Due to some really pesky insomnia, I decided to start putting my thoughts re: South Bend down on "paper". Here goes.
First off. Thank you so much to Jerad for the heads up regarding the unexpected airing tonight. It was something I desperately needed and I got through the necessary studying in record time to justify the two hours of downtime. Then came the arduous task of finding a television to commandeer so I could watch the broadcast since I do not own one for the dorm room. Thankfully one of the security guards I'm super good friends with was on duty tonight and put it on one of the communal tvs and let me plunk myself in front of it. I actually think he enjoyed watching how excited I was to watch this concert.
The set list as many know, is identical to the 2013 world tour set list. If you would like a song by song account of the show, you're better off looking at my review of the show I attended live last April. If there is one thing I hate being, it's needlessly repetitive.
http://www.celticwomanforum.com/index.php?topic=18835.msg776693#msg776693
Okay. Now that that's out of the way, here are my thoughts on Emerald.
CHLOË. Oh, for those of you who were deeply saddened by Chloë leaving, this show will be a balm for that wound. She is highlighted so beautifully and looks to be having a wonderful time.
In fact, all the performers do. Perhaps it had something to do with the fact that this was such a unique thing for them as far as filming a show goes. (Live and mid-tour). Yes, I know something like that was done with Isle of Hope but it was never released. Then again, having met so many of them and knowing how much they love what they do I am more inclined to say they were just having fun in general.
The venue/the stage. Oh what a gorgeous venue. These words don't do it justice in the slightest. It was luxurious without being obnoxiously opulent and retained a sense of comfort. When I say comfort, I mean that Chloë's directive to "Sing, dance, clap, be as rowdy as you like, y'are among the Irish after all" was something you felt you could comply with without feeling disrespectful to the space you were in.
Costumes. There are four changes in this show. Things are switched up a bit from tour. They start out in the blue/purple/grey dresses from the 2013 tour. The first change of costume occurs when we hit TAR where they change to the ceili dresses used traditionally for NSL. The next change occurs for NSL and the dresses use a similar color palette to the ones used for TAR during the believe filming although the material is different (not sheer) and one of the girls (Mairead?) is wearing royal blue. Then come the new dresses revealed via social media last spring and they are even more gorgeous once you can see the detail that went into them clearly.
The audience. There was no way for the girls to have been able to predict what type of audience they'd have as this was somewhat of a last minute filming job. The audience was spectacular and almost every single song resulted in a standing ovation. People were singing along, dancing in the aisles, cheering or laughing at the girls' antics on stage...you name it.
Audience involvement and intro segments. Unlike most PBS renderings of shows, this one left in 99.9 of the spoken song intros. In addition both the intros to TAR and NSL, which had tremendous audience involvement, were included in the final footage. Both are shot very well so that the "story" of the girls' actions reads clearly and you can recover from your disappointment over not being able to see everything going on when you saw it live. This is probably the closest correspondence that I have ever seen between a PBS version of a show and its live counterpart. Much of the show's flow and integrity was kept.
Differences: There were a few. Granuaile's Dance was omitted from broadcast, as were Ave Maria and Bridge. I believe Caledonia was also missing. I know at least three of these four were cut solely for time and do in fact appear on the DVD/CD. During TAR, the “Celtic tornado” maneuver is not performed, instead the girls and guys pair off and spin, holding hands, as couples. Very cute and goes well with the idea of the song. Though interestingly the instrumental solos were included. (Still love Ray's Bodhran solo). The choir, small but mighty, are paid quite a bit of attention, as are instrumentalists. It’s a wonderfully intimate and comprehensive recording.
Stuff we should know: It looks very likely that last spring’s world tour was actually a trial run for the Emerald concept, though undoubtedly there will be some changes since Chloe is no longer with the group. Also, the cover art is actually the concept sketches for the new dresses Synan made.
Lisa and Susan were live in studio for the PBS pledge drive airing and seemed very proud of this new DVD, they were super vocal in their love for the fans and even answered phones for a bit. Both girls were so warm and bubbly, and Susan seemed to be continuing to become more comfortable with the considerable attention given to her, and to CW as a whole.
My thoughts: This show is incredible. Please, please, even if you saw last year’s tour, consider buying it when it gets released. The girls’ antics in studio were enough to convince me to pledge for a copy of both the DVD and the CD. (Post finals gift). I am not sure, but the way PBS was wording things made it sound like the copies of the show PBS had available as pledge gifts might be slightly different than the retail version. Hence my decision to get it as a pledge reward. CW has not announced an official release date, though they have said news of that is on the way, and confirmed a blu-ray option. It is likely the release date will be around Feb 24 2014 as that is the shipping date for my DVD and CD from PBS. Also, Lisa and Susan hinted at some possible additional special features besides extra songs.
Any specific questions?
Let me know and I will do my best to answer…
PS. I am a little proud that Chicago got to be the world premiere for the new special, and that the girls were in the same city I was for a couple days. I went to my finals the next day wearing my CW shirt and much calmer knowing the girls were nearby. Once again the stars aligned and allowed the girls to unknowingly support me through something that was super difficult and could have caused me to spiral out of control and break my promise. I <3 Celtic Woman!
