Quote from: stars_at_dawn on March 30, 2026, 12:32:40 PM

I didn't know Alex had sung Dulaman! I suppose I shouldn't have underestimated her...and she did cover more Celtic-style material when she filled in for Susan! That has our count of seaweed queens as 5, right? (Meav, Muirgen, Mairead C, Lisa L, Lynn, and now Alex), though you could also count in Tara, Emma, Kate, and Caitriona if the group numbers count. There's also a possibility that Deirdre might have covered it...

Dulaman got first introduced during the A New Journey Special so prior to that on tour Dulaman didn't exist on tour so Deirdre wasn't a seaweed queen though she might of been surely. By the way Hayley was!

Now what do you mean by you underestimated Alex. You know I really thought it would of been interesting to see what energy and passion Chloe could of brought with Dulaman don't you think.

I love the terminology of Megan would of been the "It" girl of CW. That commentor would approved and would of been the time of his life!

I meant underestimating Alex in that I didn’t think it was the sort of song to be in her repertoire, not that she couldn’t do it! I’m sure she was incredible singing it…though, granted, Alex could sing Baby Shark and I’d be enthralled!

Wait…HAYLEY SANG DÚLAMÁN?!?!?  Are there any videos of that, because that sounds heavenly!!!!!!!!

Thought's on Dulaman 20th Anniversary Lineup Effect!

 Since Seaweed Queen and Dulaman has been brought up, something has brought to my attention yesterday.
 As I was reflecting on all these lineup changes, had Megan stayed for the 20th Special and Tour and so did Hannah
 would it been so cool to see Megan standing front and center as the veteran CW member just like how Mairead C totally was for the 20th Special.

This dawned on me and was wondering about Dulaman on the 20th which was so prominent on Mairead C taking the intro lead makes sense being she is a seaweed Queen, had Megan stayed say for example and so did Hannah then who would had done it. I can see Muirgen the one doing it for Muirgen took upon the seaweed Queen the last tour and Hannah and Megan would then appear in duet is my guesses. Do we think Megan would do it, she never done Dulaman, or Hannah as a way to introduce a new face which leads to if Mairead C didn't come back would Emma do it. Imagine if Megan left and then you'd have Muirgen opening Dulaman and then two new faces Hannah and Emma doing the duo part! Is it in ways Dulaman an intro group song specifically because Mairéad's return? Well we would say no because Queen of all Queen finest Magesty Meav is there! 

Now since the subject is Dulaman here. Alex many of you may not know became a seaweed queen for one month in June 2015 during the 10th Anniversary Tour when Lynn had finished her run and Alex took over filling her spot. There only as I've found one really short clip from red rocks but it cuts ends so short at the beginning which wasn't dulaman but the pre song before Dulaman. If one day any clips surface to hear her rendition wow it be the best thing!

Huh. I'd always thought the Dulaman (on computer again) choreography was very Meav-centred exclusively, but you're right, there's also a lot of Mairead. Granted, Mairead also just exudes a lot of charisma. I think one example of this would be I Know My Love. She has one of the best stage presences of CW in my opinion.

I feel as though there's equal opportunity for Megan, Muirgen, or Hannah to be at the centre of the Dulaman choreography (at least until Meav comes). Megan would likely be the "it girl" of CW at that point, but Muirgen had sang it as a solo before,  and Hannah's voice would be the most similar to Meav's. My guess would be that Muirgen would be the most centred...and there might be potential for her to be equal to Megan as the "face" of CW, kind of like Mairead C and Eabha in Ancient Land.

I didn't know Alex had sung Dulaman! I suppose I shouldn't have underestimated her...and she did cover more Celtic-style material when she filled in for Susan! That has our count of seaweed queens as 5, right? (Meav, Muirgen, Mairead C, Lisa L, Lynn, and now Alex), though you could also count in Tara, Emma, Kate, and Caitriona if the group numbers count. There's also a possibility that Deirdre might have covered it...

I thought that Hayley had originally been considered as a replacement for Méav, but then Méav came back and they decided to do ANJ with both of them, hence why it was Hayley and Méav who swapped during the tour. I could very easily be wrong, though, as I only got heavily into CW a few months ago.

The lineup with Lisa K, Lisa L, Alex, Chloë, and Máiréad N was what I would assume a five-person lineup with Alex would be, but if they still decided to make the four-member change, then we wouldn’t have gotten Lisa L, at least not then. What would be interesting about the aforementioned possible four-singer lineup is that we could sort of divide with Chloë and Lisa L having somewhat similar voices and that would then leave Lisa K and Alex as the other vocal side, this could be especially interesting as there’s a lot of duets in Believe. Alex, Lisa K, and Lisa L would be very fitting for Believe as they’re all musical theatre alumni. Imagine the potential for that with Alex! 🤩 What if she sang something like Don’t Cry For Me Argentina? (I don’t know if anyone could compare to Rachel Zegler’s version—seriously, look that up!—but Alex could sure come close!)

If we hadn’t gotten Lisa L and went to just three vocalists, then that might leave some interesting changes to Believe and Emerald. I doubt we would’ve had A Spaceman Came Travelling or Black Is The Colour; those all seem much more Lisa songs than Alex songs to me. This also leaves some questions for Emerald—I could see Alex singing Bridge Over Troubled Waters, but I couldn’t really see the same for Dúlamán, although she would be in the slot to sing it…it just seems rather different from the material she covered with CW and what she sings now…we could possibly get a retirement of the song until we got another Seaweed Queen opportunity (I told you I was stealing that term!  ), or we could have a group orchestration for Emerald or something. I could see that as Emerald had some very unique arrangements.

The interesting thing about questioning “what if so-and-so stayed longer?” Is that this could very easily cause a sort of butterfly effect. Let’s say Alex decided to stay until 2016. Would Lisa L or Éabha be available? Would we ever get the membership pipeline we’ve seen with Alex-Lisa L-Éabha-Chloë-Hannah-Mairéad C? Even the only consistent vocalist pipeline (Lisa K-Susan-Megan-Emma-Caitríona) could be impacted by this. So it’s kind of hard to know because who we know now as replacements may have been caught up in other projects when they canonically auditioned, if that’s even how they do it now. I know some members like Mairéad C and Éabha auditioned, Órla submitted tapes to David Downes, but I’d imagine some members like Lisa K or Chloë were selected beforehand, and I don’t know if they’d bother to audition for temporary members (i.e., Deirdre, Hannah, and maybe Ciara)

As for the Éabha thing, that probably was a stupid thought on my part, I just got caught up in this one YouTube comment that said she would come back someday. Now, I kind of doubt that regardless of kids she’d come back right now, as she’s currently doing a lot of stuff that may be put off by her being with CW.

That’s an interesting observation about Chloë. We also probably would have a more active CW nowadays, as I think COVID really hindered them. It’s odd to think about PFI without Chloë, as her returning is one of the most iconic things about the album in my opinion. I do wonder if many aspects of the album would’ve been better without COVID, though. The mixing might be better and hopefully PFI would be longer, and Megan wouldn’t be the only vocalist with multiple solos. Do we think it still would've come out in 2021 or maybe late 2020?

With Chloë gone, that does beg the question of who would be in her place. If we use the canonical members, then that would be Hannah, and it would be incredible to get her on an album, but it’s probably more likely that we’d get someone entirely new.

Although, maybe Mairéad wouldn’t have left (if she had, I’d assume it was right after the Celebration tour) and Muirgen would be Chloë’s replacement. I wonder if that would have impacted her songs at all, as Muirgen currently fills the Celtic singer role, and Chloë was very much a pop/classical singer, but I’d assume not and Mairéad would be the pop/classical singer with Megan occasionally filling in on that part. Mairéad had a similar role to Chloë, yet Muirgen has still sung very Celtic songs as her replacement.

wow, I never saw this video from Destiny Tour Harry’s Game with Eabha. First I thought you be mentioning the clip from Eabha doing it on Homecoming Tour. I don’t remember if it’s Act 1 or Act 2 but I’m sure they wore the blue dresses also.

I didn’t know Éabha also covered it on Homecoming!  I’d assume it was in place of May It Be?

wow, so much to read, I don’t know where to begin

love this subject!!!!

Hayley was a Guest not a replacement or fill in ever!?
So our friend stars at dawn mentioning we probably would never gotten Hayley, now wasn't Hayley being brought in was as a guest, an addition, oh I see what you mean, you may be referring to her in touring as she alternated with Meav. Wasn't the reason they alternated was to have Hayley participate and not Hayley filling in for some Meav not available absent dates.

(I can sense @rfcw bursting at the seams at the thought of Alex being in Believe.). Here’s another question: if Alex never left, would we still have a five member lineup? Or would we have gone to four when Lynn left and the Believe lineup would have been Alex, Chloë, Lisa K, and Máiréad N?

Theory on Alex and or Lynn Departing or Didn't!
Now with mentioning Alex for Believe, OH MY GOSH! YEP YEP YEP
now to say we wouldn't have gotten Lisa Lambe, now now if Lynn left then we would got a lineup with Lisa L, Alex, Chloe, Lisa K and Mairead N had they stayed as four you think. Now you must be referring to if the toll of touring never happened then of course Lynn wouldn't be going anywhere because she and Alex would have more miles to run unless Lynn left to pursue other things. If Alex left to pursue other things and not because of her son would the lineup be Lynn, Chloe, Lisa K and Mairead N.
Now if the lineup was five still then it would made sense to have either:

Susan, Lynn, Lisa K, Chloe and Mairead N

Eabha, Lynn, Lisa K, Chloe and Mairead N

Eabha, Alex, Lisa K, Chloe and Mairead N

Lisa L, Alex, Lisa K, Chloe and Mairead N

but I mean say neither Alex and Lynn left and later one of the originals left then we doing math replacing Susan, or Eabha or Mairead C with Alex and Lynn still in the lineup!

Another question is if we would’ve had any members who left for other reasons coming back. Most members who had kids did so after their tenures with CW, but I wonder if we would’ve gotten, say, Éabha returning if she didn’t have kids. I have heard rumours that she said she’d come back someday, but I’m not sure if that’s true or just wishful thinking, but it’s unlikely that it would happen right now as she has three three and under if I recall correctly.

Appearences and Return's if no Children*
Whoah, whoah, whoah,
yes, if member's who left didn't have children such an example as notably Lynn Hilary, would we absolutely (to me ) have seen appearences of Eabha back in some form like Chloe, Susan, Alex, Lynn filling in for tours, or guest on a Special again like Meav.

Chloe Agnew only been featured in Touring the 15th Anniversary Tour and 20th Special only!
Let's remember also that in way's the lockdown's and covid brought the chance for Chloe to be featured recorded in a new album and DVD Special Postcards from Ireland which if that didn't happen would Chloe's appearence would only be for the 15th Anniversary Tour because Chloe repeats we have to finish it off to give what the fans wanted for that year which Chloe unlike Mairead C was a significant reason in 2020 many may of been looking for purchasing and attending a Celtic Woman Tour at that time.