For once I am almost speechless.  What started out as a normal show day (actually a little better than average since there was a matinee as well as an evening show) ended in the best possible way.  No fair peeking ahead to the end.  Let's just say that I am floating so far above cloud 9 that it is invisible from here.

Sunday morning Rick, Dave (bigdave) and I drove from El Paso to Albuquerque.  The word boring doesn't even come close to describing the “scenery” on Interstate 25 through New Mexico.  I have never seen so much nothing in my entire life.  Miles upon miles upon miles of absolutely nothing.  Dirt and scrub as far as the eye could see, if you cared enough to look, all neatly fenced off into hundred-acre parcels holding invisible things that apparently need a fence to keep them from escaping.  What in the world was Mother Nature thinking when she designed this place?  Fortunately we had TGJ and Orla's new CD to keep us entertained.

We arrived a little after noon, grabbed a quick lunch and headed to the venue to meet up with the rest of the forum members.  We had a relatively small group for the afternoon show, less than ten I think.  We were mostly front row pit but well off to the side.  Scott, Tink, Rick and I were on the right side directly in front of Des.  Dwight was on the left side and Dave was back in the orchestra.  The matinee was added after the evening show sold out and the afternoon appeared to be a virtual sellout, too, so no chance for an ISU towards the center.

The Popejoy Hall is a medium-sized venue but it is not an older restored theater.  It is on the campus of the University of New Mexico and is a relatively modern facility with good acoustics but little to distinguish it architecturally.  The stage is quite high compared to El Paso, but similar to other theaters.  Front row center pit seats were right up against the stage but would definitely fall into the “neck cramp” category.  Our seats were a little farther back and the view was good considering how far to the right we were.

The girls were juiced; I guess they slept through all of the spectacular scenery. As the tour approaches its conclusion they continue to make subtle changes, just to keep us regulars from getting too complacent (like we ever would).  Chloë made a few more phrasing changes to When You Believe and At the Ceili continues to be a smorgasbord of ad-lib's.  The hair toss during The Contradiction appears to be a regular thing now and Máiréad nailed Nicky again.  They both have an enormous laugh afterward; it is so cute.  Eoghan (the bass player) is even doing shoulder shrugs during Spanish Lady now.  Near the end of Granuaile's Dance Máiréad looked right at me and mouthed a “Hi.”  As always, I melted a little, but that's not why I'm floating so high.

For those fashion moguls among us, Lisa's hair was back to its normal straight style but today Alex was decked out in a full Shirley Temple curly hairdo.  I call it the curl transplant and my theory is that they only have one curling iron and they draw straws to see who gets to use it on any given day.

After the show we walked across the street to a locally famous restaurant called The Frontier for dinner before the evening show.  It's a cross between a fast food place and a sit-down restaurant.  You place your order at a window and you pick up your order when they call your number.  What separates it from a fast-food place is the quality and variety and the fact that the food is cooked to order.  Burgers and steaks are cooked over an open flame and are delicious.  Several additional forum members joined our group for the evening performance: Rockie and Dalton, Tony (alcan1), Glenn (Rotten Rebel), Robert (Heathbrae), and Scott's brother and his daughter.  I may be missing a couple in there, Scott has the official roll.

After dinner we stopped at Scott's car to gather the loot for the M&G.  Tonight's Meet & Greet was going to be a very special one.  Arrangements had been made with CW and Rachel to present the OxFam charity contribution check to Máiréad and to have a group photo taken.  There were quite a few gifts for the rest of the girls, too, so almost every one of us carried something, in addition to our own stuff.

This time we all had third row center pit seats, in fact we had the entire row except 2 seats.  PBS had told us that they considered those to be better seats than the first two rows because of the stage height.  We were hoping that they would leave the first two rows empty because of that, but they were sold as regular seats by the box office.  Still, we had a good view of the stage and the girls had no trouble finding us.  The show was excellent, of course, and my enjoyment was heightened by the thought of what was coming after the show.

I mustn't forget the most important Mairead statistic.  She did 10 spins during Coast of Galicia in the afternoon and 9 in the evening performance.  She did four slow spins before speeding up and ran out of time to get that 10th one in.  That's still pretty phenomenal in my book.  I got several Thank You's from Máiréad and we all got plenty of looks from the girls.  The evening crowd was better than the more senior (trying to be PC here) afternoon bunch and, while still a little hesitant, they clapped and stood a little more.  Too soon it was over, but there was more to come.  Even if there hadn't been more, two great shows in less than eight hours ain't bad!

The Meet & Greet was with Chloë and Máiréad.  The forum had been granted the privilege by CW, Ltd. of presenting our collected donations to Máiréad in her charity’s name.  We left the non-forum attendees go first so we could have our ceremony after they left.  Then we had our own normal M&G before the presentation.  Scott had made a large version of the check, approximately 1' x 3', and the plan was to hold it up for Máiréad to see and have pictures taken with the check.  I was stunned to say the least when Scott told me that he had chosen Glenn and me to hold the check for the presentation and photo.  He had Máiréad come out from behind the table and gave a wonderful speech on what she has done to change people's lives, perhaps by inspiring them to pursue music, poetry, or other artistic ventures, or by teaching them by example to become better people through giving.  Then Glenn and I unrolled the check for her to see and she was simultaneously gratified and humbled.  Even though she knew it was coming she was surprised at the size of the check (not physical size, of course) and thanked Scott and the forum profusely.  Dave used his professional camera equipment to take a few pictures of Glenn and me holding the check and then we rearranged for a group photo.  Since I was still holding one end of the check, and here's the cloud 9 part finally, Máiréad came over and stood next to me with Scott on her other side.  The other forum members then lined up either beside Scott or behind us.  Chloë stood on the opposite end from Glenn and me.  Having Máiréad standing right next to me was enough to get my heart racing but wait, it gets better! [Pause here for dramatic effect] Then she put her arm around me.  My heart finally stopped racing, in fact I think it stopped completely for what seemed like an eternity.  I reciprocated and Dave preserved the moment for posterity.  I don't think I will be able to sleep for a very  long time.  Glenn also got well-deserved hugs from both Chloë and Máiréad.

After the festivities, we reconvened outside the venue and those of us heading to Tucson said our goodbyes to those who were not.  Even though I would be seeing Scott in Tucson, I tearily thanked him for the honor bestowed upon me; trust me it is a night I will never forget.  Ever.  Thank you again, Scott.

I am so high on pixie dust right now I don't know when, or even if, I'll ever come down.  Even though I have one more show, with M&G, it's all downhill from here.  No words can adequately describe what I felt, and am still feeling, so I won't try.  I'm going to stop here and dream for a while.  After all, I have that wonderful New Mexico scenery to look at again all day tomorrow!

The original review is here.