Sunday morning, I took the 9:07 train from Grand Central back to Bridgeport for the short drive to Wallingford.  Scott called me just as I was leaving the parking garage to let me know that he had arrived at the venue from New Hampshire.  I wanted to check into my hotel first, but they wouldn't let me since it was only 11:30.  So I headed to the venue to meet Scott.  After a little catching up, Tony arrived and we all headed across the street to a little Italian place for lunch before the show.

I had a third row center seat while Scott and Tony were scattered a little farther back.  While waiting for the show to start I chatted with the two ladies next to me.  They were first timers so I prepared them for what they were about to see, without giving too much away.  I had noticed several empty seats at the right end of my row so at intermission I planned an ISU.  I was going to let the people to my right slide into my seat and Scott, Tony, and I would be together.  There was also an empty seat in the second row.  A teenage girl and her friend had come down from the balcony to see some people they knew and were planning an ISU themselves.  Fortunately, there were enough seats for us all and she got the second row seat right in front of us.  She was so into the show!  Fortunately she was small and the seats were relatively large because she could not sit still!  During At the Ceili she was doing the skirt swirls and just about every other move in her seat!  And singing along, of course.  It was obvious that she had watched ANJ a few thousand times as she was doing Orlah's moves which are slightly different than the way Alex now does that part.  She was also playing "air violin" along with Máiréad.  She was almost as much fun to watch as the show!  Afterwards we found out that she has been playing violin for 10 years and is a major Máiréad fan.  We gave her the forum address so she could join.

The show itself was, of course, awesome.  The untrained observer wouldn't have noticed, but the girls did seem a little tired.  It was most noticeable with Máiréad as she did only about half as many spins as usual during The Coast of Galicia.  With the M&G on Saturday night lasting until close to midnight and needing to get ready for a 2:00 matinee, I'm sure they had very little rest.  It's a grueling schedule and I suspect that's why they dropped the matinee that had been scheduled for Raleigh.

Scott, Tony, and I had talked before the show about how we would squeeze in dinner between the shows.  The parking lot at the Chevrolet Theater is very slow to empty and we were worried whether we would make it back in time.  Ultimately we decided to wait until after the evening show to get a late dinner.  So we just hung out in the parking lot.  A little later John showed up to join our group and we headed in for the second show.

Once again we were all scattered, with me being the closest in the second row just left of center.  I immediately noticed the two empty seats at front row center, so at intermission we all pulled another ISU.  Tony and I moved to the front row and Scott and John moved up to fifth row center.  The theater has great acoustics (not quite as good as Radio City, but close) and the show was amazing.  The crowd was very into it and helped to boost the show's energy.  The girls were still showing the strain of three shows in 24 hours and I was glad for them that they had Monday off.

I was having mixed feelings since it would be my last show until June and tried to soak in every detail.  It's nice when the girls recognize you and I relished every glance or smile I got.  It helped to ease the pending withdrawal I knew I'd be feeling later.  It was over far too quickly.

After the show we followed each other to a late night diner that Scott remembered.  Despite a small navigational error, we all arrived without getting lost.  We talked and shared experiences and ended up closing the place.  They kept turning off lights as a hint, but eventually the owner had to come over and politely ask us to leave.

Finally it was over and everyone headed their own way.  I finally got to check into my hotel, at 11:30pm instead of 11:30am.  I went to sleep a very happy person, although a little sad that it was over for a while.  Monday was travel day, heading home and back to work.  The only consolation is that they'll be back east in June.

Original review is here.