On Friday, June 12, 2009, at 8:00p.m.(EST), at the Covelli Center in Youngstown, OH, I had the distinct pleasure of experiencing Celtic Woman (featuring Lisa, Chloe, Mairead, Alex, and Lynn) live in concert for their brand new "Isle of Hope" Tour. I will now break down the show in complete detail, and do my best to provide an impartial, unbiased review. (Bear in mind that I am limited as far as how much detail I can offer because of patents, copyrights, and trademarks owned by Celtic Woman.)
The thing that stood out very clearly prior to the start of the concert was the strict enforcement of the copyright protection rights of the show (and the act) itself. The very first thing the door greeters checked for was audio/video recording devices or equipment.
When we purchased our tickets on Ticketmaster.com back in February, there was a bold, extra-large warning atop the order page which stated "NO CAMERAS, VIDEO RECORDERS, OR AUDIO RECORDING DEVICES ARE PERMITTED AT THIS SHOW." The announcer even came over the audio system 10 minutes before the show began and again announced the strict policy against audio/video recording devices. For the most part, the audience of approximately 3,000 respected and adhered to the act's stern policy.
Many people do not understand why Celtic Woman is enforcing the ban on cameras and video recorders so strictly. It's very simple if you stop and think about it for a minute. The very first "Celtic Woman" show at the Helix in Dublin, Ireland debuted in 2005. "A New Journey" debuted from the Slane Castle in Ireland. Take a wild guess at the commonality between these two shows. If you answered PBS, you got it right!
The "Isle of Hope" Tour is the first Celtic Woman show not to be broken on Public Broadcast Television. "Isle of Hope" debuted in St. Paul, Minnesota at the Target Center, if memory serves me correctly. PBS is heavily involved in the ticket sales for this tour, however since the concert has yet to air on PBS from Ireland (as all the prior shows have), PBS and Celtic Woman are fully vested in preventing the concert from debuting on YouTube instead. Can you blame them?
For whatever reason, some people just don't get it, and they insist on trying to video or photograph the show. I can assure you, very few get away with it! If you do not believe me, do a video search for Celtic Woman Isle of Hope. Not much there huh?
I really don't anticipate you will find much for this tour until the show airs on PBS, if it in fact does air. I am fairly certain that the new show (which will be taped at Powerscourt House and Gardens, Wicklow County, Ireland on Wednesday, July 29th and Thursday, July 30th, 2009) will unveil brand new material.
"Isle of Hope" Show - Set 1
The show began with Chloe narrating a lovely United States, Isle of Hope infused version of "The Sky and The Dawn and The Sun". Lisa, Chloe, Alex, Lynn, and Mairead appeared on stage, all wearing stunning gowns. Mairead was dressed in her distinctive vintage white gown, and she was wearing knee wraps on both knees (gee, I wonder why!), while the rest of the girls wore the solid colors red, orange, green, and blue.
Lisa Kelly and Chloe Agnew performed brand new songs early in the set, and although I cannot disclose the specific details, I can say that they were much more hip than anything we've seen from them to date. I was blown away by Lisa's versatility and Chloe's diverse vocal range, although this was already common knowledge!
In the middle of the first set, Alex and Lynn got in on the action performing a few classics from "A New Journey". Alex Sharpe has a very powerful voice and is quite diverse vocally. Lynn Hilary is fantastic as well - her voice is so pretty and crystal clear to boot. She's not too hard on the eyes either, to say the least. Orla and Meav are irreplaceable, but Alex and Lynn add a brand new flavor and an expanded dimension to the group.
The first set was round out with a spectacular performance of "Isle of Hope, Isle of Tears", the title track of the tour. Ray Fean played the unmistakable military marching cadence on the snare drum, with the fine precision of a well-oiled machine.
"Isle of Hope" Show - Set 2
There was a brief 20 minute intermission, then came set 2 of the show. The women were dressed in solid colored gowns once again, however the colors were rotated among them. Mairead had on a white gown once again, but midway through the second set she changed into something a bit more colorful.
The second set began with a new performance from Alex Sharpe, which I cannot go into much detail about, once again. I can give you a big hint - she sang a great rendition of an Elton John classic, which was made popular in one of the biggest animated films ever produced.
The group performed several more songs from the Slane Castle show, including Mairead's amazing rendition of "Shenandoah (The Pacific Slope)".
Then, out of the blue, something rather unusual occurred during Mairead's playing of this classic.
A string on her bow broke during this song, but she made it through by altering the key at the points in the song where the string was needed. Now let me tell you folks, that takes plenty of experience and raw talent! Mairead reappeared a few songs later with a shiny new bow.
The group performed a few more new songs, which featured Lynn. They also sang more classics from the first two shows, with Lisa Kelly wowing the crowd with the YouTube sensation "The Voice". Towards the finale of the show, Chloe thanked the audience for their support and raved about how successful their stint in Ohio has been since the group was formed back in 2004.
Then came their brand new hit "Oh, America", which will debut on June 23 internationally. Again for this song, Fean played a military snare cadence which highlighted the American theme of the show itself.
Celtic Woman exited the stage after their performances of "Mo Ghile Mear" and "You Raise Me Up", however the show was far from over. After a long standing ovation, Mairead reappeared and ignited the crowd all over again, performing "Reels".
The entire group then appeared onstage once more, along with the choir and the backup female vocalists. "Ceili Outro" took the group out for good, with the entire cast taking either a bow or curtsy.
The arena lights came up, and the stage lights went dark; Celtic Woman exited stage right.
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