just on the peaks, sometimes on the trees as well. It's unfortunate I was behind the wheel, because that made it challenging to take in all the beauty of the surrounding landscape. It was difficult to get photos along the route. The highway had a lot of tight turns I couldn't see around, a lot of blind-and-poorly-marked entrances, and no shoulder except for a few turnaround spots. By the time I could spot a place to safely stop, I was usually past a place I could take a good photo. Still, I spent a good 8 hours or so in there backtracking and stopping where I could.

I only ended up doing 1 trail in Logan Canyon. That was the Wind Cave trail. It was a steady incline up the side of a mountain. The view was absolutely gorgeous, but my fear of heights started wreaking havoc on me almost immediately. Sometimes, the fear of heights isn't too bad. On that trek, it was horrendously bad. There was a steep dropoff with no guardrail within inches of the trail the entire time. It was chilly at the start of the hike. It got warmer after about 30 minutes, but it also got muddier and the mud made the trail slick. I managed to get all the way up to the wind cave. Trying to get past that point is where it got really, really scary. The path suddenly turned from mud to ice and also started sloping downwards. I had to get on my belly and anchor with my hands as I edged back to a flat part of the trail. It was a fantastic view, but I don't think I'll ever be doing a mountain hike again, especially if there's any snow in the area.

After that, I decided to head for Tony Lake, which was supposed to have some nice easy trails. However, what I had overlooked during my rushed research before this trip was that the lake was on the other side of a mountain. About 5 minutes up that mountain, the road turned to ice and the car was sliding all over the place. Again, there were no guardrails, there wasn't any shoulder shoulder, steep dropoffs, and sharp, bland corners. There was also no place to turn around for 20 minutes. Once I could finally turn around, I was inching down the road at about 5 miles per hour hanging on to the steering wheel for dear life.

Alex will be back at Cherry Peak for 3 concerts around Valentine's Day 2024. I unfortunately won't be going to those. It's too dangerous for me to drive there if there's snow on the ground. The area was incredibly beautiful, especially with the snow, but being on mountainous terrain with snow on the roads and trails put my anxiety way, WAAAAY over the red line.

Closing Thoughts:

Alex's sense of humour and aura of joy remind me of Chloë. The whole way she expresses herself on stage is a treat. No matter the style, her voice sounded perfect for every song. Last year, when I saw her on Jenny Oaks Baker's Christmas tour, she was sick and had to take it easy when performing. It was great to finally hear Alex sing in person with her voice in all its glory!

That's quite a lineup:

Éabha McMahon
Susan McFadden
Megan Walsh
Tara Howley
Fergus Cahillane
Glenn Murphy
Ronan Scolard

Accompanied by:

Bill Shanley - Guitar
Graham Murphy - Keyboards
James Blennerhassett - Bass
Robbie Casserly - Drums & Perc.

With special guests
University of Galway Choral Scholars

Last year, Lisa was part of
radio birthday tribute to Paul McCartney  https://www.rte.ie/radio/radio1/clips/11481894/

Arrangements were by Gavin Murphy.

Yesterday

Lisa Lambe sang "Yesterday" with the RTE concert orchestra

Preamble is at 5:08 (I found it really interesting)
Song starts 6:44
Afterwards, Lisa does an interview about the song and why she chose to perform it.

It's gorgeous. You're welcome.

That was my favourite, but she also performs in 3 other songs.

Blackbird
After the interview about Yesterday, Lisa talks about her next song, Blackbird.
Song is from: 14:15 until 16:47
It was also arranged by Gavin Murphy

She's Leaving Home
There's no interview before this one.
Song starts at 33:07

Medley - Golden Slumbers / Carry That Weight / The End
Jack O'Rourke, Lisa Lambe, Ailbhe Reddy & The RTÉ Concert Orchestra
Preamble: 47:58
Song starts: 53:47

She's also one of the guest performers (along with Máiréad Nesbitt) at Carnegie Hall this year on December 8th:
https://www.carnegiehall.org/Calendar/2023/12/08/Christmas-with-Tim-Janis--Special-Guests-0800PM

Amy is not one, but two commercials: one for Canadian Tire and one for BetRivers.

https://www.iheartradio.ca/am800/watch-local-actress-in-new-canadian-tire-commerical-1.20373633

I saw the entire Canadian leg of the Celtic Thunder: Odyssey tour over the weekend! That consisted of two shows at separate venues.

The lineup was Neil Byrne, Emett Cahill, Damian McGinty, and Ronan Scolard filling in for Ryan Kelly.

Set List:

Heartland (all)
Star of the County Down (all)
Green Fields of France (Damian, with the other 3 backing / harmonizing at times)
The Rare Ould Times (or Rare Old Times / Rare Auld Times depending on how you want to spell it) (all)
Grace (Emett)Raggle Taggle Gypsy (all)
One More Day (all)
Farewell (Neil singing and guitar)
Sailing (Ronan singing and guitar, with Neil on electric guitar for part of the song)
Galway Girl (all)
Caledonia (all)

Mo Ghile Mear (all)
The Wellerman (all)
Fields of Athenry (Damian)
Past the Point of Rescue (Neil singing and guitar)
Amazing Grace (all)
Song for the Mira (all)
Fare The Well Love (Emett)
City of Chicago (Ronan)
7 Drunken Nights (all)
I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For (all)
Step It Out Mary (all)
Tune set (band)
Ireland's Call (all)

Highlights:

Green Fields of France (sometimes known as No Man's Land), was really good! Damian's deep voice carried the melody well with the other lads joining in harmony during chorus. I could feel the deep instrumental base and powerful drum beats and their placement in the arrangement was tremendously effective. All 4 of them sang the last chorus reprise a cappella, but there was a momentary silence before the a cappella part, so the crowd started clapping before they realized the song wasn't finished. It happened both nights.

I have mixed feelings about the arrangement of One More Day. It was good, but some of the harmony wasn't hitting home. It wasn't getting to the next level for me like Deirdre's versions (with and without the Canadian Tenors). I liked it a lot better on the second night, but I still wasn't fully satisfied.

Farewell (or as I liked to call it: "Window to the Door") was Neil's original song. This one was catchy! It was inspired by words written by his great, great, (maybe some more greats in there) uncle in his cell, in which he paced from his cell window to the door. I think he had been jailed for his role in the 1916 Easter Rising. I should have written the name down, but I think it was something like Mulaney (not the comedian). If I recall correctly, they never found out what happened to him, but his memory now lives on in Neil's song. Even the way he introduced the song was touching.

Ronan's first act solo was a cover of Rod Stewart's "Sailing." Ronan sang and played guitar. Neil came in from the side of the stage for part of the song to play electric guitar as well.

During Galway Girl, Damian was all over the stage having fun with the tambourine.

Galway Girl was their first act closer. The guitarist in the band brought out the electric guitar for the instrumental bridge and it sounded epic!

The second of the two shows was at a casino. I was expecting them to run right through without a break, but surprisingly, they did have an intermission, so I got to see the full show both nights.

Amazing Grace was an a cappella. They took turns lending lead vocals while the others hummed and at times they all sang together.

I enjoyed all the solos, but Emett's 2nd-half solo "Fare Thee Well Love" was possibly my favourite. The piano backing was phenomenal. During the song, there were backing vocals  coming from somewhere. I spotted some of the band members singing along into mics a few times on both nights, but there weren't enough voices to account for all the ones I was hearing. I'm pretty sure the low voice was Damian's. I think either the other lads were singing from back stage or they pre-recorded those backing vocals for the show.

Ronan's 2nd act solo was City of Chicago. This was definitely a song they originally chose for Ryan, but Ronan did a great job with it.

Seven Drunken Nights was hilarious! During the verse where they talk about a coat being out of place, Ronan took off his suit jacket and tossed it off the side of the stage to conceal the evidence. Neil played the part of the super-drunk character. He came out on stage with a bottle in hand. He was singing like he had been bar-hopping all night long and was getting increasingly intoxicated with every verse. He got confused when he was supposed to be singing. He was looking around at the lights like he was high. He at one point was facing away from the audience, then he went stumbling all over the stage and started pestering the band members, eventually while the other lads were singing. Each tour or DVD they do it, their routine is a little different. Neil in particular was doing totally different things from one night to the next. This was the funniest I've seen it and Neil's performance was a show-stealer.

As always, the closing song was a rousing arrangement of Ireland's Call!

Both the shows I saw were really fun. There were plenty of slow songs, especially in the first half, but there weren't any points in the show when it dragged.

There were plenty of people around me both nights wondering where Ryan was. Although Ronan introduced himself early in the show, there was no mention at all about Ryan or why he had to take some time away. I suppose they figured most people were just there to see the show and most people that followed Celtic Thunder closely already knew. While hearing Ronan instead of Ryan took some getting used to, Ronan fit in great! His voice worked well in the harmonies and his stage persona meshed with the others too.

Side-Notes:

On the first night, I had a great seat, 2nd row slightly off-center. That was a much better experience than the back balcony seat I had last time Celtic Thunder was at that venue. There were a few super-fans in the first few rows at the first show. The sound was a little weird at times during the first show: either there was an echo coming back at the stage or sound from speakers at the back of the theater was getting to me a while after the sound from the stage-front speakers. It didn't affect the experience though.

For the second show, I was far left in the seating (far stage right). The stage at Casino Rama is huge so even though I was in row 5 or so, I was at least 100 feet from the performers. It was still better than a distant balcony, but I would have been better off sitting front and center 30 rows back so I could see the action on the huge video screens instead of craning my neck and squinting.

It was hard for me to get a read on how the rest of the audience was receiving the shows. The first night seemed fairly enthusiastic (certainly far more so than any Celtic Woman audience would get in this area). On night two, the people around me weren't getting too into it, but the performance area was so massive I couldn't tell how the rest of the audience was reacting.

At Casino Rama on night 2, I was wandering around before the doors to the performance area opened and saw two things of interest:

1)
The promo for the Celtic Woman 20th Anniversary tour came up on a screen cycling through all the upcoming shows, so of course I had to take a selfie.

2)
On the walls outside the performance area, there were photos of past performers, along with their signatures. I spotted an old Celtic Woman photo with Máiréad Nesbitt, Chloë, Lisa Kelly, and Lynn, so of course I had to selfie with that too. I can't go back and see all the shows I missed back then, but I can make up for lost time now and tell them often that what they did back then still makes a difference for me today.

Sarah released a new single called "Above in the Blue," which was apparently used on The Young & The Restless.