Intermission was pretty uneventful during the first show, but for the second show, Destiny, Sarah and I had seats in the balcony, but I noticed a few seats off to the right in about the 4th row? So during intermission, Sarah and I and Leslie (a fan we met who was sitting right next to us) went in search of ushers to see if we could take those unclaimed seats. First I asked my security friend Wendy, from my first show that day, and she said we would have to talk to the ushers. (I ended up hanging around talking with her for awhile though because when I told her during my first show that I was coming back at 8pm and I had a balcony seat, she wanted me to let her know what I thought from both seats. She was very friendly! ?). So we found an usher who said no we had to go back to our balcony seats, but I chimed in and let him know that forum members tend to do that at other shows, to find seats closer, so he said to go talk to Sheryl who was the event manager. So we found Sheryl… after a little adventure and explained it to her, and she was really nice and said, “Oh yeah, absolutely, go ahead!” Although when we got to the seats, the usher next to those seats was really rude and said “You guys need to go back up to the pit again, you can’t sit here. So we just calmly explained to him that Sheryl said it was okay, so he did let us, but that was a little upsetting. So again, I was close for at least the second act of the 8pm show.
2nd Act:
The Call: Little technical difficulty with this during the second show. The music at the beginning didn’t come on for a couple seconds, and we could see Mairead standing there with her bow ready, just waiting for the music. It came on though, and this song was incredible!! And yes, some more smiles from Lil’ Lambe at both shows. ? I could see Chloe looking at me with this look of recognition at the 8pm show, but you could see the wheels turning in her head… “She wasn’t down here for the first act was she?” I knew she knew who I was, but it was adorable seeing that confused look on her face. I also remember thinking that in Appleton, during this song, Lisa Kelly tripped over her gown, so I was watching closely, but fortunately, she didn’t this time around at either show. I was just so incredibly thrilled to be close to the stage again at the 8pm show that I was shaking. You could see looks of recognition from all 4 girls when they saw Destiny and I as well. ?
Amazing Grace: First of all, YAY ANTHONY!!!!!!!!! He was kind enough to take a picture with me after the 2pm show, and posed for a few actually, because the 2 of us weren’t ready… haha I just love the lighting effects in this song. The spotlight was on Anthony as he came down the aisle towards the stage, and the girls were in shadow… It was just a hauntingly chilling effect. And of course, I was bawling freely during this song. And I don’t mean this to sound mean, but if you see Amazing Grace performed live and you don’t cry… I don’t know, you have to have a heart of stone not to at least cry a little… I think I posted that in my other 2 reviews as well… no offense to anyone, please don’t hate me…
Dulaman: Again, to preface this song, having seen Lynn perform this live twice, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect, even though I heard Lisa does an amazing job with it! Which she does, but I’ll get to that a little later… She has like the most perfectly timed sense of humor in the way she introduced this song. I love one of her last lines of the intro: “And out of all the Irish love songs about seaweed, this one has to be my favorite!” That got a good response from the audience, and it was so cute in her accent too! Okay, now I love Lynn dearly, and her version of Dulaman is incredible, but Lil’ Lambe just blew me away!!!!!!!!! You could tell she had a theatre background, and she was so adorable!! She was really playing with everyone on stage, and you could tell she was having a good time. And a little surprise… she brought out the spoons halfway through the song and started playing then on Ray’s arm!! Soooo cute!! Of course, during both shows, I was cheering loudly when the spoons were brought out, and they got a good response at the 8pm show, but I couldn’t help thinking that it was a little bit of an inside joke from the tour videos. Ray did bring out the spoons again on another song, I just can’t remember which one.
Walking the Night/Give Me Your Hand: Lisa Lambe went right into this song after Dulaman, and it was amazing to see how seamlessly she could make the transition between a playful song, and this dramatic one. And I am absolutely completely in love with her voice!! Chloe took the other part on Walking the Night, and her voice and Lil’ Lambe’s… chills. Of course, Lisa Kelly was having so much fun during Give Me Your Hand, and she and Chloe were adorable as always!! This is my all time favorite song of this tour, and they girls really gave it their all at both shows!!
The Moon’s a Harsh Mistress: *sigh* more Lisa… I have to say after seeing her up close, I have fallen in love with her all over again!! She started out by the piano, and for the next verse came over by where I was sitting, and I got A LOT of interaction with her… I was so close for my first show that I could see her facial expressions, and it really makes a difference when you’re able to see their expressions up close. Again, I gave her a standing ovation, and she was looking the other way… at both shows… oh well, someday when I meet her, I’ll be able to tell her how amazing she is, and how amazingly she sings her solos. ?
When You Believe: My life theme song, and Chloe didn’t disappoint!! I did have to mouth along with the words to keep myself from bawling (which, by the way didn’t work), and at the 2pm show, I could see Chloe looking at me with a confused look on her face until she realized I was mouthing the words, then she gave me a nod and one of those heart-stopping Chloe smiles.
At both shows, she really went all out, and I have never ever seen her perform it that well!! She was completely 100% on, and blew the roof off the theatre!! I just have to say this again, I have never ever ever seen her perform it that well! I even saw an improvement from the 2pm to the 8pm show, although both shows were incredible!! At the end of the song, like she did in Appleton and at the Xcel, she kicked her food out with a “whoo!!” Then she walked back up towards the stairs on the back of the stage, and just sank to the ground. It almost seemed like it was part of the show, and maybe it was, but she was giving it so much that she had to sit down and rest.
At the Ceili: Another one of my favorite songs on this tour!! Lil’ Lambe was just phenomenal during this song!!!!!!!!! Gosh, I completely forgot it was a live show, I was caught up in the story. Lisa Kelly was flirting like crazy with every single guy on the stage and it was ADORABLE!!!!!!!!! You can tell she has a theatre background as well. I honestly don’t know how to describe this song… It was just all-around phenomenal!! I think if you take a look back at my reviews from the Xcel in March and the one in Appleton in August, I might go into a little more detail, although Lil’ Lambe wasn’t there for those shows. I will say thought that throughout the night I was shouting “I love you Lil’ Lambe” and I’m fairly sure she heard me, because I got so many smiles from her!!!!!!!! And during this song, she really played up the fact that her hair was bouncy.
Last Rose/Mason’s Apron: Okay, now I will be honest and say that during the 8pm show, I was so tired that I was nodding off a little during this, but at both shows Mairead was just flying all over the place!!!!!!!! I’m pretty sure it was this song where, at both shows, while the drums were playing the audience was clapping along, but not very loudly, so Mairead came up to the front of the stage, put her hand on her ear, and tried to get us to clap louder. I was really proud of this audience, they were very responsive, and you could tell the girls played off of that.
Non Ce Piu: Amazing, chilling harmonies again!!!!!!!!!!! Especially Lil’ Lambe… her voice just blends in so perfectly!! I did like the little addition with the choir, which I know has been there for the other tours as well.
You Raise Me Up: And again, just like in my other reviews, Yay for Mairead introducing this song!!!!!!! And just like with When You Believe I had to mouth the words to keep myself from bawling (and again, it didn’t work…) After the girls sang the chorus, I mouthed “Yes Lisa Kelly, you do raise me up to so much more than I can be!” And I really honestly feel that we should be singing this song to them… but they do such an incredible job with it!!!!!!!! And again, more winks and smiles of recognition from Ms. Agnew. ?
Finale: I have to say this choir did do an amazing job, although it is hard not seeing Sarah with them. Still totally in love with the extended finale, and the girls really gave it their all!! I stood up when Lisa Kelly came out to take her bow, and at both shows, I think she saw me. At the 8pm show, after they were finished with the finale, I was shouting “I love you Lisa!!” Then realized I should probably be saying Lisa Kelly, so again I shouted “I love you Lisa Kelly!!” and the clapping and cheering just happened to be dying down at that point, and Lisa heard her name, and looked around to see where it came from, and when she saw me, she saw my fanclub forum button, and gave me a nod and clapped at me, and looked right into my eyes, and it felt like she was singing directly to me. Which continued into Spanish Lady.
Spanish Lady: Chloe did her usual intro to this song, and both shows I was dancing and singing, although at the 8pm show, Lisa Kelly did notice me and saw me dancing, singing and clapping, and I swear she looked right into my eyes and nodded at me, and was singing right to me… I fell into Jenn (remember Jenn? Haha) and I was totally on cloud 9!! Like Destiny said, it would be hard for them not to notice us, but those looks from Lisa Kelly were just the icing on the cake.
After the show: Well, when the girls were finishing up Spanish Lady and their final bows, people in the pit were reaching out and Lisa Kelly gave them a high five, and security literally had a hissy fit. Which I totally didn’t understand… well, I guess I did a little, but if Lisa didn’t want to do it, she wouldn’t have… they enjoy seeing their fans enjoy themselves. I don’t know that really bothered me.
And after the 2pm show, we met Michael, who was asking Destiny about her Fiddler Crossing jacket, and he said he had been at the show on the 22nd and obviously the 2pm show yesterday, and he was going back to the 8pm show, so we invited him to come to dinner with us at the Hard Rock Café, which was really fun. We also met Leslie in the balcony during the 8pm show, and we brought her down to the main floor with us. I was surprised at how friendly everyone was, and I thinks he said she was gonna join the forums. And of course, there was my security friend, Wendy. She was honestly every sweet and helpful. She saw my signs before the 2pm show started and she said, “You know you can’t hold those up right? Well, I suppose if you hold them right by your stomach.” So after they had played David’s recorded announcement, I asked her standing ovations were okay after Lisa Kelly’s songs, since she’s my favorite, and she was really sweet and said “Oh yeah, that’s fine, you’re applauding.” We had some nice conversations, and she wanted me to let her know how the show from the balcony was, so I went down and had a nice chat with her during intermission at the 8pm show.
I also met Anthony and Brian (is that his name? The piano player?) They were both really sweet. After I took my pic with Anthony, I was like thank you so much, and he replied (in his adorable accent) “No trouble, no trouble.” Which, yes Destiny, I’m gonna use all the time now.
I still can’t get over Lisa Kelly acknowledging me like that!! Now the next step… meeting her…
