the.concert.

READ THE PREVIOUS POST BEFORE THIS ONE!

The first note strikes and we go nuts.  We're yelling and cheering as all of the members of Celtic Thunder saunter onto the stage.  They open their mouths and the most beautiful sounds come out.

George, Ryan, Daniel, Neil, Emmett, and Keith! Sigh.

They sing together, such favorites from their Heritage album that came out last March.  Keith serenades us with his lovely 'The Dutchman' that he helped write.  Ryan comes out and sings 'Desperado' and Billy Joel's 'She's Got a Way' and my mom's favorite, 'Black is the Color'.  Neil melts our hearts with his stunning original 'Noreen', and I have to put Ashley back together, she just melted. George wows the audience with his 'Red Rose Cafe' and other songs that I've not heard before. 

Since the lights on stage are so bright, the light filters out a bit and you can see the first couple rows in the orchestra pit.  Did I mention that we're seated THERE? Second row middle.  We caught the eyes of the guys singing on stage.  George smiles and winks a couple times, Ryan smirks at us, we catch Keith's eye several times.  We would make them smile as we are being the most obnoxious guests imaginable, we sang along with all the songs we knew and screamed so loudly the woman in front of us had to keep turning down her hearing aid!

Keith and Neil come out with their red guitars and do the most awesome rendition of 'Whiskey in the Jar' I have ever heard.  They run back and forth on stage and the crowd goes CRAZY.  Mind you, I am usually the FIRST one to cheer and scream. 

 At the very end of the song, Keith looks AT ME and throws his pick to ME.  I caught it and jumped up and down as the rest of the audience cheered for me!

They sang more songs like 'A Place in the Choir' and 'I Got Friends in Low Places' and 'You've Got a Friend in Me'.  George came out and played '500 Miles' and got the whole house involved with singing the chorus.  Emmett is more classically trained and can sing like an angel, complete with the vibrato of an angel! Little Daniel just joined the group earlier this year and is only 13 years old.  He has a high voice, so beautiful and pure.  He brought tears with his version of 'Over the Rainbow'. Gorgeous.

They are fantastic entertainers! Wholesome, uplifting music and we had a total ball.  I think we were very obnoxious though.  But it's good to be obnoxious when you are having fun! We'd giggle for their very cheesy choreography, laugh when they'd spit, cheer when they would belt out high notes and even cheer when Keith LOSES it and can't sing his song because he's LAUGHING too hard. 

The ended with 'Ireland's Call' and came out in their kilts. I forgot to breathe during a few parts, I was holding my breath.  I was waiting for the cheesy choreography and for the parts of the song they 'twirl' round in their kilts.  It was better than I ever dreamed.  Their voices blended and gave me goosebumps from my toes to my eyebrows.  Absolutely perfect.

The roar of the crowd obviously pleased them, they laughed and smiled as we jumped and screamed.  They bowed and Keith did his heel clicking bit, he does at the end of every show now.  It was simply fantastic.

But that was absolutely NOTHING compared to what we encountered after the show! Stay tuned...

shamrocks in my eyes

I Bought the tickets 238 days ago.  Lost sleep over the excitement and filed through loads of outfits at discount stores to find the perfect outfit.  My heart skips a beat with every thought of meeting my idols.
Yes, I worship false idols...and you would too if you knew how deeply this music touches my very soul.  The fact that Keith Harkin makes my toes curl is just a perk.
I drive up to Boise on Halloween, my Dad's birthday.  We go out to celebrate and I made cookies for him, etc. etc. etc.  But that is another post for another day. 

It's November FIRST.  I've been looking forward to this day for most of 2011.  Got my hair done.  I wanted something different.  Put purple and blond highlights.  It looks so awesome!

Ash and I got ready.  Hair is perfect.  Makeup is gorgeous.  We grab the tickets and double check the time when our Meet & Greet starts.  I misread the time. 

It started at 5:45 and the time on the clock was 5:51.  My heart SANK.  I felt nauseated and we RAN out of the house.  Needless to say, we got from my parent's house to the Morrison Center in 12 minutes.  New record.  Normally it's a 20 minute commute. 

We took our shoes off once we parked the car.  We looked a little silly running and shouting to each other, but Ash reminded me, "KEITH IS HERE. IN THIS BUILDING.  RUN! RUN!" My feet froze on the grass, we didn't even bother with sidewalks. 

We got to the Morrison Center, have our wrist bracelets on, and went into a special room where our boys await.  I felt dizzy with excitement, as they don't disclose WHO is doing the Meet & Greets.  Our knees are knocking together.  My breath stops in my throat. 

It's KEITH and NEIL!  My favorite.  Ash's favorite.  They have NEVER done a Meet & Greet together before.  Believe us, we tried to figure out a pattern with all the shows.  I swallowed hard and got in line to have my CD signed. 

(The smaller picture was taken by a photographer they bring on tour.  I uploaded it from celticthunder.ie and don't know why it's so SMALL! I'll fix it. )

Keith signed the CD.  I asked him to sign it to Ryanna and me.  It all happened so fast and he was all business.  Neil, on the other hand, was very personable.  He looked me in the eye, shook my hand, and we chatted for 5 seconds before the picture.  I wanted to have them on each arm, just to be different, but it all happened so fast that I threw Keith off and Neil put his arm around me.  Now it looks way awkward.  But it was MY moment, not theirs!

Then it was Ash's turn. 

She got her autographs and there were a few people behind her, and then they LEFT!

WE NEARLY MISSED THEM.  Another red light and we would have. 

We erupt with giggles of delight and have to go sit down because we are lightheaded! Talk about seeing stars!

The show didn't even start for another hour.  We had time to kill, so we figured we better buy some merchandise. 

We bought a couple of these:

One of these for my collection:

A poster for Ryanna:

And a poster for ME!

We are finally able to go to our seats nearly 45 minutes later.  The anticipation is absolutely killing us.  We go to our seats.  There is ONE CHAIR between us and the stage.  We're in the middle of the second row. 

There are 3,900 seats in the house...and we are ONE CHAIR away from the stage!!!!

I can't believe we're actually here.  The lights dim and we soon hear the first note of the show, not realizing this night will be totally and completely unforgettable...