"Believe" Little Rock concert plus Meet & Greet

Well, it is over and what a show it was. I left early and picked up my friend Johnny for the trip to Little Rock. We stopped at the Chinese place in Sheridan and I ate a small meal. We arrived early and sat outside on some nice benches for the public. It was a beatiful day. Eventually we went in and I purchased a program and tee shirt. We went to the front row. I visited with the lady from state PBS and a character to my left that was still engaged in the battle between England and Ireland. "Lose it and get a life."

As the musicians went to their stations I pointed at Ray and yelled "Ray Fean." He said "hey there" and started to clap. The audience followed suit. I noticed the elaborate new set and my first thought was "There is not enough space for them to do the flying sequence in "Teir Abhaile Riu." And it turned out to be the case. I was delighted that Lisa did the spoon sequence during Dulaman. I loved Ray's solo on the Bodhran. At one point he pointed at me. That was cool. I enjoyed Tommy's flute solo. Mairead and new choir member/dancer Craig Ashurst were magic as a pair. That alone was worth the price of admission. Early in the show Lisa locked eyes with me and waved. I smiled but as I waved back she had turned and was headed in another direction. Later in the show Chloe was giving one of her talks. As her gaze came towards me I blew her a kiss. She then blew one right back at me. How cool is that? The most unusual and entertaining part of the show for me was "Teir Abhaile Riu." Even without the flying sequence it was fantastic. It started out with Mairead high up on the set and Andy sitting beside her. Then these strange noises started to permeate the theatre. Everyone was looking around wandering where they were coming from. I kept saying "Is that Mairead? No, it can't be her." Eventually Chloe and Lisa came down the aisles and one came up on each side of the stage. They continued what I can only describe as some Gaelic chant. One of the most unique things I have ever heard. That was not in the filming in Atlanta and took everyone by surprise. The energy of the show kept building and ended in a fever pitch as it always does.

I loved Susan's stage presence, her voice, her presentation, her beauty and certainly her ever present smile. If Lisa Kelly comes back next year I hope they retain a spot for her. She is special.

I was pleasantly surprised that Lisa and Mairead showed up at the Meet & Greet. They were here last year also. So Mairead signed the mouse pad and magazine that I received. When I put the magazine down she said "I've been seeing some of these lately." Then I mentioned that Rick Shears had been passing them out to his friends. Bubba just loved the mouse pad. He said that it was really cool. Both the girls were very nice and everyone adored them. Johnny was taking pics while I was at the table. After my turn I got out my little disposable camera and took several snapshots. I was all over the place trying to get different angles of the girls. So were several other people. We were all jockeying for position. It was quite amusing. I told one lady from PBS to move over for a few seconds so I could get a shot that I wanted. I took about 15 shots and the camera holds 27.

My friend Rick Shears runs a blog on Irish music. I would like to thank him for allowing me to post this review on his blog. I also posted two other Celtic Woman reviews and a Celtic Thunder review on it last year. Please check it out. It has material on many Irish music performers. Many of them are based here in the U.S. A lot of them you probably have never heard of. Go to "irishmusicfans.blogspot.com"

To see pictures from the Meet and Greet go to flickr.com/photos/aetntv/ I am in the first picutre with Lisa and Mairead, celtic woman 023.