Celtic Woman Forum
The Shows => Ancient Land => Topic started by: CWazyTom on September 14, 2018, 03:43:12 AM
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SPOILER WARNING!!!!!!!!!!!!
Set List (Night 1)
Act 1
Ancient Land
Homeland (group)
(the girls said an intro for the special)
Moorlough Shore (Eabha)
Ae Fond Kiss (Mairead Carlin)
Amazing Grace (group, Megan opened the song)
Long Journey Home (group)
Sive (Sadhbh Ní Bhruinneallaigh) (group)
Shenandoah (Megan)
Love and Honour (Tara)
Ballroom of Romance (group)
Act 2
Follow Me (group)
Mná na hÉireann (group)
Over the Rainbow (Megan and Mairead)
Tara's Tunes (Tara)
Danny Boy (group) (x2)
Siúil a Rún (Eabha vocals and whistle, Tara harp)
Be Still (all but Tara)
Going Home (x2)
The Enchanted Way (Tara and dancers)
(Intro to the Parting Glass, which was a tribute to David Kavanagh) (x2)
Parting Glass (x2)
Track Notes
- During Amazing Grace there were jets of fire coming out of the pool around the fountain was a pretty cool effect.
- The harmony in Homeland sounded even better than it did during the Homecoming tour!
- Over the Rainbow was really, really good!
- The arrangement for Siúil a Run was outstanding! The instrumental parts were so good!
- Tara danced during one of the songs (Love and Honour, I think) ... she looked really graceful.
- They had drummers walk on stage during some of the songs (ie. Moorlough Shore) and a few songs with a whole group of pipers (including Anto)
- During Amazing Grace, Anto came in through the crowd to our left (stage right). 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.
- The Amazing Grace and Danny Boy arrangements were very similar to what they've been like in recent years. Tara played violin instead of harp in Danny Boy.
- At the end of several songs, they had the girls hold their positions for a while. They did that at the end of Follow Me, but for that song, the girls finished the song in dance poses. Mairead had her back arched back with the arm of her dance partner supporting her. They had her hold that for at least 30 seconds or so. Mairead was pretty funny and broke the pose for a moment to stretch her back, made a sound like she was fatigued, smiled at the audience for a bit, then giggled. Then, she got back all serious into her dance pose. It was great!
- That was one of many great moments from Mairead between songs that probably won't make it on the DVD:
* She had an emotional dedication to Dave Kavanagh on night #1 before The Parting Glass
* She had her hilarious "wooo, slippy!!" and "Celtic Woman on Ice" remarks on night #2
Dresses:
Act 1:
- They were really gorgeous and they looked like they belonged together this time
- Colors: Different shades of green for Eabha (dark, almost an aqua) and Megan (a lighter shade), blue for Mairead, greyish for Tara
- 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 silky green dresses with yellow sashes
Act 2:
- White for Eabha and Mairead
- Pale/subtle pink for Tara and Megan
The dresses looked amazing!
Lighting:
- The lighting was fantastic!
- They lit up the whole face of the castle in beautiful blends of colour.
- The fountain had some nice lighting effects too.
- They also lit up the trees behind the audience with coloured floodlights. It looked really good!
The Irish flag on top of the castle was a nice touch too.
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.
Format and Content
- It will be available on CD, DVD, and Blue-Ray
- There will be a "behind the scenes."
The Experience
- The show started late as they adjusted the lighting and waited for people to arrive
- There were some empty sections in the stands, so they moved people around and blacked out the empty sections using tarp and by adjusting the lighting.
- Before the show, we could see and hear the girls rehearsing a bit
- We had second row to the right of the stage from the girls' perspective
- There were photos allowed before and after the show, not during the show
- Between acts, one of the PBS pledge drive personalities did a segment right in front of us. She's the oriental one. I'll need to look up the name later.
- There were some songs they re-did to tweak the lighting. But most of the performance went really smoothly. They did re-takes of the crowd reactions far more than retakes of the songs.
- I got to meet Glenn and Ronan (who were sitting in the reserved seats behind me) and Anto
- Ronan was going back and forth with drinks for people before the show
- The girls did leave through the general area we were standing after the show. But we weren't standing in exactly the right place as it turned out. Some people got to meet Megan and Eabha as they were leaving.
- We didn't get to see Meav. She was probably backstage.
- It was cold and a bit windy for the show, but it stayed dry
- My ankles were definitely feeling the chill, even with decent socks on
Additional Notes:
- Megan told someone after the show she was really nervous. She didn't show it much. She looked really comfortable on stage and had a great presence.
I'll update this thread if anything else comes to mind.
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Excellent write-up Tom! I will do one probably tomorrow when we're doing nothing but relaxing at our B&B 😊
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here is the set list
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Also the extra on the dresses at the beginning, besides the first Christmas special they filmed, in Believe your 1.0 the first song Awakening had extra added to their dresses. Then after Dulaman it was removed.
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The second show of the recording as also amazing!
SPOILER WARNING!!!!!!!!!!!!
Set List (Night 2)
Act 1
Ancient Land
Homeland (group)
(the girls said an intro for the special)
Moorlough Shore (Eabha)
County Down (instead of Ae Fond Kiss) (Mairead Carlin)
Amazing Grace (group, Megan opened the song)
Long Journey Home (group) (x2)
Sive (Sadhbh Ní Bhruinneallaigh) (group)
Shenandoah (Megan)
Love and Honour (Tara)
Ballroom of Romance (group)
Act 2
Follow Me (group)
Mná na hÉireann (group)
Over the Rainbow (Megan and Mairead)
Tara's Tunes (Tara) (x2)
Danny Boy (group)
Garden of Eden (Eabha)
Faith's Song (cover of the Amy Wadge song) (Megan)
Siúil a Rún (Eabha vocals and whistle, Tara harp)
Be Still (all but Tara)
Going Home
The Enchanted Way (Tara and dancers)
(On the second night, they went right into the last song and didn't redo the tribute to David Kavanagh)
Parting Glass
Track Notes
- Changes in the set list from night one are in red above
- The County Down was really good! Definitely a contender for my favourite Mairead Carlin song with Celtic Woman.
- Going Home what extra epic on the second night. The pipers came out and surrounded the stage. The drummers and choir were all on stage do. That could end up being the finale on the PBS special, as that was really spectacular.
Experience
This time, we walked the grounds in the afternoon. The view of the castle from the opposite side from across the lake was spectacular!
We saw the PBS pledge drive rep recording a segment behind the castle. Some if the other fans hung out at the castle earlier in the day and saw some of the girls, including Eabha, Megan, and Meav doing interviews. Those fans got to meet the girls and chat with them.
We got to see part of the late-afternoon sound check / rehearsal. They were doing some new songs that were listed on the album track list but they hadn't performed on night 1 of the DVD recording.
They asked if some people wanted to do some interviews for PBS and the DVD. For some reason, I volunteered. It didn't go well. I had a few things I wanted to say, forgot them all, and what I did end up saying didn't come out right. Hopefully that doesn't make it last editing.
This time, I got a seat in the same section, but front row instead of second. I LOVED the front row, but it still wasn't an ideal spot. The seating on the other side of the stage was about 6-12 feet closer to the stage for some reason. Also, the crowd shots would mostly be to the other side of the stage. How much I'll actually appear on the DVD, we shall see. I think not much.
If it's possible, some of the songs sounded even better than they did I the first night.
Overall, the show flowed smoother. Some of the songs and crowd reactions were redone and there was one song where the sound partially cut out near the start of the song and they had to resume the song from that point after fixing the sound.
The show was rain-free again, but on their second night, there was a mist/fog that caused a lot of moisture to accumulate on the grass and more importantly, the stage. Mairead, Tara and the dancers were slipping around the stage at times. Mairead called it "slippy" and at one point, welcomed the audience to "Celtic Woman on Ice." During the Enchanted Way, the dancers slipped at least twice, but stayed standing. They paused several times during the show to towel off the stage. The mist did create a pretty cool effect with the lighting, though.
It was less windy on the second night, but felt quite a bit colder, partly on account if the mist. You could see the breaths come out of people's mouths occasionally. The girls must have been really cold.
I waited after the show again. We didn't get to meet the girls (they probably went out a different way). I did get to chat briefly a few times with Sue. I didn't get a photo as people were kind of swarming her. But I did get to hug her.
Ray walked past us and we said hi. We also got a glance from Glenn and Ronan, Carl, Allen, and Anto after we gave them shootouts as they walked past.
I had a great time at the DVD recording. It was an unforgettable experience and even better getting to share it in person with some of my forum friends.
I think you're all going to love the DVD.
It should start airing on PBS as of US Thanksgiving, which would suggest a January release date.
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Very nice write ups Tom Great job and sounds like you have just had a blast so happy for you enjoy the rest of your time there did you get any show photos I have found a video someone took of the show Enjoy and thanks for the write ups
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Tom did a fantastic job writing this all up! I thought of something to add - on night one of filming, there were two songs where they sent a drone up for the entire song. I'm pretty sure one of them was the second take of Danny Boy. I can't remember what the other was. Tom or David, do either of you remember? It'll be really cool if they use some of the drone camera footage in the dvd!
Both nights were phenomenal! This is going to be an absolutely incredible release. All of the songs are amazing. The ones that really stood out to me with a whole lot of wow factor were Ancient Land (a very hauntingly beautiful show opener), Moorlough Shore, County Down, Love and Honour (Tara puts me in a trance!), Ballroom of Romance, Follow Me (I've had the tune of this in my head all day!), Mná na hÉireann, Over the Rainbow, Tara's Tunes, Faith's Song, Siuil A Run, Going Home and The Enchanted Way. Yeah I just listed a lot of wow factor songs and they truly were! Really the entire show was, but I had to pick some to single out! I think Going Home has overtaken Westering Home as my favorite song!
They were asking people to not take photos or videos during the filming. I'm sure some will pop up, but I didn't take any. I thought it was really great though that they were allowing pictures to be taken by the stage before and after the show and during intermission and during soundcheck from the gate. That surprised me that they were allowing it, but I got some great pictures of the castle all lit up. Feel free to check out my public instagram posts at tracie_dorn.
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Tom- Great review/write-up of your experience and the DVD recording. I can't wait to see the finished product- PBS special and DVD.
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Thanks for the detailed, organized, and timely write-ups, Tom!
Musician tally:
On the back left side of the stage, there were 6 musicians: Ray Fean on drums, Tommy Buckley on guitar, a piano player, a woodwind player, a bass guitar player, an upright bass player, and another guitar player if I recall correctly. One of the performers had an accordian too. Caitríona Frost posted some pictures (https://www.instagram.com/p/BnwnRdEl_DU/?utm_source=ig_share_sheet&igshid=ba03r4e16q6h) of herself and Anthony Byrne with the band.
On the back right side, there was Caitríona Frost on drums (picture (https://www.instagram.com/p/BnwXD68lsrx/?utm_source=ig_share_sheet&igshid=8oh0517kv33w)) and 20 members of an orchestra. I think they said it was the "Ireland National Orchestra" but a quick Google search doesn't find a group with exactly that name. The orchestra was mostly string instruments, and included a full-sized harp.
Anthony Byrne was on bagpipes. There were also four drummers and three bagpipers from the New Ross & District Pipe Band, and Anthony's father Denis (from the Arklow pipe band) was performing too. Anthony posted a picture (https://www.instagram.com/p/BntFSaYlKOF/?utm_source=ig_share_sheet&igshid=h2gm16w89xru) of himself with most of these performers on Instagram, and nrpbofficial posted the same thing with some more info (https://www.instagram.com/p/BnvWneonydP/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link). Their kilts were gorgeous.
There were 12 choir members dressed in black and not equipped with microphones. (What was the name of their choir?) They were very young-looking and one of the girls had striking eyebrows so we thought she might be related to Megan when she walked by us in line on day one.
There were 4 choir members with microphones, who also did Celtic tap-dancing and assisted with lifting Mairead for a jump (right?). They are: Carl Maguire, James Greenan, Alan McGrath, and colfarell. There is a picture (https://www.instagram.com/p/Bnmjs7xnY3r/?utm_source=ig_share_sheet&igshid=h2yiaeh6rzio) of them with the stars, and a picture (https://www.instagram.com/p/BnwhpXwhlF4/?utm_source=ig_share_sheet&igshid=160sk5kfe6f2g) of them in front of the castle.
And of course, we had the 4 stars: Mairéad Carlin, Éabha McMahon, Tara McNeill, Megan Walsh.
So we had a total of 6+21+9+12+4+4 = 56 musicians!
There were two songs where they actually got all the musicians on stage: Going Home and Parting Glass. Both songs were spectacular, and the whole audience did a standing ovation for each. (And I think it was like that on both nights, Tom.)
The four New Ross drummers came out during Éabha's song Moorlough Shore and I think they helped make the song really cool.
Commentary on the act 1 dresses:
Mairéad Carlin is now the most senior member of the group, and she has the most natural contrast because of her dark black hair and pale skin. So I guess it makes sense to accentuate that contrast by putting her in a dark blue dress (which stands out against her skin), and then put her in the center of the singers (as they did in at least one song), to make her be the the leader and eye-catcher of the group. Then you have Éabha and Megan wearing similar green dresses, and having sort of similar hair colors, so when you put one on each side of Mairéad, you achieve a certain balance. The heights work out well too, because Mairéad is the shortest while the other two singers are similar. I expect to see promo photographs with Mairéad in the middle like that.
Miscellaneous notes:
Tara danced during Love & Honour. (Thanks for pointing it out, Tom, because I missed it the first night!) When I saw it on night two, I thought she was one beat late, since the drums would do a big hit and she would do a dramatic move with her whole body on the beat after it. We'll see how it looks on the DVD.
The first tune in Tara's Tunes had measures with 3 beats instead of 4. I know because I tried to tap my feet to it. Is that a first for Celtic Woman?
Pre-recorded sounds: At two points in the show, I heard things that sounded to my ear like they must have been pre-recorded. The first instance of this was the ambient notes in the background of the opening song, Ancient Land (no one was playing a keyboard). The second instance was the tap-dancing sounds in Enchanted Way, which you hear as soon as the dancers start dancing, but which stop at some point before the dancers are done. Those sounds just seemed a bit too metallic to be coming from shoes hitting the stage, and they were maybe slightly off from what the dancers were doing.
Tracie, my notes say there was a drone for Mná Na hÉireann. I think the drones were only on the first night, so they did not get an aerial shot of the bigger crowd on night two.
Experience:
It was really great to meet my fellow fans, Gregg, Tracie, Tom, Lisa, and Matt, at the concerts and at lunch. I appreciated having some people to nerd out with over Celtic Women.
On night one I got to sit in the front row of the little angled clump of chairs on the left side. I was on the far left so I was the closest audience member to any of the girls who came out to the left wing of the stage, and I thought I made eye contact with three of them. On night two, I got to sit in the first row of the little clump of angled chairs on the right side. As Tom mentioned, those were the best seats in the house because they were really close to the stage (sorry, Susan! (https://www.instagram.com/p/Bnt5SPBHko6/?hl=en&taken-by=susiemcfads)). After one of the songs, I could hear dresses rustling as the girls walked off. I had a self-conscious feeling, knowing that if I shout anything during the applause, the stars of the show might hear it!
I walked right past Susan on the way to the bathroom during interval and smiled at her but didn't try to start anything since she was busy with other fans and probably needed to get away. I didn't actually meet any celebrities, but that is fine.
Matt and Lisa were sitting on my left on night two. The PBS personality woman was chatting with them off camera during the interval and asked if they were lucky to get those seats, so I butted in and said that we were all lined up starting at 4pm. The PBS person asked me where I was from.
I definitely had cameras pointed at me on both nights during the final standing ovation, so maybe you'll see me at the end of the TV special or DVD.
At the end of the second night, I got some people sitting near me to take this picture (https://www.instagram.com/p/BnzifdahW2W/?taken-by=davidegrayson) of me in front of the castle.
My favorite Ancient Land song at the moment is Mná Na hÉireann (Women of Ireland). Every song they did was truly excellent, but the first time I heard that one it moved me a bit more than the others. I don't even remember how it sounded, I just remember really liking it and putting a star in my notes. That song was the second song in the second act, so it was the perfect time for me to get over the sheer excitement of being at the concert and appreciate the music itself a little more.
I am super optimistic about Celtic Woman's direction after seeing the amazing job that everyone did with the Ancient Land concert!
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David you even made it on one of my photos - the PBS lady being interviewed, not a very good picture due to bad lighting.
Check out the link in Behind the scenes.
(We met briefly in the after ticket line waiting to get seats!)
Funny thing about the Drone Tracie, the one that was going to be used (1st drone pic in my pics) had test flights on Wednesday/Thursday but unfortunately crashed. After trying to fix it Thursday PM, they gave up and got Drone #2. So it will be great to see those images on the DVD somewhere (I think it was camera only but I'm not sue on that)
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prideslaw: Thanks, I did notice you posted (http://www.celticwomanforum.net/index.php?topic=419.0) a few pictures including me, and I remember you saying you were wearing too many logos to be interviewed while we were standing in line. I don't think I'll recognize you next time though so you should say hi. 🙂
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Excellent write-up David, glad you had an amazing time also! It was so great meeting you guys!
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Prideslaw, I didn't know that about the drone, thanks!
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Whoah....is This is the Very First Celtic Woman Special DVD (excludes Christmas) that won't include You Raise Me Up ☝
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Whoah....is This is the Very First Celtic Woman Special DVD (excludes Christmas) that won't include You Raise Me Up ☝
The Believe DVD didn't have You Raise Me Up.
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You me! ;D Its only 1 DVD out of 6 having it!.
It's obvious I somehow skipped Believe because aside they all have You Raise Me Up. Interestingly the Parting Glass has ended both since Believe, until Destiny and back now to Ancient Land.
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I think just about all of us that got to see Ancient Land were really lucky, not just because we got to see such an amazing show live, but because we got to be in Ireland during a time with some unusually good weather.
Personally, I only had about 1.5 days of drizzle the entire couple of weeks I was in Ireland. :o
Just a few days after the DVD recording, Ireland started getting battered with a series of bad storms. High winds, rain, and now plumetting temperatures over the weekend. I think it's safe to say our trips (and the shows) would have been very different had this nasty weather arrived a week earlier.
Hopefully the girls stay nice and safe during this period of wicked weather. Wishing them and their families all the best.
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Yes, there was lots of luck to go around! 💗🍀
I carried an umbrella around with me on most days when I went walking, but I only had to use it for about an hour or two during my whole 7-night trip.
I was pretty lucky with my flight back to the U.S. on September 16th. I landed in Charlotte, NC with no delays, while it was experiencing rain from the remnants of hurricane Florence and other parts of the state were flooded.
Then just three days later, I heard that a deadly storm hit Ireland, and someone died in Galway just four days after I was there:
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/storm-ali-woman-killed-as-storm-blows-caravan-off-cliff-in-ireland-today-2018-09-19/
It's not exactly luck, but I am very grateful that I didn't hit anyone while I was driving around in Ireland. I did a total of 750 km of Irish driving, and I had never driven on that side of the road before.
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Does anybody notice the similarities between the first castle performance and the this performance?
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Does anybody notice the similarities between the first castle performance and the this performance?
The other similarity is that they were both amazing! ;)
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in my opinion ANJ is their most iconic DVD special, still my favourite, after all those years. hence I don't mind AL being similar to it at all. ;D
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What???
How did he get back that close the castle after the first show? :o
The staff started shooing people out even while we were taking photos, and that was long before the girls came out.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BntOcyKBBXL/?taken-by=rolandmt
(https://scontent-atl3-1.cdninstagram.com/vp/265ed98dfcf4bbd60a335ad9dcd66016/5C3691F4/t51.2885-15/e35/40744414_263754684274998_1434028663655600874_n.jpg)
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Haha! That was the first night and I thought you already talked to him after it happened. Matt is a charming guy; you should add him as a friend on Facebook and see this picture (https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10155575926550766&set=pb.725195765.-2207520000.1538025789.&type=3&theater). 😘
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Yeah that was night 1. He met Eabha back there too, and also Anto, Glenn, Gavin, probably more that I'm not thinking of right now. None of us even attempted to get that close and were really surprised when he came out with those pictures. On night 2, knowing Matt had done it on night 1, we tried hanging around the stage longer, but they kicked everybody out so they could dismantle the set. We should hang out with Matt and learn his meeting tricks! He's got some awesome pictures on facebook!
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Haha! That was the first night and I thought you already talked to him after it happened. Matt is a charming guy; you should add him as a friend on Facebook and see this picture (https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10155575926550766&set=pb.725195765.-2207520000.1538025789.&type=3&theater). 😘
Yeah, I knew he met a bunch of them including Megan on night 1. But I figured they were just coming out of the gated area closer to the stands than we were standing. Yeah, I guess we had no chance waiting for them anywhere outside the gated area that night. Only the choir members, dancers, band, and orchestra were leaving that way.
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Yeah that was night 1. He met Eabha back there too, and also Anto, Glenn, Gavin, probably more that I'm not thinking of right now. None of us even attempted to get that close and were really surprised when he came out with those pictures. On night 2, knowing Matt had done it on night 1, we tried hanging around the stage longer, but they kicked everybody out so they could dismantle the set. We should hang out with Matt and learn his meeting tricks! He's got some awesome pictures on facebook!
We could learn his tricks or just stand in the exact opposite places I normally do and it would improve the odds dramatically. Haha!
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It will be really interesting to see how they use the shots from across the two nights. Given that there was so much mist on night 2 for almost the entire show, almost all the shots from night 2 are going to look very different from the shots from night 1. The closeups from either night will probably look similar, but it's going to be tricky to mix the wide shots. I suspect that for each songs, they'll choose a set of medium and long shots from one night or the other, not both. I'm still curious what they'll do from one song to the next though. It's going to look really weird if there's a mysterious fog that comes and goes every few tracks.
Clearly there will be some mix of shots from both nights, unless they just cut some songs from the DVD altogether. For instance:
- County Down, Garden of Eden, and Faith's Song were only performed on night 2
- Ae Fond Kiss was only performed on night 1
- There were a number of slips on night 2 due to the moisture on the stage. The parts where people slipped will likely not be on the DVD, although they could potentially still use the shots from those songs on night 2 and just cut away during the moments when the slips occurred.
It'll also be interesting to see what they do with the long and overhead shots of the crowd, since different people were sitting in different places and there were fewer people on night 1 (forcing a blackout in certain seat sections).
It's definitely going to be a different experience seeing the DVD having actually been there this time.
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I agree, it'll definitely be interesting to watch it with the perspective of having been there for the filming. I had a couple of thoughts that will be cool to see how they edit for the DVD. One was the transition from Follow Me to Mná na hÉireann. They dance during Follow Me and it ends with the guys dipping the ladies backwards. During night one of filming, they had to hold that pose for a solid minute while the drone was filming it before they started into Mná na hÉireann. I bet they'll make it a very fast transition on the DVD. The other thought was about how they'll edit The Enchanted Way. This is an incredibly fun song with Tara and the four dancers. It went much smoother on night one just because they had a dry stage. On night two, the stage was so wet that they were slipping. The video from night one will be great, but the crowd was more vocal on night two during this song in particular, giving a lot of love to the dancers. I wonder if they'll mix the video of night one with the crowd appreciation of night two. That'll be interesting to see. And then of course if we're in the crowd footage, we were in the same section both nights but second row the first night and front row the second night.
I really hope they keep all of the songs in the DVD! If they do, Mairead will have two solos in the first act and the others will have their solos split between act one and act two.