New Celtic Thunder Special

Celtic Thunder (with Ronan) were doing a photoshoot in Ireland this month and teased a new TV special was coming.

Oh that's interesting. I assume this is for PBS? I have been thinking lately it's odd there are no CT shows on PBS Passport and nothing on the air this past Christmas at all (usually they play the old Christmas show).

I still think they "owe" PBS a concert from the cancelled tour in 2022. My PBS station has this note:
Celtic Thunder Ireland
April 6, 2022
Concert has been postponed. Hold onto your tickets, new dates coming soon!

Doing some digging in my old calendars ---

I saw CT on February 25, 2022 in St Petersburg, FL.  If I recall, that was one of their last shows before they shut the tour down.  It was a long time ago, and I'm getting old!

Saw them again on October 29, 2023, again in St Pete.

And, they still have the best closing concert number I've ever seen!

It seems they may have filmed this a while ago and it might be airing quite soon. Perhaps in March?

Someone in a CT FB group I'm in said the guys recorded their show in Medford MA at the end of last fall's tour. That they announced it at the beginning of the show and spent some time recording audience applause and reactions.

Oh that's interesting. I assume this is for PBS? I have been thinking lately it's odd there are no CT shows on PBS Passport and nothing on the air this past Christmas at all (usually they play the old Christmas show).

I still think they "owe" PBS a concert from the cancelled tour in 2022. My PBS station has this note:
Celtic Thunder Ireland
April 6, 2022
Concert has been postponed. Hold onto your tickets, new dates coming soon!

Hmm. Something is cooking. Since this thread was started and my last post above, my PBS station changed that message to this:

Celtic Thunder Ireland
New Fall Date
Tickets not available yet,
check back soon!

Their FB post from 5 days ago says the Odyssey special is airing on PBS this spring. And the 4 of them in the promo includes Ronan and still no Ryan.

Here's a preview of the special with a lot of detail.
https://www.netaonline.org/episode/celtic-thunder-odyssey

Act 1
Mo Ghile Mear
Rare Olde Times
Wellerman
Interview
Fields of Athenry (McGinty solo)
Act 2
Amazing Grace
City of Chicago (Scolard solo)
Galway Girl
Interviews
Farewell (Byrne solo)
Act 3
Grace (Cahill solo)
Interview
One More Day
Step it Out Mary
Act 4
Interview
Caledonia
Credits

Their FB post from 5 days ago says the Odyssey special is airing on PBS this spring. And the 4 of them in the promo includes Ronan and still no Ryan.

Ryan said he's "back to working" so maybe when any tour news comes out we will hear his future.
I've only been once to see Celtic Thunder as a full group and would love to go again 

DVD can be pre-ordered from the Celtic Thunder site now.

This has started showing on PBS stations. My PBS has a showing on March 17 - St. Patty's Day. 

There's a placeholder for it on PBS Passport, but the video is not there yet.

Celtic Thunder returns to the heart of the song with carefully chosen Celtic gems including their first recording of “Grace”, “The Fields of Athenry”, “Step it Out Mary” and a dazzling a Cappella arrangement of “Amazing Grace”. Damien McGinty, Emmet Cahill, Neil Byrne and Ronan Scolard reflect on their personal odysseys with Laura Savini during interviews at the Gloster House in County Offaly.

Any new version of Amazing Grace is my cup of tea!
That somewhat new maybe group version of Caledonia looks like a  striking ending number.

Oh that's interesting. I assume this is for PBS? I have been thinking lately it's odd there are no CT shows on PBS Passport and nothing on the air this past Christmas at all (usually they play the old Christmas show).

I still think they "owe" PBS a concert from the cancelled tour in 2022. My PBS station has this note:
Celtic Thunder Ireland
April 6, 2022
Concert has been postponed. Hold onto your tickets, new dates coming soon!

Hmm. Something is cooking. Since this thread was started and my last post above, my PBS station changed that message to this:

Celtic Thunder Ireland
New Fall Date
Tickets not available yet,
check back soon!

My PBS station now has a date for Fall 2024. Tickets & Soundcheck packages. No M&G I think. I guess CT doesn't do M&G, even for PBS.

*** SPOILER ALERT ***
Don't read this post if you want to watch the special for yourself first.


*** ***

My random thoughts on the PBS special, not really a review.

If you want a video preview of the show, I posted a link about 6 posts up.

Pros.
- Song choices. I like that they went back to traditional Irish standards.
- Ronan. He fits right in, and they all get along well during the interviews. Plus the CW connection is always a plus.

Cons.
- Missing faces. No Ryan Kelly (personal reasons), no Seana Davey (harp), no Nicole Hudson (fiddle).
- No stage choreography. They stood at their mics the whole time. I'm not sure if the tours are different.
- Missing energy. The crowd seemed tiny, and no wide shots for us to see. So it wasn't as energetic as usual.
- No "Ireland's Call". This was the CT calling card.

General impressions.
- In one of the interviews, they said it's their 1st special since 2017.
- Generally, a different vibe they are going for. The CD itself sounds like 'traditional' CT. The special does not IMHO. It's much more cozy & intimate, and a little 'tame' for a CT show.
- I enjoyed it, but I probably won't watch it over & over every time it is on PBS (like CW 20th for example).