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Due to some really pesky insomnia, I decided to start putting my thoughts re: South Bend down on "paper". Here goes.

First off. Thank you so much to Jerad for the heads up regarding the unexpected airing tonight. It was something I desperately needed and  I got through the necessary studying in record time to justify the two hours of downtime. Then came the arduous task of finding a television to commandeer so I could watch the broadcast since I do not own one for the dorm room. Thankfully one of the security guards I'm super good friends with was on duty tonight and put it on one of the communal tvs and let me plunk myself in front of it. I actually think he enjoyed watching how excited I was to watch this concert.

The set list as many know, is identical to the 2013 world tour set list. If you would like a song by song account of the show, you're better off looking at my review of the show I attended live last April. If there is one thing I hate being, it's needlessly repetitive.

http://www.celticwomanforum.com/index.php?topic=18835.msg776693#msg776693
 (http://www.celticwomanforum.com/index.php?topic=18835.msg776693#msg776693)
Okay. Now that that's out of the way, here are my thoughts on Emerald.

CHLOË. Oh, for those of you who were deeply saddened by Chloë leaving, this show will be a balm for that wound. She is highlighted so beautifully and looks to be having a wonderful time.

In fact, all the performers do. Perhaps it had something to do with the fact that this was such a unique thing for them as far as filming a show goes. (Live and mid-tour). Yes, I know something like that was done with Isle of Hope but it was never released.  Then again, having met so many of them and knowing how much they love what they do I am more inclined to say they were just having fun in general.

The venue/the stage. Oh what a gorgeous venue. These words don't do it justice in the slightest. It was luxurious without being obnoxiously opulent and retained a sense of comfort. When I say comfort, I mean that Chloë's directive to "Sing, dance, clap, be as rowdy as you like, y'are among the Irish after all" was something you felt you could comply with without feeling disrespectful to the space you were in.

Costumes. There are four changes in this show. Things are switched up a bit from tour. They start out in the blue/purple/grey dresses from the 2013 tour. The first change of costume occurs when we hit TAR where they change to the ceili dresses used traditionally for NSL. The next change occurs for NSL and the dresses use a similar color palette to the ones used for TAR during the believe filming although the material is different (not sheer) and one of the girls (Mairead?) is wearing royal blue. Then come the new dresses revealed via social media last spring and they are even more gorgeous once you can see the detail that went into them clearly.

The audience. There was no way for the girls to have been able to predict what type of audience they'd have as this was somewhat of a last minute filming job. The audience was spectacular and almost every single song resulted in a standing ovation. People were singing along, dancing in the aisles, cheering or laughing at the girls' antics on stage...you name it.

Audience involvement and intro segments. Unlike most PBS renderings of shows, this one left in 99.9 of the spoken song intros. In addition both the intros to TAR and NSL, which had tremendous audience involvement, were included in the final footage. Both are shot very well so that the "story" of the girls' actions reads clearly and you can recover from your disappointment over not being able to see everything going on when you saw it live. This is probably the closest correspondence that I have ever seen between a   PBS version of a show and its live counterpart. Much of the show's flow and integrity was kept.

Differences: There were a few. Granuaile's Dance was omitted from broadcast, as were Ave Maria and Bridge. I believe Caledonia was also missing. I know at least three of these four were cut solely for time and do in fact appear on the DVD/CD. During TAR, the “Celtic tornado” maneuver is not performed, instead the girls and guys pair off and spin, holding hands, as couples. Very cute and goes well with the idea of the song. Though interestingly the instrumental solos were included. (Still love Ray's Bodhran solo). The choir, small but mighty, are paid quite a bit of attention, as are instrumentalists. It’s a wonderfully intimate and comprehensive recording.

Stuff we should know: It looks very likely that last spring’s world tour was actually a trial run for the Emerald concept, though undoubtedly there will be some changes since Chloe is no longer with the group. Also, the cover art is actually the concept sketches for the new dresses Synan made.

Lisa and Susan were live in studio for the PBS pledge drive airing and seemed very proud of this new DVD, they were super vocal in their love for the fans and even answered phones for a bit. Both girls were so warm and bubbly, and Susan seemed to be continuing to become more comfortable with the considerable attention given to her, and to CW as a whole.

My thoughts: This show is incredible. Please, please, even if you saw last year’s tour, consider buying it when it gets released. The girls’ antics in studio were enough to convince me to pledge for a copy of both the DVD and the CD. (Post finals gift).  I am not sure, but the way PBS was wording things made it sound like the copies of the show PBS had available as pledge gifts might be slightly different than the retail version. Hence my decision to get it as a pledge reward. CW has not announced an official release date, though they have said news of that is on the way, and confirmed a blu-ray option. It is likely the release date will be around Feb 24 2014 as that is the shipping date for my DVD and CD from PBS. Also, Lisa and Susan hinted at some possible additional special features besides extra songs. ;)

Any specific questions?

Let me know and I will do my best to answer…


PS. I am a little proud that Chicago got to be the world premiere for the new special, and that the girls were in the same city I was for a couple days. I went to my finals the next day wearing my CW shirt and much calmer knowing the girls were nearby. Once again the stars aligned and allowed the girls to unknowingly support me through something that was super difficult and could have caused me to spiral out of control and break my promise. I <3 Celtic Woman!

 Thank  you  for  the time  you put into  this  Misha.  Good summary , I  think .  And  I know  how  much this  recent event meant  to  you.   i'm  happy  for  you.   :)

So, if I understand correctly, all the girls had just one solo in the broadcast?

You know I never thought about it that way but you are absolutely right. That's exactly what they did and it makes so much sense why they chose to make the cuts they did though.

DON'T LET THAT DISSUADE YOU FROM BUYING THIS, GUYS. It really is beautifully done. And, just as a heads up, they did have song titles visible as songs began. So I'm not sure what happened with that when it came to Home for Christmas. Perhaps HFC was more rushed? But either way we have song titles.

I do not know if an intro sequence for the girls was reinstated, as I missed the very beginning of Awakening.

Thanks for putting in the time in posting this Misha, you did a great job on the review. ;) I will be buying this show when it hits Amazon because I missed the last tour. :(
I know how much this recent event meant to you, and I'm so happy you got to see this! :)

I was so worried it wouldn't be good enough

I'm glad that it is. ;)

I meant the review silly!

I'm sorry, I thought you meant the show. Of course your review is great! You're a great writer Misha. :D

I sent a tweet to CW and surprisingly got a quick response back from them. I told them that I couldnt afford to pay $100 to pay for a DVD/CD plus paying for tickets for the tour this spring. And they messaged me back and told me that the DVD/Blu-ray(maybe?) would be available first thing next year!! I cant wait to get this and relive the same show that Misha saw. I was at the same show as she was there when she got her pics taken with the girls. Best show by far from these girls!

Thank you Misha, very well written and helpful. I can't wait for the Blu-Ray, I will be getting it as soon as it is available. It sounds like basically the same show I saw about a week earlier - and it was the first concert I was ever able to attend in person, so it obviously has special meaning for me. The ability to own it and watch it again and again is an incredible gift. So glad they did this.

One question: can I assume that TAR included the "singing fight" between Lisa and Chloe? I loved that. That needs to be preserved forever.

Yes. It has in fact been preserved and it is beautifully cut together so you see every minute of it and can follow the story of their actions. Words cannot accurately describe the awesomeness.

It's funny you should say that - I started trying to explain the singing fight to some people the day after the show, and I couldn't - I finally just said, "you'd have to see it." Now I'll be able to show it to them.  :)

I can watch it over, and over and over and over....

I have a question Misha. Did it (Emerald/South Bend) have as many shots of the audience as the HFC DVD? I felt like HFC had a little bit too much of the audience.

Yes, it had just as much, but this past year's tour saw an incredible amount of audience involvement in the show, not simply reactions as with HfC. Audience shots are well timed to correspond to when the audience became active participants, and gratuitous audience closeups are kept minimal. I dont think you'll be diasppointed in the slightest.

Think back to "Granuaile's Dance" on the ANJ dvd. Remember that older gentleman who rocked out to the fast paced rhythm for a moment and then they cut to Mairead's reaction to his enthusiasm? The reason that was highlighted was because the audience member engaged in a unique way with the music at that moment. Many audience shots during Emerald have a focus on unique engagement similar to that moment from ANJ. Its really well edited and quite an adventure to watch

Thanks for the swift response! I felt as though the audience shots in HFC served no purpose and kind of took away from the girls. Don't get me wrong, the every-so-often brief shots in the previous DVDs of someone enthustically enjoying the show make me smile. But in HFC, it seemed as though everytime I got comfortable focusing in the girls it flashed a clip of some random person. So, I'm glad to hear that in Emerald they actually add to the enjoyment.

 ;D You're welcome.