CelticWomanForum.com

Tour starts March 28
Links to article and tour dates
http://www.broadwayworld.com/national-tours/article/Violinist-Mairead-Nesbitt-Joins-ROCKTOPIA-National-Tour-20170214 (http://www.broadwayworld.com/national-tours/article/Violinist-Mairead-Nesbitt-Joins-ROCKTOPIA-National-Tour-20170214)
https://www.rocktopia.com/tour-dates/ (https://www.rocktopia.com/tour-dates/)
And someone already posted it,sorry.

Just my luck.  Rocktopia is going to be in Tampa (where I live) on April 22, which is the same day as Lisa K's show.  Sorry Mairead.  I already bought a ticket for Lisa.

I feel so bad I can't go to see her spring tour, but my resources are not unlimited. Although the LK isn't on the same day for me, the three other concerts I'm already going to in April (including Lisa's show) make it pretty difficult to see her too. Considering I overran my budget last year by a significant amount, I think doing that again would be unwise. What hurts the most is knowing I'd finally be able to meet her and that I may never get another chance.

I know I'm being a bit melodramatic, but I feel like I'm betraying her by not going. I feel so bad. But if I start using that kind of logic to overextend myself then I may as well feel compelled to fly around the world to see Hayley. Maybe some day when I win the lottery and don't have other things to tend to I can indulge myself in such a way. But for now, though I will feel guilty, I must be practical.

I'm hoping she comes nearby again some day with the Hibernia tour and it's not the same day as a HfC concert I'm going to or something. I'll save on the basis of that hope.

  Daaang... the ROCKTOPIA show seems to have come outta left field  :o  and will be in Atlanta on the Thursday night before LisaK's show in Peachtree City.  I have managed to convince myself that Mairead's participation in the show will be somewhat limited  ::) -- or else I'd be doing a lot of schedule-juggling.  The Atlanta Symphony gets good support, and ATL absolutely loves Mairead, so she's gonna get plenty of adoration from the crowd anyway; (and yeah, I'll keep telling myself that the line after the show to get Mairead's autograph will be a mile long and impossibly slow;  :( yeah right).  Meanwhile, I'll be waiting for a HIBERNIA tour, too. 
  And Daaang... it's too bad these concerts come in waves:  Chloe is touring in the South at the same time CW is down here with the VoA show; and now Mairead is coming within 2 days of Lisa's show...   well... I reckon it could be worse -- like if they weren't touring at all  (ahem:  CaraNua, LisaL, Meav, Orla).

Rocktopia is apparently on my local PBS tonight.

Check your local listings!

CWazyTom
You did see she is in Buffalo on April 11th and there are still good pit , front row seats available thru Ticketmaster!
By the way Sheas said that CW told them they would not do a CW M&G on the 18th. Bummer

The Shea's Rocktopia show is pretty tempting. I'm still trying to make it work.

Thank goodness I managed to get a M+G in PA in April. That's the only station that got back to me that still had tickets. Erie, PA is less than 2 hours from Buffalo. I got my ticket a while ago, but they might still have some left. Just sayin'...

So, I've decided I'm going to try to make one of these Rocktopia concerts work. Mairead and her music mean too much to me to let her down.

With that in mind, I managed to track down a PBS station showing the Rocktopia special and finally managed to watch it.

For anyone on the fence about Rocktopia (able to go but not sure if they'll like anything in the show except for Mairead), it's pretty awesome!

It's a fusion of classical and classic rock songs. I can't say the blending of the two genres was particularly subtle, but the songs were well done.

They generally opened a number with a renowned classical piece of some sort, then transitioned into a classic rock song with shades of the classical piece throughout.

It was predominantly singing backed by a powerful orchestra and choir. It was a pretty epic sound, at least on in the PBS special.

We know Máiréad is a special guest and based on what I saw in the PBS special, the violin won't be particularly prominent in the performance, although the lead violin player was at the front of the stage for at least part of 4 or 5 pieces during the special. Good enough for me!

Anyways I thought overall the PBS special was pretty enjoyable.

Here's a little taste of the set list from the PBS special:
- Come Sail Away (Styx)
- I Want to Know What Love Is (Foreigner)
- On the Turning Away (Pink Floyd)
- Because the Night (Patti Smith)
- Dream On (Aerosmith)
- Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me (Elton John)
- Alone (Heart)
- Don't Stop Believin' (Journey)

 :o  ...Plus, Mairead was practicing "Baba O'Riley" on her Facebook page... :o :o

      I hope somebody captures a performance of this song... it will be a showstopper when Mairead does the fiddle solo at the end 

It's official! CWazyTom is going to see Mairead / Rocktopia!!!

Woohoo!!!!

Yeah, I saw the pit seats and the orchestra seats just behind them. After the exchange rate though, it was like $40 difference between those seats and those about 3 rows back. Row F should still be pretty good and after the severe beating my budget is already taking in April (4 concerts including a wee trip to PTC), I figured it might be wise to have an extra $40 around in case I need it for discretionary stuff like, I dunno, food.

If it was Hibernia or Celtic Woman, I would have gotten the pit seats FOR SURE!

LOL!

It should be a decent view and a fun concert!

CWazyTom, glad to see you succumbed to the call of Rocktopia.
I actually just saw the Budapest recording on DPTV (Detroit) last night and absolutely loved it. What great voices the soloist have. I’m a sucker for big productions especially big orchestras and choirs and the music just fits my broad range of classical thru rock, folk and on.
When the fund raising break came on, I was up like a rocket to get my credit card and picked up a ticket plus M&G ($150) for the show the day after Buffalo at the Fisher Theater. I’m hoping that Mairead is included as part of that M&G. Now all I have to do is arrange Motels!
Still no news from Kitchener on CW, will communicate via messages.

It'll be interesting to see what they do about the orchestration for the Rocktopia tour.

The orchestra in the PBS special was HUGE and really powerful.

Obviously a full orchestra is too expensive to travel with. They could do what Celtic Woman does for Home for Christmas tours and use their own band but the local orchestra. Or they could go the Voices of Angels route (ie. pre-recording some of the backing).

We shall see.

Yeah, I haven't heard anything more about a CW M+G in Kitchener either. I'd say any formal sort of M+G is really unlikely at this point. I'm really, REALLY hoping the M+G in Erie, PA works out. I've got my fingers crossed nervously, let me put it that way.

So are you going to the Rocktopia show in Detroit then?

 :-[ :-[  I'm starting to get a bad feeling about missing this show :-\ :-\

check out the rehearsal video under the POSTS at the website   
                                                   https://www.facebook.com/RocktopiaLive/

 :-\  dubbledangit  :-\   This show really looks like a diamond-in-the-rough...  Mairead is more involved than I thought she'd be -- at least she's in all of the rehearsal clips being released -- maybe the producers realized that they'd actually lassoed a tornado.  AND they keep saying that the Cast will be in the lobby at the merch tables after the shows for autographs...  BUT I do NOT wanna go to ATL 2 times in 3 days...   

  https://www.facebook.com/RocktopiaLive/videos/pcb.1294556147294940/1294554140628474/?type=3&theater

 :P   hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm...   :P  Charlotte?   ???   ...Charlotte it is! :D         (I can't help myself...)

1st number from The Who Pete Townshend Strauss & Mozart! (with Rob Evan and Tony Vincent)

https://www.facebook.com/maireadnesbittcelticviolinist/videos/1884438138502126/

Wow that has strong base!  My subwoofer was shaking the whole floor.  :D

Yesterday I saw Rocktopia!

It was lots of fun and great music.

As advertised it's a fusion on classical music and classic rock. The group was backed by a medium-sized choir and orchestra. The choir for the show comprised of students from a local high school.

Mairead played a prominent role in the production. She was at the front of the stage for most of the songs. Her style and energy are perfect for this show and she looked like she was having a great time.

The drummer and lead guitarist was really good. The singers were also pretty impressive, particularly the lead female singers. Chloe Lowery and Kimberly Nichole (former contestant on The Voice), have a lot of power and sing with a ton of heart. Ximena Borges has the most classical style of the vocalists and my goodness does she ever have a stunning operatic voice!

All the big numbers from the PBS special were performed, along with some others that weren't aired on the special.

Some of those that stood out were:
- Come Sail Away (Styx)
- I Want to Know What Love Is (Foreigner)
- On the Turning Away (Pink Floyd)
- Because the Night (Patti Smith)
- Dream On (Aerosmith)
- Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me (Elton John)
- Alone (Heart)
- Don't Stop Believin' (Journey)

I was sitting a few rows back for the first half, then moved up front to some vacant seats for the second half so I could get a closer view. Mairead recognized me and mouthed out "hi" to me during the show.  :D

The venue was pretty up tight about people taking pictures. They basically had people roaming up and down the aisles during the whole show telling people to put their cameras away. Sneaking pictures was pretty challenging.

After the show, the cast sat at a table in the lobby for an autograph signing session. I got a Rocktopia poster signed by the cast.

I got to meet Mairead Nesbitt!!! This was my first time meeting her. I gave her a nice card (one of the ones I've been working on for the past month or so) and told her how amazing she was. She wanted to make sure I enjoyed the show (I did). They had to keep the line moving, but Mairead was nice enough to hang around for me after the line was finished and I got to hug her and take a few pictures with her. She's as sweet as she is talented. :D  There were a couple of things I forgot to say, but most of it was in the card and I Tweeted her whatever else I left out.

I also got to meet the other performers in the signing line. Chloe apparently noticed me from the stage during the show and said she I looked really cute when I was enjoying the show. I was probably blushing a lot. I didn't have time to take pics with her after the line dispersed as it was getting pretty late but I did get a chance to tell her in the signing line how incredible her voice was.

Overall, that was a really enjoyable experience. I thought the music and performers were great. I don't think I'll ever be as passionate about a show as I am for Celtic Woman, but Rocktopia was a lot of fun!

As good as the show was, the highlight of my night was meeting Mairead.  :D :D :D :D

Sounds like a good show.  I'm glad you had a fine time. ;)

  WHEW!  went to the Rocktopia show in Charlotte last nite -- that was some serious butt-kickery!  ...those 3 ladies can really belt, and the guys have some pipes, too ...and the guitarists and drummer are as good as you could want.  The orchestra was about 20-folks strong -- not as big as in some venues, but they were really good -- and there were about 12 choir singers.  AND there was Mairead... sawin' on that violin like mad... I don't know why the strings didn't shred... or melt.  (If she uses the Mairead-line of fiddles, they must be high quality -- just sayin'.)  It's obvious that the other musicians have a real respect for Mairead, and she can match that guitar player lick-for-lick.  She is on-stage for the majority of the show -- but notably (and surprisingly) not on-stage for the Hendrix number.  I don't know how she got involved with this show, but she sure looks like she's lovin' it.
  I really wish these folks lots of success.  They are definitely talented and seem to be real and to appreciate the folks who come to see them.  Yeah, it's PR and all, but not many bands include a meet-and-greet/autograph session with the purchase of a $10 poster -- actually, I don't believe you had to purchase anything to get in line.  Ticket sales are evidently disappointing -- Charlotte was maaaaaybe 60% sold, and they had a  last-minute 2-for-1 ticket sale.  I hope other venues are doing better.  If this tour comes to your city or close-by, and you enjoy 70s/80s rock (+ Mairead Nesbitt on violin, at least for now), you will enjoy this show.  I didn't hear a single complaint from other attendees.  (I woulda captured a performance on video, but the viddy police were out in force and halted my effort to record "Don't Let the Sun..."  oh, well...) 

Yeah, I forget what Tony said the ticket sales were for Buffalo, but it looked like it was between 50-60%. I got to move up to the front row for the second half because they were pretty much empty.

Looks like Mairead may be back for another tour with Rocktopia.

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If you didn't get to see the first tour, hopefully you get to see her on the next one. It's a great show!

I hope ROCKTOPIA is not fizzling out...  right now, there's only one show on the schedule (Aug 12, Bethel NY), and tix are plentiful.  Mairead has a show with her family in Ireland a few days later, so this leg of the ROCKTOPIA Tour is at-best getting off to a stuttering start. 
I'd certainly go see this show again...

Rocktopia doesn't have any tour scheduled for next year yet, but Mairead and crew are doing a run on Broadway in New York!

Rocktopia runs from March 20 - April 29, 2018 at The Broadway Theatre!

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/11/theater/rocktopia-home-for-the-holidays-broadway.html

Chloe Lowery indicated that the plan was to tour Rocktopia after its Broadway run, most likely in the fall.

Ximena Borges isn't currently performing with Rocktopia, but who knows what the future holds.

Gee… time really flies (duuuh! :o ).  The ROCKTOPIA Broadway show ended its run a couple of weeks ago.  I saw in press releases that several guests joined the show at various times, so Mairead is at least assembling a wide range of showbiz contacts.  The NY critics might not’ve been overly impressed with the show, but who cares -- I doubt if any of the folks who attended asked for their money back. 
I hope Mairead can take some time off now and relax… and then do a 25-city HIBERNIA tour this fall!  :D :D :D