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Topics - VegasDavid

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1
General Discussion / PBS show: Ireland in Music
« on: December 31, 2023, 01:10:47 PM »
I stayed up til 2am last night so I could catch a show called Ireland in Music (Sclimpini) on my local PBS station.

Each episode shows about six different Irish bands of various genres performing in various scenic settings.

For example, on last night's episode, which is titled "a tri", there was a rock band performing at the top of the Tower Museum in Derry, and the group "Irish Women in Harmony" performed their take on A Woman's Heart.


2
Lynn Hilary / Lynn's comments about the Irish music industry
« on: April 08, 2023, 03:07:17 AM »
Go to 1h02m25s in the link below to hear Lynn call into a radio show and give her very pessimistic view of what it's like to be a singer/songwriter in Ireland:

https://www.rte.ie/radio/podcasts/22098992-irish-begrudgery-travel-insurance-for-the-termin/

I think she posted this on Facebook tonight, but then her post disappeared.

3
Eabha McMahon / AVA's new website
« on: May 19, 2020, 11:12:12 PM »
Éabha has adopted the moniker "AVA", released a song and music video called One More Day, and made a new website for herself:

https://www.avasinger.com/

She has a blog with two long posts on it!  If you are like me and want to add her blog to your RSS reader, the RSS feed URL is:

https://www.avasinger.com/blog-feed.xml

4
Tara McNeill / Tara McNeill interview with Louie B. Free
« on: March 28, 2020, 11:19:38 PM »
It's 28 minutes long and was published on Friday.

https://www.facebook.com/louiebfree/videos/2897644133612398

5
The Gothard Sisters are some sisters in the northwestern U.S. who have been making Celtic music together since they were little girls.  They have made several albums, and regularly tour around the U.S. performing their music in concert halls and festivals.

This week, the Gothard Sisters have a Stay-At-Home St. Pat's Show you can watch from home!  It went live at the stroke of midnight in Pacific Time on St. Patrick's Day and it sounds like they will take it down after a week.  You can watch it for free on YouTube and then decide how much you want to pay them, or pay nothing at all.

They mostly played songs from their albums, but they also did some other songs and had some fun live shenanigans.  The audio quality could use some work, but I really appreciated the fact that they had multiple cameras and they edited the video from them together.

https://www.gothardsisters.com/stay-at-home-st-pat-s-show

6
Links / Performance and interview with new lineup on Tampa morning TV show
« on: February 24, 2020, 11:47:49 AM »
This morning, the new lineup (Chloë Agnew, Mairéad Carlin, Megan Walsh, Tara McNeill) gave an interview and also performed "Danny Boy" on a morning TV show called "Great Day Live" by WTSP-TV in the Tampa, Florida area.  This is the first recording that I've seen with the new lineup! 

This page has both videos and a little text:

https://www.wtsp.com/article/entertainment/television/great-day-tb/celtic-woman-celebration-comes-to-tampa-bay/67-66e1b622-bedc-444a-97a3-db23d5900b67

The interview was mainly about each girl's experience auditioning for the show.

This page just has the interview:

https://www.wtsp.com/video/entertainment/television/great-day-tb/celtic-woman-lakeland-music/67-93515488-5c0a-4fd0-bc2f-125ac2ded023

This page just has the song:

https://www.wtsp.com/video/entertainment/television/great-day-tb/celtic-woman-returns-to-tampa-bay-15th-anniversary-tour/67-a8a275a9-9235-4414-861f-6e9624c1396d

7
This article about Chloë popped up on my phone.  It has nice pictures of Chloë alone and with Celtic Woman.  It also has a lot of details about her life that I did not know!

https://evoke.ie/2019/12/21/showbiz/chloe-agnew-relationship-mum-twink

8
The Magic of Christmas 2019 Tour / David's report from Denver
« on: December 10, 2019, 12:02:06 AM »
I attended the "Symphony Tour 2019" show in Denver on 2019-12-09 (Sunday), where Celtic Woman performed Christmas music along with the Colorado Symphony!  This is my 6th and final Celtic Woman show of the year.  It is also my 10th Celtic Woman show overall!

Parade of Tara

On Saturday night, the night before the concert, I had a lot of fun watching the Denver 9NEWS Parade of Lights in Downtown Denver with Tracie and Rachel.  It was quite lucky that this special event was on the same weekend as the concert.  I think our phones and screens cannot generally capture the beauty of bright points of light accurately, so it's nice to see shows like this in person.

Before the parade, while I was holding a spot on the sidewalk and waiting for my friends to arrive, Tara McNeill walked by the very spot where I was standing, and I happened to see her as she was approaching!  I greeted her, we chatted for a tiny bit, and I got a selfie picture with her wearing her glasses and a cute sparkly hairband.  (Of course, saying the word "cute" is redundant in any phrase about Tara.)

https://www.instagram.com/p/B5181PTnP_C/

This marks the second time I have gotten a two-person photo with Tara, and the first time that I have seen any of the ladies away from their theater.  There was an element of luck to this meeting because Tara could have been on the other side of the street, or I might have been looking the wrong way, but luck does favor the prepared!  I made sure to get out on the street 30 minutes before the parade started, and I used that time to check out 10 blocks of the parade route before settling on a nice spot near my hotel.

Tour name

I think most of us will think of this tour as the "Magic of Christmas" tour because it corresponds to the album of that name.  However, the souvenir booklet says "Symphony Tour 2019", and my ticket says "The Best of Christmas Tour".

John Hunt

We met John Hunt (the bagpiper) in the lobby and took a picture with him.  He was wearing his kilt and tartan and selling programs.  I was actually going over to talk to a professional photographer lady who snapped my photo, but John greeted me on the way, and said he remembered me from Germany.  He said he is from Limerick.  He's a friendly guy and I hope I get to chat more often with him!

https://www.instagram.com/p/B517Q40FYpV/

Mechandise

I bought the Celtic Woman scarf (black with gray stripes), which I will probably use next winter because I did not have a good scarf.  I also bought two red Celtic Woman ornaments (the basic version without Irish on it), and a souvenir program.  The merchandise guy, Floyd remembers me from May when I talked to him in Long Beach and Minneapolis!  He says he only works U.S. shows so that is why I did not see him in Germany.

Set list

This is the set list.  I got most of it by photographing a piece of paper on the stage, but I fixed some things and added notes in brackets.

We Wish You A Merry Christmas
Éabha talk
Angels We Have Heard on High
Do You Hear What I Hear [Megan solo]
O Come O Come Emmanuel [Mairéad solo]
Megan talk
O Holy Night
Éabha talk [talked about growing up speaking Irish at home and singing this song]
Dia Do Bheatha [Éabha solo]
Greensleeves [Tara solo]
Mairéad talk [the paper actually said "Megan talk", but it was definitely Mairéad because I remember her saying Danny Boy is also known as "Derry Aire", listing other performers of it, and saying the muppets sang it better than CW]
Danny Boy
Amazing Grace
Tara talk
Joy to the World

Intermission

Murphy's Mistletoe [orchestra only]
It's Beginning / Ding Dong Merrily
Éabha talk [said Ireland never has a White Christmas but they sing this song in hope of it]
White Christmas [Éabha solo]
We Three Kings [Mairéad solo]
It Came Upon A Midnight Clear [Megan solo]
Mairéad talk
Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas [no orchestra]
Silent Night / Kesh Inn [Tara solo]
Carol of the Bells
Tara talk [teaches us the difficult lyrics of this ancient song in her funny way]
Deck the Halls
Feliz Navidad
Sleigh Ride
Mairéad talk / Tara talk
Auld Lang Syne

Concert reactions and observations

The music was crazy beautiful, and I gave a lot of standing ovations.  I think O Holy Night really stood out to me, and somehow moved me more than it ever did on the CD.

Mairéad has this glimmer in her eyes when you see her sing; it's almost as if she's about to cry.  I wonder what that is.  I saw it in Germany too.  The energy she puts into her choreography is amazing.  Someone, please get a video of the awesome 90-degree turn she does during O Come, O Come Emmanuel right after watching Darragh play his brief pipe solo.

Megan's movement during her solos is very predictable; she moves exactly like an oscillating fan.  I used this to get some shots of her at good angles.

I'm pretty sure I got one smile from Megan, and then later I got a few nods from John during the standing ovation for Amazing Grace.

While exiting the stage for the final time, Mairéad gave a high-five to a cute little girl across the aisle to my right.  I was thinking about getting the family to come to the stage door for some adorable pictures... but I just did that already a few weeks ago in Germany.


Friends

It was so awesome to spend real in-person time with Tom, Tracie, Gregg, and Rachel!  I met them thanks to this forum, and we talk a lot online, but the last time we were all together was at Red Rocks in May.  At the stage door, Tara said she thought we had been friends for years, but it's only been 15 months since I met Tom, Gregg, and Tracie in Wexford at the Ancient Land DVD filming, and 7 months since I met Rachel in Long Beach.  I was honored to sit next to these fine folks and make deposits into our bank of ever-increasing shared experiences and memes.

https://www.instagram.com/p/B51-fUTniZv/

Concert shenanigans

1. During the first song, we wore our Christmas hats.  I slouched down and pulled the hat down to try to be polite to the people behind me.
2. During Sleigh Ride, I spontaneously realized that when Éabha sings "Giddy up, giddy up, giddy up, let's go" I can put my hands in front of me and then bounce my whole body up and down (as if riding a bouncy horse and holding its reins).  So fun!  I would highly recommend doing this.  Rachel picked up on this pretty quickly and played along with me, perhaps because she's a trained dancer.  We need to find more moves for the other lines in the song if they do it again next year.
3. During the last song (Auld Lang Syne), we wore our Christmas hats, locked pinkies, and tried to sway with the music.  This was actually way too distracting for me.  I didn't understand the rhythm we were swaying too, and I was worried my pinkie would get pulled too hard.  Next time let's just do the swaying!

Interacting with the artists and other fans during a concert is one reason why live music is better than just listening to a CD at home!

Legendary stage door

Mairéad's first reaction when walking out of the door was to say "I love your hat!"  Yeah, I think she just said "hat" even though all five of us had red santa hats on.  Tracie, Gregg, and I were wearing a model of red hat from Target that is stiff enough that you can make it point straight up into the air.  So fun!  I love that hat too, Mairéad!

Pointy hat pictures: https://www.instagram.com/p/B51_LE9Htyc/

I'd like to think that she also liked my dark suit with a solid bright red tie, and that's why she assertively jumped to my left side and put her arm on me when it was time to take a group photo.  (Damn... I'd like to think I don't need validation from humans, but she made me feel like a million bucks.)  I really liked her outfit and the fact that she and I wore matching colors.  I should have gotten a two-person picture with her like I planned, but somehow I was too shy when I had my chance.  At least I got to be next to her in the legendary group picture, which you can see here:

https://www.instagram.com/p/B52-RmUFoAZ/

There was another young adult fan who briefly appeared at the stage door, but I don't know who he was.  I offered to help him take a picture with Mairéad.  If he had been around either before or after the ladies, I would have introduced myself.

Social media

Tara and Éabha both reposted Tracie's Instagram story that had the group picture in it!  Go Tracie!

Being in the front row is awesome, because it means you can take pictures on your phone that are actually good.  On Instagram stories, Mairéad reposted a picture I took of her and Darragh during O Come, O Come Emmanuel.  (That's the second time she reposted me!)

Lloyd Butler and celticwomanofficial reposted a picture I took of Megan, with Lloyd conducting in the background.  (Lloyd turned around a few times to smile at singers, but I did not capture those adorable moments.)

Half-word summary

LEGEN-

9
Home For Christmas / I finally watched Home For Christmas the Blu-ray
« on: December 04, 2019, 01:13:52 AM »
Now that it's Christmas season, I've been setting up Christmas decorations and finally getting around to watching my two Celtic Woman Christmas videos discs!

Last night I watched the the Home for Christmas Blu-ray.  I haven't seen the DVD, but the Blu-ray looks so spectacular thanks to the high resolution of the Blu-ray format and the effort that Celtic Woman put into decorations (e.g. the audience tables that sometimes light up in different colors).

One of the main things that surprised me was how much Susan McFadden stood out, almost as if she were the star of the show.  In contrast to the Destiny and Homecoming productions, she totally owns the Home For Christmas disc!  Her two solos were the the most fun solos on the disc by far.  In Santa Claus is Coming to Town, I love how she sits at tables with the audience and sings to them.  Susan's second solo was It Came Upon A Midnight Clear, which was awesome because of the gospel choir that sang behind her.  On top of that, Susan's entrance into the group song O Tannenbaum gave me a strong dose of positive emotion because she was the third person to sing, and the first person singing in English.

You just can't compete with Susan's awesomeness if your solos are somber songs like I'll Be Home For Christmas, Auld Lang Syne, and Silent Night.

I go to so many fancy live concerts these days, but sometimes it's better to just stay in, grab a drink, turn on the Christmas tree, and watch a Celtic Woman disc.

10
Other Musicians / Linda Eder
« on: November 14, 2019, 12:02:06 AM »
On October 4th, I saw vocalist Linda Eder perform at Myron's Cabaret Jazz in Las Vegas (part of the Smith Center). This is one of my favorite venues but I saw three concerts there the previous week so I wasn't particularly looking forward to going back yet again. But Linda Eder was amazing! She sings really loudly, possibly louder than Lisa Kelly. She expertly controls the distance of her hand-held mic, moving it away during loud notes so the sound doesn't overwhelm us. I met a superfan at my table named Bill, who has been seeing her sing for years.  There was a free meet and greet after the show so I got a picture with Linda.

This week, I finally got around to listening to the CD I bought at the show, which is called "Linda Live" and was published in 2014.

I really love the track Man of La Mancha and I've listened to it a bunch of times today.  You can hear something similar in this video on YouTube.  Somehow Linda's powerful voice conveys more manliness then any of the men that sing this song (I played the top 4 or 5 from Google Play Music in the car today).  And yet during the quieter parts of the song, she can still express some feminine tenderness.  There's a really impressive moment 2 minutes into the song where she sings two very long notes that go very high.  The melody is so catchy, and the orchestral parts are a great edition, and I'm glad Linda got rid of the second singing character that is usually in the song.

There's also a remastered version of Man of La Mancha here with better audio quality but I'm not sure how I feel about it.  At first it struck me as too clean, lacking the raw energy of the CD version and that other YouTube version.

Other notable songs on the CD are Don't Cry for Me Argentina (which I particularly enjoyed live) and Vienna (which Linda wrote).

Linda is doing a bunch of concerts in the U.S. in the next 6 months: https://lindaeder.com/in-concert/

11
Celebration's on Tour / Spoilers about the Celebration Tour
« on: October 11, 2019, 11:42:17 AM »
We have another thread where people are speculating about what songs will be included in the Celebration 15th Anniversary tour.  If anyone wants some SPOILERS, the website below mentions specific songs and gives some hints about the band:

http://www.kingcenter.com/schedule-of-events/5678-celtic-woman-celebration-the-15th-anniversary

So I thought it would be nice to start this thread for anyone who wants to be spoiled.  We can use this thread to discuss that page and any other spoiler-type information we find about the tour.

SPOILERS BELOW

⬇️





⬇️





⬇️





⬇️





⬇️





The King Center website mentions 6 songs:

- Orinoco Flow
- Téir Abhaile Riú
- You Raise Me Up
- Danny Boy
- Amazing Grace
- The Parting Glass

It also says there will be two bagpipers.  Is that the first time Celtic Woman has taken two bagpipers on tour?  Do you suppose it will be John Hunt Jr. and Anthony Byrne?

12
That's a nice coincidence!  🤔

13
Links / Celtic Woman on The Noite with Danilo Gentili in Brazil
« on: August 21, 2019, 01:18:44 AM »
This was a pretty special interview 18-minute interview that they had on a talk show in Brazil yesterday:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Gx1LZXtJCo

Mairéad Carlin seems to understand Portugese.

They showed a clip of some Brazilian girls doing a hip hop dance Granuaile's Dance.  Perhaps it's part of some longer music video.

John Hunt gave a bagpipe lesson to the host, followed by a brief Scottish dancing lesson.

Colm Farrell and Carl Maguire kind of taught the host to dance to the end of "Enchanted Way".  (Where's James Greenan?)

14
Links / Celtic Woman on BBC Radio 2 with Steve Wright
« on: July 31, 2019, 11:37:10 AM »
The Celtic_Woman twitter account tweeted about this and then deleted their tweet:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m00075y4

That page says the programme will happen at 14:00 on August 1st, and take three hours. 

15
General Discussion / Iowa Irish Festival - August 2-4, 2019
« on: May 22, 2019, 10:57:46 AM »
The Gothard Sisters will be performing at the Iowa Irish Festival in downtown Waterloo, Iowa on the weekend of August 2-4, 2019.  In this video, they say it is one of the best Irish festivals in the country.

I've never attended before, but it looks like the festival takes up several blocks of downtown Waterloo, and there will be lots of famous bands performing there there.  Some of the ones that stood out to me are:

  • The Gothard Sisters - I love most of their work, especially The Three Coins
  • The High Kings - the brother of Celtic Woman, they are part of the Celtic Collections family and were developed by Dave Kavanagh
  • Gaelic Storm - I remember liking them way back in college; I had the album How are we getting home? (2004)

Tracie and Gregg: it's within driving distance of you!  While The High Kings and Gaelic Storm are both coming to your city in August, this festival might be your best chance to see the Gothard Sisters this year.

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