Tours:

Concerts:

Hershey, March 16, 2010

 

Ticket_20100316_HersheyHershey is only an hour from me and I considered this to be my “hometown” show.  In addition to being local, this show was a very special one for me.  To understand why, I need to give a little back story.

My best friend Brad and I have known each other for well over 40 years, since Junior High school.  We share a lot of the same interests (especially trains) and he has been like a brother to me.  Both of my parents passed away when I was in my late teens and early twenties and his parents “adopted” me as a family member.  I was included in all of their family gatherings, Thanksgiving and Christmas, and it was much appreciated.  Even though I was independent at that point in my life, it was nice to have a second family.  When Brad got married and his parents passed away I became part of his family and served as an “uncle” to his two daughters.  I have always tried to repay their friendship over the decades by treating them to various things that they might not have the opportunity to do on their own and I was taking care of a big debt tonight.

While Brad and I do have some differences in our musical tastes, there is a significant overlap.  When I discovered Celtic Woman in 2007 I invited Brad to watch the New Journey DVD on my home theater system.  He was just as taken with them as I was and a seed was planted for a wonderful payback.  After I attended my first shows that summer I planned to take them to the closest show on that tour in Reading, PA.  I hadn't yet learned the secrets to getting good tickets on TicketMaster and I was too late to pledge to PBS so we ended up with crappy row TT seats in one of the back sections.  The following Spring I worked with Scott (Furface) to make a group purchase of good seats at the Baltimore show.  Once again I ended up with less than great seats when the arena decided to move the stage but not our section.  They say the third time's the charm and I managed to get Brad a front row pit seat at the Philadelphia show last year, but I still wanted to treat the whole family.

The stars finally aligned this year.  When I found out that CW was coming to Hershey I called the local PBS station and immediately pledged for 4 tickets.  This was before the show even aired during their pledge drive so I was hopeful that I would get good seats.

That brings me to tonight.  The tickets were being held at Will Call, so I still didn't know where we were sitting.  We had a nice dinner at Applebee's and then headed over to the venue.  This was my first time at the Giant Center, although I had been at its predecessor, the Hershey Arena, many years ago.  Like most arenas this time of year we would be sitting on the ice, but first I had to get our tickets.  The seat numbers were B1 through B4 and my heart sank; second row was not what I was hoping for.  Since there was nothing I could do about it we headed inside.  When the usher seated us, much to my surprise, it turned out that we were in section B, row 1, just right of center.  It seems that I was apparently the first to pledge and had the best seats in the house.  I was ecstatic, things had finally worked out.

I had Brad's daughter, Beth, sit next to me (a shameless way to get more attention from the girls!) and had Brad and his wife, Sue, on the other side.  They were actually closer to center but I prefer to be a little to the right anyway because I get to see Máiréad more   Of course, I equipped Beth with a Fiddler Crossing sign and instructions on its use and we were all set.  I was very, very happy.

For some reason, the arena was not able to turn out all of the lights, so the girls were quite visible as they came out on stage with their candles.  When the stage lights came up Lisa spotted me right away and gave me the biggest smile; I think she missed me in Boston.  Beth got plenty of smiles, too.  Máiréad gave me a big “Hi!” when she came to my side of the stage during Coast of Galicia and she did an amazing 12 (yes, 12!) spins for the first time in quite a while.  Alex, Chloë, and Lynn also gave Beth and me plenty of looks and smiles.  They did look at other people in the front row but I didn't care about that!  The reason I like being to the right of center is  that I love watching Máiréad during You Raise Me Up when she's standing in the shadows and not playing.  It's a little window into her soul as I watch her smiling and swaying to the music.  Usually she doesn't look at the audience but for the second time she looked right at me and gave me the sweetest, loveliest smile.  I just melted.

The entire show was awesome, helped by a great audience.  I was proud of my “hometown” crowd.  For the first time, without other forum members, I wasn't the only one standing for Máiréad's solos.  There was plenty of applause, including spontaneous clapping along with Máiréad, lots of cheers and a little whistling.  Both Tommy and Anthony got applause for their solos, without prompting.  The only downer was a classic case of VSS after Mo Ghile Mear, but I've grown accustomed to it by now.  It did make me standout, though.  Literally.

At the risk of being a little politically incorrect, I have to say this.  Lynn virtually always wears her hair straight but she had it curled tonight and if you thought she looked stunning before, well you ain't seen nothin'.  I had a hard time taking my eyes off of her; she caught me staring several times and gave me a little smile before she looked away.  I have never seen her look more beautiful.

Unfortunately, I didn't win the Meet & Greet lottery so after the show we headed out towards the lobby.  We could hear Anthony playing but on the way I ran into Mitch who was in a very good mood.  We chatted for little bit and he remarked that I wasn't on his list tonight.   He asked if this was my last show and I reminded him that I would be in Cleveland on Saturday.

This was an even more emotional show than usual because of who I was sharing it with.  I was so happy that I finally got Brad and his family to see a Celtic Woman show the way it was meant to be seen, from the front row.  I've been to shows alone and with other forum members, but nothing beats sharing a CW concert with family.  It was indeed a very special night.

The original review is here.

 

Line02

© Copyright 2012 by Michael D. Brown.  All rights reserved.
Email comments to: webmaster@mrpeabody.us