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  • Loreena McKennitt Tour

    From Plague Boy@21:1/5 to Plague Boy on Sat Oct 17 01:24:50 2015
    On 6/8/15 8:50 PM, Plague Boy wrote:
    On 3/25/07 3:44 PM, Plague_Boy wrote:
    Loreena McKennitt.

    A tour?
    She hardly *ever* tours. In fact, not since 1998.

    Oddly enough, I checked her website about 1-2 months ago. No, not touring.

    Today I was talking to a cow-orker. She got tickets to see "that
    Celtic woman-well, kinda Celtic- she's real good", when she joined the
    local public radio station. She brought up the email.
    "Oh, Loreena McKennitt is her name."
    You could have picked my jaw up off the floor.
    "Loreena McKennitt is coming the THE EGG?"
    "Yeah..."
    So I went to buy a ticket....and didn't have my credit card.

    So....after many trials and tribulations, I made it to the show. It was awesome.....stunning...exquisite. Nothing much in the way off staging,
    or special effects. Some LED candlelabras, a cloud projection on the
    back curtain, and a fog machine. Loreena played her student harp and the piano....and sang. Oh, did she sing. She sounded just like the CDs...but
    more alive. Maybe there were 30 people backstage with half a million
    dollars worth of studio equipment making her sound good..but I don't
    think so.

    She was accompanied by the incomparable Caroline Lavelle, who
    appears on "Nights from the Alhombra" DVD, on cello, pennywhistle?, and
    tiny accordion(?). Caroline provided backing vocals on several songs,
    and tossed her disheveled blonde tresses in a most distracting manner.

    She was also accompanied by Brian Hughes, the guitarist on "Nights
    from the Alhombra" and who was up for the task. Switching between
    electric and acoustic guitar, bazouki, and maybe some other instruments,
    he seemed to have a guitar synthesizer setup, as some of the sounds did
    not seem to be actual guitar tones...but provided some needed background
    tones and added atmosphere to some of Loreena's stories.

    Loreena seemed most gracious and happy to be on stage. She went on
    at some length about the research on some of the songs, told some
    anecdotes about her travels to Ireland and elsewhere, and garnered a few
    laughs along the way. The crowd was very respectful, awaiting her next selection; no shouted suggestions or 'Freebird!" tonight.

    Highlights of the show? For me, "The Bonny Swans" was the apex, as
    it's one of my favorite McKennitt songs. "All Souls' Night" was
    second....one of my favorite Halloween songs, which I listened to on the
    drive home. "Bonny Portmore" "Stolen Child" "Down by the Sally Gardens",
    "The wind that shakes the barley" and "Lady of Shallot" were some of the
    other medleys. Missing, sadly, was "The Mummer's Dance", perhaps to
    complex to perform as a trio. My other disappointment was that, after
    steeling myself to pay way too much for a T-shirt, there were none to be
    had.

    So, a good time was had by all. Loreena promised to see us all again soon...which I hope is a reality.

    --
    PB
    February 13, 2008:
    Finished Ayn Rand. Brain doesn't work properly anymore. -Zach Weiner

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From songbird@21:1/5 to Plague Boy on Sat Oct 17 11:19:52 2015
    Plague Boy wrote:
    On 6/8/15 8:50 PM, Plague Boy wrote:
    On 3/25/07 3:44 PM, Plague_Boy wrote:
    ^^

    wow that's a long wait!


    Loreena McKennitt.

    A tour?
    She hardly *ever* tours. In fact, not since 1998.

    Oddly enough, I checked her website about 1-2 months ago. No, not touring. >>
    Today I was talking to a cow-orker. She got tickets to see "that
    Celtic woman-well, kinda Celtic- she's real good", when she joined the
    local public radio station. She brought up the email.
    "Oh, Loreena McKennitt is her name."
    You could have picked my jaw up off the floor.
    "Loreena McKennitt is coming the THE EGG?"
    "Yeah..."
    So I went to buy a ticket....and didn't have my credit card.

    So....after many trials and tribulations, I made it to the show. It was awesome.....stunning...exquisite. Nothing much in the way off staging,
    or special effects. Some LED candlelabras, a cloud projection on the
    back curtain, and a fog machine. Loreena played her student harp and the piano....and sang. Oh, did she sing. She sounded just like the CDs...but
    more alive. Maybe there were 30 people backstage with half a million
    dollars worth of studio equipment making her sound good..but I don't
    think so.

    She was accompanied by the incomparable Caroline Lavelle, who
    appears on "Nights from the Alhombra" DVD, on cello, pennywhistle?, and
    tiny accordion(?). Caroline provided backing vocals on several songs,
    and tossed her disheveled blonde tresses in a most distracting manner.

    She was also accompanied by Brian Hughes, the guitarist on "Nights
    from the Alhombra" and who was up for the task. Switching between
    electric and acoustic guitar, bazouki, and maybe some other instruments,
    he seemed to have a guitar synthesizer setup, as some of the sounds did
    not seem to be actual guitar tones...but provided some needed background tones and added atmosphere to some of Loreena's stories.

    Loreena seemed most gracious and happy to be on stage. She went on
    at some length about the research on some of the songs, told some
    anecdotes about her travels to Ireland and elsewhere, and garnered a few laughs along the way. The crowd was very respectful, awaiting her next selection; no shouted suggestions or 'Freebird!" tonight.

    Highlights of the show? For me, "The Bonny Swans" was the apex, as
    it's one of my favorite McKennitt songs. "All Souls' Night" was
    second....one of my favorite Halloween songs, which I listened to on the drive home. "Bonny Portmore" "Stolen Child" "Down by the Sally Gardens",
    "The wind that shakes the barley" and "Lady of Shallot" were some of the other medleys. Missing, sadly, was "The Mummer's Dance", perhaps to
    complex to perform as a trio. My other disappointment was that, after steeling myself to pay way too much for a T-shirt, there were none to be
    had.

    So, a good time was had by all. Loreena promised to see us all again soon...which I hope is a reality.


    right at the end, you should have yelled "Freebird"...

    :)

    sounds like a wonderful concert.

    funny that this still works, i thought the account was
    gone and that posts would no longer show up. or are we
    unmoderated now just like any other newsgroup?

    anyways going back to the concert atmosphere that is
    sometimes ruined by people yelling or whistling at moments
    when there is some quiet space in a song -- it reminds me of
    Willie Nelson singing _Angel Flying Too Close to the Ground_
    at a live concert and it's a great rendition, but there's
    just a little bit too much audience participation and it
    could have been a step higher (see how i did that? :) )
    had they kept their yappers shut.


    songbird

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)