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Author Topic: David's report from Denver  (Read 2545 times)
VegasDavid
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« on: December 10, 2019, 12:02:06 AM »

I attended the "Symphony Tour 2019" show in Denver on 2019-12-09 (Sunday), where Celtic Woman performed Christmas music along with the Colorado Symphony!  This is my 6th and final Celtic Woman show of the year.  It is also my 10th Celtic Woman show overall!

Parade of Tara

On Saturday night, the night before the concert, I had a lot of fun watching the Denver 9NEWS Parade of Lights in Downtown Denver with Tracie and Rachel.  It was quite lucky that this special event was on the same weekend as the concert.  I think our phones and screens cannot generally capture the beauty of bright points of light accurately, so it's nice to see shows like this in person.

Before the parade, while I was holding a spot on the sidewalk and waiting for my friends to arrive, Tara McNeill walked by the very spot where I was standing, and I happened to see her as she was approaching!  I greeted her, we chatted for a tiny bit, and I got a selfie picture with her wearing her glasses and a cute sparkly hairband.  (Of course, saying the word "cute" is redundant in any phrase about Tara.)

https://www.instagram.com/p/B5181PTnP_C/

This marks the second time I have gotten a two-person photo with Tara, and the first time that I have seen any of the ladies away from their theater.  There was an element of luck to this meeting because Tara could have been on the other side of the street, or I might have been looking the wrong way, but luck does favor the prepared!  I made sure to get out on the street 30 minutes before the parade started, and I used that time to check out 10 blocks of the parade route before settling on a nice spot near my hotel.

Tour name

I think most of us will think of this tour as the "Magic of Christmas" tour because it corresponds to the album of that name.  However, the souvenir booklet says "Symphony Tour 2019", and my ticket says "The Best of Christmas Tour".

John Hunt

We met John Hunt (the bagpiper) in the lobby and took a picture with him.  He was wearing his kilt and tartan and selling programs.  I was actually going over to talk to a professional photographer lady who snapped my photo, but John greeted me on the way, and said he remembered me from Germany.  He said he is from Limerick.  He's a friendly guy and I hope I get to chat more often with him!

https://www.instagram.com/p/B517Q40FYpV/

Mechandise

I bought the Celtic Woman scarf (black with gray stripes), which I will probably use next winter because I did not have a good scarf.  I also bought two red Celtic Woman ornaments (the basic version without Irish on it), and a souvenir program.  The merchandise guy, Floyd remembers me from May when I talked to him in Long Beach and Minneapolis!  He says he only works U.S. shows so that is why I did not see him in Germany.

Set list

This is the set list.  I got most of it by photographing a piece of paper on the stage, but I fixed some things and added notes in brackets.

We Wish You A Merry Christmas
Éabha talk
Angels We Have Heard on High
Do You Hear What I Hear [Megan solo]
O Come O Come Emmanuel [Mairéad solo]
Megan talk
O Holy Night
Éabha talk [talked about growing up speaking Irish at home and singing this song]
Dia Do Bheatha [Éabha solo]
Greensleeves [Tara solo]
Mairéad talk [the paper actually said "Megan talk", but it was definitely Mairéad because I remember her saying Danny Boy is also known as "Derry Aire", listing other performers of it, and saying the muppets sang it better than CW]
Danny Boy
Amazing Grace
Tara talk
Joy to the World

Intermission

Murphy's Mistletoe [orchestra only]
It's Beginning / Ding Dong Merrily
Éabha talk [said Ireland never has a White Christmas but they sing this song in hope of it]
White Christmas [Éabha solo]
We Three Kings [Mairéad solo]
It Came Upon A Midnight Clear [Megan solo]
Mairéad talk
Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas [no orchestra]
Silent Night / Kesh Inn [Tara solo]
Carol of the Bells
Tara talk [teaches us the difficult lyrics of this ancient song in her funny way]
Deck the Halls
Feliz Navidad
Sleigh Ride
Mairéad talk / Tara talk
Auld Lang Syne

Concert reactions and observations

The music was crazy beautiful, and I gave a lot of standing ovations.  I think O Holy Night really stood out to me, and somehow moved me more than it ever did on the CD.

Mairéad has this glimmer in her eyes when you see her sing; it's almost as if she's about to cry.  I wonder what that is.  I saw it in Germany too.  The energy she puts into her choreography is amazing.  Someone, please get a video of the awesome 90-degree turn she does during O Come, O Come Emmanuel right after watching Darragh play his brief pipe solo.

Megan's movement during her solos is very predictable; she moves exactly like an oscillating fan.  I used this to get some shots of her at good angles.

I'm pretty sure I got one smile from Megan, and then later I got a few nods from John during the standing ovation for Amazing Grace.

While exiting the stage for the final time, Mairéad gave a high-five to a cute little girl across the aisle to my right.  I was thinking about getting the family to come to the stage door for some adorable pictures... but I just did that already a few weeks ago in Germany.


Friends

It was so awesome to spend real in-person time with Tom, Tracie, Gregg, and Rachel!  I met them thanks to this forum, and we talk a lot online, but the last time we were all together was at Red Rocks in May.  At the stage door, Tara said she thought we had been friends for years, but it's only been 15 months since I met Tom, Gregg, and Tracie in Wexford at the Ancient Land DVD filming, and 7 months since I met Rachel in Long Beach.  I was honored to sit next to these fine folks and make deposits into our bank of ever-increasing shared experiences and memes.

https://www.instagram.com/p/B51-fUTniZv/

Concert shenanigans

1. During the first song, we wore our Christmas hats.  I slouched down and pulled the hat down to try to be polite to the people behind me.
2. During Sleigh Ride, I spontaneously realized that when Éabha sings "Giddy up, giddy up, giddy up, let's go" I can put my hands in front of me and then bounce my whole body up and down (as if riding a bouncy horse and holding its reins).  So fun!  I would highly recommend doing this.  Rachel picked up on this pretty quickly and played along with me, perhaps because she's a trained dancer.  We need to find more moves for the other lines in the song if they do it again next year.
3. During the last song (Auld Lang Syne), we wore our Christmas hats, locked pinkies, and tried to sway with the music.  This was actually way too distracting for me.  I didn't understand the rhythm we were swaying too, and I was worried my pinkie would get pulled too hard.  Next time let's just do the swaying!

Interacting with the artists and other fans during a concert is one reason why live music is better than just listening to a CD at home!

Legendary stage door

Mairéad's first reaction when walking out of the door was to say "I love your hat!"  Yeah, I think she just said "hat" even though all five of us had red santa hats on.  Tracie, Gregg, and I were wearing a model of red hat from Target that is stiff enough that you can make it point straight up into the air.  So fun!  I love that hat too, Mairéad!

Pointy hat pictures: https://www.instagram.com/p/B51_LE9Htyc/

I'd like to think that she also liked my dark suit with a solid bright red tie, and that's why she assertively jumped to my left side and put her arm on me when it was time to take a group photo.  (Damn... I'd like to think I don't need validation from humans, but she made me feel like a million bucks.)  I really liked her outfit and the fact that she and I wore matching colors.  I should have gotten a two-person picture with her like I planned, but somehow I was too shy when I had my chance.  At least I got to be next to her in the legendary group picture, which you can see here:

https://www.instagram.com/p/B52-RmUFoAZ/

There was another young adult fan who briefly appeared at the stage door, but I don't know who he was.  I offered to help him take a picture with Mairéad.  If he had been around either before or after the ladies, I would have introduced myself.

Social media

Tara and Éabha both reposted Tracie's Instagram story that had the group picture in it!  Go Tracie!

Being in the front row is awesome, because it means you can take pictures on your phone that are actually good.  On Instagram stories, Mairéad reposted a picture I took of her and Darragh during O Come, O Come Emmanuel.  (That's the second time she reposted me!)

Lloyd Butler and celticwomanofficial reposted a picture I took of Megan, with Lloyd conducting in the background.  (Lloyd turned around a few times to smile at singers, but I did not capture those adorable moments.)

Half-word summary

LEGEN-
« Last Edit: December 10, 2019, 12:25:42 AM by VegasDavid » Logged
GlenS
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« Reply #1 on: December 10, 2019, 12:29:35 AM »

Nice write up Dave. Myself  Tracie Gregg and Tom will be in Milw on the 21st. I know that theater well and the Bus's park on the street across from the stage door. Just hoping it's not to cold or windy. It will be nice to meet everyone at last. the photo is the bus line up last time they were at this theater
« Last Edit: December 10, 2019, 12:31:32 AM by GlenS » Logged
Tracie
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« Reply #2 on: December 10, 2019, 08:22:45 AM »

-DARY! Legendary!

David, this is an awesome write-up of an incredible weekend! We had such a blast being with our amazing friends, seeing a magical show, and having maybe the best stage door experience ever. I love that we got a big group picture! The weekend was wonderful!
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