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Author Topic: Salt Lake City, April 19th  (Read 3287 times)
tchristina23
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« on: April 20, 2012, 03:14AM »

What a great night... 1st concert ever and was it a blast.. Still on a 4 hour high at this point. Will try to compose my thoughts before writing the review. Rigth now all I can say is Gary got lots of smiles, Steve got the "Lisa lap sit", Brooke got a Chloe squeeze, the girls got lots of hoots and haulers from the front few rows, and Anthony and Craig gained 2 new girlfriends.
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tchristina23
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« Reply #1 on: April 22, 2012, 08:53AM »

Super Sensations from Salt Lake City
Warning: This is an EXtended review so get your caffeine ready.
 
The title of the tour is so fitting. Believe was “UnBELIEVEable”
This was my first concert ever. 45+ years and it took a PBS special with 3 soft, sweet, heavenly voices and 1 very energetic violinist to get me thinking a concert might be fun. By the end of watching 6 straight hours of the PBS special I knew I wanted to see them live. Thus began my new addiction: Celtic Woman.
 
I purchased a single ticket; floor seat, row 27, seat 14 and started preparing myself. In my preparations I purchased 3 DVD’s: A new Journey, Songs from the Heart and The Greatest Journey, and 3 CD’s: Celtic Woman (Helix), The Greatest Journey, and Lullaby. Celtic Woman began filling my apartment full time. Then I found Youtube and set off another addiction. Thank God these 2 new addictions are mostly healthy. I say mostly healthy because eating an entire gallon of icecream while watching their DVD may not be the healthiest choice, but it won’t kill me either, so it is mostly healthy.
With Believe DVD and CD preordered I was fully ready. Sometime in December I found my 3rd addictions- Celtic Woman Forum.
•         Yeah once for Celtic Woman-okay a very big yeah, woohoo, hippity-hop for them.
•         Yeah twice for Youtube that gives me extra behind the scenes footage showing more personalities of the ladies and other talents. (Chloe can not play the spoons, she needs to leave that to Ray and Lisa)
•         Yeah three times for a fun forum where I can talk to others who understand the fun, peaceful, excitement these ladies bring me.
 
As the tour began I decided that to be fully prepared for my 1st concert I needed to read the reviews  (plus my addiction wouldn’t let me say NO), so I read each review I could find and got even more excited.
Along this journey I made contact with Steve who would also be attending the Salt Lake City concert. He told me they would have a preshow dinner and I was welcome to come if I wanted.
My addiction had spread to a co-worker and she too wanted to attend the concert, so she bought a ticket. Because we bought tickets at separate times our seats would not be together but we didn’t care. It would be fun no matter where we sat.

I kept my concert energy up by watching the Believe DVD for 2 days straight when I finally got it, buying 4 more DVD’s (3 for gifts and 1 extra for me in case I wore my first one out. Do I win a prize if I am the first fan to wear out the Believe DVD because I might just do that.) Kept communicating with Steve to keep the “human” aspect alive. Yes another real person loves these ladies as much as I do, I am not crazy, just in a new stage of love, and kept reading reviews so I wouldn’t be an idiot at the concert.

Upon reading a few reviews I found that some people take gifts to the ladies. Oh no addiction #4. I scrapbook for sanity sake, so now I wanted to make a little thing for each of them. I again contacted Steve to see the best way to get the gifts to them. If I have a problem getting them into the venue could I find him and have him give them to the girls. This 4th addiction works great with addiction #1. I can scrapbook the entire 2 hours while watching any of their DVD’s. Great combinations. (okay truthfully the dust in my house might say differently, but it is only dust and can’t talk to me so who cares. It will still be there after concert date I am sure.)

April 4 Steve sent me a message that got me full fledged crying in public. He had “played some magic” and got me a M&G pass. Now you see why I was crying at the public library. I was excited about just going to the concert, but now thinking that I would be feet away from 2 of the girls sent this now obsessed lady over the edge. (a great edge). I was hoping this M&G pass did not belong to his mother-in-law as I didn’t want to start any family feuds. (THANK YOU Steve)
Now the pressure started. I have to make gifts for the ladies. It isn’t just an “oh I could make gifts and take” it was now a “oh boy I HAVE to make gifts for the girls”. I work great under pressure.
April 18th, albums done, pictures printed to have autographed, clothes packed and every review I could find was read. I was as ready as I could be.

Concert day started about 6:30 AM because I was too excited to sleep. It was today. TODAY, yes TODAY. Today they wouldn’t just be an image on my TV screen or on my car stereo, they would be LIVE on a stage in front of me. I wondered…How far back is 27 rows, oh who cares just seeing them live, feeling the energy and excitement would be great, then the M&G to meet 2 of them. Yes it would be Great. A taste of heaven for me. (Maybe it seemed like a taste of heaven to me because I have been missing my mom so much the past 6 months. It will be 10 years soon. April 3rd she would have been 74 and to be seeing these sweet ladies with those heavenly voices perform live kind of felt like a piece of my mom there.)
After a 2 ½ hour drive and a little shopping we arrived at the hotel about 2:30 PM. We had just over 2 hours until dinner so I got on the computer to do a quick check and see if any Denver reviews had been posted. I did not find any reviews, but found something even better. It was a short message from Jill (another new forum friend). She said “I have a better seat for you”. WHAT- Where:How:Amazing:Thanks. My feet were just verily touching the ground as it was, but now I am flying once again. I am not on cloud 9, I am high above cloud 9, like cloud 12, 13, NO for sure I was on cloud 30. (how high can I cloud go?) Sailing- I am flying like a bird. Yes I was a bird, an eagle because they soar so good and I am flying and soaring high.
We arrived at Biaggi’s a little before 5 and met Steve, his wife Kathryn and started getting introduced to all the others. Met Jill where she presented me with a new ticket. OH MY. You aren’t gonna believe this. (you see this is why this entire tour, starting with the first concept in David’s head, to the songs that were chosen, to the Atlanta filming to now is called Believe.)
1st concert= unBELIEVEable
Floor seat= unBELIEVEable
M&G pass= unBELIEVEable
Now a new seat= unBELIEVEable---You want to try guessing? Row 2 seat 1.
UNBELIEVEABLE. I do Believe this is unbelievable. (can you say lucky? Now can you say SPOILED? Yes Yes  YES.)
I do believe the ladies have an Unbelievable following of wonderful fans that enjoy sharing the ladies love and joy with others. What cloud was I on I do not know, maybe I hadn’t landed on a cloud yet.
Dinner set the mood for the rest of the night and what a sensational mood it was. There were about 24 people: Steve, Kathryn, Garrett, Elise, Linda, Kathryns mom and dad( Jane and Frank), Steve’s parents (JoAnn and Charles), Mike,Vicki and Dave Hill, Boyde and Jean Blackwell, Jill and her 12 ½ year old daughter Brooke, 3 of Steve’s nieces (Audrey, Carolyn, Alayna), Camille and her mom Kathryn, my co-worker Kim, myself and one last jolly feller named Gary Bartlett. If any of you know Gary you know how the rest of the night is gonna play out. You need him at every preconcert dinner and every concert. Celtic Woman should pay him to do this. From reading reviews I think there are a few more “Gary”’s out there. They tell you about meeting each girl, they give you little insight tidbits of information and start preparing you for an awesome night.  Get your feet, hands and voices ready because we ARE gonna be giving some standing O’s, your hands will be almost continuously clapping and your voices will be used not just for your debut with Celtic Woman on Green Grow the Rushes, but for all the Hoot, Hollering and name yelling “Go Ray, Yeah Anthony” you WILL be doing. Dinner was energetic and relaxing with some people who have seen the ladies perform before and at least 6 of us first timers. A great combination. And the dinner was pretty darn good too.

After dinner we walked the few blocks to the venue. Remember my upgraded seat, well at dinner I had overheard Audrey say something about a friend that couldn’t get a ticket. I found Audrey outside the venue and asked her about it. She made a call and there went my ticket. See the Celtic Woman pass it forward system. Steve had kind of told me about this Celtic Woman phenomenon of passing your joy from Celtic Woman onto someone else, and here it was happening on this day too.
Before getting to my seat they put a green wristband around my wrist. Yeah, how fitting, green, Irish Green. Are all the wristbands at venues Irish green? I told the usher I loved the green but I guess he wasn’t as big of a fan as I was cause he didn’t get it. Yes, Irish green wristbands. It did not go with my hot pink shirt, but now I loved this new color.
Concert floor: The stage was BEAUTIFUL, lightly lit with blues. The arch in the center at the top of the stairs, drums set up on each side of the highrise, guitars on my side and the piano on the opposite side. Row 1 had about 10 people from dinner, and row 2 had about 10 of us. Boy row 2 is CLOSE to the stage, much closer than row 27… HAPPY HAPPY Tina. I did look and thought there was enough room between the first row and the stage that it would allow Anthony to do his walk up on stage and hopefully the special part of TAR. The center stairs were directly in front of Steve.

We are now seated…the first thing we see is the band come out onto a dim lit stage. “yeah Ray” yells Gary and this started the night. Ray smiled and waved his sticks at us. We were clapping and I think we gave them a pretty good welcome and we hadn’t even seen one of the ladies yet. I don’t know if I was too focused on the band or what, but I didn’t see Mairead get into position. The next thing I know a single light shown upon Mairead with her violin in hand, in her “stance” and then you hear the best music ever.
Little child like fascination came over me. Star struck gaze in my eyes, but my mouth wasn’t hanging open because I was already mouthing every word I knew. I tried hard not to sing out loud because I knew people had paid money to hear the ladies sing not to hear me sing, but I was also glad the speaker was close by so it could drowned out any sounds I did make.
Every song was Spectacular, absolutely Wonderful. A few highlights from a 1st timers point of view were
•         Watching Susan in Awakening, standing just in front of me and looking out into the audience, then looking down to the front row and noticing Gary. (she had been scolded by him in Chicago for not looking down at the first few rows often enough). She looks down, notices Gary and the best sweet Susan smile came to her face. It was priceless. That smile then got us 10 or so people smiling, clapping and a little screaming. I had to watch and see how many more times she would dare to do it. I know of atleast 4 times just during that song where she noticed Gary who in return clapped vigorously, smiled and might have even given her a thumbs up. I don’t know how they keep singing but they do. I don’t have any idea how Chloe or Lisa looked during this song because Susan had all my attention. I do know toward the end of Awakening Mairead was playing with such energy she broke one of her bow strings. (does she have extra bows in the back and if so how many, or do they just cut off that one string so it doesn’t keep hitting her in the face?) Yep lots of energy to start the show out. Lots and Lots.
•         Ray starts out Dulaman and yes Lisa did the spoons. Cool. This is a Lisa song for sure. Energy combined with flirt, yep a Lisa song it is. Wonderful.
•         Chloe thanked the audience for the great Irish weather we had given her earlier in the day and said it reminded her of home. (they do seem to bring that weather with them don’t they)
•         Nocturne. It is a good thing at one point that Chloe stops singing because although I knew Mairead was on the other side of the stage I couldn’t take my eyes off Chloe to look at Mairead. I love this song. I listened and yep this girl can hit some very high notes. Her range amazes me.
I think I must have been like a 4 year old at Disneyland for the first time seeing Mickey Mouse. I was at Celtic Woman Land and my Mickeys (Chloe, Mairead, Lisa and Susan) were right there in front of me. Simply joyfull.
•         Mairead starts off Fox Hunter with its’ mellow part, then she woke the audience up as she pauses…smiles…gets that look in her eyes of “are you ready?” and we know what is coming- the Mairead Hendrix. Okay now more people in the audience were clapping. It wasn’t just the first 3 rows. Energy, excitement and excellance.
•         With Follow On done I know where to look. I hoped it wouldn’t be on stage. No it wasn’t on stage. The far left side leaning against the speaker system is a sound, then the light lit up Lisa and you here her ladadedada… and you see the flirt come out in Lisa. I knew then to keep an eye out on my side of the stage and sure enough I saw Chloe push her way through the backstage curtains and skip toward the front row. She pauses until the light hits her, then she starts her backfire of Ladadeda. I’m so busy watching Chloe I forgot to look up at Lisa in some of her parts, but I look up just in time to catch her sitting on Steve’s lap. (I’m sure Steve will come back to earth in a few weeks). Chloe sat on the lap of the guy right on the isle and his facial expressions were wonderful. Kind of a “OH, I guess you can sit here, Oh Yeah you CAN sit here”. The smile on his face said it all. Glancing between Lisa and Chloe directly in front of me she bends over and puts her hands on Brooke’s face and starts pleading with her ladadaladee’s to have an ally in Brooke. It was GREAT. They continue toward each other doing their ladadade and make their way up on stage where shortly down comes Susan and puts a “halt” to the bickering of the girls. The audience is laughing only to be shocked when it starts again but his time with all 3 girls in great harmony. Who was doing what ladade’s I do not know, but it was fun. I didn’t want it to end. The song continues with energy and excitement. The stage seemed shallow and the girls seemed hesitant as to doing the spin, but they did do it and once they got their feet off the floor they got some good height. Between the ladade battle, Maireads fiddling, the spin, and Craigs multitalented tappin this may have been the hit of the night for the entire audience.
•         Close to the end of TAR Mairead got a look from Chloe that made me laugh. As Chloe danced around Mairead she almost got “bowed”  in the head. Doesn’t Chloe know Mairead plays with vigor so stay out of her way? Chloe, while still singing came around the front of Mairead  and flips her head back and forth making the bow whip action with her head. Mairead smiled and gave this look of “Well silly sister, don’t get that close next time”. Their interactions with each other sometimes are so hilarious.
•         By the time Mo Ghile Mear comes I was so into the concert that I had to vocalize the choir parts. My hands were killing me from all the clapping and my voice was scratchy from all the yelling we were doing.   
•         Anthony did spectacular, not only on the pipes but also on the drum. This was nice to see. At one point Carolyn asks me if he was married. I think Anthony now has a new girlfriend in Salt Lake City. I think Craig gained a couple new girlfriends too.
•         Ray’s little drum lesson got the audience laughing. That was fun.

•   Not sure which song, but on one song Tommy is sitting on a stool closer to us on stage playing his little part. Tommy remains expressionless throughout most of the concert, but on this song Gary got him. Tommy looks out into the audience and sees Gary and gives us a big smile. He had to quickly look back down to regain his composure. This happened a few more times during this song and was kind of amusing. (Gary, is he trying on purpose to see if they can keep composer or just letting them know for sure, “yep you have a fan here”.) Funny
•   The candles the choir used for Ava Maria were cool, but I only noticed them as they walked out because I was so captivated by Chloe I didn’t take my eyes off her. Sorry choir you are great, but she is just so captivating.
•   The duel between Mairead and Craig was as wonderful as it had been portrayed to be. Fun, energetic, playful dueling. (Craig is kind of a cute young thing) (okay so are Dermy and Colm, but since Craig gets extra time with the tappin you notice him for sure)
•   Susan: My, she sounds wonderful. Couldn’t take my eyes off her during either of her solos, but the thing I noticed the most was that smile. It is absolutely beautiful and contagious. (I did try to get a look at the ring, but all I could tell was that under those lights it “SPARKLES”)
•   Not sure which song, but in one of the group numbers Chloe is on my side of the stage looking out into the audience when you see her big smile and then wave to the people in the balcony area. I look over to see and about 30 people are waving back at her. I love those little interactions.

Great concert, but it seemed those 2 hours went by way too fast. The most unbelievable 2 hours of my life.

We met at the front of the stage to wait for James. He led us to a small room where there was a table set up with 2 chairs. He made is little announcement and answered a few questions before they announce it….”Your ladies for the night are Chloe and Lisa” Yeah, Yeah, YEAH. Can I get a big YEAH? Things happen so fast it is hard to catch it all. Oh my got to get the items out to have them sign, just the Chloe and Lisa pictures, got to get out just 2 gifts. In all the excitement I only grabbed  2 items for them to sign. I shook Chloes hand and put my scrapbook page in front of Chloe. She looked at one picture on it, then she had to pick it up to see the other pictures closer before autographing it. She hadn’t seen some of the pictures so she thought it was cool. She then said thanks for the gift and I asked if she would open it. I got the flag album out of the bag and laid it in front of her. She looked at it and was like “Oh cool”. She untied the ribbon to reveal the first few photos. That got her. “Oh cool, oh neat, oh my these are picture of our tour, oh my mums gonna love this, oh where did you get these, oh”. She wanted to look at each photo, but I pushed her through because I was afraid they would escort me out for taking so long. I asked if I could show her the magic of the album and pulled it open. “OH Cool”. I did it again just to show her the magic of it. I think she liked it. Got a big Chloe hug. (HEAVEN)Yep, pretty sure she liked it.
While I was showing Chloe her album Lisa had already signed my photo and scrapbook page, but had a hard time because Chloe and I were making so many “Oh cool” sounds she had to keep looking over at us. I stood in front of Lisa and asked her if she had seen the gift, then asked if she wanted to see the “magic” of it. We pulled her album out and did the magic opening and watch the flags fly. She smiled quite big. Then asked if I had made it. She sat there looking at it opened up and kept saying thankyou. Then I got a Lisa hug. Yeah, hugs from them both. BOTH. HUGS. Oh boy.
If I was on cloud 30 before the show, the show then sent me to somewhere near cloud 77 or 83, but now I was beyond clouds. I had reached Heaven for sure. Took a few photos before they escorted the ladies out.

What is it over. Let’s rewind the day back to 3:30 PM and do it all over again. OH PLEASE can we? I had prepared myself of things to talk to the ladies about, but in all the excitement of seeing them, shaking hands, just looking and then showing them the gifts I said very little. But Chloe wanting to look at each photo made my star-struck idiotness A OK. (I hope)

Thought I was addicted before? Well watch out. I don’t want to wait a year for you to return to Salt Lake City. Please don’t make me wait that long. Germany you are in for a super big treat. Get your feet, hands and voices ready because you WILL be using them.

Going back to my first thoughts upon seeing Believe on PBS and thinking a concert might be fun. There is not a word in the English dictionary to describe this show, not even unbelievable. It was even more than that. They have set the bar very very high for any other concert.

Still soaring between clouds, but I am slowly coming back to earth.
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Steve P
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Know that I will sing to u each night I dream of u


« Reply #2 on: April 22, 2012, 11:55AM »

Great review and great night!  Welcome to the Celtic Woman fan family!
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Dinozzzo
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« Reply #3 on: April 22, 2012, 12:27PM »

Wow ! Great review !
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jillebeans
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« Reply #4 on: April 22, 2012, 04:09PM »

Wonderful review!!! Look forward to seeing you next year for more fun!  Smiley
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greenfire6
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« Reply #5 on: April 22, 2012, 10:28PM »

Great review! Thanks for posting.  Cheesy

Had you asked I could have warned you that the Salt Lake City, Utah bunch, and their associates, are a rough crowd!

You know the saying:  generous givers don't exist without gracious receivers (or LOL! something like that.  Wink )

Seriously, glad you had a great time!  Smiley
« Last Edit: April 22, 2012, 11:29PM by greenfire6 » Logged
Hubert
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« Reply #6 on: April 23, 2012, 11:04AM »

I just read your great review and as far as your new addiction I can tell you it only gets stronger over time.  I have attended eight concerts since 2008 and each one seems to get better.  I have also been to four Meet & Greets.  As soon as I get past one concert then I am planning for the next one.  Where else do you look forward to something a year in advance and then it far exceeds all expectations?  Only with Celtic Woman.
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There is no Lambe like our Lil' Lambe.  Mairead Carlin is the real deal.
tchristina23
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« Reply #7 on: April 23, 2012, 03:00PM »

Thanks guys,  reliving it is fun and still brings a big smile, but for sure not as big of a smile as that night.
Jill, are Brookes' feet touching the ground yet from her Chloe attention? Those little things put the concert over the edge.
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