Fall Tour 09

Hi All

So as per usual, i'll start with apologising for not writing sooner!!!  It's funny how the shorter tours end up being the busiest and feeling like the longest!.  I hope this post finds you all well.  Well this have been a whirlwind tour.  We started out in Waukeegan and of course being the fall i've packed my winter wollies and have yet to hit cold weather.  It has been incredible.  I don't think i've worn my coat once!.  We were in some cities that I have never been to before like Paducah, Sioux Falls, Prior Lake, Merrillville, Lubbock and Appleton.  These were smaller cities but you wouldn't know it by the audiences.  We've been so lucky to have such wonderful audiences in all our venues.  The crowds seem to be getting larger and louder!.  Plenty of singing and dancing.  It's also getting to the stage that nearly every night there are people in the audience that we recognise.  Your dedication is incredible and very much appreciated.  

We got meet some fans that have written to us that we have never met before and of course we got to meet the good ole regulars that turn up at many concerts.  With the economy the way it is, it never ceases to amaze me how many of you still come to as many shows as you can.  But please know that we just love the fact that you are there, you don't need to bring gifts.  They are always so thoughtful and appreciated but times are tough these days and we really don't expect it. But thank you for all the gifts that we have received!.

I think the highlight of this tour was probably the showing of the special on CPTV in Connecticut.  We were so excited to see it finally on some of your screens.  We're incredibly proud of this production and hope that all of you will get a chance to see it before you get the DVD.

So here will are in the final week of the tour.  It's been a great few weeks.  We finish on Sunday and have a few days off before we have promo with PBS for a week.  We're all heading off in different directions for the PBS interviews so keep an eye on the celtic woman website for listings and any other appearances that we may be making!.

I'd like to wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving.  I'm very excited to be in the USA for thanksgiving.  It's a very special time.

Wishing you all health and happiness

I look forward to seeing you all soon

Lots of love

Lisaxxxx

What a summer!!!

Hi All

I always seem to start these blogs with an apology for not writing sooner!  Each time,  I go to write another one, i realise another month or two (ooppss) has passed!!!.  Although we are only home 5 weeks, it feels like so much has happened.  The tour is nearly a distant memory at this stage!.  Obviously the month of July was totally consumed with the DVD special from Powerscourt.  We arrived home on the 5th of July and had a few days rest before we headed in to rehearsals.  Rehearsals are always so much fun.  We have our director and choreographer Daryn Crosbie who takes us through everything from start to finish.  He showed us the stage plan, the set list, the set and then hinted at what he thought the dresses were like!.  We spent six days in rehearsals and then headed down to Powerscourt on the Tuesday.  (By the way, when we arrived they were filming "The Tudors" in the courtyard beside our trailers.  Myself and Chloe thought they might give us a walk on part! But it wasn't to be.  Seemingly our jeans and leggings were not appropriate attire for the show!) Our show was being filmed on the Wednesday and Thursday.  Tuesday, however, was a total washout!!!.  We managed to get down to set and have a look at it and also take in the breath taking venue!.  I haven't been to Powerscourt in a very long time and I had forgotten how incredibly stunning it is.  So much so, my aussie husband asked why I had never thought to bring him there in all the years we've been living in Dublin.  It really is one of the most amazing places. So we didn't get to do a full run through of the show that day, which was a little worrying.  Even though we had done it many times in rehearsals you really need to get on the stage and have a good run through but it wasn't to be and we headed home for some rest and warmth!!!!.  And of course to learn the words to some of the songs.

Wednesday morning didn't look all the promising either but we at least got to do a run through.  We also got to see the stunning, stunning dresses for the first time.  As you can imagine, there were squeals coming from the wardrobe trailer!!!  Synan O'Mahony designs all our dresses but this time he excelled himself.  They were all amazing and i'm dying for you to see them!.  Anyway as the day went by the weather got worse.  At 9pm the rain stopped and we got to do the first show.  We managed to get through the whole show but it was freezing and damp.  I've never been as cold.  I know I complained about San Diego being cold but this was like the North Pole in comparison!.  The chill in the air was incredible and for me the first night wasn't great as my eyes kept running due to the cold, the wind and the lights!.  So poor Sara, our make up artist, made quite a lot of appearances on stage - much to her family's delight though!.  Thursday,however, was a different day.  It was warm and sunny.  We got to run through the whole show again during the day, just to tweak some things and thursday night's show went without a hitch, well that's not entirely true - we did blow a generator but it was fixed in a matter of minutes.  The show was a huge success and I really enjoyed every minute.  The highlight for all of us girls was not just performing for all our family and friends who rarely get an opportunity to see us live, but also to see so many familiar faces from the US there to cheer us on.  It really was wonderful and we are so appreciative to all of you who managed to make it over.  And for some of you from the warmer parts of America, I'm sure you didn't know what hit you with the unpredictable Irish weather!.  I know many of you made the most of your trip and travelled on around Ireland.  I hope it was everything you dreamed it would be.  Thanks again for all your encouragement and support.  For those of you who couldn't make it, I hope you enjoy the new PBS special and DVD as much as we enjoyed making it.  The new songs are incredible, the set was beautiful and as I've said the costumes were stunning and not just ours, the choir girls all looked amazing! I'd just like to thank all of the people involved in the production.  It's not just all of us on stage, there is so much work that goes on in the background and we are very lucky to have the "best of the best"!!!!

I hope this finds you all happy and healthy.  We're looking forward to getting back on the road in October.  Our dates haven't been fully confirmed as of yet but keep a look out on www.celticwoman.com for updates. 

Lots of love

Lisaxxxxxx 

On a side note, i just got back from London after a little trip with my sisters and saw the show Wicked - what an incredible show.  I saw it in New York too.  If it comes to your city, which i'm sure it will eventually, go see it!!!.  Amazing

THE FINAL WEEK

Hi All

As i write this we have only 4 more shows in this tour!.  I can hardly believe it.  Whilst it's been one of our longest tours, it has gone by really quickly.  The last month has been quite busy however.  After our lovely break in May, which I spent in the gorgeous Ft Lauderdale we spent a few days in Ft Myers and West Palm Beach.  I know many of you attended the show in WPB and it was great to see so many familiar faces there.  I love WPB, it's probably one of my favourite parts of Florida and the Kravis Centre is an amazing venue.  After that we headed to Savannah, GA and in the 9 years I have toured the USA, I can't believe that I have never visited this beautiful city.  It is so quaint and of course the southern hospitality is alive and kicking there.  They even have an island called "Isle of Hope".  I wish I could have spent more time there.  We then hit the good ol reliable cities of Charlotte, Roanoke and Raleigh.  We even got to have a "cook out" in Roanoke on our day off, which was lovely.  Then on to lovely Portsmouth which was an outdoor venue right on the water and of course the gorgeous Wolf Trap!.  It's always so nice to for me to go back there as it was the first outdoor venue i'd ever played in back in my Riverdance days.  It's so special to me.

We spend Chloe's birthday in Cincinnati and had a fantastic night there and then moved on to Youngstown, Cleveland, Richmond, Lexington and Nashville, where I received the honour of being appointed, "Honorary Chief of Police".  I'm not sure what that entitles me to, but i can assure you, there is no living with me now on tour!!!!.  The girls are terrified of me!.

We spent a good few days in Philadelphia last week and then headed to Trenton, Penn State University and Ft Wayne.  So this month has been quite hectic for us and it's not over yet!.  We played Kansas City last night, which was fantastic. I love that city and tonight we're in Little Rock.  Then it's on to Tulsa and on Monday we fly to New York to do a Good Morning America slot on Tuesday morning - very exciting and then fly back to Denver for RED ROCKS on Wednesday and Thursday.  Red Rocks is one of the most beautiful places in the world and we love ending the tour there!!! So there you have it, i hope you are all well.  Thanks so much for your endless support, gifts and letters of encouragement.  You have no idea how much it means to me!!!!.  I hope you've enjoyed this tour.  I'll write after the DVD shoot in Powerscourt and I'll even try to post a few photos, if i learn how to use my computer properly!!!! 

Thanks again for everything.

Lots of love

Lisaxxxxxxxxx

The Time Is Flying!!!

Hey All

As I write this I can't believe that nearly 4 weeks has gone by since I last wrote!!!.  Apologies.  It's been a really hectic time for all of us and it didn't help that I spilled a cup of tea over my computer a few weeks back!.  But luckily, I am now in florida on a 9 day vacation and computer is fixed!!!.  Yay.  However, I may as well be in Ireland with the weather here!  What a mix.  Thunder, rain, sun and humidity!.

We've had a fantastic few weeks on the road, plenty of birthdays.  Lynn and Mairead in April and then myself and Alex in May.  Thanks so much for all the lovely gifts and cards.  I'm such a lucky girl!!  I spent my birthday in Portland on a travel day.  We were making our way from Oakland to Spokane.  The girls were so good and organised a dinner for me and then decorated the bus for a little party as we travelled on to Spokane.  It's always fun when there's a party on the bus.  

We played in some fab venues over the last few weeks, The Greek in LA which was freezing, San Diego Open Air Theatre, also freezing, Santa Barbara Bowl, yes you guessed, freezing!!!!  Beautiful venues though!.  I spent those three nights with hand warmers in my dress! That's how i got through it.  It's been wonderful though being back on the west coast.  There's so much to see and do.  The kids had a blast in LA going to Universal and they even got to Sea World in San Diego.  Very lucky children.  i don't think they realise how lucky they are.  They think it's the norm!.  We finished our West Coast part of the tour in beautiful Seattle.  If you have never been there, it is one place you should visit.  I've been very fortunate to spend quite a bit of time here between this show and Riverdance.  This was the first time i've been there that the weather has been good and it just made me love it even more.  It's a stunning, stunning city.  I only found out on the last day that they do an underground tour.  For those of you that don't know, seemingly Seattle is built on top of a city that was destroyed in the 1800's.  Next time I go, i'll definitely do that.  Also, it's the home of Starbucks!!!.  A manager who works for the company very kindly offered to take me on a tour of the roasting plant, but unfortunately we didn't have time to do it.  So thanks Gene for the offer, maybe next time.  But he sent me a fantastic Starbucks basket, which brightened my day.

So here we are on the home stretch now.  Looking forward to seeing many of you over the next few weeks.  Thanks again for all your love and support 

Best wishes

Lisaxxxx

DANCING WITH THE STARS

Hi All

Just a very quick post tonight!  What an amazing experience! We are still on cloud 9.  When we heard a few weeks ago that we were going to be on Dancing With The Stars, we were excited but I don't think any of us expected to feel the way we feel now!

We arrived in LA on Monday and had monday evening off, which was lovely.  I love LA.  Then we were up early on Tuesday for hair and make up and travelled to the studios for our performance.  When we got the we were escorted to our trailer, yes a trailer, and had to get ready for our sound check!.  Once in costume, we headed in to the studio passing all the American Idol judge's dressing rooms on the way!  I was really looking out for Simon Cowell, as I'm a huge fan, but sadly didn't get to see him.  We made it on to the DWTS set and looked on in awe at the beautiful set!.  It was so pretty.  We did our sound check and watched the amazing dancers dance in front of us.  Eric and Georgia were incredible.  It was really hard for us to focus on what we were supposed to be doing.  We then got to meet some of the dancers and celebrities, all of whom were so nice and welcoming.  When it was finally time for the 'real thing' we stood nervously in the waiting area and were lucky enough to meet the judges Len and Bruno.  We have the original version at home with is called Strictly Come Dancing so we are used to seeing Len and Bruno on our TV's, so you can imagine the excitement when they came to say hello!.  I thought Catherine Neylan (one of our choir girls) was going to faint!.  She loves Len.  Again, they were so nice to us and very excited to see us perform.  We were then called to get in to position the nerves started to kick in, but once the intro started and the dancers moved on to the floor we all relaxed and did what we were there to do.  And I have to say it was one of the highlights of Celtic Woman.  We had a ball.  We enjoyed every single minute of it.  I was so sad when it was over.  It was wonderful for us to have the choir with us and of course having Rachel, Scott, Scotty, Wayne, Andrew, Sara, Lucy and Alison made it all so easy and comfortable.  Our "Celtic Woman" family is incredible.  It's an occasion that I think we will be talking about for a very long time.  I hope you all enjoyed it as much as we did.  And i really want to thank everyone that was involved in making it all so incredible.  For me, it was a dream come true 

Hope you are all well

Love 

Lisaxxxx

Catch up

Hi Guys

Hope all is well with you!!!.  Things are going well here.  We're in Elvis country at the moment.  Lovely Memphis!  The weather here has been such a mix.  Freezing cold the first day, roasting hot the second day and mild and breezy today!!.   We've had the strangest weather the last few weeks.  My children got to see their first real thunder and lightening storm in Birmingham, Alabama.  We thought going south we could get the shorts and t-shirts out, but it wasn't meant to be.  We had rain and wind and then eventually on the second day of Jacksonville the sun broke through, much to everyone's delight.

We've had some fantastic audiences over the last few weeks.  The response has been incredible!.  Probably the best was in Gainesville where we did the "Gator Clap" at the end of the show.  I thought the arena was going to cave in!.  Tonight we head to St Louis and then we have a well earned 4 day break.  Really looking forward to it, i have to say.  Hopefully the weather will improve!!! After that we start our journey to the west coast.  California here we come.

Hope you are all well

Lots of love

Lisaxxx

Our busiest week yet

Hi Guys

Hope you are all doing well.  Well we are coming to the end of our busiest week yet!!!!.  It's been crazy.  New York is always a busy time for us, but New York around Paddy's Day is just madness. We got to perform on the Today show again this year which was wonderful, considering it's where we started 4 years ago!.  Although this time they allowed us to sing indoors which was fantastic.  I'll never forget the first year, singing Orinocco Flow in the freezing cold!!  Kathy Lee Gifford and her husband hosted the show and they were really lovely to us.  Then we had the two nights in Radio City, which was just wonderful.  It was great to see so many familiar faces in the audience. Being in New York, I couldn't pass up the opportunity to go to Central Park Zoo with the kids. It's a really small zoo but perfect for the little ones.  We got to see the sea lions and the penguins!  Such beautiful creatures.  I actually received a gorgeous penguin called "Terrwyn" from the Mairead Forum fans when we played in Wilkes Barre so thank you so much for him.  I love him.  And thank you to all of you who sent letters and gifts over the last few weeks.  They were much appreciated.  

So here we are in Wallingford for 2 shows.  We head back to NYC tonight for our appearance on the Mike and Juliet show in the morning and then we get to ring the closing bell on the NYSE tomorrow afternoon.  How exciting!  We're really looking forward to that.  It's been hectic but fun.

Thanks for all your posts.  It's lovely to hear from you all!!!

Take care

Love and best wishes

Lisaxxxxxxx

Catch up

Hi All

Hope this finds you all well.

I't hard to believe the month of February is almost over.  What a month it has been!  I can honestly say that I have experienced the coldest weather in the last couple of weeks!!  Thankfully the temperature should get a little higher as we head south this weekend.

At the moment we are in the Ohio Theatre in Columbus.  This is the first time Celtic Woman has played this theatre.  Every other time we played the Palace Theatre.  I did spend a week here with Riverdance though, back in 2000 so it's nice to come back.  The theatre here is amazing.  We've been very lucky this month to have played in some really gorgeous theatres.

The Palace in Louisville is stunning.  I love going back there.  And of course there was the Chicago Theatre which is just incredible.  Chicago is a city that I haven't spent all that much time in but i'm making a point of going back.  What a great city!.  I'd live on Garret's popcorn if i lived there though!.  For those of you who haven't heard or Garrets, trust me, it's worth a visit.

Whilst in Chicago, I got to do the first night meet & greet which seemed to have hundreds of people attend.  It was so nice to see so many familiar faces and to meet fans that we hadn't met before.  I was presented with a whole bunch of incredible gifts and I'd like to thank all of you who contributed.  I was speechless, to say the least.  Completely overwhelmed.  

From Chicago we went on to Detroit, where i'm convinced I got frostbite!!!.  I've never been as cold in all my life.  Then on to Indianapolis, another city i love mainly because they have an amazing zoo.  Every time we go there, I go to see the walrus in the zoo.  He's incredible but we were staying too far away this time, so i'll have to save it until I go back.  We then spent nearly three days in Louisville, which was great and now here we are in Columbus.  So all is going well.  I've managed to get in to a routine on the road, so i'll hopefully have time to write again soon

With love

Lisaxxxx

Production Week

Hi All

Well production week is officially over!!!!.  We arrived in Evansville last week and got to see very little of the city but plenty of the Walnut Centre downtown!.

Rehearsals went pretty well to be honest.  There are some new faces on the tour this time which is always nice and of course there was the catching up with friends that we haven't seen since last tour!  The weather was baltic, to say the least!!!!.  I've never been as cold in all my life and then by the end of the week, the temperature hit 65!!!!!.  Crazy!  Anyway by the time last night arrived, dresses had been fitted, dance moves had be mastered (well kind of!!) and the voices were on top form.  Our show kicked off at about 7.45 and what a joy it was to see so many familiar faces in the front row!.  It helped put all our nerves at ease!.  We had a great time last night.  The show went without a hitch but I'm not giving away any spoilers!.  You'll all just have to wait and see.

So here we are in Minneapolis and guess what - it's even colder than Evansville!!!!  But there's always Mall of America to keep me warm!!.

Thanks for all your good wishes for the tour.  Looking forward to seeing you all soon

Love

Lisaxxx

HAPPY NEW YEAR

Happy New Year to you all.  Hope you had a fantastic Christmas.  I have just returned from Australia.  We left Ireland on 26th December and spent two weeks in Perth, WA.  We had a fantastic time.  The weather was amazing and the kids got to see the other half of their family.  It went by so quickly though but it was worth the 22 hour flight!!!

Back in cold and rainy Ireland with a bang though!!!.  Straight in to learning new material for the show and rehearsals start next week - no rest for the wicked, they say!

I'd like to thank Rich for the wonderful work he has done on "The Voice".  It looked fantastic.  I don't know where he gets his energy from. Thanks Rich

Thanks for all your lovely posts

Hope 2009 brings everything you wish for

Love

Lisaxxx