Wonder Women - CW in the Times Union

[Stephany]

Hi All,
Here is an article from yesterday's issue of "The Times Union".
There is a brief mention of Hayley.
Stephany

WONDER WOMEN
Celtic Woman has grown and improved as it tours around the world
By Sarah Tomlinson
11 June 2007
© 2007 Times Union (Albany,N.Y.) a division of The Hearst Corporation. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights reserved.
Super groups come in all shapes and sizes. There are the celebrity collaborations like The Traveling Wilburys that featured big guns like Bob Dylan and Roy Orbison. And there are the bands that become so incredibly popular they achieve superstar status in their own right, like ABBA or The Rolling Stones.

The success story of the Irish vocal sextet Celtic Woman draws a little bit from both of these two scenarios.

The group, which plays Tuesday at the Times Union Center in Albany, was conceived in 2004 as a union of talented female singers and musicians from Ireland, and the collective has become a major hit worldwide.

The group has celebrated more than 100 weeks at the top of the World Music Billboard charts. And their triumph shows no signs of abating, either. They have plans to tour almost nonstop through June with their ambitious stage show, which made them a household name thanks to the popularity of their "Celtic Woman" concert film on PBS.

They say they couldn't be happier with their success, or the fact that they're achieving it together. "We've just had such an amazing reaction everywhere we've gone," says singer Chloe Agnew by phone from a Philadelphia tour stop. "The new show has kind of taken everyone by surprise, I think. And the audiences have been so welcoming and fantastic in their response to the new show. So we're loving it, absolutely. Every day has just flown by. It really has."

Those who became Celtic Woman fans after watching their first concert DVD and its follow-up, "A New Journey: Live at Slane Castle, Ireland" will find some surprises in store for them during this tour.

They will still have the opportunity to hear live renditions of songs from the group's two CDs, their 2004 self-titled debut and its follow up "A New Journey." These include a wide range of influences, from traditional Irish songs like "Dulaman" and pop classics like Simon and Garfunkel's "Scarborough Fair," to new compositions like "Mo Ghile Mear," written by their musical director David Downes. But, as the group's popularity has grown, so has the show.

"We have an amazing new set and fantastic lighting and new costumes and everything," says Agnew. "So that will be all new. And some new pieces of music have been added to the show, taken from our live DVD at Slane Castle in Ireland. And a lot of the pieces that have been written for the fliers and stuff have kind of (talked about) the fact that this is a new journey for us. And we think the show showcases that in itself."

The changes aren't just aesthetic, or related to their program, though. The group's individual members have all become stronger performers, thanks to the many months they've spent on tour over the past two years. And the individual members - fiddle player Mairead Nesbitt, vocalists Orla Fallon, Meav Ni Mhaolchatha, Lisa Kelly, Agnew, and newest some time member Hayley Westenra - have also become much closer to each other, personally

[/color]. And that connection is visible onstage.

"People can see there's a huge change in Celtic Woman as a group," says Agnew. "We only met each other two days before we filmed the original Celtic Woman DVD. We didn't know each other at all, and I think none of us had any idea of what was in store. And now, looking at our new DVD, and our new live show, people can really see that we've grown together, and we've grown with this show. Our performances, I think, have come up a notch because we're a lot more comfortable with one another now."

FACTBOX:

Celtic Woman
When: 7:30 p.m. Tuesday Where: Times Union Center, 51 S. Pearl St., Albany Info: [phone] Cost: $39-$57
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[Stephany]

Another article from the same newspaper, The Times Union, but no mention of Hayley this time.
I'm posting the article here anyway to avoid creating multiple threads.

Celtic Woman pleasing but uninspired
By MICHAEL LISI, Special to the Times Union
First published: Thursday, June 14, 2007

ALBANY -- If you watch PBS, you know Celtic Woman.

The New Age-ish Celtic show band has gotten massive exposure in the United States over the past two years, thanks to its two hugely popular PBS specials, the latest of which premiered nationwide in December.

If you don't know Celtic Woman, combine New Age diva Enya with "Riverdance," then take away the dancing. Now add three equally talented singers and a vivacious world-class fiddler, all dressed as Disney princesses in silky, flowing gowns, and you've got a taste of what it's about.

Celtic Woman was all that Tuesday at Times Union Center, before a surprisingly small but appreciative baby boomer crowd of about 2,100 that applauded politely through a two-hour-plus performance that was momentarily delightful and quickly forgettable.

While there were a number of bright spots throughout the evening -- the concert was broken into two 70-minute sets with a 20-minute intermission -- overall, Celtic Woman sounded repetitious and came off restrained.

There was little room for excitement or spontaneity in the show, simply because it was so tightly scripted. Each song was like a scene in a play; singers Orla Fallon, Chloe Agnew, Meav Ni Mhaolchatha and Lisa Kelly would walk lightly to their spots onstage, stand with arms at their sides and sing.

It was only during the last 30 minutes of the show that the quartet loosened up, dancing and smiling with members of their eight-person chorus during a rare upbeat number.

Fiddler Mairead Nesbitt was the sole exception, joyfully flitting like a butterfly about the stage throughout the show as she sawed away, smiling as she danced and played. Her instrumentals were vibrant and, at times, in stark contrast to her cohorts' staid performances.

That's not to say the singers couldn't sing. On the contrary, Fallon (who doubled at times on harp), Agnew, Kelly and Ni Mhaolchatha sing tight harmonies and have fine voices, even if they sound strikingly similar.

The group's take on Simon and Garfunkel's "Scarborough Fair" and an a cappella reading of "Somewhere Over The Rainbow" were nice. Kelly's airy, wispy vocal fit her version of "Caledonia," while Ni Mhaolchatha sounded lovely on "Danny Boy."

But Celtic Woman lacked power and emotion through most of the night, which was instantly evident on a tepid rendition of Enya's "Orinoco Flow," which sounded small despite the chorus and the group's seven-piece band. A version of Josh Groban's "You Raise Me Up" was pretty, but not powerful enough.

Both sets were heavy with ballads, all meant to be haunting and ethereal. They were, early on in the concert. But the effect grew stale after a while.

No one can argue that Celtic Woman goes over on television. But Tuesday night's performance didn't capture that excitement.