North American Tour 2007

[timj]

Roger and Richard,
Thesupperclub web site is not available, I did call and they don't know about a Hayley show............TimJ

[timj]

I ordered a ticket for Pittsburgh on the 13th, but I would still go to a show on the 20th!.....TimJ

[roger]

Hi Tim,

I am still chasing the information about 20th. Kathryn told me yesterday she would let me know but she is now on her way to the US for three days with Hayley so I'm not sure when that reply might come. I'm doing my best - honest!

Roger

[timj]

Roger,
You're doing a GREAT job, i'm just impatient. I guess they are presenting " what's his name " with a petition. I pray safe
travels and a super show for you on the 5th......TimJ

( I didn't enter the ticket contest)

[Richard]

From the News & Observer: www.newsobserver.com/105/story/548913.html

Show them some love

These six acts may leave critics cold. But they can take comfort, as they come to the Triangle, that millions of fans put money where their mouths are.

David Menconi, Staff Writer

Popular success and critical acclaim don't have to be mutually exclusive, but it often seems as if they are. Though the U2s of the world get both honor and profits, most artists have to settle for a compromise somewhere in the middle. It all comes down to respect, and what matters most: the adoration of the multitudes (which you can put in the bank) or the plaudits of the few. As a result of a random confluence of scheduling, this month a half-dozen respect-challenged acts will play the Triangle: ...

March 30-31 at Memorial Auditorium, Raleigh

Celtic Woman

And speaking of faux-classical, Celtic Woman picks up where Enya leaves off with music that has been described as "Riverdance for the Voice." The ensemble of Chloe Agnew, Lisa Kelly, Mairead Nesbitt, Meav Ni Mhaolchatha, Orla Fallon and Hayley Westenra produces middlebrow folk with Irish and classical overtones; it's music that conjures up images of people drowning in frigid water.

Along with selections from Enya and Clannad, Celtic Woman covers "Ave Maria," "Danny Boy" and other standards -- and even "Someday" from Disney's "The Hunchback of Notre Dame." It's all as tasteful and inoffensive as the 2005 PBS special that launched Celtic Woman to worldwide fame.

Respect is just another way of saying, "Your pledge dollars at work." ...

Click on the link at the top to see the full article.

Richard

[mountaingirl]

My tickets came for the May 22nd show in Utah!! I'm so excited! Now I just have to keep hoping for a solo concert sometime!

[roger]

Hi mountaingirl,

Congratulations! I am so pleased you will be seeing Hayley and indeed Celtic Woman. I don't think we have ever had coverage from Utah before. In fact, I'm not sure she has ever been there so please let us know all about it when the time comes.

Roger

[socalboy]

It would be interesting to see Hayley's reaction to Utah. With its snow-capped mountains and wide-open spaces, not to mention its reputation for wholesomeness, it may remind her a bit of New Zealand. (mountaingirl - I'm not saying a thing about the smog in Salt Lake.)

[mountaingirl]

Roger - No, Hayley has never been to Utah that I know of so I'll let you know all about it.

socalboy - When I was in NZ there were parts that reminded me of Utah so it may work both ways! I hope very much that she likes Utah so that she will come back someday and do a solo concert!

[Richard]

Hello everybody!

Here is a great article from the Pittsburg Tribune-Review:-

www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/living/events/s_496629.html

Celtic Woman welcomes New Zealand singer

By Bob Karlovits
TRIBUNE-REVIEW MUSIC WRITER
Thursday, March 8, 2007


New Zealand singer Hayley Westenra
Universal Music

Mairead Nesbitt, the firefly of a fiddler from Celtic Woman, is finding success brings on many challenges.

Not only does it mean being out on the road longer, it also is making her create ways of staying on her feet while learning a new set.

"Obviously, when you're playing, you can't look down," says Nesbitt, whose onstage prancing during her fiddling has become one of the trademarks of the popular show. "We've had lots of rehearsals, but I have had to stay and try to get even more familiar with the stage."

The group of four Irish singers, the fiddler, and an orchestral and choral backup group will make its third annual appearance Downtown on Tuesday and Wednesday. The group returns to New York City for its St. Patrick's Day concerts at Radio City Music Hall.

"That's where we were two years ago when it all started," Nesbitt says of the third appearance in New York on the Irish holiday. "It just seems like the place to be on that day."

The group is familiar with tradition. Its music is shaped around such songs as "The Last Rose of Summer" and also "Mo Ghile Mear" in Gaelic.

But it also has New Age songs such as "Orinoco Flow," classics such as "Scarborough Fair" and, new to the group, "Shenandoah."

"That is such a beautiful song and when we come over here we don't want to sing it badly," she says of "Shenandoah."

The band has broken with tradition in another way, too, but even that has a traditional leaning. Hayley Westenra, a New Zealand singer with Irish roots, will be in the group at the concert here, part of a month-long stay in which she replaces Meav Ni Mhaolchatha.

David Downes, orchestrator of the "Riverdance" show and music director of this one, came up with the idea of blending singers, who all were having good solo careers, and marketing them together.

That led to the mix of Nesbitt, Ni Mhaolchatha. Chloe Agnew, Lisa Kelly and Orla Fallon.

Westenra fits into that category, Nesbitt says, and will offer Ni Mhaolchatha a bit of a break on this 4.5-month tour which has 68 dates, up from 50 last year.

"We all have so much to do, I'm sure Meav will use the time to work on other things," Nesbitt says.

The new singer will use it to advance her new album, "Celtic Treasure."

Westenra, 19, has done some touring in the United States with the Boston Pops and in visits with other orchestras. She says this stretch with Celtic Woman will allow her to "reach out to a new audience."

It also pushes her "out of my comfort zone a bit and makes me grow as a performer," she says.

She has a great comfort zone for performing, though. She says she's been singing "since I could talk," was busking at 11, did her first concert at 13 and started touring at 15.

When she leaves the group in April, she will return to England, where she lives now, before going to Japan, Australia and New Zealand to promote her album. She then will return to the group for another stint in May.

Celtic Woman has a new album, too, bearing the same title as this concert, "A New Journey."

That project also is accompanied by a like-titled DVD of an outdoor concert at an Irish castle.

Nesbitt says the title points to efforts to make shows different enough to be fresh while similar enough to provide that for which they are well liked.

For instance, she says, listeners can count on hearing "Orinoco Flow," a song that has become something of at theme.

"It's such a beautiful number, it is a delight to sing," she says. "You end up doing something different every night, so it is never a chore."

Fans also can expect her fiddle choreography. She laughs when she is complimented on her "foot speed," and says it just makes sense as a way of blending music and a form of dance.

It isn't easy, she says, but that's the point.

"Of course it's difficult," she says, "otherwise everybody would be doing it."

Richard

[Stephany]

Thanks for the great article, Richard! It's now more than obvious that she's touring with Celtic Woman essentially to reach a new audience.

[drew]

I hope that Hayley's medical advisor will tell her to think twice about this timetable:

"When she leaves the group in April, she will return to England, where she lives now, before going to Japan, Australia and New Zealand to promote her album. She then will return to the group for another stint in May. "

Just come back to your second home for a relaxing birthday.

[Martin]

Hi Drew
It is a concern but it goes with the territory. But I am sure that Steve and Kathryn know exactly what they are doing as indeed Hayley.

It's no less punishing than a Stones tour and they're in their sixties!

Best wishes
Martin

[Richard]

Hello Martin!

At least Hayley always gets plenty of 'Satisfaction' when she tours, and she'll never have her 'Nineteenth Nervous Breakdown'!

OK Sir Mick, I'll get off of your cloud!

Richard

[Caitlin]

That's a great article Richard. Thanks for posting it.

I have just over a week now until I go to see Hayley in New York City. I am incredibly excited - it is going to be a wonderful trip! I will be on the lookout for more articles from around the US, especially from Boston this weekend.

<3 Caite