|
|
« on: March 10, 2012, 04:17PM » |
|
Hershey Kisses on Super Tuesday - Celtic Woman in Hershey Pa - March 6, 2012
March 6th was “Super Tuesday” here in the U.S.A. Candidates hoping to be elected President participated in Primary Elections in a number of key states. But I elected to make Celtic Woman my Primary concern of the day. Hey any Celtic Woman concert on a Tuesday makes it a Super Tuesday! Hershey might be the Chocolate Capitol of the world, so you know its got to be a … sweet … place. Celtic Woman did not disappoint the crowd, but perhaps the crowd should have eaten a bit more of their local chocolate, as it appeared they could have used a little more sugar in their blood to stir up some energy. But that’s jumping ahead. I met up with my car pool partner Annie and headed east from Pittsburgh to Harrisburg. We ran into a little trouble on the Pennsylvania turnpike. We came to a spot where the right lane was closed for “Road Work”. We spotted the usual types of signs and they even had a State Trooper in a cruiser off to the side of the road, with lights flashing, to make sure no one somehow continued in the closed lane. So everyone merged into the left / passing lane and everyone slowed down. Then, everyone STOPPED! UH-OH! People turned off their engines and just sat around. I figured maybe some type of accident in the one open lane? I don’t know. Then we started rolling again at a slow pace. Then we slowed down again, but didn’t completely stop that time. I could see the road crew guys and machines working off to the side of the road. Maybe the side of that hill slid and made the road edge unstable. I don’t know, but I was glad when we got passed that and got back to warp speed toward Hershey. Hershey is an interesting little town. This was my first trip there. The street lights were in the shape of Hershey kisses candy. The one spot is sort of a complete entertainment area. An amusement park, stadium, some type of big garden up on a big hill, and the Giant Center, the venue for the concert. Before we parked, Annie had a gift for the ladies. Chocolate bars! Good grief.!!! They were in Chocolate town already, plus Mrpeabody always gives them Cadbury Flakes, and now Annie gave them even more. Is it no wonder why these ladies always jump around and are always full of energy? Maybe its also why they are so … sweet. (ok I know too many corny references to chocolate in Hershey). Popeye had his spinach, CW has chocolate. So we end up parking for $8, a much better fee than our last concert in Charlottesville, where the Univ. of Va. hosed us for $15. Then we waited to meet MrPeabody to get our tickets. I got a little worried as he wasn’t there early as he usually is. Maybe Sherman entered the wrong setting on his ‘way-back’ machine! But anyway, as we waited, I noticed a LOT of staff people on duty there. Some guided people to parking spots, some just answering questions, some yelling “No cameras, leave them in your car!”. Security was a theme of the evening. But that’s also jumping ahead. Also, while waiting outside, I noticed a guy wearing a kilt. That had to be cold. It was NOT a warm day. As I entered, a lady checked my bag, as do all venues these days. She said “Going to work?” and I didn’t understand at the time. But I guess she referred to my dress shirt and tie that I had on.. I looked more like someone headed to the office than a show at an arena. I had on my Celtic concert “uniform” the green dress shirt with the gold tie with the Celtic Knots on it. So we go in and I spotted the merchandise table, with only 1 person there! I walked up and the staff guy waited on me immediately! They had more staff at the table than customers! This was my 22nd Celtic Woman concert, and that’s the very first time I had ever seen something like that. Usually the table is an absolute zoo! I asked the guy “Whats up? Where is everyone?” and he said “Not many coming tonight, we only sold about 2000 tickets”. I thought “UH-OH! At my first show of the year down in Charlottesville, I spotted a lot of empty seats. I hope that this doesn’t start a trend. But I have a theory on this. First, many more shows are in arenas instead of theatres, so since arenas have many more seats, you are bound to see empties. Plus some people just don’t like arena concerts. At theatre concerts, some attendees are the types to go to whatever shows and concerts come to town. But with an arena, you don’t have such loyal attendees who might come for anything, well except for sports. The arena has that sports feel to it, and it just turns some people off. Not exactly a performing arts type of ambiance. But anyway I bought a refrigerator magnet and a lapel pin. I didn’t see those down in Charlottesville at my last show. Then I headed on in to my seat. We had front row center again. Many in the front row had ties to the forum and / or Mrpeabody. Plus there were some forum types back in the crowd as well. I noticed something right away about the stage set up. It looked like the piano was a bit more toward center then its usual position. It was still left of center, over near Ray and below him, but just a tad bit more centered. The rest of the stage looked like the usual set up. An usher came over to me and checked my ticket. I spared her my “I must be in the front row!” Bob Uecker joke that I nailed the usher in Charlottesville with. She used a sharpie to put an ‘ x ‘ on my ticket and she also put a red wrist band on me. WOW these people are serious! Plus she spotted someone in the crowd with a camera but she didn’t freak out, as this was still before the show. But she did try to get their attention to tell them to put it away. So we hear the usual announcement, you know, no cameras or recording, you are all very welcome to the show, etc. The band comes out and we groupies clap and cheer, some yelling “RAY!”, and its showtime! The awakening went very well, as it always does. I noticed a couple things on Dulaman. First, Lisa didn’t use the one finger ‘come here’ flirty move. She used all 4 fingers & the entire hand to both drummers. And it was sort of a one time move, not repeated. Just didn’t seem to be as sultry / flirty. Second, it looked like she had gold spoons. I always thought they were silver, or a basic metallic color. Could have been lighting though, or my angle. I was just left of center, but at Charlottesville I was just right of center. And the stage in Hershey seemed lower and maybe smaller. So my perspective may have just been a bit different tonight. But Lil lambe did her usual great job with the song. I really liked Susan tonight on Follow On. She didn’t really reach out and grab me at the first show, but I thought she did much better this time. Although I still wasn’t really awed by Water is Wide in the second half. But she really nailed the high notes on Follow On. She also seemed to have an easier time on the steps tonight. At Charlottesville, I got the impression that she was trying to be extra cautious on them. But she seemed a lot more comfortable. She even looked at people in the crowd a couple times, though she still doesn’t interact much. Just sort of looks straight back like Alex used to do. I also noted that she seemed to remind me a bit of Carrie Underwood. Not her voice, but the look. Susan also sounded better tonight. Maybe some type of adjustment made with the mics or speakers for her. Chloe and Nocture went well too.
|