My First Chloë Concert

I thought I had posted a review or story about this but if I did, I can't find it. So I'll see how good my memory is after a year and a half.

A few stars had to align for this show...

The Long and Winding Road

August 28, 2016, in Shelbyville, Indiana, was the first time I ever saw Chloë Agnew perform live.  It was also the first time I met anyone from Celtic Woman (my very first Meet and Greet!

I had missed soooo many chances to see her when she was with Celtic Woman and those regrets will always haunt me. But 2016 was the year I started making up for lost time and making some of my dearest dreams come true.

As I alluded to in my Home for Christmas post, while 2016 was a year where my life more or less finally turned around, it was still quite a bumpy ride. After Chloë and her friends had sang The Rose for me, I knew I had to finally go see her live and meet her. Were it not for that YouTube video, I probably wouldn't have gone to see her (certainly not as far as I did) and I'm not sure what the second half of that year would have been like. It probably would not have been pleasant for me.

Originally, Chloë had posted on her site that she would be doing a show in Detroit later in that year, 2016. I kept waiting for tickets to become available, but I guess it didn't work out, because it eventually got replaced with a show in Pittsburgh that same date. All the people I was originally going to go see the show with in Detroit bailed on me when the show got moved, making it too far for me to travel on my own in uncertain winter road conditions. Until the Home for Christmas show later that year, I had never gone to any show on my own. I was devastated that I would have to go another year without seeing Chloë after getting my hopes so high. I love all the performers that have ever been in Celtic Woman, but Chloë is one of my absolute favourites.

She posted another show, in Indiana. It would be a pretty long drive (almost 8 hours), but at least it was in August so the roads would be fine. At that time, I couldn't really drink caffeine and any more than 4-5 hours on the road (even with stops) starts to get incredibly dangerous for me. I start getting groggy, not notice important things when driving, and I could even suddenly nod off without any way to stop it.

I didn't want to get my hopes up again, but I posted about it on Facebook to see if anyone was interested in going with me. Fortunately, one of my friends stepped up. He had someone bail on him at the last minute on a sports-related road trip he already had tickets for, so we could both help each other make our plans work out. So on about a months notice, we got everything planned and I finally had tickets to see Chloë Agnew!

He was not a Celtic Woman fan. At all. He had never heard of them and it wasn't the type of music he would think to or want to listen to. I tried to bring him up to speed on the group and especially on Chloë in the weeks that lead up to the show. I did more or less a whole series of emails, explaining the history of the group, some of their best songs, and about Chloë (before, during, after her time with Celtic Woman). To be honest, I don't think he was really interested in it or comfortable talking about it. I don't think watched many of those videos i sent, but he was nice about it at least.

I was already going to be a long drive, but it became even longer with construction delays and when my friend realized he had left his passport at home about an hour into the drive. We tried to turn around, but there was construction in the opposite direction and it ended up adding almost 3 hours to our already long drive.

The good thing was that one the way, I started playing my Celtic Woman CDs and Chloë CDs for him ( couldn't get away on a highway, could you buddy  ). He liked Chloë's voice, but most of her recorded work is slow and soft, which isn't his thing. He was really into Eabha's voice though. In fact, he liked it so much, I actually got him to come to a Voices of Angels concert the next year and he brought some of his other friends!

The drive was really long and my GPS got lost somewhere in Indiana and wouldn't route properly anymore. We eventually got to where we needed to get, but it was WAY closer than I was hoping. We almost got killed a few times on the highway a few times too. We got to the hotel in Shelbyville just over an hour before the Meet and Greet started. At least we made it, though.


Meeting Chloë

We had trouble parking near the venue. I don't remember exactly what happened, but it cost us a bit more time. By the time we got to the Meet and Greet, there were already about 40 people in line, so we were near the back. The Meet and Greet was inside the theatre, in front of the stage, so we were lined up along the right wall. I rushed out of the line for a moment to check at the merch table, but I already had everything there (I had gotten it through one of Chloë's online StageIt shows earlier in the year). I had forgotten to bring her CDs and DVD for her to sign. I figured there would be something new there. I wasn't quite thinking clearly, so I didn't end up grabbing a poster from the venue for her to sign (more on that later).

Chloë came out a few minutes after we got there. My heart was really beating like crazy. I was about to meet one of my favourite singers in the world and I am just horribly awkward in person, especially when it comes to talking. What if I messed up this chance after waiting for soooo long? As it came to my turn in line, I was super-excited, but really nervous too. She meant the world to me, but would she even recognize me or care who I was? Surely she had many more significant fans.

As soon as I got tickets to the show, I had started changing my profile pic on social media to an actual pic of me. Prior to that, I didn't use actual pictures of myself as I was self-conscious and not in a particularly good place mentally. But before 2016, I had almost no public presence on social media whatsoever and was pretty sure Chloë would have no idea who I was unless I showed her what I looked like. Chloë sometimes isn't the most communicative on social media though, so I really had no idea if she had even seen any of my posts to her that I was coming to the show.

Finally, it was my turn to see her! She smiled at me and I ran over to her in a way that must have looked like an excited little child on Christmas morning. She greeted me by name, so she DID recognize me! I was so surprised, every last thought of what I wanted to say to her just slipped away. I gave her a great big hug and it was seriously one of the happiest moments of my life. <3

One of my fears did end up coming true. My high degree of social anxiety ended up showing itself. I could barely speak at all. Most of the time, I just ended up smiling at her awkwardly as she talked. She thanked me for coming, asked me how far I'd traveled and was impressed when I told her. She said she was really grateful that I came and to finally meet me. I have no idea how I wasn't crying all over the floor by that point, but I just kept smiling at her awkwardly while she did her best to fill the silence. LOL!

She was so sweet! I got to take some pictures with her. The ones from this first Meet and Greet I wasn't terribly thrilled with, but I learned a lot that I could apply to my subsequent Meet and Greets.

I awkwardly gave her the gifts I had brought her. There was a custom card I made her. It had taken a while as it was the first one I had done, but it turned out great! At least I had had the presence to realize in advance I wouldn't be able to say all the things I wanted to, about how grateful I was to her and how much her music had meant to me over the years. The gift bag also contained some yummy treats for her and a special surprise that had arrived literally the day before. #nailbiter

I got her to sign my ticket since that's pretty much the only thing I had with me.

I hugged her again (her hugs are AMAZING) and then took a seat in the 4 rows closest to the stage, which were reserved for people who got Meet and Greet tickets.

After the end of the Meet and Greet line, Chloë did a Q+A up on stage and gave us Meet-and-Greeters an exclusive pre-show song. I can't remember if I asked anything during the Q+A.

After that, she went back stage for a bit and they opened the theatre to the regular ticket holders.

Then, at last, it was finally time to see my first ever Chloë concert!

Stay tuned for Part 2, which I'll probably tomorrow. Thanks for reading so far!

Wow, what a wonderful experience for your first meet and greet! Sounds like Chloe was very sweet and kind. That's geat that you and your friend could help each other out. I'm looking forward to reading about the show.

Part 2:

I honestly can't believe I never wrote a review / recap for this after the show, but if it exists, I can't find it. Like me finally seeing Chloë, it's better late than never.


The Theatre

Between the Meet and Greet and the time when the show started, I finally had a chance to look around. The theatre, The Strand, has been standing for a long time. The paint was worn and one could only imagine how many shows those walls had seen. It did show its age, but also its character. They had been renovating for a little while, but there was still quite a bit of work left to do in that process.

It was a small, intimate theatre, as Chloë prefers. I'd guess there was maybe 200 seats total between the main level and the balcony at the back. The sign in front said sold out. I'm not sure how many of those seats were sold on account of my promotional blitz on Twitter in the weeks leading up to the show, but the social media volunteers at the venue let me know they appreciated it and Chloë took note of the effort as well.

The Audience:

I actually knew at least two people at the show. One I had seen around online before the show. The other I actually met after the show on Instagram. Both very nice. There were also some folks sitting next to me that were impressed I had driven all the way from Canada. I'm normally not very socialble in person, but I actually wasn't bad at it on this particular evening. I was both worn out from the long drive and a insanely excited to see Chloë! The very reasonably priced Guiness may also have been a contributing factor.

I figured I had travelled the farthest of anyone there. While there were naturally quite a few locals in the audience, there was apparently someone who came from Antarctica via Scotland. :O  I'm guessing there were people with fond memories of Emerald (filmed in South Bend, Indiana) in the audience as well.

The audience was definitely more into it than any of the Celtic Woman shows I've been to. But I suspect that varies a lot with location. It wasn't a super-vocal crowd. The Nathan Carter show in Toronto (for which Chloë was a guest) and the Rocktopia show in Atlanta (in which Mairead Nesbitt performed) were probably the two most energetic Celtic Woman related audiences I've been a part of.


The Show:

Chloë came back out on stage and it was finally time! My first time seeing Chloë live after soooo long!

I had heard her sing online a few times since she had moved on from Celtic Woman, but to hear and see her live was overwhelmingly beautiful. She sings with so much feeling. I can feel her pouring her heart into everything she sang. Many of the songs I had heard her sing before. Some were songs I'd heard her sing during her online shows. Some were from her EP, Heatstrings. Well, the live Chloë experience was at a whole different level and she was tugging at my heartstrings for the whole performance.

I recall I was pleasantly surprised to hear Isle of Hope in the set list. My friend had heard that for the first time (from the Songs from the Heart album) on the way over, and I think it was his favourite Celtic Woman group number (it's in my top 5 as well and is sometimes my favourite of all their songs).

I already knew Chloë was a phenomenal singer, but never having seen her live on tour with Celtic Woman, I was surprised how funny she was too! Her stories in between songs were very entertaining and her impressions / accents were hilarious! She seemed like she was having such a great time on stage and her aura of joy seemed to fill the whole theatre.

She was also great at interacting with the audience and making them feel like part of her show. I got multiple shoutouts from Chloë during the show. She knows how to make her Chlovërs feel special. <3  As I alluded to earlier, I was unusually outgoing. I lip-sync'd to most of her songs, because my singing is truely aweful and the people around me were there to listen to her, not me. But I did sing along to the riotous song, The Rattlin' Bog. At the end of the show when she was teaching us the words to The Gathering, I had to remind her the words to her own song. It was a bit hilarious, but she was quite appreciative.

Chloë wore at least two dresses that night, a black one and a pink one. Both quite stunning. I was quite impressed at the time, although I have to say, I liked her dresses in the shows I saw subsequently even more!

Dermy, as he does in most of her shows, displayed his full array of talents. He played piano and guitar in accompaniment of Chloë, sang duets with her a few times, and even performed Danny Boy as a solo.

I wish I could recall the show in as much detail as the events that surrounded it, but the truth is that most of it is a blur of excitement, relief, and contentment. As we raised our glasses (empty by that point) at the end of The Gathering, I was sad that the show was over, but I was so, soooo happy that I had finally gone to see Chloë. It was worth every mile travelled and every calorie burned worrying over the details of the trip.


Post-Show:

I got a little side-tracked by some people after the show so I couldn't go wait for Chloë at the stage exit. I also forgot to grab a poster from the show on my way out. On the way back home, during one of my non-driving shifts, I contacted the venue administrator to thank him for hosting such a lovely show with one of my favourite singers in the world. He was appreciative I had traveled such a long way and gone through so much effort to help promote the show on Twitter. I asked if he could send me a poster from the show and asked that I write a letter to the Shelbyville News about The Strand, the theatre where I saw Chloë to help raise the profile of the venue in the community.

I did submit a letter to the editor. It didn't get published in the paper, so the theatre posted it in their archive instead:
http://www.strand-theatre-shelbyville.org/?s=canada

I got a mention in the venue's Newsletter
http://hosted-p0.vresp.com/1440911/dbc3b3a894/ARCHIVE

In spite of a few follow-ups, I never did get my poster though. Lol.


The Road Ahead:

In less than a week, I get to see Chloë again for what will be my fifth time, the most times I have seen any performer. There are a few performers I love dearly (almost all of whom have performed in or with Celtic Woman). But there is a very special place in my heart for Chloë. She's the first Celtic Woman I met and there's nobody else like her. <3

Whatever obstacles lie before me on the road, I know Chloë awaits ahead of them. Wherever she travels, may the road rise always to meet her and may Chlovërs be always by her side.

Sounds amazing!

Sounds amazing!

Chloë always is. <3