Once again, for those who want to skip my normal long-winded travelogue, here's the Cliff Notes version.  The show was terrific but, to put it bluntly, and I apologize for the choice of words, the audience sucked.  The girls seemed to be having a great time and Máiréad once again did ten spins during Coast of Galicia.  We had rather mediocre seats but they were the best available.  There was no Meet & Greet or signing..

OK, now for the long version.  After our New York City adventure on Thursday at Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty, and our lucky viewing of the new Songs from the Heart  PBS special, Scott and I were on quite an emotional high.  Both of us were lacking sleep due to early morning departures, late night Meet & Greets, and even later after-show breakfasts and talkfests, so we decided to sleep in on Friday.  We left the hotel around noon and had lunch at a great local diner.  We ordered what we thought was going to be a light meal and got much more than we bargained for.  It was excellent but we left a little fuller than we expected.  From there we visited the Submarine Library and Force Museum in Groton, CT, about halfway between our hotel in Mystic and the Mohegan Sun casino.  There they have a large number of exhibits on the history of the submarine in general as well the U. S. fleet specifically.  They have a room with a real periscope that allows you look over the Thames River and the surrounding area and several actual submarine consoles where you sit and work the controls.  The highlight of the museum is that you can tour the interior of the USS Nautilus, the world's first nuclear powered submarine.  It was also the first sub with a staircase and you use that same staircase to enter the ship.  It's a self-guided tour and you actually have to squeeze through the same portals that the crew did.  It is quite interesting and well worth a visit if you're in the area.

From there we headed to the casino.  The Spring show had been on Saturday and this one was on Friday so I expected a lot of traffic and distant parking.  It turned out, probably because we were so early, that we breezed into the middle garage and parked right next to the casino entrance.  Once inside it was just a short walk to the box office, which was our first stop.  I had been trying in vain to get decent seats to this show ever since they went on sale and was foiled at every turn.  TicketMaster never gave me a ticket choice closer than the very rear of the arena and the Sun box office was no help either.  Since there were going to be several of us there, I tried to make a group purchase through the box office and every time I called, which was many times, I would get a slightly different story on why I couldn't make a group purchase or why they couldn't give me decent floor seats.  Today, though, a very nice young lady named Amanda, who was the only one working a window because we were so early, was very helpful and managed to get us seats in the first section to the left of the stage, although relatively high up.  They weren't great seats but they were better than the “safety seats” I had purchased a week or so earlier.

There would be six of us getting together for dinner before the show: Scott and myself, Scott (FurrFace) and Walter, who drove up from Maryland and would be driving back right after the show, Dave (BigDave), and John (meavman).  We all met in front of Michael Jordan's Steakhouse in the center of the casino.  When Scott and I were first planning our Roadtrip we had tentatively planned on eating there, but when we checked out the menu we decided that it was a little pricey ($40 and up for a steak).  We ended up at Big Bubba's BBQ, which had great sandwiches among other things.

After dinner we headed back down to the arena entrance where we met a bunch of other forum members: the famous Joe and Kathy, Joan and her husband, Steve (stevie) and his wife, and a nice young man who has the extremely long user name Vincanity0011210 who thought Scott worked for CW and wanted him to deliver some gifts to the girls.  Once the doors opened, we headed for our seats.  We had a decent view of the stage although we were well off to the left.  Unfortunately, the girls would not have very good view of us.  Noticeably different this time, versus previous shows here, were the two large projection screens, one on each side of the stage.  During the performance two broadcast-quality cameras were used to project closeups of the stage for those who were too far back to see.  The camera work was quite good with nice cross-fades between the two cameras and smooth and steady zooms and pans.  I don't know if it was recorded or not, but we all commented that while it probably wasn't good enough for a commercial release it was certainly good enough that it would be a wonderful momento of the tour for fans to purchase.  I'm planning on sending an email to CW to make that suggestion.

Once the show started, the floor was still only about half full, as usual.  The ushers continued to seat people not just for the first few songs but all the way to and beyond  intermission.  It was annoying and distracting the other times I was here but this was by far the worst I've ever seen.  I tried very hard to enjoy the show but it was extremely difficult because our seats gave us a bird's-eye view of the abomination on the floor.  “Bumps on a log” is being generous when describing the demeanor of those lucky ones who had the good seats.  Fewer than 10% even applauded, much less stood.  I asked Máiréad at the Meet & Greet in Columbus, after apologizing for the Mohegan Sun show, whether they saw us and she said they did.  They certainly gave it their all and gave a wonderful performance.  Máiréad did 10 spins and was a blur sometimes; the cameramen had a tough time following her!

At intermission I was chatting with the gentleman beside me and I asked him how to get the good seats on the floor.  He told me that they were “tribal” seats and there was no way for the public to get them.  I realize that it's “their” casino, and they can do whatever they want to with “their” seats, but I don't think it is right that the fans have absolutely no way of gaining access to them.  In several of my calls to the box office they lied and told me the floor seats were reserved by the performer's fan club; I knew better than that.  Now I know the real story.

I think all of us who were there have reached the same conclusion, unless there is a signing event like there was in the Spring, none of us will ever attend another show at Mohegan Sun.  Not only is it unfair to the fans and the general public, it is very disrespectful and rude to the performers, whether it's Celtic Woman or anyone else.  It's as if those people, and I use that term loosely, look at their watch and say, “Hey Fred, it's 8:30 and my arm's tired, let's go see what's playing at the arena.”

I'm sorry that this has turned into more of a rant than a review, but that's how I will always remember this show.  Even after several days I am still angry and frustrated and I feel so bad for our lovely ladies who had to endure it.  Scott and I both vowed to do our best to show our overwhelming support for the girls the next night.

The original review is here.