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16
« on: May 06, 2019, 11:55:33 PM »
I saw my first Ancient Land tour show on Saturday, May 4th at the Terrace Theater in Long Beach, California. It is part of the Long Beach Convention Center, a complex of large buildings that were hosting many other events that weekend (like a SCUBA conference, basketball game, and women's health expo). Almost everything about this two-night vacation was better than I expected! On Friday night, I found out that the neighborhood across the street from the theater is a trendy, walkable area called the "Promenade" with live music venues and great restaurants. The sunny, breezy, 68°F weather was perfect for the 6-mile walk I took on the beach on Saturday. The Queen Mary is a pretty impressive ship from the 1930s that I got to see on Sunday. Flying to Long Beach from Las Vegas (via LAX) was cheap and simple thanks to Alaska Airlines. The Ancient Land show itself also exceeded my expectations... A surprise in the set listEarly in the second act, Megan sang Faith's Song! She introduced it by saying something like "This song is from our latest album, and it is the first time I have sung it on this tour". From everyone else's reports, I was expecting her solo in the second act to instead be Shenandoah. This was great news for me because Faith's Song is my favorite song on this tour, and I was also favor Fields of Gold over Shenandoah. (From the commemorative Ancient Land program, it seems like Megan likes Shenandoah a lot though, because that is the only Celtic Woman song she mentions on her page.) Other than Megan's surprise solo change, I think they did all the same songs that Tom reported in his set list. I did not keep careful track of the order of the songs until after I heard Faith's Song. It seems like they reordered many of the songs in the second act but the first act was probably the same as before. Here is what I heard: Act 1:Ancient Land Homeland Moorlough Shore Newgrange Follow Me (more songs, including Fields of Gold...) Act 2:(more songs...) Faith's song Siul a ruin Ae fond kiss Garden of Eden Over the rainbow Tip tap toe Tara's tunes Bean Phadin Going Home Kesh Inn The Parting Glass Meeting the dancers/singers: Before the show, I met all of the dancers as they were handing out Ancient Land souvenir programs. It was my first time meeting each of them. First, I met Colm Farrell and bought a program from him. He asked if we had met and I said no but I was in Wexford and saw him perform there. He asked if this was my first show in the tour. We got a picture together.I met Carl Maguire, and complimented him on dancing with Susan in Homecoming, and made some small talk. We got a picture together and he specifically asked me to tag him on Instagram so I did. I also met James Greenan for the first time. I asked how he is enjoying Long Beach. He was a very friendly guy who asked me a lot of stuff: where I was from, how long I am staying in Long Beach, what I do, and if I have seen the show a bunch of times. Meeting other fansI got to meet Rachel, a super fan in California who has been following the group much longer than I. We were both sitting in the second row and she overheard that I was at Wexford, mentioned Tom's name, and then I realized I had heard of her a few minutes earlier. Between Rachel and me were two elderly ladies who had an interesting story. It turns out they inherited the tickets from one of their friends who had an unfortunate, untimely death. They found the tickets on the keyboard of his computer. I only place something on a computer keyboard when I want to guarantee that someone else will see it. I wonder if this man's dying wish was for his friends to find his Ancient Land tickets. He used to take one of the ladies to Celtic Woman shows in the past, so he probably would have wanted her to find them. After the show, Rachel invited me to join her at the stage door, where I also met Kenny and Craig. Stage doorWe were basically standing on the balcony to the west of the theater lobby. The stage door was below us to the south, connected to a curved, raised, sloping driveway. The balcony and the raised driveway each had walls to prevent people from falling to the ground that was maybe 15 feet below, so it was a pretty formidable barrier. However, we could still see everyone departing from the door very clearly and exchange brief words with them as they walked down the curved, sloping driveway around us to reach the three buses. When we saw Megan, I said "We are so happy you sang Faith's song, it's the best!". She looked at me with recognition and said "I knew you would like Faith's Song because I saw your tweets." So I joked, "Oh, thanks for changing it up for me!" Máiréad was right in front of Megan and she didn't stop, so there was no time to say anything to her. I didn't say anything to Éabha; I think I just let the other fans compliment her instead. I said generic nice things to a few other performers, like Kieran Leonard, John Hunt, and Tommy Buckley. I always made sure to say their names. The last people we saw were Tara and Louisa Parsons. Tara was so sweet; she asked if there was a way to get to our balcony, and then walked back through the stage door, through the door to the lobby, and through the balcony door to join us. Louisa and I chatted briefly while Tara was talking to the other fans. Then Tara turned to me and said "Hi, David". I shook her hand and expressed surprise that she knew who I was already, because we had never met before. She said something like "We remember you from Wexford and social media." but with a few more words. I complimented her performance of Tara's Tunes. She asked about my next Ancient Land show. I should have gotten a picture with her, but didn't because I'm awkward like that. This experience sends a signal to me that Tara genuinely likes talking to fans, while maybe the others just do it to be polite. Everyone but Tara just kept walking when they saw us. This was my first stage door and I'll be refining my impressions of them over time. Other special momentsÉabha, gave a special introduction for Garden of Eden: she said she went to Long Beach the summer after college to do writing work. After The Kesh Inn, the whole theater gave a standing ovation so long and so loud that Mairéad had to wipe away a tear. I took a picture of the venue before the concert at sunset. I also took a picture of the stage. These pictures weren't that interesting by themselves, but I'm glad I took them so I could post each of them to Instagram and tell a special story alongside them.
18
« on: March 30, 2019, 09:07:22 PM »
Alex Sharpe posted this video for Caranua: https://www.facebook.com/caranua/videos/577854662728407/I thought the most interesting part was when she said that Lynn Hilary did the vocal arrangements for the new single Baby Mine and generally does all the vocal arrangements Caranua.
19
« on: March 20, 2019, 12:06:31 AM »
I drove down to Laughlin, NV to see The Fitzgeralds perform at Don Laughlin's Riverside Resort Hotel and Casino on Saturday, 2019-03-16. It was super worthwhile! Each of them is very talented in multiple areas, and they put on a great show. Here are my notes about what happened during and after the show. Many thanks to CWazyTom for posting here about the Fitzgeralds; otherwise I would not have known about them. SPOILER WARNINGMembersThere were four primary performers: Kerry Fitzgerald, Julie Fitzgerald, Tom Fitzgerald, and Kyle Waymouth. Kerry, Julie, and Tom were usually on fiddle. Tom seemed to be the star fiddle player and vocalist but he didn't play the keyboard, while Kerry and Julie both had turns on the keyboard. Their friend Kyle Waymouth mainly played guitar. Set listAs the curtain came up, they played a traditional tune called Red Haired Boy, which transitioned into a tune written by their dad. Kerry Fitzgerald introduced herself and the group. They played It's all your fault by Bob Wills, featuring Kerry on the bass ukulele. They did a step-dancing battle routine. Kerry and Julie were battling, and the crowd was encouraged to cheer. They did an instrumental song with Julie on keyboard and Kerry dancing. Julie introduced the next two tunes, which are from the family album: Danny Boy and The Dwyers. Tom introduced a bluegrass song called Dark Hollow, which again featured Kerry on the bass ukulele. Julie introduced the next two tunes: When Irish Eyes are Smiling (Kerry on keyboard) and The Irish Washerwoman Jig. Kerry talks about their brother Pat (who left the group) and his drumsticks to introduce the next song. I don't know it's name but it involved three Fitzgeralds, three chairs, and six drumsticks. It was totally percussive, using none of the usual instruments. They kept the chairs out on stage and played a fiddle song. The chairs were not essential to this song, so it must just be their way of resting without an intermission. They played some fiddle song featuring Tom as the main fiddler. Tom introduced a fiddle song where he plays all strings at once by releasing the strings on his bow! That was a neat trick and I had not seen it before. I think Tom played solo fiddle in "The Parting Glass" next (but there were others playing too). They did an awesome four-persion dance routine, where Tom and Kyle start it, then Kerry and Julie join in. They were all wearing green flair for St. Patricks day. (This was the first song where Kyle danced, so it was a pleasant surprise.) Tom sang a bluegrass song based on a tune called Temperance Reel, with lyrics added by someone else. Julie mentioned that their mom (Pam) put together this tour and travels with them. Pam played keyboard for What a Wonderful World. Kerry thanked the technical people running the show and talked about the merchandise table outside the hall. For the very last song, whose name I didn't catch, they did the violin tricks I was looking forward to: Kerry played a violin upside down, Julie played a violin with her non-dominant hand (left), and Julie held two violins while Kerry and Tom played them. I posted two concert pictures on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/p/BvGZUuvnyf3/https://www.instagram.com/p/BvGaTqJnNhP/Merchandise tableAfter the show ended, I waited at my seat for a few minutes before heading to the merchandise table. By the time I got there, all of the main members and Pam were standing at the table. They were selling Kerry's solo album, Fiddle-Beatz, and the family album that is just named The Fitzgeralds. They also had a step-dancing instructional video by Julie, and the Everything Fitz DVD that CWazyTom described. I bought the Everything Fitz DVD from Pam, and she threw in a mini frisbee that says "Fritz-bee" on it. I usually want my frisbees to be regulation weight and size, so I don't really know what will become of this one. I asked Kerry to sign the DVD, and I would have been OK with just getting her signature, but she passed it around to Julie, Tom, and Kyle to get them to sign it too. At the table, I was able to introduce myself and have conversations with all the members. A little later, Julie and Kerry were hanging out near the table with some fans so I joined to listen. Someone mentioned to Julie that I was there, and so she turned and engaged me in conversation for what seemed like a really long time, maybe like 5 minutes. In response to my questions, she talked a bit about her childhood and the stuff she is working on. It was a pretty relaxed atmosphere, and I can't help but compare it to the meeting that Tom and I experienced with Máiréad in Ohio one week prior, which was both very delayed and very rushed. Some of the Fitzgeralds and their friends were still standing around talking about what to do next when I finally walked away (to drive back to Las Vegas). ConclusionNext Saturday will feel very weird for me: I don't have any violin concerts to attend!
20
« on: March 04, 2019, 10:25:28 AM »
Let's try to make a complete list of the people on the Ancient Land Tour and their social media accounts, so we can follow all of them and get the complete tour experience! I'm mainly interested in Instagram accounts but if someone else wants to track down accounts on other sites, and they contain content about the tour, I will add them to the list. The main people:Celtic Woman - celticwomanofficialMaireád Carlin - maireadcarlinsingsÉabha McMahon - eabhamcmahoncelticwomanTara McNeill - taramcneillmusicMegan Walsh - meganwalshcelticwomanThe band:Kieran Leonard - drums - kleonardmusicCaitríona Frost - percussion - caitriona_frostTommy Buckley - guitars - tommybuckleyDarragh Murphy - uilleann pipes & whistles - dmurphy_musicLloyd Butler - piano, keyboards & band md - lloydbutlermusicJohn Hunt - bagpiper - john_hunt_jrThe dancers:Carl Maguire - dance captain - carlmaguireJames Greenan - jimbogreenanColm Farrell - colfarrellTouring production crew:Sett Neiland - tour manager Derek "Fang" Flanagan - fangpyro (hasn't posted about the tour yet but I saw him on Louisa Parson's story today, on her bus) Michael Manning - sound engineer - michael._.manningJames Ahlfeld - monitor engineer Garreth White - lighting - garreth_whiteAnthony Byrne - stage technician - thinlizzy19Michael McCormack - stage set & video Stephanie Kavanagh - hair & make-up - stephaniekavanaghmuaLouisa Parsons - wardrobe - louisaparFloyd - unknown role - floydtheroverAudio & lighting:Solotech - company Carter Hassebroek - audio Joshua Gezzi - lighting - joshgezziMartin Robdeau - lighting Trucking:Stagecall - trucking company Daniel Payne - driver Bobby Bergmann - driver Tour buses:Robert Bros. - tour bus company Mike Carey - driver David Dove - driver Joel Lockwood - driver Mechandising:Mannhead Merch - company Andy Stensrud Anderson Altieri Matthew Bowden - tour merchandiser
21
« on: February 26, 2019, 10:14:49 AM »
Maireád, Éabha, Megan, and Tara did a TV interview on the "Talk of the Town" show on News Channel 5 in Nashville yesterday, prior to the first Ancient Land show in Nashville on Thursday night. Éabha gave some spoilers about the set list of the tour! https://www.newschannel5.com/talk-of-the-town/celtic-womanVisually, this interview looked pretty similar to their last one on Virgin One TV. They sat in the same order and continued to wear all black. However, Maireád switched out her one-shoulder dress for something more common.
22
« on: February 16, 2019, 11:00:10 AM »
Éabha McMahon did a phone interview on a show called "Irish Hit Parade" on WROL radio in Boston this morning. I listened to it on wrolradio.com and managed to record most of it. Here's the recording: https://www.davidegrayson.com/keep/20190216_wrolradio_eabha.mp3Key facts from the interview: - At the age of 15, Éabha Joined Anúna and toured with them singing in the Sean Nos style.
- At the age of 24, Éabha got a call from Celtic Woman with an offer to join the group, and she was touring in Australia with them two weeks later.
(I was rushing to install Audacity and figure out its recording settings at the last minute so I missed recording the first minute or two of the interview. The forum doesn't allow attachments larger than 2000 KB, so I'm hosting the recording on my own server.)
24
« on: February 03, 2019, 01:01:04 PM »
This morning, Mairéad, Éabha, Tara, Megan, and Gavin Murphy were on a radio program on RTÉ Radio 1 called "Sunday with Miriam". You can listen to it here: https://www.rte.ie/radio1/sunday-with-miriam/programmes/2019/0203/1027221-sunday-with-miriam-sunday-3-february-2019/Click the "Listen" button in the "Sunday with Miriam podcast" section. There is a download button that lets you download an mp3 file of the program. (The "Sunday with Miriam" section has basically the same content but no Download button.) Starting at 0:50, the ladies sing Mná na hÉireann, accompanied by Gavin Murphy on the piano. I think this minimalist version of the song is quite beautiful. Starting at 46:20, you can hear the girls giggle, followed by a brief interview with Mairéad and Éabha, and then a performance of Sive. Those were the only two appearances of Celtic Woman on the show.
25
« on: December 19, 2018, 12:36:58 AM »
I just saw the show at Abravanel Hall in Salt Lake City with the Utah Symphony Orchestra! A small group of Scariff School dancers were performing in the lobby, starting at least about an hour before the show. (They were the same dancers that I saw perform with Máiréad Nesbitt just a few days before.) Thankfully, no one was crowding up to the stage, so there was plenty of room for me to just walk up there and sit down on the floor, getting a front row view of the impressive performance. Mia Leonelli was there again and I got to meet her. I also encountered Dennis and Susan, the couple that took a nice picture of me after the second night at the Johnstown Castle. Dennis lurks on this forum, so, hi, Dennis! It's nice to be recognized once in a while. The Celtic Woman set list was almost exactly the same as Tom's reported set list, so instead of rewriting the whole thing, I will just point out the differences or the things that Tom didn't explicitly mention. I thought the first song was Jingle Bells (with the orchestra only). I'm pretty sure it started with a J, and I can't find Murphy's Mistletoe (the name printed in the program) when I search the internet. Before introducing Silent Night, Éabha mentioned that she had once attended a concert in Abravanel Hall when she was a child and pondered what it would be like to be up on stage. Then she mentioned how she learned the Gaelic version of Silent Night first and was surprised when she first heard some people singing it in English. Introducing Danny Boy, Mairéad mentioned that the song comes from the same place that she comes from (Derry) and that it is like the second national anthem of Ireland. Éabha introduced the Wexford Carol, mentioning that they had recently recorded the Ancient Land DVD at the Johnstown Castle in Wexford. Audience members near the front row applauded in the middle of that, probably indicating that a bunch of us were there at the castle! I know at least three were. Megan's stunning Christmas Song solo was just Megan and the piano player. I really loved this song, and it made me think that Megan's power level has exceeded 9000. I think she got the best reaction of any solo song. I overheard some ladies behind me praising "the blonde one" during intermission. Mairéad's rendition of We Three Kings was also stunning. After being gentle and soft for the previous songs, she let loose a lot of wattage in this song, and I really loved near the end of the song when she switched into high-pitched opera mode a few times in the middle of a verse. A terrestrial Anto Byrne had big parts in Amazing Grace, We Three Kings, and Auld Lang Syne. Caitriona Frost and the woodwind player from Johnstown Castle were there too. Lloyd Butler was directing, and I forget the piano player's name but they did introduce him. They did We Wish You a Merry Christmas as a partial singalong, directed by Mairéad. In the middle of the song, she asked the ladies in the audience to sing a verse, complimented them as the best singers on the whole tour, then asked the guys to sing a verse (we didn't get a compliment, lol). Similarly to what Tom described, we did a massive standing ovation after that song. Just when we were thinking the applause might start to die down, we let out a spontaneous resurgent burst of cheering that surprised Mairéad and put a smile on her face. And, of course, we did a second standing ovation afrer Auld Lang Syne, so the concert had a really strong ending. At the merchandise table, I got two Christmas shot glasses and a magnet. I'm glad I went!
26
« on: December 18, 2018, 04:21:38 PM »
I visited Evermore Park for the Aurora season on Saturday, December 15 and Monday, December 17. If you are planning a trip to Evermore here are some tips that I hope will help, without spoiling anything important: When to go:The Evermore experience is divided into different seasons that last for a matter of weeks. There are also weeks where it will be closed entirely for construction. Each season brings new decorations, characters, and stories. Additionally, the plot of the story happening in the park will progress during each season. I want to see if I can visit every season from now, and it might be fund to go on multiple days in the same season that are separated by enough time for the plot to progress. According to Google Maps, Saturdays are the most busy day, followed by Fridays, and the rest of the days are significantly less crowded. This is corroborated by my experience: on Saturday, every character in the park usually had a crowd of 10 to 20 people trying to talk to them. On Monday, there were enough people around that you wouldn't feel lonely but there were way more chances to talk to the characters, which is fun. If you go on an off-day, you should still get to experience all the buildings and character roles that are present on the weekend. According to a park employee, there might be some special stuff, like live music, that only happens on the weekends, but that didn't seem to be the case for my visits. When you get a ticket, you have to choose a particular time of day to go. For Aurora, it was either night (4:30pm to 9pm) or midday (11am to 3pm). For the Aurora festival in December, going at night makes a lot more sense because then you can see all the pretty lights. So that's what I did. The closing time for the park is confusing. It either closes at 9pm, 9:30pm, or 10pm depending on where you are getting the information. For me, it closed at 9:30pm on Saturday and 9pm on Monday. What to wear:Don't worry, Tom! The majority of visitors there were just wearing normal street clothes. I wore a cartoony hat for a video game character. It helped people remember me; a bunch of employees were happy when they saw me on Monday because they remembered me from Saturday. Several people said they liked my hat. It also allowed me to do a little role-playing when people asked me about myself. So that was a low-effort, low-cost way to have more fun. I'd say don't wear an elaborate full-body costume because people will think you're a character from the park. Dress warmly if you are going in the winter, but there are many other ways to stay warm. I counted four buildings you could go inside for different experiences (not counting bathrooms). They were selling hot apple cider and hot cocoa. There were plenty of open fire pits around the park with stone benches. What to bring:Bring a thin-tipped sharpie pen so you can easily write on a piece of paper that you will probably obtain. (I tried using a normal pen but that doesn't work so well when your writing surface is stone.) Food:If you show up really hungry, you can buy soup in a bread bowl at Evermore. And I think they had a meat pie thing. They also had hot drinks and plenty of sweets. The "Eversmore" desert was pretty unique and worth trying. They had cookies and some interesting-looking desert apples. Under construction:I counted 21 buildings on the park grounds, and 11 of them were off limits, usually due to being under construction. There were also some unfinished big open spaces. So I expect the Evermore experience to just get bigger and more impressive over time!
27
« on: December 18, 2018, 12:44:13 AM »
I went to Evermore Park twice (December 15 and 17) for the Aurora event and I had the pleasure of discovering what I believe to be unreleased Caranua tracks playing in the park.
In this thread, I'm only going to be talking about the music, not the actual park or the stuff in it. If you'd rather go to Evermore and discover these tracks yourself, I suppose you should stop reading right now so you don't get spoiled.
SPOILER ALERT
There is a beautiful song that I will call Shooting Star which I think is sung by Alex Sharpe (though I'm not confident in that) and seems to have the following the lyrics:
----
_________ as I peer through the mountain[?]
_____ glove, faces show
There is love all around here.
I remember your arms how they held me so tight.
I remember the starry light through the night.
Of a shooting star that carries _____ fire[?]
and lights the way for souls heavenbound.
Shooting star, are you far?
Will I be seeing you tonight?
Fire's light, burning bright
Shapes your face in my memory.
Gentle smile, oh stay a while
Loving words whispered softly.
I remember your arms how they held me so tight.
I remember the starry light through the night.
Of a shooting star that carries _____ fire[?]
and lights the way for souls heavenbound.
Shooting star, are you far?
Will I be home tonight?
Oh a shooting star that carries _____ fire[?]
and lights the way for souls heavenbound
Shooting star, is heaven far?
On Christmas Night?
----
That's right: it only reveals that it is a Christmas song on the very last line. I could not find lyrics for this song online when searching so I believe it is a Caranua original.
There is another song that I will call Herald the New Dawn. I think it is sung by all three Caranua members but one of their voices dominates the rest. I was only able to capture a small fragment of the lyrics:
----
Oh come, oh come and see him,
The _________ heavens
Declaring gloria as they herald the new dawn
Declaring gloria as they herald the new dawn
----
It defnitely sounds like a Christmas carol. I could not find the lyrics online so I think it's another Carnua original.
There is another beautiful song called All Through the Night. Lots of artists have done variations of this song before, including Hayley Westenra. I think it is sung by all three Caranua members in balanced harmony. Here are the lyrics as I heard them:
----
Sleep, my child, and peace attend thee
All through the night
Guardian angels Lord will send thee
All through the night
Soft the drowsy hours are creeping
Hill and vale in slumber sleeping
I my loving vigil keeping
All through the night
While the moon her watch is keeping
All through the night
While the weary world is sleeping
All through the night
O'er thy spirit gently stealing
Visions of delight revealing
Breathes a pure and holy feeling
All through the night
I also heard them sing Ave Maria in balanced harmony. Additionally, I heard an instrumental version of Ave Maria, which just contains the instrumental parts from the regular Ave Maria track. The instrumental track is dominated by a harp.
I also heard Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring and Carol of the Bells. I forget if Caranua was vocalizing at all during these tracks or if they were just instrumental. They might have been from a different group entirely.
Anyway, my guess is that some time in 2019 we will be getting a wonderful Caranua Christmas CD with Shooting Star, Herald the New Dawn, All Through the Night, Ave Maria, Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring and Carol of the Bells, and more.
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