Fabulous Loreena.
Sep. 26th, 2007 09:46 pmI walked into the house last night and told Colin, "I can say, without exaggeration, that that was one of the best concerts I have Ever seen."
Without exaggeration. Loreena McKennitt is not my favourite artist, although she's someone whose work i have consistently enjoyed, but oh, do she and her band put on a show. My only complaints are that it ended at 10:30 (Although ehr speaking voice was showing wear, her singing was not - asd i overheard someone else remark, some voices lose soemthing live, hers got, if anything, better), and that she cut almost half the verses of Lady of Shallot, to the point where it almost lost the story, and certainly lost some of the substance (She also cut two verses of the Bonny Swans, but to significantly less detriment.) I'm not sure why she chose to do that, since I doubt there was a person in the (sold out) hosue who would ahve objected to 2 or 3 minutes more of song.
If I were a musician, I would geek out thoroughly on some of the instrument choices of her and her band (The only thing I'd say they might have been questionable was thyat the fiddle was a little too strong in the mix on some songs - partly ebcause it needed to be that strong in many others.) As it is, I don't know enough, and I don't have the program (mom kept it) to site all their names and multitude of instruments each one played. As an example of why musical geekitude would be needed, there were three or four percussionists per song, for example, depending on whether one guy was playing a bodhran, another drum, or hurdy-gurdy, and another, on the other side, was playing tabla or viola. Alas, all I can say is that this did *nothing* to diminish my lingering desire to learn the lute, though it did convince me that the mandolin or one of its relatives might be a perfectly acceptable place to start. (Not soon, alas, I'm doing this in a break from doing yet more pottery, not in the aftermath of dance practice.)
But really. Songs I've heard for years took on new life, and not just for the new arrangements. She was projecting all those thigns I heard when I heard them for the first time, so I found myself loving songs I'd thought myself a little overplayed before this. And I suspect some will carry over. I'm not sure I could do a complete track list in order, but I could certainly list every song performed if I were at home and had the cds in front of me, sicne the only song not off the albums was Raglan Road. She hit all my personal big choices save Stolen Child and one from the newest album. (I think she only did three songs from the new album all told, too, which I thought odd.)
Anyhow, must go make more pottery now... I already broke one bowl tonight, albeit not one from the main project, so I think my luck should be settled for the rest of the run. Adieu.
Without exaggeration. Loreena McKennitt is not my favourite artist, although she's someone whose work i have consistently enjoyed, but oh, do she and her band put on a show. My only complaints are that it ended at 10:30 (Although ehr speaking voice was showing wear, her singing was not - asd i overheard someone else remark, some voices lose soemthing live, hers got, if anything, better), and that she cut almost half the verses of Lady of Shallot, to the point where it almost lost the story, and certainly lost some of the substance (She also cut two verses of the Bonny Swans, but to significantly less detriment.) I'm not sure why she chose to do that, since I doubt there was a person in the (sold out) hosue who would ahve objected to 2 or 3 minutes more of song.
If I were a musician, I would geek out thoroughly on some of the instrument choices of her and her band (The only thing I'd say they might have been questionable was thyat the fiddle was a little too strong in the mix on some songs - partly ebcause it needed to be that strong in many others.) As it is, I don't know enough, and I don't have the program (mom kept it) to site all their names and multitude of instruments each one played. As an example of why musical geekitude would be needed, there were three or four percussionists per song, for example, depending on whether one guy was playing a bodhran, another drum, or hurdy-gurdy, and another, on the other side, was playing tabla or viola. Alas, all I can say is that this did *nothing* to diminish my lingering desire to learn the lute, though it did convince me that the mandolin or one of its relatives might be a perfectly acceptable place to start. (Not soon, alas, I'm doing this in a break from doing yet more pottery, not in the aftermath of dance practice.)
But really. Songs I've heard for years took on new life, and not just for the new arrangements. She was projecting all those thigns I heard when I heard them for the first time, so I found myself loving songs I'd thought myself a little overplayed before this. And I suspect some will carry over. I'm not sure I could do a complete track list in order, but I could certainly list every song performed if I were at home and had the cds in front of me, sicne the only song not off the albums was Raglan Road. She hit all my personal big choices save Stolen Child and one from the newest album. (I think she only did three songs from the new album all told, too, which I thought odd.)
Anyhow, must go make more pottery now... I already broke one bowl tonight, albeit not one from the main project, so I think my luck should be settled for the rest of the run. Adieu.