Second night same as the first?  Not even close.

The day started early and on only a few hours sleep.  Tony and Dwight were taking the early CNN tour and we planned to meet at the Georgia Aquarium around opening time at 10.  Reasonably on time, despite being on DDT (Dwight Daylight Time), we got our tickets and went inside.  The Georgia Aquarium is billed as the biggest in the world and it certainly seemed to live up to that claim.  We spent over three hours there and could probably have spent another three since we didn't see everything.  The highlights were the Beluga whale exhibit and the Ocean Voyager.  The whales are beautiful to watch; they are amazingly graceful for their size and love to show off.  The Ocean Voyager is a 6.3 million (that's 6,300,000) gallon salt-water tank with multiple viewing points, including some where you are in a transparent tunnel under the water.  Whale sharks, groupers, manta rays, sting rays, and a multitude of other species happily mingle with each other.  There is a viewing wall over 60 feet wide (and 2 feet thick) which I could watch for hours.  If you are ever in Atlanta, DO NOT miss this and allow plenty of time to really appreciate it.  After a light lunch at Johnny Rocket's we walked back to the hotel to rest up for the evening.

We all met for dinner again and went to the Will Call window to retrieve our tickets.  We didn't win the M&G lottery and had third row pit seats so I wasn't quite as stoked as the first night.  Once inside, we found that the seats weren't that bad and we chatted with several of our neighbors.  There should be a few new members as a result of those conversations.  I anticipated this being a more relaxing show since I didn't have to keep detailed mental notes.  In some ways it was.

Once again the theater appeared to only be about half full.  I talked to the pit usher at intermission and she said that they had sold about 2800 seats each night and that was considered good.  She said they rarely fill all 4500 seats so I didn't feel quite as bad for the girls.

With a few exceptions, the show was basically the same as last night so I'll cover things that I didn't hit in the first review.  Chloë again gave an extended speech as her introduction to Galway Bay.  She joked that she was almost ready to “chuck it all” and move to Atlanta because she loves it so much.  When Máiréad came to our side of the stage she spotted us and gave me one of those “OK, now I know where you are” smiles.  She still seemed to be easing into her full throttle mode, though, and only did 10 spins.  That's OK by me; take it easy Máiréad.  I listened more closely to Ms. Lisa's prose reading leading into My Lagan Love.  It is two verses long and sounds like it's about a beautiful young woman.  I still need to hear it a few more times to get the tie-in to the song.  Or maybe I'll just ask her the next time I see her.  While her version is excellent, I think the song lends itself more to Lynn's crystalline voice.  Lisa also mentioned loving Atlanta in her My Heart Was Home Again introduction.  I believe they really do love it here.  I'm still not happy with this being a duet but I'll just have to live with it until whatever next year's tour brings.

During the first act I noticed one empty seat at the end of the first row.  As a courtesy to the usher, I asked her if it was OK if I moved.  She said, “OK, but you didn't hear it from me.”  That was good enough for me so I got my first ISU of the tour.  I was now 2 feet from the stage directly in front of Ewan, the new guitarist.  I was just about 4 seats to the right of where I was last night and a few feet closer to the stage.  Perfect for watching Máiréad during You Raise Me Up!  During intermission I chatted with the usher and learned a few things about the theater that my tour guide hadn't covered on Wednesday.  We also talked about where everyone in our group was from, how we met, how many shows we've seen, etc.

When the girls came out for the second act, Lisa got that bewildered look on her face like in Buffalo until she finally located me in my new seat.  Then I got the “Ah, there you are!” look.  Up to this point I was a little disappointed in the audience.  Last night I don't think Tommy or Anthony would have gotten recognition for their solos if we hadn't started clapping.  That was still true for Tommy tonight but the audience surprised me when they started clapping for Anthony before he even finished his Amazing Grace introduction.  In fact, he even got a partial standing ovation.  Thank you, Atlanta, for that; he certainly deserved it.

I said last night that Ms. Lisa has wrestled Dulaman from Lynn.  I need to update that and say that she has flat-out stolen it.  While Lynn's version was funny and flirtatious, Ms. Lisa's version is pure theater.  Starting right out with her introduction where she calls Ray and Andy her “prime specimens” of seaweed, she hulas, dances, and spins her way to a very cute conclusion with Ray.  While My Lagan Love will always be Lynn's, the torch has been passed on Dulaman.

The Songs from the Heart trilogy took a strange twist tonight when I saw Alex.  It was at the point in the song where Alex used to enter.  Ms. Lisa has been wearing Alex's gowns, and as she prepared to enter from behind Ray's drum tower in the shadows I saw Alex instead of her.  It was intensely real and lasted until she moved into light and I could see her face.  I'm still a little shaken because I've never had anything like that happen to me before.  After that, the show was different and I'm at a loss to explain why.

The girls are still changing things during At the Ceili and it's hard to know where to look.  I got a lovely smile from Máiréad as she circled around the band to flirt with Eoghan.  She's such a sweetheart.  *Sigh*  Last Rose Fantasia was breathtaking and The Mason's Apron was a hoot.  Non C'e Piu was exceptional tonight.  I don't know if I was still seeing Alex channeling through Ms. Lisa or what but when she hit those last few high notes near the end I just lost it.  That song has always affected me, but not like tonight.

Máiréad gave her usual lovely introduction to You Raise Me Up and since she was only a few feet away I could clearly hear her violin.  I have to say that it's one of the nicest sounds you will ever hear.  I watched her in the shadows, as I always do, and the expressions on her face would have told a great story if I had only known what she was thinking.  A penny for your thoughts, Máiréad.

Now for some comments on the other newbies in the ensemble.  Ewen, on guitar, is a very gifted artist and he has given some of the songs his own touch.  Last night during Fields of Gold I heard some new guitar arrangements and tonight I watched him more closely.  During the lead-in to Last Rose Fantasia he has added some ornamentation (is that the correct term, Ron?) to distinguish it from Des's version.  Neither is necessarily better than the other, they are just different.  Andy, who replaced Nicky, is quite good as well.  He's not as muscular as Nicky but, ladies, he is easy on the eyes.  He has his own drums, replacing Nicky's green ones, and he doesn't toss his sticks (at least not yet) but he'll grow into his new role just fine.

Four of the six choir members are new: all three girls and one gent.  The two holdovers are Dermot and Niall, the rich guy from ANJ.  The three female members are Máiréad (yes, there's now two of them), Laura and Eimear.  Unfortunately I don't yet know which is which on stage.  Regardless, they are just as good as the former choir members that we all miss.  There's clearly no shortage of talented singers in Ireland.

Since we didn't win the M&G lottery we headed for a late night snack and post-concert wrapup.  Before leaving, though, John asked Dustin who would be at the M&G; inquiring minds want to know.  We were informed that Chloe and Lisa (Kelly) were scheduled so we wouldn't have gotten to see Máiréad anyway.  On the way out of the theater, Sue, the lady who runs the concession shop in the theater, chased us down to chat.  All of us who had taken the theater tour had already met her and she remembered all of us and where we were from.  We regaled her with stories and, like the pit usher, she wanted to know how we met, etc.  At the restaurant we ran into some other concert attendees winding down and they, too, are likely new forum members.  It was a good night for the forum.

The original review is here.