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Re: Loreena McKennitt Tour

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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

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Re: Loreena McKennitt Tour Plague Boy <Plague_Boy@earthlink.net> - 2015-10-17 01:24 -0400

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