UK Tour Dates

[Maggie]

http://www.celticwoman.com/uk-tour-dates/

So far, the dates are 16th through 20th September, in:
Glasgow, York, Manchester, Birmingham and London.

Glasgow is too far from where we'll be.
York is close to my brothers but the Barbican is a sports arena, not the best kind of venue.
I don't like Manchester at all, so that's out.
The Theatre Royal in London is a delightful traditional London Theatre, and the most haunted, by several ghosts.
It is owned by Andrew Lloyd Webber and his "Really Useful Theatre Company".
I've been there many times, but on this occasion it just wouldn't be practical.
It would mean staying in town overnight as it's quite a long way from Chris's house.

So....the best venue for us would be Birmingham, where my lovely nephew lives, with his delightful family.
They wanted to see Celtic Woman in 2007 when the UK tour was cancelled.  
The Symphony Hall is a state-of-the-art modern Theatre seating 2,262.
You can see it here:  http://www.thsh.co.uk/page/symphony-hall-birmingham/symphony-hall-image-gallery/
The accoustics are wonderful, I'm sure the Celtic Woman Crew will love it.

http://www.thsh.co.uk/view/celtic-woman-19-09-2011

So I bought 4 tickets direct from the Theatre. They are on the 2nd row, which were the best available.
The cost was $156 for 4 tickets.
September is a great time of year to be in the UK and Ireland.

Now we just have to hope it doesn't get cancelled again!

[Ben the piper]

Hope all the best for you and your relatives Maggie!
Maybe I'll make it to London, as I have relatives there the accomodation won't be a problem.

[Maggie]

I hope there is going to be some advance publicity in the UK this time.
Celtic Woman should try to find time to appear on the breakfast shows.
The UK audience is going to be much different to an American audience.

They have such a busy schedule this year!
They have 11 weeks between the end of the German Tour and the start of the UK Tour.
That isn't much time in which to catch up with their families and friends, have a Summer vacation, sleep in their own beds.
Lisa's children will be on vacation from school for about six weeks, so they will want their Mommy and Daddy to themselves.
Then they will have to rehearse for the UK, do some homework about the venues.

I was just looking back to 2007, when I was all set to go to one of the UK venues.

My nephew Michael lives in Birmingham and is involved with setting up the shows at the NEC,
and all over the UK.

This was the schedule at that time:
Sat., 22 Sept/2007 Manchester, UK Bridgewater Hall
Sun., 23 Sept/2007 Birmingham, UK Symphony Hall NEC
Mon., 24 Sept/2007 Cardiff, UK St Davids Hall
Wed., 26 Sept/2007 Glasgow, UK Royal Concert Hall
Fri., 28 Sept/2007 Bournemouth, UK BIC
Sat., 29 Sept/2007 London, UK Royal Albert Hall

Michael planned to take his wife and family to the Symphony Hall at the NEC.
I would be in London visiting my son, so I wanted to go to the Albert Hall.
I had been there before, and it is a marvellous venue.
Lots of tickets had been sold......but apparently not enough, and the whole Tour was cancelled.
There were a lot of disappointed people, who were kept in the dark until about a month before the concerts.
Some people had booked flights and made travel arrangements, and were left with a financial loss.
I said at the time that not enough publicity and advertising had been done.....nobody in the UK had heard of Celtic Woman.
Even last year, whenever I mentioned them in the UK, I just got blank looks.

I hope they have planned a publicity campaign this time.

[Ben the piper]

Yep you're right. They should definitely appear on breakfast shows (or maybe also a short weather report as Chloë once did )
True that they're rather unknown in Europe which is why publicity is very important!
At least the Germans are having a CW advert every now and then but if you ask me not regularly enough.

[MaryNorth93]

I wouldn't worry about the German Tour. The tickets seem to be selling well. Düsseldorf is almost selled out for example. The fact that they have performed before in Germany probably helped with that, of course there is the regular fanbase, and the people who saw them once might want to see them again.

I admit that I was suprised when they announced the UK-tour. Perhaps there's already an well planned publicity campaign?

Publiticty is indeed very important, and I'm sure that if CW was more promoted here they would have a bigger fanbase in Europe. But also if the stations here aren't interested in advertising Celtic Woman there isn't much what can be done. For example here in The Netherlands, there is hardly any celtic music heard here on radio or tv. You might discover some Moya Brennan, Enya or Clannad-cds, if you look in a small corner of a music store. But the main market doesn't seem interested...  

But I'm optimistic. It seems CW ltd. is really giving more attention to Europe     

[Ben the piper]

Yep hopefully they'll tour Europe more often!

[Maggie]

First of all, ticket prices:
23.50 pounds = $38.22 at today's rate
25.00 pounds = $40.66

Remember, Celtic Woman is unknown in the UK, and they can only charge what people will pay.
Also, Brits would not pay extra for a Meet & Greet. It would be regarded as just a marketing ploy.
If they become popular and ticket demand increases, the price will probably double for the next tour.

If anyone is thinking of going, and can't decide which venue, here is a link and a piece about two of them, I'll do the others later.
From the link you can usually find the seating plan and photo gallery:

GLASGOW - The Royal Concert Hall is in the middle of this very lively Scottish City.
When in Glasgow, don't get into a discussion about their 2 rival football (soccer) teams - Rangers and Celtic.
They get pretty wild!
http://www.glasgowconcerthalls.com/grch

YORK - My favourite English City.....beautiful, historic, and very friendly.
You have to enter through one of the narrow Roman Gateways, and you can walk along it's Roman walls:


It was an important Base for the Vikings and the Romans, and traces of both can be seen here.
There is much to see, and don't miss Betty's café.....pastries and cakes to die for!
I recommend the Yorkshire Fat Rascal, and the afternoon cream tea.
See the magnificent York Minster, and have a drink in a nearby Pub
which is haunted by the missing Roman 9th Legion. They march through the basement.

In the CW info, notice how the photo of Lisa L looks like the mystery redhead on the CD covers:

http://www.yorkbarbican.co.uk/performance/16783.aspx

More venues later.

[Spooky]

I managed to talk my folks into helping me pay for the Birmingham concert. This will be my first ever concert. -bounces off the walls-

5 months, 4 days, 4 hours and 40 minutes.

[Maggie]

I managed to talk my folks into helping me pay for the Birmingham concert.
This will be my first ever concert. -bounces off the walls-  

Do you live near Birmingham?
I love to visit my nephew and family there, but I hate driving on the M6 and spaghetti junction!!!

Yes folks....if you want to attend the Birmingham CW concert, you can have a fun time negotiating this
little intersection....and don't forget to drive on the left!!!

Spaghetti Junction, the world's worst intersection:

[Tiffany Gray]

This is amazing news, because I have FAMILY in England and a few friends too!!!!!!!!!!  So they might get to see Celtic Woman!!!!!!!!!

[Maggie]

I booked my tickets with the Theatres rather than Ticketmaster.
I called the Box Office at both Birmingham and York and booked 4 seats at each venue.
I just found out that our seats for the Concert in York are BB 17 through 20.
That is front row centre, except for Row AA which just has a few seats and handicap spaces.

From this page you can click on "Auditorium plan fully seated" -
https://www.yorkbarbican.co.uk/content/WhatsOn/HowToPay1.aspx

I am really looking forward to being there.
If for any reason we are unable to go, some family members will get a nice gift!

Now....we have to pray that the Tour doesn't get cancelled again.......

The Roman walls of York:

[Ruth]

First of all, ticket prices:
23.50 pounds = $38.22 at today's rate
25.00 pounds = $40.66

Remember, Celtic Woman is unknown in the UK, and they can only charge what people will pay.
Also, Brits would not pay extra for a Meet & Greet. It would be regarded as just a marketing ploy.
If they become popular and ticket demand increases, the price will probably double for the next tour.

If anyone is thinking of going, and can't decide which venue, here is a link and a piece about two of them, I'll do the others later.
From the link you can usually find the seating plan and photo gallery:

GLASGOW - The Royal Concert Hall is in the middle of this very lively Scottish City.
When in Glasgow, don't get into a discussion about their 2 rival football (soccer) teams - Rangers and Celtic.
They get pretty wild!
http://www.glasgowconcerthalls.com/grch

YORK - My favourite English City.....beautiful, historic, and very friendly.
You have to enter through one of the narrow Roman Gateways, and you can walk along it's Roman walls:


It was an important Base for the Vikings and the Romans, and traces of both can be seen here.
There is much to see, and don't miss Betty's café.....pastries and cakes to die for!
I recommend the Yorkshire Fat Rascal, and the afternoon cream tea.
See the magnificent York Minster, and have a drink in a nearby Pub
which is haunted by the missing Roman 9th Legion. They march through the basement.

In the CW info, notice how the photo of Lisa L looks like the mystery redhead on the CD covers:

http://www.yorkbarbican.co.uk/performance/16783.aspx

More venues later.

Thanks for the news Maggie, I hope they do not cancel the dates.
I ordered the tickets for London and I think I know the venue from Les miserables, looks like a good ambience for me

Vienna is sold out too 

[Maggie]

On to the other CW UK venues:

MANCHESTER.
I have to be honest here, I do not like big, ugly, dirty cities.....and that's how I think of Manchester.
I avoid the place, so I have not been there for many, many years.
I doubt if it has changed much, except to become bigger and uglier.
I know it has a big crime rate compared to other British Cities.
Manchester's only redeeming feature for me when I was young was...
...it was where we had to board the plane for Ireland, after a 50 mile train ride.
That was before Leeds/Bradford Airport was developed.

However, the venue Bridgewater Hall is magnificent.
It opened in 1996, and seats 2,400.

Quote:
"Unusually, The Bridgewater Hall is neither concrete nor steel-framed, but is mostly formed from solid, reinforced concrete, moulded and cast like a vast sculpture. This gives it the acoustic ideal of enormous density and mass. The remarkable roof appears to hover, weightless, above the building. One of the most fascinating aspects of the Hall’s construction is that the entire structure floats free of the ground on almost three hundred, earthquake-proof isolation bearings or giant springs, so there is no rigid connection between the 22,500 ton building and its foundations. This ensures the Hall’s carefully designed acoustic is protected from all outside noise and vibration. The Bridgewater Hall auditorium seats nearly 2400 people, but is surprisingly warm and intimate for a venue of its size. The seating is carefully tiered to draw everyone as closely as possible around and into the performance by uniquely combining two well-established designs, known as the 'shoebox' and the 'vineyard'. Taking centre stage at the front of the auditorium is the Hall’s magnificent Marcussen organ. Above the auditorium’s concrete ceiling, a huge acoustic void houses technical systems and winches for lowering the chandeliers, lighting rigs and PA equipment."

[Gerard]

As I said elsehere, I bought my ticket for the London show, on september 20th. I'll be in the stalls, row B, seat 6, at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane, a theater I know quite well because I've already been there twice, in 1998 to see Miss Saigon, and in 1999 for Dancing on Dangerous Ground. I hope the Young Dancer is still in place, because this time, I want to take her picture.

[Maggie]

LONDON:
Theatre Royal Drury Lane is one of my favourite London Theatres.
It has a lot of history, and many famous feet have graced the stage.
http://www.reallyuseful.com/theatres/theatre-royal-drury-lane/history-1

I would love to see Celtic Woman there in September, but my time in the London area
will be entirely taken up with my grandsons.
I have bought tickets for York and Birmingham. I may not make it to both....but I have plenty
of family members who will be happy to have the tickets.

When I worked in Yorkshire, there was a good deal on British Rail called a "London Weekend".
With 2 or 3 friends, I would leave Leeds on the Yorkshire Pullman around 5:30pm Friday, and have
dinner on the train. We would stay 2 nights in a good West End Hotel, such as the Mayfair,
or Rubens near Buckingham Palace. On Saturday night we would have dinner in town, and go to
a Show or a play at one of the famous theatres.  Mass at Westminster Cathedral on Sunday morning,
then back to Yorkshire on the train with lunch on the way.

You can take a Tour of some of the Theatres, Theatre Royal and Her Majesty's are the oldest ones,
and the most haunted. When I worked at LWT, we did a series of variety shows called "Live from Her Majesty's"
and they really did go out live. During one show when I was in the audience, the comedian Tommy Cooper collapsed
on stage....everyone laughed, thinking it was part of the act.....but he died right there, on live TV.
Our Company Nurse tried to resuscitate him but he was already gone.

"Theatre Royal Drury Lane:
"Through The Stage Door" is a unique and enchanting experience – a dramatised tour led by professional actors
who inform and entertain, taking you on a memorable journey through the theatre’s history.
Meet famous characters including, Garrick, Sheridan, Grimaldi and Nell Gwyne.
The tour lasts approximately 1 hour.

Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday - 2.15pm and 4.15pm   (from Maggie - CW is on Tuesday 12/20)
Thursday and Saturday - 10.15am and 11.45am
Sundays by arrangement - please contact the Theatre Management
Adults £9, Children £7, groups of 10 or more £6.50 per person.

Booking:
Theatre box office, Monday to Saturday 10am to 8pm
24 hour credit card hotline: 0870 890 1109 (from the USA = 01144 870 1109)
Individual Bookings: 0844 412 2705 (from USA = 01144 844 412 2705)

Please note that the Theatre Royal Drury Lane is a working building and the content of the tours may vary."

Box Office online:
http://www.boxoffice.co.uk/Arts-and-Theatre-Tickets/Musicals/Shrek-The-Musical-Tickets.aspx

Here are some good photos of Theatre Royal:
http://www.arthurlloyd.co.uk/DruryLane/TheatreRoyalDruryLaneImages.htm