Glenn Murphy is awesome. These were fun to watch.

See attached for the clips.

What's the most special song to you that you've heard Celtic Woman perform live at a show, in person?

Hearing My Land and Westering Home on the Destiny tour meant a lot to me because of what a huge role those two songs played in the past few years of my life. Almost all the amazing dreams of mine that have come true recently I can trace back to those two songs.

But I think that the most special song I heard live was Susan performing From A Distance during the Homecoming tour. By April (the beginning of March, actually), I was already pretty sure that that Susan was going to be taking a break at the end of the tour, although I didn't know the reason until later. One of the things I told her during the Meet and Greet was that before Celtic Woman, From A Distance was once my favourite song. It's also one of the songs I requested when Celtic Woman was asking for song suggestions a few years ago. To hear it performed so beautifully by Susan, one of my favourite singers, was truly special and I had to let her know how much that meant to me.

I got to see two shows on the Homecoming tour. I was worried when Susan had to take a few weeks off to go back to Ireland for a funeral that I was going to miss out on hearing her sing it. But fortunately, she rejoined the tour in time for the concerts I went to. During the second show, I was feeling a bit emotional because I knew I was probably not going to hear her sing it again and wanted to savor every moment.

I wish she had recorded it on an album or DVD, but I'm soooo glad I got to hear it performed by her beautiful voice while she was with Celtic Woman.

Susan, if you end up reading this one day, thank you from the bottom of my heart. <3


Here is Susan, performing From A Distance:
https://youtu.be/ohk1hTQtrKY

Back in 1999 I saw Lord of the Dance while I was in Vegas (it was actually a backup because the show we originally wanted to see didn't have available tickets while we were there).

Back then I wasn't quite as open-minded as I am know. I enjoyed it, I suppose, but I don't think I really appreciated it back then as much as I should have.

I missed seeing Mairead Nesbitt by a year or so (that was before Celtic Woman, of course, so I didn't know about her then). She had transitioned from Lord of the Dance to Feet of Flames (basically Lord of the Dance 2.0) by then. I also missed Deirdre Shannon while she was with Lord of the Dance. She was performing in Lord of the Dance in the US at the same as I saw the show, but she was in the touring troupe, whereas the Vegas show had its own dedicated troupe.

I don't remember too much from a show that was that long ago, but I do remember being impressed by the two fiddlers.

I have the two Lord of the Dance DVDs featuring Mairead Nesbitt:
- Lord of the Dance (1997)
- Feet of Flames (1998) (a modified version of Lord of the Dance performed live at Hyde Park in London)

Both of the DVDs are very entertaining, although I do enjoy the Feet of Flames DVD quite a bit more.

I found that Feet of Flames had:
- Better picture quality
- A bigger and more spectacular set
- More of Mairead Nesbitt
- A really nice slow air performed on the flute by Michael Flatley himself
- Pyrotechnics
- Additional tracks
- Different choreography in some places
- Vocal numbers which I enjoyed more, including An Maghdainn Mara, performed by Anne Buckley. Anne does a great job with the song, but I don't think anyone in the world sings it better than Deirdre Shannon.


Both DVDs very good "making of" documentary features. I enjoyed the "making of" from Feet of Flames slightly more though.

The regular Lord of the Dance DVD had some cool shots up through translucent panels in the stage during the tap dancing. But for the most part, I found Feet of Flames better. While they're both entertaining, if you could only get one I'd recommend Feet of Flames.


Mairead Nesbitt in Lord of the Dance DVD

Tracks:
6. Strings of Fire (aka Duel of the Fiddles)
13. Fiery Nights ... she's performing the back, so not prominently featured
14. The Lament ... slow violin duet where she's at the front of the stage
20. Victory ... seen performing briefly
21. Planet Ireland ... seen performing at brief moments near the side of the stage

Side-note: Mairead's got the 90s hairstyle going in this one.

Mairead Nesbitt in Lord of the Dance DVD

Tracks:
7. Strings of Fire (aka Duel of the Fiddles)
19. Fiery Nights
20. The Lament
21. Celtic Fire
27. Victory
29. Planet Ireland
30. Encores

Side-note: Mairead has a few scenes where Michael Flatley dances with her for a bit. It's pretty cool. He's a lucky guy.

Special Features:
* Documentary: Making of Feet of Flames


A Few Decades Later...

Fun fact: Michael Flatley had his last performance for Lord of the Dance the same day I first saw Celtic Woman live, St. Patrick's Day, 2016.

For some of our newer forum members, yes, I know, I should have started seeing them 10 years earlier in 2006 when I first heard Lisa Kelly perform May It Be in an online video from the original Celtic Woman DVD. But I didn't.


Seeing Riverdance twice this year (once in Canada, once in Ireland) kind of renewed my interest in Lord of the Dance, so I decided to get a ticket to see Lord of the Dance: Dangerous Games in a couple of weeks. It's only about a 15 minute drive for me and the tickets are quite a bit cheaper than Celtic Woman tickets (even for tickets close to the stage), so I couldn't really pass it up. It should be a fun show!

For those who haven't seen the Deluxe Experience Edition of Songs from the Heart, it consisted of:

Celtic Woman: Songs from the Heart CD with two live bonus tracks:
* The Call
* Finale / Mo Ghile Mear

A heart-shaped Claddagh charm, which you can see through a little window in the packaging.

An 18 month calendar:
* It comes in a CD-sized jewel case
* It's a separate / unattached page for each month and has pretty pictures on it from the DVD recording
* Most of the stills you can find online pretty easily these days, but there's still a few I don't see often (if at all)

There was some cool exclusive online content back in the day, but that content is no longer available now, at least not in the way it used to be accessed.

It's definitely a cool Celtic Woman collectible.

Lynn and fellow Irish soprano Emer Barry performing a duet of Marble Halls:

https://youtu.be/9iWwDJ8Ipkk

It's a double-dose of gorgeous!

Hey Glen,

Do we know if there's any issue with the forum or its hosting company sending out email confirmations once new accounts are approved?

It's sending out private messages and initial registration confirmations ok, but after people are approved by one of us, I'm not sure if they're always getting an email to say they're account has been approved.

My test account I made a couple of weeks ago didn't get an approval confirmation email and one of the other recent registrants didn't get one either.

Thanks.

What ever happened to CaraNua's music video they recorded with Jason Lyle Black ("Backwards Piano Man") back in April 2017?

In case you missed their rehearsal video last year, here it is:
https://www.facebook.com/jasonlyleblack/videos/10154568957982643/

A year and a half seems like a pretty long time for post-production, so I'm guessing something happened either with the funding or maybe with their rights to show it.

There's a slim chance it will be part of Jason Lyle Black's kickstarter-funded "Friend Like Me" album which is about to release, but I haven't heard either Jason or CaraNua mention their music video / recording in a really long time. I'd be surprised if any CaraNua stuff made it on to "Friend Like Me" with no fanfare.

Anyways, I feel like we've been waiting for quite a long time, so I asked about it today. We'll see where that goes.

Tara's on her way to the US for a little while.

She found the coolest thing on her flight over from Ireland, so in the most adorable way possible, she spent some time admiring her amazing work.

P.S. Aer Lingus: time to get Ancient Land on the playlist too!