Hi everybody! Gregg and I flew out to Pennsylvania this past week and went to 3 Ancient Land shows 3 nights in a row. It was an incredible trip! And we are thrilled that we'll still be seeing Ancient Land 3 more times!

The show is absolutely stellar! We loved it so much! The harmony is phenomenal. Incredible setlist. Gorgeous stage design. Fantastic song introductions. Everything was just....wow! If you haven't seen the show yet, I highly recommend it! The new versions of Bean Phaidin and Orinoco Flow are both so much fun. I can't get Bean Phaidin out of my head! Mairead's Newgrange is a jaw-dropper and her Ae Fond Kiss is a tear-jerker. Eabha's Moorlough Shore is so beautiful and Garden of Eden is so fun and catchy. Tara's Love and Honour is breathtaking and her Enchanted Way and Tara's Tunes are both incredibly fun. Megan's Fields of Gold and Shenandoah are both so gorgeous.  Eabha & Tara's duet of Siuil A Run is fabulous. I really love the harp and whistle combination. And what can I say about Mairead & Megan's Over The Rainbow other than WOW!! Every group song is wonderful, especially my fave Going Home. I love that they kept The Kesh Inn. Ancient Land, Follow Me, Ballroom of Romance, Mna Na hEireann, Sive, Homeland, Long Journey Home, Danny Boy, The Parting Glass - all gorgeous! Tip, Tap, Toe with the dancers and drummers is super fun. There is a lot of dancing in this show which I love! It also has many intimate moments with only harp or piano and a voice, which felt very romantic.  I could just go on and on about how phenomenal Ancient Land is!

The 3 shows alone would have been enough to make our trip wonderful, but to make it even more thrilling, we had successful stage door meetings every night!

Night 1 was in Philadelphia at the Academy of Music. What a gorgeous theatre! As we were waiting outside for the doors to open, Carl came out selling programs. We got our program from him and asked for a picture. Also told him how much we loved being at Johnstown Castle. He called dancer Colm over and told him we were at the filming and then we told both of them how fabulous it was and how much we loved their dancing. Then got a picture with both of them. Off to a good start right away! I had told Gregg earlier that day that I really wanted a picture with Carl - check! We were in second row and gave several standing ovations so of course the ladies saw us and gave us smiles and nods, which we always love. After the show, we went out to the stage door. Tara came out first and was so sweet autographing a little girl's violin book. Then she came to us and I gave her a hug and told her how much we loved the show. She told us thank you for all our support. We got a great picture with her and told her we were going to the next two nights of shows also. When she went to talk to the next person, we could see Mairead, Megan and Eabha all walk out behind some equipment, so they couldn't see that there were fans waiting. When the equipment had moved, Eabha was about to get on the bus behind the other two, but me and another person both called out her name and waved to her and she walked over. I hugged her and also told her how incredible the show was and that we were so excited to see it again the next night. She also said thank you for all the support we give them. We got a great picture with her too. She apologized for being in her bathrobe, but what do we care, she's one of our favorite singers in the world!

Nights 2 & 3 were in Lancaster, a fairly short train ride from Philly. That's what made these shows so appealing - 3 shows for 1 flight! We talked to both Carl and Colm again in the lobby, telling them both how much we loved the prior night. Gregg told Carl he should add back flips into the show next year and Carl said he's done it before, could work on it again, and will talk to management about giving Gregg credit for the idea. Love it! Carl also called me by name (we hadn't told them our names the prior night, he must've seen it on instagram) and said it was great to see me again. Awwwww! For night 2, Gregg sat in the second row on the floor and I sat in the first row of the balcony. I like seeing the choreography from that perspective (as long as I have other shows up front!) but Gregg wants to always be as close to the stage as possible. So we sat separate for this one. We had joked beforehand that we were going to really confuse the ladies - well, they really did notice, which I'll explain in a bit! At the stage door, Megan came out first and gave us our biggest jaw-dropper of the trip, and actually probably ever. We had never met her before, but she walked right up to us and the first thing she said was "I'm so sorry I didn't meet you last night." Clearly Tara and Eabha had told Mairead and Megan that we had been at the stage door the night before! I said that's ok and told her our names and while I was saying our names, she said "I know, I know, I'm so glad to meet you!" Whaaaaaaaat!?!? How I managed to not go completely speechless at that, I'll never know. We are absolutely floored that she already knew who we were. Wow. But I kept talking and told her how beautiful her voice is and how much we loved both her solos. We got a picture with her that doesn't have the greatest lighting, but good enough! Tara, Mairead and Eabha all came out at the same time and Tara was the first one over to us. She walked up to me and said "ok where were you tonight because I saw him but not you!" So I explained our second row/balcony split and told her how much I loved seeing the choreography from the balcony. She talked to other fans too, but before she got on the bus, she looked back at me and asked if she would see me again the next night which I confirmed and Gregg said with meet and greet and she was like, oh great! She's so sweet! Mairead and Eabha came over to us together and since we had talked to Eabha the prior night, I started talking to Mairead first, telling her how Ae Fond Kiss put tears in my eyes and how Newgrange sent my jaw to the floor. She was saying oh wow and thank you so much, and took a picture with us and I said we'll see you again tomorrow night with meet and greet. I meant to talk to Eabha next, but she went and got on the bus while I was talking to Mairead. Sorry Eabha! I felt bad and wasn't meaning to ignore her, just wanted to make sure we talked to and got a picture with each of them at the stage door in case we didn't get another chance and we had missed Mairead the night before. I got to make it up to Eabha the next night though 😊 We also got a picture with Tommy that night. Each night, Gregg was yelling out "yeah Tommy, woooo!" as he walked by, so he walked up and told Gregg he wanted to shake his hand for knowing his name. Love it!

Ok, it's nearly midnight on a work night and I better go to sleep. Enjoy the first two nights for now and hopefully I can write up night 3 tomorrow. That one has official meet and greet plus stage door talks with all 4 of them! Good night!

Celtic Woman posted on Facebook this morning a contest to win a set of Ancient Land tour merchandise. Note that the rules say it's for the US 48 contiguous states plus DC. Good luck everybody!

Here's the contest link:

http://umusic.digital/cwstpatricks/

And a link to Celtic Woman's Facebook post:

https://www.facebook.com/117800522837/posts/10157106506112838/

This Ancient Land tour setlist was in a Facebook post from somebody who attended opening night.

****SPOILERS below****
















*Act 1*
Ancient Land
Homeland
Moorlough Shore (Eabha)
Follow Me
Newgrange (Mairead)
Sive
Fields of Gold (Megan)
Love and Honour (Tara)
Amazing Grace (Mairead, Eabha, Megan)
The Enchanted Way (Tara)
Danny Boy
Ballroom of Romance

*Act 2*
Long Journey Home
Shenandoah (Megan)
Mna Na hEireann
Orinoco Flow
Siuil A Run (Eabha & Tara)
Ae Fond Kiss (Mairead)
Tip Tap Toe (band & dancers)
Garden of Eden (Eabha)
Over The Rainbow (Mairead & Megan)
Tara's Tunes (Tara)
Bean Phaidin
Going Home
The Kesh Inn
The Parting Glass

















****SPOILERS above****

My husband Gregg finally joined the forum! He's having fun going through our various polls now. Welcome Gregg!

Ok this is my last poll for tonight, and now I'm tormenting myself, making myself choose a favorite of my favorite singer. Ummmm, all of them? I'm choosing I See Fire tonight. At our very first Celtic Woman show, Gregg and I left saying this was our favorite song of the night. I'll probably keep changing my answer!

I'm going with She Moved Thru The Fair - beautifully sung and I love the dancing!

Lynn shared a link on social media today to this you tube video of herself singing Ave Maria. It's so beautiful!

 https://youtu.be/8PWI3LvH7Ts