Wow, the one year anniversary of the Ancient Land filming! I had floods of memories coming over me throughout the day today and as I watched the DVD tonight.
I still find it unreal that the DVD filming dropped so perfectly into the Ireland trip that Gregg and I had booked nearly two years in advance. We had been hoping that they would do a show somewhere while we were there, but had kind of given up on that thought a few months before our trip since no Ireland shows had been announced. But then, only about 6 weeks before we were to fly out, the announcement came that a new castle special was going to be filmed! We immediately sent in our request for tickets, only knowing that it would take place in September, and it was the longest week and a half until we found out that the filming was while we would be in Ireland (we just had to change our flight home by two days - done!) and that we could have tickets. We were going to see our favorite musical group film a DVD at a castle! Wow!
We spent two weeks taking a bus tour of Ireland that looped around the entire country, including going into Northern Ireland. We had the most amazing time. Ireland is such a beautiful country. Even being there at the end of their very hot, dry summer, it was still gorgeous. We look back at our pictures and always say that they just don't do justice to Ireland's beauty. We loved everything on that trip, but some of the highlights were Connemara National Park, Bunratty Castle & Folk Park, Kilkenny Castle, the Ring of Kerry, Dun Laoghaire harbor, Galway, and the fabulous music and dance show Celtic Steps, among many other things. Cliffs of Moher was rained out, and our tour group went to Giant's Causeway the day we took the train to Wexford for the filming, so those are high on our list for our next visit! The first day of filming was the final day of our bus tour so the timing was amazing!
We arrived at Johnstown Castle and within 10 minutes we met Tom and David. We had been excitedly waiting to meet our forum friends in person (well, I was a forum member, but Gregg knew how much I enjoyed making friends on here). We had so much fun talking about our favorite ladies and how awesome the filming was going to be. We had a little fan gathering lunch the 2nd day, after which Gregg, Tom and I went to the castle and wandered around the lake and gardens. We had such a great time! As I've been sappily telling these guys through various social media posts today, their friendship over this past year has meant so much to me. Johnstown Castle was just the beginning, as we have since gotten together at more Celtic Woman shows (including Red Rocks!) and we are planning more adventures together for the Christmas and Celebration tours. Meeting you guys is one of the greatest things that happened on that Ireland trip!
We also met Matt, Laura, Rob and Leanna at the filming. We've met so many amazing people through a mutual love of Celtic Woman, and Johnstown Castle was the starting point of those meetings. I have loved meeting so many other fans, and would still love to meet more! Let's get together at upcoming shows!
The two nights of filming were epic and phenomenal! I loved experiencing every moment of it! Some of the standout memories from the filming are:
- On the first night, the most incredible feeling of joy came over me the moment Tara stepped on stage to begin what I knew would be a beyond amazing show. I'll always remember that feeling. Then Eabha came on stage, then Megan, then Mairead, and the magic began.
- Eabha was the first of the ladies to spot me in the audience. It was during Homeland on the first night and she was scanning our section and when she saw me, she gave me the biggest smile. I got smiles from Mairead and Tara throughout the filming as well. I loved that they recognized me, as I had only met them a couple of times at that point. Megan of course didn't yet know who we were, but she does now
A few months earlier on the Homecoming tour, I had written them a letter telling them how excited Gregg and I were to spend half of September in Ireland. We didn't know about the Ancient Land filming at that point, but I'm sure they did. I like to think that when they read my letter, they knew we would be in that audience.
- During County Down, when Mairead sings "I still need you, the most of all" she looks directly at us and smiles and nods. We always love watching that moment on the DVD.
- It was so amazing to hear so many brand new songs and to instantly fall in love with all of them.
- When the stage manager announced that Mairead and Megan would be singing a duet of Over the Rainbow, Gregg and I turned to each other and both said this is going to be incredible! We were right!
- When Megan sang Faith's Song, me, Gregg and Tom all looked at each other and went woooooooow!
- Eabha's incredible Garden of Eden sounded so familiar and it was later that night back at our b&b that we realized it was because we had previously seen a youtube video of her singing it from before she had joined Celtic Woman.
- There were adorable moments that didn't make their way onto the DVD, particularly with Mairead. The second night when the stage was so slippery, she welcomed the audience to Celtic Woman on Ice! She also explained Ireland's ballrooms of romance by saying that they were a place to "have a little boogie." If you weren't there, just imagine hearing that in her adorable accent! The ladies talked to the audience and gave song introductions so much more than what is on the DVD. I wonder why they cut all that stuff out?
- Tara's Love and Honour made me cry tears of joy. She has the most incredible way of reaching all the way to my heart and soul with her performances.
- It was so cool just to experience being at a filming for the first time. Things like at the end of Follow Me when the guys dip the ladies backwards, production had them hold that pose for awhile so they could send a drone up to film it. How they did re-takes of 5 songs over the 2 nights and each time they announced a re-take, we were so excited because we totally wanted to hear the songs again!
- Over the 2 nights, we met Susan, Anto, Ray, Glenn and Ronan. We got pictures with each of them except for Ray. He walked along the front row and shook our hands and spoke with us briefly. The coolest thing was that when we were talking to Glenn and Ronan and telling them how much we love their album Horizon, Ronan, who we hadn't met before, asked me my name. As I started to answer, Glenn chimed in and said "this is Gregg and Tracie". We had met him before, but it had been more than a year prior on the Voices of Angels tour. So cool of him to remember! We also randomly walked past Carl, Alan, Colm & James in town in Wexford the morning of day 2 and called back to them that they were amazing and we loved the show the prior night!
It's been a lot of fun reminiscing today and as I write this up. Being in the audience for the Ancient Land filming was the most phenomenal experience of my life!