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Author Topic: Celtic Woman: Homecoming PBS Special  (Read 2767 times)
CWazyTom
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« on: March 26, 2018, 10:11:27 PM »

Here's an edited version of what I posted on November 27, 2017 after seeing the Celtic Woman: Homecoming PBS special. Well technically, it was November 28 by the time I posted it and you can probably tell it was late/early ... it's not my best writing. At the time, I hadn't seen the DVD yet and I actually saw it 3 more times on PBS since writing this (3 different PBS stations, including twice on my local station).  Hope you enjoy!





------------------------- SPOILERS BELOW !!! -------------------------
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Tonight, I finally got to see saw the Celtic Woman: Homecoming PBS special!


Set List

Opening: Homecoming Lament

1. Mo Ghile Mear
2. My Heart Will Go On
3. Across the World
4. Walk Beside Me

First pledge break

5. Dulaman
6. She Moved Through the Fair
7. Isle of Hope, Isle of Tears
8. Danny Boy
9. Fields of Gold
10. Westering Home

Second pledge break

11. Amazing Grace
12. For the Love of a Princes
13. Ave Maria
14. The Voice
15. You Raise Me Up

Third pledge break

16. Ard Uí Chuain/Sadhbh Ní Bhruinneallaigh
17. Time to Say Goodbye
18. The Kesh Inn
19. Teir Abhaile Riu

Closing pledge break



Least Favourite Things

- There weren't very many negatives to this production. It was well done!

- I found the volume a bit low on this particular PBS station. I had to turn it up to about 150% of my normal TV-viewing volume for it to be an ideal sound level. Not quite as extreme as the Divinas DVD, which I usually have to play at 200% or more of my normal volume.  :D



Favourite Moments

Anabel Sweeney:

I knew from people that went to the recording at the 3Arena that she was going to be good and was very well-received by the audience. I also knew she was REALLY good from her My Land and Orphan Girl audition videos for the Celtic Woman competition on YouTube. But she absolutely blew me away! Fields of Gold was exceptional! The piano arrangement was very nice. Anabel's voice was gorgeous, but it was the way she sang, with such feeling, that was the most impressive. I can't say that it was the best version of Fields of Gold that I've ever heard (doing so would be blasphemous), but I will say this with absolute conviction: this performance was tied for the best performance I have EVER heard over this song. I can see her being in Celtic Woman one day. She was that good!


The song titles:

It seems like such an insignificant thing, but I really like the way they presented the titles for the songs on the screen. They did a sweeping fade-in of the text, accompanied by a tasteful glitter effect that made it seem very magical. They've always done a great job with the song titles and this was no exception.


The Dancing:

Mairead Carlin's during Dulaman was near-epic! She is sooooo good! I loved it during the tour and I loved it even more during the special!

Susan seemed even more graceful during She Moved Through the Fair than she was on tour.


Eabha's Nerves:

That probably sounds like an odd thing to call a highlight. She was a bit nervous, particularly when introducing Isle of Hope, Isle of Tears. I list this as a highlight (for me), because it emphasized that these girls are human beings and like everyone, have to overcome challenges, even when they're performing. As someone that struggled mightily with performing a long time ago, I was soooo proud of her for holding it together. I respect her even more as performer and as a person for having seen her go through that. <3


The orchestra:

They had a decent-sized orchestra on stage with them. It doesn't make financial sense for them to tour with an orchestra, but it does add quite a bit to the grandeur of the production and fills out the sound very effectively.


The Kesh Inn:

As it was on the tour, this was really fun, both in terms of the tune and its overall execution. Side-note: The girls came out and played their "TAR" instruments during The Kesh Inn instead of TAR. Susan played spoons, Eabha the tin whistle, and Mairead played her accordion "Beatrice."


Tara:

I LOVED her on tour and she seemed even better in this special! She moved around the stage so well. She plays with lots of feeling and those little facial expressions were even more adorable up close. I honestly think most members of the general viewing audience, in spite of missing Mairead, are going to LOVE Tara!



Most Surprising Moments

- Anabel: for some reason, I was thinking she was going to be exclusive to the DVD. I was pleasantly surprised when I got to see her.

- The ending: I had suspected they were going to end on Teir Abhaile Riu since that's the way they ended the sizzle reel. In the sizzle reel, the songs are almost always in order, and include the first and last numbers in the show. Still, I was expecting the Parting Glass in some capacity. Nope! It looks like it's a DVD-exclusive. TAR wasn't a bad song to end on, but it was a bit surprising.


Other Moments of Interest

They added some echo to Danny Boy. It probably wasn't necessary, but it ended up being a nice effect and worked out pretty well.

At the end of TAR, Eabha said "you have been the most incredible audience." Shades of Lisa Kelly.



Pledge Breaks

As far as pledge breaks go, it was reasonably good, but I have seen more effective segments. The pledge drive on my PBS station for The Bloody Irish, for example, was VERY well done. They really made me feel passionate about me getting the DVD. I mean I was probably going to get it anyways because of Lisa Lambe, but they REALLY marketed it well.

I will say this though, they did an excellent job of emphasizing how amazing the current girls are. They addressed the fact that the group has changed a lot, but re-iterated that the current girls were every bit as talented as we've come to expect from Celtic Woman. I was so happy I almost cried.  :D

They were especially high on Tara! They repeatedly praised her skills on the violin, that she could play harp, dance around the stage, and even sing! They liked her long, red hair, too. I think they understood from previous campaigns that there would be some resistance to a new girl replacing a long-time favourite. They didn't compare her to Mairead Nesbitt (they didn't mention Mairead). They just focused on what makes Tara special and I thought that was the perfect way to approach it.

The premium (front 2 rows, non M+G) tickets sold pretty quickly, which is encouraging, and the phones seemed busy. They actually had people holding for a while.

The hosts had some knowledge of the group, but were definitely not superfans. One of them consistently mis-pronounced Tara's name (she pronounced it "TER-a" instead of "TAR-a"). The other host pronounced it correctly a few times. In typical fashion, the group was occasionally (maybe half a dozen times) referred to as "The Celtic Woman" or occasionally "Celtic Women" (plural). I wasn't offended this time. I just found it funny that they're going to all the trouble to promote this group that has been one of the backbones of their station for the past 13 years, and they still don't know the name of the group or its members. They also said the group started in 2005 ... well, not exactly. They debuted on PBS in 2005, but the original show at the Helix was on September 15, 2004.  ;)

I'm not sure if they did it intentionally or not, but when describing the voices of the performers, they said it was like listening to voices of angels.  ;) That was a nice touch.


Anticipated Reactions

- Most fans of Current Celtic Woman will love it!
- Some fans who have become disenchanted with the group over time will probably not feel differently about this special than they did about other recent specials.
- However, some fans of the New Celtic Woman who just didn't enjoy Destiny (particularly, the Destiny special) will enjoy this production more. It was a set reminiscent of Emerald, in contrast to the the minimalist set of the Destiny special. They did away with the video screen for the Homecoming special, so that should appease those that didn't care for the video screen on the Destiny or VoA tours.
- Most people who haven't seen / heard Celtic Woman before will probably love it.



Overall Impression

I loved it!!!

The first time I saw it, I got so excited I got a little burned out after the first half of the show and was a little low on energy for the second half. In the last segment, they really raised the energy level again. The audience was clapping along during Eabha's Sean Nos songs and they finished strong with The Kesh In and TAR.

In spite of burning myself out a bit on account of my overwhelming excitement, I really did enjoy the whole show. The stage looked great, the dresses were stunning and everything sounded fantastic ... in short, this show was just about everything we have come to admire about this group we love so much.

Thanks everyone for reading my novel and I hope you enjoy Celtic Woman: Homecoming as much as I did!

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------------------------- SPOILERS ABOVE !!! -------------------------
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CWazyTom
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« Reply #1 on: March 26, 2018, 10:13:23 PM »

Here's a post from December 30, 2017, after I saw Homecoming on a different PBS station



I watched Celtic Woman: Homecoming on a different PBS station tonight!

The girls didn't tour this particular PBS station, so no pledge break interviews. This station did a much better job of pronouncing the group name. They focused their compliments on the music and the variety in the show, rather than on the performers (the station on which I first saw the special promoted Tara pretty heavily). I thought that was interesting that the PBS station without a M+G focused more on Tara than the station that had a M+G.

One of the hostesses of the pledge breaks this time says she was at the very first Celtic Woman show at The Helix, working for PBS.  :o

She said they knew right away Celtic Woman would be special.

I find myself appreciating the performances in Homecoming more and more each time I watch it. Only 1 month until the DVD releases to the public!
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