One year ago today was the first night of the Celtic Woman: Ancient Land taping at Johnstown Castle in Wexford!
It seems hard to believe it's already been a year, yet so much has happened since then, it also seems long ago.
Here are some things I remember most...
The planning for my first trip to Ireland on relatively short notice was frantic and a bit exhausting, but things worked out very well. The weather while I was in Ireland was incredible! Only a day or two of rain the entire trip (although one of those rainy days destroyed my old phone). I saw a lot of awesome things while I was in Ireland: Powerscourt, The Guinness Store House, Trinity College, The Cliffs of Moher, The Giant's Causeway, Edel Murphy in Riverdance, Lisa Lambe in Jimmy's Hall ... but as you may have guessed, Celtic Woman at Johnstown Castle was the highlight of the trip.
I was able to sleep for almost the entire flight to Ireland, so I managed to experience practically no jet lag!
I packed in so much sightseeing before the DVD recording that I was a bit worn out by the DVD recording. I got dropped off at the back entrance so it was a bit of a walk to the entrance, where a line had already formed hours before they started letting people in. Standing in line I got to meet a lot of awesome forum friends for the first time! Tracie, I will always remember the first time you came up to me all excited and recognized me.
The anticipation was crazy as we stood in line in front of the castle, knowing we were hours away from a show we had probably dreamed of but never thought we would actually be part of.
The first night of DVD recording was pretty cold, though not as cold and foggy as night #2. I got to sit in the second row to stage right (first row stage right on night #2). I had a great view of the stage. The castle was lit up beautifully. The show was a little late getting started as people had to be re-arranged in the bleachers before they started the show, but it was worth every moment of the wait!
I was excited out of my mind when Tara came out onto that stage and the singers followed, Megan for the first time as a member of Celtic Woman! Megan was a bit nervous, but who wouldn't be? She powered through it though and she was an amazing presence on stage!
The whole experience was incredible!
The day of the second show, a group of us went to the castle early in the afternoon to walk around the gorgeous castle grounds before getting in line. We saw PBS recording some footage for pledge segments, but we didn't find out until later that Celtic Woman (including Meav) had been behind the castle doing their interviews and chatting with fans a few hours before we arrived. We got to watch the girls doing sound check from the line. They ran cameras up and down the line and got some volunteers to do interviews. In the excitement of the moment, I volunteered. Fortunately, those interviews never aired, since I've never been so disappointed in my communication skills. That was my moment to express how much Celtic Woman meant to me and I couldn't say anything coherent. I'll have to have something prepared in advance if there's a next time.
Before the show on night #2, I got to meet Susan again, who was all bundled up in the crowd. I also got to meet Glenn, Ronan, and Anto. Meav was hiding somewhere in the crowd too, but I unfortunately didn't spot her while I was there.
The second night was damp, foggy and really chilly, but thankfully there was no rain during either show. The stage had to be mopped after every few songs because of all the moisture, but it was still pretty "slippy." Mairead was hilarous between songs. I'm still waiting for Celtic Woman On Ice to be announced though.
We stuck around after the show both nights, but didn't get to meet any of the lead performers post-show. We saw the girls come back out of the castle to take some photos with friends and family. Tara saw us watching and waved at us from a distance (yeah, the not-so-subtle Susan reference there was fully intended).
I actually got pretty sick the morning after the second show: probably a combination of the crazy mist from the night before and the energy crash after the most amazing concert experience ever but I still got to see a few more things in Carlow and Kilkenny before flying back home from the most treasured adventure of my life.
What are some of your favorite memories from the Celtic Woman: Ancient Land DVD recording and your time in Ireland?
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