I voted incorrectly.  I clicked on the Outdoor castle show.  What I meant to vote for was the Indoor theatre shows.  Main reason I voted this was was because I was at the Atlanta SFTH taping both nights.  When they pan the audience, you do get a glimpse of me twice!

I did not make it to Ireland for any of the shows, but the DVDs were pretty good.  I went to a couple of shows at Red Rocks.  I would have liked to have seen a taping from there.  It is a great venue.

I was a member of the old CW forum and, I think, the High Kings for a short time.  You made a statement about bringing things over.  How do I do that?

I saw the High Kings once when they performed prior to the CW concert at, I think, Radio City.

Some of the earlier tours were around 4 months long.  That's gotta be brutal.  A different bed every night.  What do you do for meals?  And at some point you have to miss your family.  Plus, you have to be "on" every night.  (ok, they do have days off, but...).  So, on some level I'm impressed that the girls stuck it out as long as they did.

There's a post that talks about the issues that Shannon Brown ran into, at least with Celtic Thunder.  Article claims the "company" lost something like 2.7 million pounds.  Is the current production company making money?  Going back, say prior to COVID, most of the shows I went to were pretty full.  Lately, not so much. 

Do I want this to end? NO.  But if it does, I have a bunch of great memories.

Interesting that the article says the company behind CT has total losses of 2.9 million pounds.  That goes back to 2019.

One of my favorite songs is Ireland's Call, when done by Celtic Thunder.  Great closing song.  Anyway, one line is "from the 4 proud provinces of Ireland:.

Keeping in mind I'm old (as in maybe 4 TV stations old) ....

Everyone keeps saying streaming is the way to go.  Part of that however is you have to specifically look for something.  In my case, I found CW by simply running thru channels one night (cable) when I was bored.  Today, there are so many options/subscriptions/etc out there, how do new groups get exposure?  While CW isn't a "new" group, it kind of is because of the way COVID effected everything.  Going back to the "early days", I went to a lot of shows.  The girls recognized me, especially when the M&Gs were after the show and more informal.  It's different today.

So is the PBS funding cuts having an effect on groups like CW?  Yes, but there are other factors. 

This got me thinking, which can be dangerous!

I've been to 6 shows at RCMH.  The last one was in 2012.  I was fortunate that my daughter wanted to go with me to all of them.  We had M&G's for 2 of them.  It was fun.  Got to see some Broadway shows, Statute of Liberty, etc.  One reason I'm only going to 1 show this year (or that's all I'm planning on) is it's local.  It's not about money -- I hate to think how much I have spent over the years!  Rather, I'm waiting to see if I still enjoy the show.  We all know the group has changed, and probably will continue to do so.  Change is not always bad. 

I initially went to 1 show each of the first 2 years after I saw CW on PBS.  The Isle of Hope tour was 9 shows, and it went up from there.  Why?  Obviously the music, but some of it was the performers and the way they connected with the audience. 

Best example goes back to 2023.  I went to Lisa Kelly's Masterclass in December.  Lisa remembered me from the various M&G's I attended.

I have tickets to see the show on March 25 in Clearwater, FL.  Been there several times to see CW and CT.   Even if I really, really like the new show, not sure if I can make anything else.  I used to try to go to two shows at a time because of travel.  Nothing against Canada, but they're doing some shows there, and travel (flying) has become a giant PITA.