Celtic Thunder: Odyssey Tour *** SPOILERS ***

I saw the entire Canadian leg of the Celtic Thunder: Odyssey tour over the weekend! That consisted of two shows at separate venues.

The lineup was Neil Byrne, Emett Cahill, Damian McGinty, and Ronan Scolard filling in for Ryan Kelly.

Set List:

Heartland (all)
Star of the County Down (all)
Green Fields of France (Damian, with the other 3 backing / harmonizing at times)
The Rare Ould Times (or Rare Old Times / Rare Auld Times depending on how you want to spell it) (all)
Grace (Emett)Raggle Taggle Gypsy (all)
One More Day (all)
Farewell (Neil singing and guitar)
Sailing (Ronan singing and guitar, with Neil on electric guitar for part of the song)
Galway Girl (all)
Caledonia (all)

Mo Ghile Mear (all)
The Wellerman (all)
Fields of Athenry (Damian)
Past the Point of Rescue (Neil singing and guitar)
Amazing Grace (all)
Song for the Mira (all)
Fare The Well Love (Emett)
City of Chicago (Ronan)
7 Drunken Nights (all)
I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For (all)
Step It Out Mary (all)
Tune set (band)
Ireland's Call (all)

Highlights:

Green Fields of France (sometimes known as No Man's Land), was really good! Damian's deep voice carried the melody well with the other lads joining in harmony during chorus. I could feel the deep instrumental base and powerful drum beats and their placement in the arrangement was tremendously effective. All 4 of them sang the last chorus reprise a cappella, but there was a momentary silence before the a cappella part, so the crowd started clapping before they realized the song wasn't finished. It happened both nights.

I have mixed feelings about the arrangement of One More Day. It was good, but some of the harmony wasn't hitting home. It wasn't getting to the next level for me like Deirdre's versions (with and without the Canadian Tenors). I liked it a lot better on the second night, but I still wasn't fully satisfied.

Farewell (or as I liked to call it: "Window to the Door") was Neil's original song. This one was catchy! It was inspired by words written by his great, great, (maybe some more greats in there) uncle in his cell, in which he paced from his cell window to the door. I think he had been jailed for his role in the 1916 Easter Rising. I should have written the name down, but I think it was something like Mulaney (not the comedian). If I recall correctly, they never found out what happened to him, but his memory now lives on in Neil's song. Even the way he introduced the song was touching.

Ronan's first act solo was a cover of Rod Stewart's "Sailing." Ronan sang and played guitar. Neil came in from the side of the stage for part of the song to play electric guitar as well.

During Galway Girl, Damian was all over the stage having fun with the tambourine.

Galway Girl was their first act closer. The guitarist in the band brought out the electric guitar for the instrumental bridge and it sounded epic!

The second of the two shows was at a casino. I was expecting them to run right through without a break, but surprisingly, they did have an intermission, so I got to see the full show both nights.

Amazing Grace was an a cappella. They took turns lending lead vocals while the others hummed and at times they all sang together.

I enjoyed all the solos, but Emett's 2nd-half solo "Fare Thee Well Love" was possibly my favourite. The piano backing was phenomenal. During the song, there were backing vocals  coming from somewhere. I spotted some of the band members singing along into mics a few times on both nights, but there weren't enough voices to account for all the ones I was hearing. I'm pretty sure the low voice was Damian's. I think either the other lads were singing from back stage or they pre-recorded those backing vocals for the show.

Ronan's 2nd act solo was City of Chicago. This was definitely a song they originally chose for Ryan, but Ronan did a great job with it.

Seven Drunken Nights was hilarious! During the verse where they talk about a coat being out of place, Ronan took off his suit jacket and tossed it off the side of the stage to conceal the evidence. Neil played the part of the super-drunk character. He came out on stage with a bottle in hand. He was singing like he had been bar-hopping all night long and was getting increasingly intoxicated with every verse. He got confused when he was supposed to be singing. He was looking around at the lights like he was high. He at one point was facing away from the audience, then he went stumbling all over the stage and started pestering the band members, eventually while the other lads were singing. Each tour or DVD they do it, their routine is a little different. Neil in particular was doing totally different things from one night to the next. This was the funniest I've seen it and Neil's performance was a show-stealer.

As always, the closing song was a rousing arrangement of Ireland's Call!

Both the shows I saw were really fun. There were plenty of slow songs, especially in the first half, but there weren't any points in the show when it dragged.

There were plenty of people around me both nights wondering where Ryan was. Although Ronan introduced himself early in the show, there was no mention at all about Ryan or why he had to take some time away. I suppose they figured most people were just there to see the show and most people that followed Celtic Thunder closely already knew. While hearing Ronan instead of Ryan took some getting used to, Ronan fit in great! His voice worked well in the harmonies and his stage persona meshed with the others too.

Side-Notes:

On the first night, I had a great seat, 2nd row slightly off-center. That was a much better experience than the back balcony seat I had last time Celtic Thunder was at that venue. There were a few super-fans in the first few rows at the first show. The sound was a little weird at times during the first show: either there was an echo coming back at the stage or sound from speakers at the back of the theater was getting to me a while after the sound from the stage-front speakers. It didn't affect the experience though.

For the second show, I was far left in the seating (far stage right). The stage at Casino Rama is huge so even though I was in row 5 or so, I was at least 100 feet from the performers. It was still better than a distant balcony, but I would have been better off sitting front and center 30 rows back so I could see the action on the huge video screens instead of craning my neck and squinting.

It was hard for me to get a read on how the rest of the audience was receiving the shows. The first night seemed fairly enthusiastic (certainly far more so than any Celtic Woman audience would get in this area). On night two, the people around me weren't getting too into it, but the performance area was so massive I couldn't tell how the rest of the audience was reacting.

At Casino Rama on night 2, I was wandering around before the doors to the performance area opened and saw two things of interest:

1)
The promo for the Celtic Woman 20th Anniversary tour came up on a screen cycling through all the upcoming shows, so of course I had to take a selfie.

2)
On the walls outside the performance area, there were photos of past performers, along with their signatures. I spotted an old Celtic Woman photo with Máiréad Nesbitt, Chloë, Lisa Kelly, and Lynn, so of course I had to selfie with that too. I can't go back and see all the shows I missed back then, but I can make up for lost time now and tell them often that what they did back then still makes a difference for me today.

Hope you enjoyed yourself! The Wellerman sounded like a very fun number for the lads to perform!

Thanks for your concert write ups, as always!

Thanks for posting the set list too. Did you notice it unfolds like a story in general, from Ireland ... to sailing ... to America. Maybe that's why it's called "Odyssey". Did it play like a normal concert, or did they try to tell the storyline? Sounds so fun!

(Side note: I think I heard Amazing Grace was written on a ship during a storm.)

PS. Did you add any extras, e.g. pre-show Soundcheck? If so, is it worth it? I don't think they do true M&G any more...

Thanks for your concert write ups, as always!

Thanks for posting the set list too. Did you notice it unfolds like a story in general, from Ireland ... to sailing ... to America. Maybe that's why it's called "Odyssey". Did it play like a normal concert, or did they try to tell the storyline? Sounds so fun!

(Side note: I think I heard Amazing Grace was written on a ship during a storm.)

PS. Did you add any extras, e.g. pre-show Soundcheck? If so, is it worth it? I don't think they do true M&G any more...

Unlike Storm or the progression of Riverdance, they didn't position the set list as an overarching story or journey. There may have been a story outlined in the tour program, but I didn't get one.

They apparently have pre-show sound checks and VIP after-party events for at least some stops on the tour. I didn't get any of the extras though.

I didn't bother with the stage door either. At the first venue, the busses are always right next to the stage door and security doesn't let anyone get close. It was also raining and I had a 90 minute drive back home. So that was a "hard pass."

At the second venue, it might have been possible to access the stage door, but it's not really my thing. Most of the time I just stand there awkwardly anyways. 🤣

I got to see them a year or so ago.  I don't remember the specific set list, but I will say Ireland's Call is one of the best closing songs.  They did what some people thought was the end of the show as they introduced the band.  Audience is standing and applauding.  They guys left, but the band kept playing.  Then, they segued into Ireland's Call.  Everyone just stayed on their feet for the whole song.   Really great time!

Thank you all for the fab reviews. As I have never gone to a CT concert well now I reside where there is...

So my Facebook feed said there was a CT concert in my area Sunday night.  Since my wife and daughter had previous plans (BeetleJuice), I thought I would consider going to CT.

Prices ranged from $79 to $29.  Venue is a 2,200 seat facility.  Not bad, but not one of my favorites plus it's only 30 minutes away.  Ended up finding a seat in Row E for $49.00.  Venue was maybe 2/3 full.

 I have to keep telling myself NOT to sit near the front anymore.  In this case, I was on the right side of the stage.  I was too close to the speakers.  As seems to be typical anymore, the band tends to drown out the vocals.

Having said that, I still enjoyed the show.  I didn't write down the set list, but I think it was pretty close to what CWazyTom posted.  I liked the 2nd half more than the first, probably because the songs were more familiar, and I was having some issues understanding the words.  Yes, some of that my be me.

Did I like the show?  Yes.  Would I travel very far to go see them again?  No.  But then, I'm not sure how far I would travel anymore to see CW.