Friday night, I had a friend over for a while to hang out with and help make some decadent treats for Easter. Unfortunately, She did not leave until 11PM (although, I did not mind, because A.) I don’t get to see her too often, and B.) I usually don’t go to bed until 1-2AM due to sleep insomnia. I packed my bags the most I could for the morning and then texted Sarah (ILoveYouSarahBurke!!<3))
I woke up at 8AM and slowly got myself ready and packed the rest for my fabulous day ahead of me. I was headed over to Sarah’s house to hang out before the show. Destiny (Celtic Fiddle Chick from the Máiréad Forum) was to arrive a little after me. We hung out for a while, snacked and talked in the kitchen, then Destiny played some CW songs for us on her fiddle. That was a treat! For teaching herself, gosh, she’s awesome!
Got ready and headed out the door. We were on our way to the first CW concert of the second day in MPLS! Destiny was not too sure how to get to the State Theatre, and luckily I go to school right next to it, so I knew where parking was and how to get there from which parking ramps. We ended up parking at the LaSalle parking ramp next to the main part of my school, The Art Institutes International, Minnesota. It was just a hop skip and a jump through the skyway to get to the State Theatre!!! We got in the door, twenty minutes to show time. I wanted to see what they had for merch… yeah, not much. No hats, just small sweatshirts. I got one anyways.
It’s going to stay a non-zip up sweatshirt until I slim down…. (reward to a set goal). The zip-up is so fuzzy and warm! With the purchase of a piece of apparel, we you get a poster. I like the poster. Wish I could get it laminated…
There were two girls sitting ahead of me. One appeared to be in her early/mid twenties and the other looked to be a teen. I watched their reactions a lot.
David’s famous recording came over the speakers. Oh, 15 minutes until show time! Never fails
Act I
Oh, how I missed their voices. I just reflected back to the Clemson, SC show. Kind of made me want to cry but I held back and sang the whole time. I did not care what the people around me thought… Honestly, they say for us to have fun clap and sing along! I love to.
I cannot say this enough. Orinoco Flow… The new way David arranged this is simply incredible!!! During the De-de and oooh’s from the choir Lisa Kelly improvises a little showing off her voice, then Chloë, then Lisa Lambe, and then all of them harmonize together. Oh, it gives me chills just thinking about it! I think they really need to record these new versions of the songs, seriously, just saying!!!
In Goodnight My Angel, the thing that got me most about this or, both performances, really, was that when Chloë was singing the last few versus before the, “Of Me,” Lisa gets closer to Chloë looks her in the eyes, and grabs her hand. My heart melted! I l-o-o-o-o-o-v-e Lisa so much….
Mo Ghile Mear came. I was so sad. First act of the first show was almost to an end!
I’ve got to say, I was the ONLY one who gave them all a standing ovation on this one…. COME ON! It’s the last song before intermission! Show some respect
, although, not everyone knows it is that on the set list…
Intermission
I waited for about three minutes and Sarah came up the aisle. I talked to her for a few, and then kindly asked the people to let me out of the row. Talked to her for a few more minutes and then I headed down to the pit to talk to Destiny.
The pit was really close to the stage. I mean, really close! Maybe two or three feet from the stage (Since this, the choir stayed on stage during Mo Ghile Mear). Someone got a high five from Lisa Kelly and got in trouble for it later, yet, Lisa was first to initiate it in the first place! So I don’t see what is wrong, they love that type interaction... don’t they?!?
Unfortunately this time, I was unable to get an ISU….
Oh well I shall not complain because I am attending two in the same day! Still a great seat because I was in the middle of the floor, towards the front a little… I walked back up to my seat when I ran into Sarah again. We talked until there was 5 minutes left of the intermission. I was having trouble trying to find my seat.
Act II
Anthony came down the middle aisle of the theatre for both shows, under the balcony. When I looked back, a lot of the people did not look at him as he was walking down!
Chloë was so funny. She kicked her leg up in the air after finishing When You Believe, and shouted out, “WHHOOOOOOOOO!” Walked back a few feet turned around and sat on the ground. I love that Chloe
She did it at both shows.
YRMU, after Máiréad's solo at the beginning, the lights just shut off! Technical difficulties. Lol they got them working a second before they begun singing. It was epic, epic fail and win at the same time. Ha! Luckily it did not happen during the second show.
Unfortunately the only thing that got me this show wasn’t with the show itself, it was the ushers of the State Theatre. They were guiding people down to their seat during the middle of songs! REALLY? Be polite! Don’t let people leave during the middle of song either! I saw nearly ten people move about during this show.
As we left the Theater and walked into the foyer, Anthony had a crowd around him as he was playing his bagpipes. There were a few women holding and selling his new CD! Oh, if I had not already bought it on iTunes, I would have so bought a hard copy CD…
A gentleman walked up and started talking to us. His name is Mike. Nice man. We invited him to dinner with us if he wanted to, and he gladly accepted.
While the others were talking I got another picture with Anthony
As Destiny and I were waiting for Sarah, who was taking a picture with Anthony, Destiny quietly says, “Sarah, piano player!” I was confused, and she said, “Piano player!” I looked up and he was standing right behind her, talking to a woman. I wanted to get a picture. I gave Destiny my camera and walked over to Brian. I asked him politely if I could get a photo with him. He agreed. I was excited. (If you would like to see the full sized image, just click on them).
We headed to the Hard Rock Café, where we said to meet for dinner. We were going to meet Mike there, and we were expecting Jennifer, her mother and grandmother. We were there for some time. A lot of fun though. Destiny, Sarah and I were contemplating on getting a drink or not. We all decided against it. We sat and talked for a few and tweeted to the girls some questions for the webisode Q&A. Oh, I’m so excited! They are doing a webisode in MINNEAPOLIS
Once we were done with dinner, it was about 7PM. As we walked back to the State, I wanted to check and see if my old security officer friend was in the school or not, so I said loudly to everyone, HOLD ON, LET ME SEE IF MY OLD SECURITY OFFICER FRIEND IS IN TONIGHT!” And yet, all the youngins’ followed me to the door of my school. It made me laugh. “Sarah, are you lost? You should know your way around here!!!” Har har har, it’s right across the street.
We had to wait about ten-fifteen minutes until the doors opened. At this venue, they open the doors a half hour before show time. Jen, her mum and grandma went off in their own direction, as I waited for my girls to come through the door. We went up the stairs to the balcony. It was really gorgeous.
I was in the right seat but it turns out Sarah and Destiny were in the wrong seats! A couple came walking up and said it was their seats, and we all looked at our ticket stubs and they were in CC instead of BB… ha! Oh, mix-ups. It made us all laugh. We switched spots with this girl, Leslie, who was from ND. This was her first show, and she was excited, yet did not know what to expect. We told her stories, told her how many times we each saw CW (Des – 11; Me -7; Sarah - 4), and chatted a lot with her. She seemed quite interested!
Act I
One thing that surprised me about this show, they started early! They began the music for Nil Se’n La at 8:05! I was shocked!
Unfortunately, Sarah, Destiny and I were falling asleep in the first act. I feel quite ashamed of it, but I was soooooo pooped! My naptime is usually around 3-5PM, if I do happen to have a nap for the day. Trying to keep awake, listening to them perform, I closed my eyes for a moment. It was so soothing. I was determined to stay awake! I think it was the balcony... I am not used to it. It feels so unusual to what type of seats I am used to! I like it because it shows a different perspective of the show, but I like the more intimate feeling being on the main floor near them. I was not a huge fan of the balcony.
Nil Se'n La, started. Destiny got my attention and she whispered to me, “Chloë, look at Chloë!” Chloë put her arm on Lisa Kelly’s shoulder, like three times during the song. It was so funny and adorable!
As Chloë was giving intro speech to Galway Bay, a guy shouted "I LOVE YOU CHLOE!" and she giggles and responds back right away, "Aww I love you too!" and giggles again. I love her laugh. It is so contagious, I love it!
Intermission
As the intermission came, Sarah told me that she saw a few empty seats. We all got talking and decided to go talk to people from the theatre to see if we can get an ISU. Destiny decided to stay back. Leslie came with us. We walked down the quick exit route to the main floor. I hate steps. I am horrible with them. Fortunately, there was a ramp like thing at the end of the steps. But was a disadvantage for me. I was wearing dress shoes that made me slide down the carpeted ramp. My legs started spreading apart and I am surprised I did not fall flat on my face. There was a man at the bottom of the ramp that happened to be staring right at me and Sarah was just laughing at me. We talked to the security guard that Sarah talked many a time. She is a very nice woman. We asked her and she said we should ask an usher. We talked to the usher near the doorway and he said no
then told us to talk to Sheryl who was wearing all black. She is in charge of like, everything. Sorry buddy, but there are so many people wearing all black! We ask another usher, and the woman said she was up near the pit. We talked to Sheryl and she said no, but then asked how many people we had and we said 5. She said it was okay then. I got so excited I ran off without saying thank you.
I looked up at the balcony. Destiny was sitting on her seat just waiting. I give her a thumbs up sign. Then signal about seven times to come down. She finally got what I was saying. I had to get back over to that side. Had to find an open row of seats to scoot through. By the time I got over to her, the announcement came on saying, 5 minutes. We all found a seat. Leslie, Jennifer, and Sarah sat in row E and Destiny and myself sat in row D. Leslie received a Lisa Lambe fan forum button from Destiny, and she was quite happy about getting to move up. She was talking to me about how she was having troubles seeing and making out who was who from the balcony. I feel her pain… Ahh, six rows from the stage (There are two pit rows that start before row A)! Those were amazing seats. Can’t get much better than that for an ISU for five!
Act II
When Lisa Lambe was introducing Dúlaman, she kept saying the word seaweed in the most dramatic and humorous way. The crowd loved it! The crowd was yippin and screamin’ along when Lisa played the spoons. She did some fun tricks with them, even played off of Ray’s arm!
Chloë said at one point, Minnesota made them feel like they were at home, back in Ireland. Cool and rainy, haha!!!! Made everyone laugh.
Lisa Kelly and Máiréad were Lisa Kelly and Máiréad,
huge grins all around. Máiréad saw destiny and I. She knows destiny and I am sure she remembered me from Clemson. She had the hugest open-mouthed grin on her face to us and kept looking back at us while playing. I loved it!
Lisa had seen me and the other girls many a time, and gave many winks and smiles, BUT, the one thing is, at the very end, as she was waving and smiling to people, she double took me, and did a open-mouthed Lisa Kelly smile and did a quick finger point towards me. Not just once, but three times! (Jennifer can even back me up on that one
)It was like she was saying, “I remember you I remember you, I remember you!” I gave her a final wave goodbye for the twins.
Chloë mentioned at the very end, "I don't say this often, but out of the three shows this weekend, this audience is the most '_______'. " Destiny, Sarah, Jennifer, and I are all stuck on what word she had used! It was a funny word ‘cuz everyone laughed. But, to tell you, this audience was loud, active and shocked me! I have never heard Minneapolis like that ever before, so loud and energetic, screaming and yippin’ along. I want to say lively, but I know it is not that word! It bugged us all night, literally!
After the show, we talked to Leslie, asking her how she liked the show, mentioned to her that she should join the forums if she as interested, and I shook her hand, and mentioned that we need to do it again, someday!
We all went out into the foyer and talked for some time, and before leaving separate ways, took a group picture. We took the stairs up to the skyway. Jen and her family took the long way over to the escalators. Surprise! We met up again! Haha!
We were on our way out of the parking ramp, got across the street to a stoplight. I heard a loud truck behind us. As we turn the corner, I look back and it was one of the Songs from the Heart semi trucks!!!
It was such a great day! Two shows in one day, ISU in the second show, Máiréad giving a lot of attention to Destiny and I, Lisa Kelly, eeek!!! Lisa Kelly, LISA KELLY remembered me!!!
Too good to be true!
Thanks again to Lisa Kelly, Máiréad Nesbitt, Chloë Agnew, Lisa Lambe, the band, Aontas Choir, and to everyone I got to experience this day with, would not have turned out this way without you all!
