INTERMISSION
After the lights came up, and we had just started to get up to stretch, we hear “How did you guys get front row seats?” It was Mike from the April SFTH concert at the State Theatre in Minneapolis. Well, of course we all got super excited and gave him a huge hug, introduced him to Laura and Paul and started to talk about the show. Laura and I couldn’t stop talking about all the attention Lisa Kelly kept giving us, and we were completely in awe. We had a discussion about how Lisa must have recognized us from our posts on her Facebook wall, because she did seem to recognize us. There was also an empty seat right next to Paul, which we offered to Mike, so now there were 7 loyal fans right in the front row center, which was good, because I honestly don’t know what was up with the rest of the audience. Destiny turned to me right before the first act started and said “We’re the youngest ones in the front row.” I looked around, and it was true. Which makes me wonder if everyone else with the good first couple row seats were season ticket holders to the MN Orchestra and had no idea even who these girls were… Once we had settled back into our seats, Laura turned to Sarah and I and said “Here’s some toilet paper… in case you need it…” Since none of us had thought to bring Kleenex. This turned out to be a really good idea as I could not stop bawling towards the end of the show. Thank you so much Laura!!!!!!!!!! Love you!!!!
Second Act
The orchestra came back out and played Sleighride, which actually turned out to be one of the best parts of the show…
The guy who was playing the whip could only get it to work part of the time… about every other time. When he did get it to work, everyone cheered and he acknowledged us with a nod. Then, at the very end of the song, he came out to the front of the stage and prepared himself for the final whip of the song. When he got it, the audience went absolutely wild!!!! We were all standing and cheering for him! (Little sidenote: we actually met him as he was coming out the stage door at the end of the show).
Then David came back out to huge cheers from (now there were 7 of us) the front row.
In The Bleak Midwinter Mairead put so much emotion into this song as well, and it was absolutely gorgeous!! She used all of the stage and made eye contact with a lot of the audience members. I love watching her play!
The First Noel I really liked how they transitioned into this song. Mairead finished her song, and they just went right into this one. I don’t remember who the first girl was who came out to sing this, but each girl would walk out the side door… stand by the piano, then move towards the center of the stage as the next girl was walking out. It was really beautiful. More love from Lisa Kelly… I couldn’t believe how much she was focusing on the 3 of us… It was heaven!!
Green The Whole Year Round Lil’ Lambe, Chloe and Mairead left the stage, and Lisa Kelly was standing right in front of me!! Again, I had to grab onto Sarah to keep from completely freaking out. She asked, “So, have you guys been singing along with us tonight?” Cheers from the 7 of us… Then she smiled and said “Good, so your vocal chords are all warmed up? Because I need your help on this song.” She mentioned how they had recorded a Christmas DVD called A Christmas Celebration a few years ago (enter cheers from the 7 of us). Once she heard us cheering, she stopped and said, “Oh, some of you have seen it, good!” Then she went on the mention how David had written this gorgeous song for her called Green The Whole Year Round (enter more cheers from us) and again, she stopped, looked at us, and said “Oh, you guys know this song.. that’s good!” She mentioned how she had a beautiful choir to back her up on the DVD, and how tonight, she had a beautiful Symphony backing her up, “But I couldn’t convince them to sing.” This got a lot of smiled from the orchestra. Then she said “If I teach you the words, would you sing with me?” Sarah, Laura and I started cheering wildly. So, Lisa taught us the words, and as she was teaching them to us, Sarah and I were singing along. I noticed her look down right at us a few times, which almost made me faint. Then we did a practice round, and she said, “Okay good… now at the end of the song, the key goes up, and if you don’t make the key change with me, it will sound horrible, so make sure you’re paying attention.” And her giggle is just too adorable!! So, then she started the song… cue more tears from me… and she even stopped singing at one point to see if we were actually singing… it was too cute! Then, when the key went up, she held up her finger, and we all made the key change!! YAY!! During intermission, Laura, Sarah and I had decided that we were, of course going to give her a standing O after this song, but that we were all going to shout out at the same time as well “We love you Lisa!!” Which, we tried, but I was bawling to hard, and it didn’t quite work. However, just as she was walking off stage, we hear from next to us “We love you Lisa!!!!!!!!” from Mike.
Oh, also during this song, and all the others where she was sending us all her love, there was a guy a few rows down to my left who kept leaning down in his chair almost as if to say “Who do the girls keep looking at and blowing kisses to?”
Granuaile’s Dance I have always loved this song, and as I was wiping away my tears from the previous song, Mairead came on and proceded to blow us all away!! Again, there wasn’t much room for her to dance, which was disappointing, but she made do pretty well. She did look at us a few times with a “Hey! I know you!” expression which was adorable. At one point, Sarah pokes me and points down to my right, and there’s Mike pretending to play the fiddle and just having a really good time. It made me smile really big. Mairead saw it too, and gave him a huge smile as well. The 7 of us were the only ones clapping for this song out of the completely sold out theatre at Orchestra Hall, which was a bit annoying, but it was all the better that we were in the front row then I guess. Of course, she got a standing O from us, and we got more annoyed looks and grumbles from the people behind us.
Auld Lang Syne Lil’ Lambe came on and introduced this song. I don’t remember exactly what she said, but she mentioned how it’s a Scottish song about friendship and it’s usually sung by a number of people. And usually when it’s sung, people cross their arms and hold hands with the people next to them and sway. She demonstrated and invited us to try it, which Sarah, Destiny, Jenn and I did throughout the entire songs, and of course, we were the only ones. I love love love Lil’ Lambe!!!!!! She has the most gorgeous voice, and as Destiny, Sarah and I were discussing at my house after the show, she can sing anything. She had a Scottish accent while she was singing, which was adorable, and at one point, she looked down into the front row, saw the 4 of us holding hands the way she had invited us to, and smiled at us.
This song was absolutely beautiful and I didn’t want it to end.
Ave Maria: Just thinking about this song, I’m crying. Chloe walked out with her mike in a mike stand, and blew me away!!!!!!! I’ve always known she does a gorgeous job with this song, but seeing it live, and all the intensity she puts into it…. *speechless* At one point, I closed my eyes to soak up every minute of this gorgeous song, and I opened my eyes with tears streaming out of them to see the angelic Ms. Agnew looking right at me. This was my favorite song from the whole show!!!!!!!!!!! I just have no words….
In between Ave Maria and YRMU when all the girls came back out onto the stage and Mairead had just started talking, I noticed that Lil’ Lambe was right in front of me, so I gave her a HUGE smile, and I got the most adorable “Hi!” from her… it was amazing!!!!!!
You Raise Me Up Mairead, Lisa Kelly and Lil’ Lambe came back onto the stage, and Mairead said something along the lines of “We’re nearing the end of our show, we will now take requests.” Which got a good laugh out of everyone. I was looking over at Lisa Kelly, and she got this adorable confused look on her face, and staring at Mairead, shaking her head and mouthing “No, no, no….” Random people were shouting out requests, and threw in there Fields Of Gold. Mairead looked at all of us and said, “We’ll perform your requests, as long as it’s already the song we were going to sing next.” This got a lot of laughs. She continued, “This is a song that has been very close to our hearts since the beginning of Celtic Woman.” She then started playing the intro to YRMU. I knew right then and there that I was going to be in trouble. For one, Chloe was almost right in front of me, and this had been an incredibly emotional night for me. Plus I knew the show was almost over. A couple seconds into the song, I feel my hand being squeezed, and I look over, and Sarah had caught my hand. I looked a little farther over, and Laura and Sarah were holding hands as well. That did it… As soon as Lisa Kelly started to sing the chorus, I burst. Even writing this review now, I’m bawling. I even had to lay my head on Sarah’s shoulder to keep from blubbering loudly and interrupting the beauty of the song. I’ve always cried when I’ve heard these girls sing YRMU… on the SFTH DVD, on my CDs, and at the 4 SFTH live concerts I’ve been to, but for some reason, it completely wrecked me Friday night. I was shaking and the tears were coming so hard and so fast. I had promised myself I was going to control my tears, but all I could keep thinking was these girls mean the world to me, we won’t be seeing Lisa again for awhile… and finally my brain just stopped working and I was sobbing. Thank you thank you thank you Sarah for grabbing onto my hand… I really needed that. At one point, I saw Lisa Kelly look at me, and when she saw my tears, she gave me this really sweet smile, which caused me to cry even harder. They must have been giving each other silent signals throughout the song, or something, because I noticed that all 4 of the girls looked at me at one point. I honestly never thought I would get this emotional… I could barely breathe… It was hard for me to even hear the music. Once the song was over, of course they deserved a standing O, so I gave it and still I couldn’t stop crying…
I got the most gentle, motherly look from Lisa Kelly, just as I was starting to calm down, which caused the tears to start overflowing again. After I blew my kisses to Lisa Kelly and after I cheered forever, I walked over to Laura, and have her a HUGE hug!! She was sitting right next to Sarah, so I leaned over Sarah to give Laura a hug, and got some more annoyed looks and grumbles from the people behind me, but I was just thinking… I don’t care what you think , these girls mean everything to me and I need a hug!
Oh Come All Ye Faithful This song was absolutely gorgeous as well, and was the song during which Lisa Kelly and I shared the most incredibly special moment that will stay with me forever. Since this song immediately followed YRMU, I still could not stop bawling, and I knew the show was almost over, and I was enjoying my last few moments with Lisa Kelly. Anyway, she saw me bawling and kept giving me all these smiles almost as if she was trying to tell me, “It’s okay, you’re okay… I’m right here.” Which of course, caused the tears to come even harder… I believe it was towards the middle of the song… one of the many times we made eye contact~ she looked at me and gave me this huge smile almost as if to say, “I’m here… you’re going to be okay.” It was different than the millions of other smiles I had gotten from her throughout the night… this one had more love and encouragement in it. After she send me that message, she looked away to sing to some other audience members, but I would not take my eyes off her, because I knew she was going to make eye contact with me again, and when she did about a minute later, I caught her eye, we held eye contact again, and I mouthed “Thank you!” She obviously knew what I was thanking her for, because she gave me a nod of an acknowledgment and a “You’re welcome.” That meant everything in the world to me, and I nudged Laura because I had to see if someone else had seen it, or if I was just imagining it. I’m sorry everyone, but I honestly don’t remember a word or the music of any of this song… I just remember the incredibly special moment Lisa Kelly and I shared. I’m sure the song was beautiful, but it was as if we were the only 2 in the room, and she had a message she wanted to get across to me, which was “Everything is going to be just fine.” I’ve written her a fan letter and gotten a response in return, and she knows about my struggles with my depression and my eating disorder and I really do think she recognized me from my Facebook profile picture, and she really wanted me to know I was going to be okay. Of course, I was the first one on my feet after this song was over blowing kiss after kiss to my beloved Lisa. <3 Which she returned and at that moment, I felt my heart leave my chest and even now, 2 days later, she still has it with her… After this song, the girls walked offstage 2 of them went off one way, and 2 of them went off the other way. I could see Lil’ Lambe hanging out in the doorway right offstage. After about 10 seconds they came back on, and I don’t remember who said it, but one of them said “We’re gonna do one more for you.” And a lot of people in the audience were holding up 5 fingers… because we all wanted them to do more. Chloe then said… “We want you to be Irish with us for this song…” and they started
Let it Snow They had so much fun with it too!!!!! During the instrumental break in the middle, the girls spread out around the stage… Of course, I only had eyes for one of them, and I watched Lisa Kelly walk across the stage and sit down next to David at the piano and flirt with him for a little bit. Because the girls were having so much fun, it was hard for me not to. Sarah, Laura and I were swaying back and forth and enjoying ourselves, and we noticed the girls saw us, and I’m sure that made them happy that we were enjoying ourselves as well. When the song was over, more kisses to the wonderful Lisa Kelly, and we all shouted “We love you David!!” Then, the girls were gone and it was time to think about heading home.
I do have one more part of the review, which is our experience at the stage door, and the very special person we met, but I wanted to get this part up… The end of my review will come soon….
