Review: Chattanooga April 19th

After slightly more than a month since my last show, I made the trek to Chattanooga, Tennessee for what would be another important show for me, because yet again there was a special significance to the show beyond just the music to be heard on a stage.

I had never been to Chattanooga before. Admittedly, when the tour had been announced in October, this show hadn't been at the top of my list of shows that I had wanted to go to. My biggest reason for going was that Roy wanted to, so this would give us another show together - our first of this tour. Interest developed yet more when I heard that Mike would be going as well, and by the time I heard that Daniel was going, I was stoked that this was going to be a decent get-together. My attention was certainly galvanized when I secured a M&G, which was to be my last one for this tour.

Yet all this, back when I made the decision last November to go, seemed like merely a fun interlude with friends between my monumental Northeast tour of shows in March, and my pair of upcoming shows in May. At that time Roy and I even expected to have a Symphony show together at College Station. But then things changed radically: Roy suffered a heart attack in December, forcing him to miss the Symphony show. Fortunately, he had made an incredible recovery and by spring time he was rarin' to go. But he still wouldn't have a CW show until... Chattanooga. It would be his first Celtic Woman show since Las Vegas at the end of April 2012, almost a full year ago. Thus, what seemed to me initially to be a minor show had spiraled into a celebration of Roy's return to the tours.

And yet, the celebration would be dampened slightly by current events. The week leading into this show had seen two horrific and deadly incidents happen in America; one in Boston, the very city that a month ago had been the scene of a dramatic and unforgettable CW double-header; and the other in my own adopted state of Texas just three hours from my home. Now I hoped that this trip and this show would serve as a partial escape from the madness and the sadness. It would not be the first time that Celtic Woman would be bringing healing to broken hearts, and it certainly won't be the last.

And so, in this incredibly mixed spirit, with so many things stirring within me, I went to Chattanooga.

I was up a few minutes after 1am, was picked up by Supershuttle at 2:30am, and was waiting at Houston Intercontinental by 3:30am. My flight would be Houston to Charlotte to Chattanooga. Once again I had reason to question the supposed security procedures at an international airport although said procedures did not delay me personally. This first leg of my journey was notable because I was entirely surrounded by a high school girls' basketball team; after over forty flights this was the first time I had ever been seated next to a girl. Also quite a few of these girls had never flown before; their banter reminded me of a long-ago flight to West Palm Beach in 2009 when I was the one who was anxious. Usually when I fly the liftoff is fairly quiet but this time it was accompanied by a number of squeals. I kept to my own personal liftoff ritual: I always close my eyes and think of the people I love. The second leg of the journey was on a prop plane, with an empty seat next to me, and no incidents.

Roy and Jim A picked me up at the airport and we headed over to have a lunch at Sticky Fingers for delicious barbeque. The day in Chattanooga had begun with torrential rains but had just begun to lift as I arrived, and turned to pleasant sunshine but cold winds soon after. Chattanooga does have a pretty downtown, which is where the action would be today. Checking into our hotel, we decided to head over to the venue as Jim had something he hoped Ray Fean would sign for a friend. While waiting, we saw a procession of street-clothesed stage personnel parade past for a delayed sound check, and we had a personal moment with the dear Lisa Lambe! Thank you again to the redheaded sweetheart of Celtic Woman for being so caring of her dedicated fans. Failing to get a similar moment with Ray, we headed back to the hotel to meet up with Mike, who was driving in from Indianapolis. For the forum dinner we headed over to Chili's; we had a good-sized gathering, with John Starman, Ron, Daniel, Jim, Mike, Roy, Jim and Nancy, Teri and Frizzell, Gerald and his parents, and myself. Though my own dinner experience here today was decent, it was less so for some others. But the time finally came to head over to the venue.

We obtained our M&G passes - in this case, sticky red badges - and were met by the PBS lady, Nicole. When we lined up in the basement of the venue for the M&G, Roy and Mike and I had a chance to talk quite a bit with her, Roy even getting a picture with her. Mike presented an incredibly ornate imported porcelain fiddle to Mairead as a birthday present. I was the last forum member to meet the girls, just after Roy. I had the pleasure of watching Roy talk to all four of the girls together for the first time, and his first real chance to talk to them since his heart attack. When the time came for my own opportunity with them, I gave a belated birthday hug to Mairead and a hug to all of them. Brett took a good picture. But before stepping aside, I mentioned to the girls that I had flown in from my home in Houston, and asked that the girls keep the good people of Texas in their prayers. Then we headed inside for the show.

Chattanooga Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Auditorium is a theater, roughly 1950s vintage, the exterior of which reminded me of the Beaumont Civic Center, though larger. Stangely, a fairly ornate front foyer preceded an extremely staid main lobby. The men's room facility I used was only semi-functional. The theater itself was only slightly more opulent than the main lobby; a recessed balcony had "wings" that extended out almost to the stage. The stage itself was extremely high for a theater, at least four feet high, very deep but with the white line set well back. Mike and I discussed the position of the white line and he raised a good point about it. For those who don't know, there is a line on every Celtic Woman stage that the girls do not step across; this line is often followed by small circulating fans. The position of this line varies from one venue to another, and Mike's theory is that this line is established far enough back so that the crew's lighting bar can train spotlights down on the girls' front side; this eliminates much of the slavish reliance on house spots which on tours past has created so many lighting snafus. Anyway, the stage was set back about ten feet from the stage; I had front row center section, several seats away from the band-side aisle, and it was a good thing that the stage was set back as I had a big boxy speaker blocking my view of the steps on the stage; had the front row been closer to the stage I would have had an extremely obstructed view. Another way to describe my position was that it was on the "Chloe side" as Chloe spends a good chunk of her time on this side of the stage. I settled in between two couples as the lights went down.

"Awakening" was marked by Lisa Lambe's golden yellow light "magic spells"; this effect still dazzles me... Chloe does better and better with the high notes on "Nocturne"; however, it was clear by now that the crowd here was mostly asleep, although further back we could hear occasional excitement... "COAST OF GALICIA!!!" I began clapping along as soon as Mairead gave her "look" and the crowd did join in, if only for about thirty seconds... the consensus before the show among a few of us had been that bringing "Orinoco Flow" back had been a good move, and as the song started I couldn't help but agree... "TAR" started in its usual way and Starman got a lapful of Lambe; one of the cutest things in this song is when Dermot sits down beside Chloe during the middle part of the song as they gesture and impromptu... again the crowd came to life briefly during "Granuaile's Dance."

Yes the crowd was mostly immobile, but the worst had to be the couple to my left, toward the center; though not hostile, they were as seemingly bored as any front-row bystanders I've ever seen. This time, having disinterested front row occupants cannot be blamed on PBS; these seats were not PBS seats, in fact the PBS seats began in row H; even PBS lady Nicole was stuck in row O. The sound was playing out fairly good in this venue. At intermission I marked the two empty seats directly behind me and beckoned to Ron and Mike; this way Ron's one show for this tour would net him a second-row position ISU. Also at intermission I met Ken Weaks, who I had very much wanted to meet and who I didn't realize would be here.

Another point about the just completed first half was that I had received virtually unlimited attention from the girls, particularly from Chloe; it seemed like every other minute she was smiling, gesturing, winking, or reaching her clutched hand right at me. During "Nocturne" she gave me an extremely personal moment as she sang "we can dream the night away." But this first half really belonged to Roy. In his front row center seat beside Jim and Nancy, the girls gave him probably more attention than I have ever seen them give any single fan; and this day of all days, it was totally warranted.

As "Amazing Grace" began, I suddenly thought of the recent tragedy in my adopted Texas. Several times during this song Chloe and Lisa looked at me and gently nodded; I welled up with tears and when I gave the song a standing ovation I thought of my dear Texan forum friends who couldn't be here today: Gillian, Lester, Blanca, Jacklyn, Ryan, Selina, the Sidepockets, and Diane. But in a way my applauding was for ALL the people in the lone star state; in that moment was I was all of Texas.

Beautiful, beautiful "I Dreamed A Dream" tonight, but as usual for me an even more heartfeltly beautiful "Circle of Life", a song which always weaves another layer around my heart even on a path unwinding... "Bridge Over Troubled Waters" was special to me tonight as Lisa said that we've all experienced sorrow... the crowd participated actively with Ray's bodhran solo, and during the jam session, when Dermot whirled his way down the aisle on the opposite side of the theater, he came up beside a totally unsuspecting Daniel and tapped him on the shoulder; as I said in my reviews of the northern shows, the entire "Nil S'en La" conglomeration is perhaps the most fun of the entire night on this current tour; this one song is worth the price of admission by itself... I love the more accoustic and "natural voice" beginning to "Ave Maria"; sadly, most of the crowd didn't follow the example of our forum members by giving this amazing song a standing O; but that was soon forgotten as Chloe thanked us; and to top it off, she blew me a kiss at the end of the song... listening to the beginning of "The Voice" it sounded to me like Susan has been slowing her delivery of this song down, though later when I mentioned my observation, Mike disagreed... "You Raise Me Up" was as it always has been: beautiful; and the crowd immediately gave a full-house standing ovation at the end... leading up to the "Encore Finale" I screamed myself nearly hoarse to help arouse this crowd, and they took the hint and a crescendo of howls began, making the crowd now about as excited as any group; and another of my little wishes happened when the crowd remained standing (except for the fossils to my left) as Mairead smashed into the beginning of my favorite song; before the "Ceili Reprise", our ovation was so loud it washed Chloe out as not only me but practically everybody continued a chorus of screams amid the applause, it was a full 20 seconds before the crowd began to shuss (almost as if once you wind them up you can't shut them off hahaha). At the end, Chloe returned my blown kiss just before heading up the steps to leave. Fantastic ending.

For once we were not shewed away by the ushers from the stage area at the conclusion to the show; we even had a chance to talk to Bubba again. Several bystanders asked the usual questions, and they got obliging answers by our pleasant fan community representatives. Soon enough we were escorted up the aisles, and we headed to the stage doors to at least wave to the cast. For most of us, that was all this was, which was fine for me since I had already had plenty. Eventually we went to the nearby Steak N Shake for our after-show dinner. Discussion topics ranged from M&G events of several years ago to planning for the mammoth Red Rocks event. By 12:45 in the morning we headed to our hotels to bring another forum gathering to a close. Safely in my hotel, I sent heartfelt thanks to Chloe and Lisa Lambe via twitter... and got a very sweet response back from Lil Lambe. But I was so tired that within minutes of putting my head onto the pillow, I was fast asleep - a very long but very good day had ended.

Chattanooga gave me just about everything I could have asked for. But my day and my experience were not about me: this was a day of healing for one of our dearest forum members, and a day of memorial in my own mind for my distant neighbors in the town of West. Thank you again, dear ladies of Celtic Woman, for being there when we need you.