The house was fairly full at the matinee, other than the nosebleed section at the very top of the balcony. The show started with a bang (or clap of thunder) with their traditional opening number of Heartland. I liked it better this time without the hokier elements of billowing smoke and chanting monks they’ve used in the past. The first act is Celtic/Irish music and is called Heritage. A cd of this music is to be released at a future date. This is definitely the stronger of the two acts and I think it would be a huge mistake to remove it, as they plan to do later in the tour when they add the songs from their Christmas cd. One constant complaint about Celtic Thunder is that there isn’t enough Celtic content in the show. Replacing the weaker second act after Thanksgiving would make more sense to me.

There were some really outstanding features of the first act; features that could possibly lure back fans, like myself, who have lost interest in the show. Come By the Hills, sung, in Irish, by Damian McGinty was excellent. I have long wanted them to do a song in Irish and this was a great choice. Keith Harkin followed with a beautiful rendition of The Dutchman. Keith’s guitar playing is what sparked my original interest in Celtic Thunder and it is still one of my favorite parts of the show. Love his new look, by the way. As a fan of his own music, I am hoping the new look is a signal that he’s getting ready to put out a cd of his original material.

Ryan Kelly sang Black is the Color of my True Love’s Hair, which is one of my all time favorites. Neil Bryne has been with the show from the beginning, but is now getting more solo work. He did the beautiful ballad, Noreen, in this act also. I especially enjoyed George and Ryan’s duet Gold and Silver Days
It was very well done and really added a lot of life to the show. The show included several group songs, that ranged from Take Me Home from their last tour to sea shanties that they had a lot of fun with. The first act was very reminiscent of the original Celtic Thunder show and the audience absolutely loved it.

To me, the absolute best part of the entire show was the great celt rock rendition of Whiskey in the Jar by Keith Harkin and Neil Byrne from the first act. If there was more of this type of music in this show it I think it would have a much wider appeal. On a non musical note I have to say that the wardrobe in this act was by far the best I have seen in a Celtic Thunder show. On the downside, the sets were ridiculously oversized. This meant that, on a small stage, the singers were restricted to a few feet of the stage on which to perform.

After the intermission they performed the second act, which is called It’s Entertainment. If you have the dvd of this show you will note that there are several changes to it. There are no dancers and several of the songs have been removed. Some things that work well when you tape a show just aren’t practical to tour.

While I didn’t care that much for It’s Entertainment, there were a few really outstanding parts that should be noted. George Donaldson did a fabulous rendition of Neil Diamond’s Hello Again. George is really coming into his own on this tour. His other song in this act, Life With You, was also a great vehicle for him. In my eyes, he owned this act although Damian McGinty did a bang up job on Home and Ryan Kelly’s Everything I Do was a huge crowd pleaser. The group song that I liked the best, U2′s Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For was also in this act.

It’s Entertainment seemed to be geared toward their fans more than to the general audience. There were a lot of songs that the fans really ate up. There was a small contingent of Thunderheads, as their most ardent fans call themselves, in the audience but there were far more people who came in from the general public or as supporters of PBS. I think many of them left as fans.

To explain the ridiculous image attached to this review I have to put on my Siggy Freud hat and try to figure out the Celtic Thunder policy of not allowing photos to be taken during their show. If you ask any other band we cover they will tell you that gig photos are the greatest boon to viral marketing a band can have and they are absolutely free. But Celtic Thunder is not a band, it’s a show. I still think they are shooting themselves in the foot on this one, but that is their right. It’s not the policy I, personally, find objectionable but the Draconian pre-show announcement threatening everything short of fire and brimstone should anyone dare take a photo. I know, I know.

For starters, it doesn’t work. There are photos and recordings available of many, many shows since this policy was enacted back in 2009. For another – well to be blunt Celtic Thunder is not famous and photos of them would have no value to a professional dealer who sold celebrity photos. Most of the people in the audience at all but one of the shows I’ve attended where there to support PBS or the local music scene. They were not even remotely interested in taking a photo during the show. The only people who would want to take a photo were the small % of the audience who were actually Celtic Thunder fans. Sadly, the actual reason that I and so many others who were big fans in 2008 but no longer are, is the way fans are treated by official Celtic Thunder policies like this one. Not that photos aren’t allowed, but the rude and disrespectful way the announcement is worded. Every time I hear it I decide that the money I brought to spend at the merchandise table at the shows will stay in my pocket. I am a huge music fan – I buy cds and tour shirts at shows but I am sure not going to support anyone who talks to me this way. It’s also the reason this review carries no endorsement.

If I might be so bold as to suggest that this recording be replaced by a more courteous one – perhaps recorded by the charming Mr Kelly, who has fine set of acting and communication skills, along with some actual real world experience with customer relations. The fans might even be willing to grant his request and thus actually accomplish the goal of having no photos. With a kinder, gentler approach to this situation in place, I could rewrite the end of this post, replace this stupid image with the publicity shot I have been using in other posts and actually recommend the show to my readers, who are fans of Celtic Music and who do support Irish Artists.

To take this imaginary conversation with the powers that be at Celtic Thunder one step further, why not seriously think about your fans and how you might show appreciation to them for their support (which can waver). Why not use that moment at the end of the show when the house lights come up, the cast is standing on the stage looking a bit like school boys at their first dance and turn it into a photo op? Let those fans who have been counting down the days to this show, who have done nothing but eat, sleep and dream Celtic Thunder since they discovered you, who might have traveled hundreds or even thousands of miles to come to the show, who are probably surrounded by several bags of items they purchased at the merchandise table, take that memory shot of what they feel is the night of their life. It won’t disrupt the actual show in any way and it might bring some much needed good will back to the show. It wouldn’t take much time and exiting to an array of camera flashes lighting up the room is a really a lot more in line with the excitement of the show than the flat ending now in place. There are a lot of dates left on the tour that have tickets still available. A second “night of their life” photo could tempt a lot of fans into taking in another show. Just sayin’………

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First off, I will start with the upcoming tour. As of this morning no further info is on their site but I will keep checking. Like most bands they do have a pre-sale date that supposedly offers good seats to fans. This is sometimes the case but not always. Most of the time the very best seats are blocked out and are only available by making a pledge to the PBS station in the city in which the show will be performed. I have been to four Celtic Thunder shows so I will share a few things I have learned. Their show is much better in a theater than an arena. There are a lot of really bad seats in an arena where you will need binoculars to actually see and you miss a lot watching this way. Arenas are fine for sporting events where the action moves but not that great for this kind of show. The acoustics are better in a theater also. I will tell you that no matter how far away you are sitting you will always hear every note that Paul Bryom sings. That man has a set of pipes that you can only really appreciate in a live show. He sounds great on a recording but he will knock your socks off live.

You can make a pledge to the PBS station via the station’s website at any time. You don’t have to wait until the show is aired and call in your pledge. Just put the city + PBS station into Google to find their website. The downside of this is that you won’t know what seat you actually got until they mail the tickets out a few weeks before the showdate. If you go through ticketmaster or another ticket outlet you will know which seat you are buying. Always check with the seating charts first so you are familiar with the layout of the venue. I have only gotten one really good seat during the pre-sale day. It is sometimes better to wait until it’s closer to the show and the pbs station releases their unsold tickets to the ticket agent at which time the floor or orchestra seats will go up for sale to the general public. The closer you are the better with this act. If you can swing it, PBS is the way to get the best seats.

This upcoming tour is the closest they have ever come to my location. There are a lot of cities on this tour list that they have never been to before. Many are not major market cities and I think they should do well in most of them. Unfortunately this particular show is a bit less geared to fans of Irish and Celtic Music than their original outing or the show that they toured last year. But they are adding a whole first act of Irish music that will, hopefully satisfy our expectation that a show with the word Celtic in it would actually include Celtic or Irish music.

The main singers in Celtic Thunder are: Paul Byrom, George Donaldson, Keith Harkin, Ryan Kelly and Damian McGinty. This year the main line up has been extended to include Neil Byrne. Neil has been with them from the beginning as part of the band but is being brought forward now as a soloist. Neil has long been a fan favorite and has actually clocked more time on stage during the show than any of the others.

Now on to other questions in no particular order:

When was Keith Harkin born? June 10, 1986 (I only remember the year for him because my daughter was born the same year). Damian will be 18 next Sept. George’s birthday is in Feb, Ryan’s is in November and Paul’s is in April and Neil’s is also in Nov.

Bio on Neil Byrne. There is a short one at the Celtic Thunder website. I can add that he used to be with a band called Hipple Street which is now defunct but you can still buy their EP at cdbaby and they still have a myspace page so you can hear samples there.

Celtic Thunder Sheet music — They do have a songbook which includes sheet music many of their songs. It is available through their shop and I have also seen it on the merchandise table at their shows. Speaking of buying merchandise at shows, it is always wise to bring cash to anyone’s show. Those credit card swiping machines are very temperamental and you don’t want to be caught short if the show you go to is the one it decides to not work for.

What are the names of the back up musicians? They are, as a group, called the Celtic Thunder Players or All Stars. They sometimes change from one tour to the next. The ladies in the string section are Ruth and Joyce O’Leary (who are sisters who also perform as Sephira), Nicole Hudson and on the cello, Megan Sherwood. The drummer is Declan O’Donoghue The bass player is Conor McCreanor. Pipes and other Celtic instruments have been played by Barry Kerr and Brendan Monaghan on different tours and dvds. The piano player/musical director (who is the only one who is introduced to the audience during the show) is either Phil Coulter, who is the musical director for the entire production, or Dave Cook. Neil Byrne has always been the guitar player for Celtic Thunder since the original show. He has also done percussion and anything else Phil has thrown his way. Not sure how his status will change now that he has been brought forward into the main line up.

UPDATE: This is an old post. The back up people changed for the 2010 tour. This is a show not a group so cast members will change. For 2011 there are also many changes. The main line-up will be different as two of the original cast members have left the show. Paul Byrom will be replaced by Emmet Cahill and Damian McGinty will be replaced by Daniel Furlong. Phil Coulter has also left Celtic Thunder.

Have Celtic Woman and Celtic Thunder performed together? No they haven’t. The producer of Celtic Thunder was also the original producer of Celtic Woman but they have always been two separate shows and entities. It is not likely they will ever perform together but nothing is impossible.

Do any of the members of Celtic Thunder have websites? Yes. Paul Byrom and Keith Harkin have their own websites http://paulbyrom.ie/home.php and http://www.keithharkin.com/

Do any of the members of Celtic Thunder have solo cds? Yes Paul Byrom has two cds and a single out. All are available through cdbaby. He is working on a third which is not yet out. Paul had the highest profile professional life before Celtic Thunder and has maintained it along with appearing in Celtic Thunder. I have heard rumors that all the other members will be releasing cds during this year and I hope that is the case. Keith Harkin is a songwriter and musician as well as a singer and fans have been waiting several years for his cd.

This is one that comes up a lot which is the only reason I am mentioning it. “Are Keith Harkin and Ruth O’Leary dating?”. This is clearly in the private life not professional life category and is not something we will address here. Frankly, we don’t care. It is all about the music for us and both of them do a great job in the Celtic Thunder show. That is all that matters to music fans.

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This is their third North American tour. The second time touring Take Me Home, which is their 3rd cd. They have made a few national appearances like the the Today Show and the NYC St Patrick’s Day parade but have been shown mostly on PBS. I keep hoping they will do more national tv so the rest of America can discover them. The show is actually a good time and not as formal as you might expect because of their association with PBS. The word Celtic in the show title refers to their countries of origin. It does not mean it is all classic Celtic music. They have a variety of songs in the show including an original number written by one of the members, Keith Harkin. There are also covers of more familiar tunes that we all know and love.

They are in Minneapolis tonight and Chicago tomorrow night. The tour continues into November as follows:

11/1/09 – Detriot, MI
11/2/09 – South Bend, IN
11/3/09 – St. Lousi, MO
11/5/09 – Denver, CO
11/7/09 – Sand Diego, CA
11/8/09 – Los Angeles, CA
11/10/09 – Seattle, WA
11/11/09 – Seattle, WA
11/12/09 – Portland, OR
11/16/09 – Grand Prairie, TX
11/17/09 – Houston, TX
11/18/09 – Little Rock, AR
11/19/09 – Nashville, TN
11/21/09 – Orlando, FL

Tickets for most shows can be purchased through ticketmaster but you can check here for more details.

You can see a sample of the show here

MP3 downloads also available at Amazon and ITunes.

If you found this post by way of a search engine, please click on the word HOME in the upper left hand corner to visit the rest of the site. Welcome to Fanrealm!