Méav Concert Experience
by Tony

I made the 10,000 mile round trip journey from Alaska to New York State and New Hampshire to see Meav perform live on her first solo tour since departing Celtic Woman. I arrived in Boston on December 11th and spent 3 nights in Providence, RI. I picked up Kendra in Boston on the 13th and on the 14th of December Michelle, Kendra and myself traveled to Verona, New York to see Meav perform at the Turning Point Resort and Casino.

Tony, Meav & Kelli. cropped image of the Manchester M&G. Photo by Joyce Torres

When we arrived at Turning Point I pulled into the circle drive for the valet to unload our bags and park my car. There was a mini van in front of us and Michelle said, "There's MEAV right there in front of us." I looked and sure enough MEAV was right there. We had just driven 280 miles across 3 States to see MEAV and we arrived at exactly the same time at the venue. What are the chances of that happening? We got out of the car and as the valet was unloading the car I said "Hi MEAV" and waved to her. She said, "Hi, Tony, I see you made it safely." We went into the lobby where we checked into our hotel rooms and we chatted with Meav for a couple minutes. Then we headed up to our rooms and got ready for dinner. We had dinner at a nice steak house about a half mile from the venue with about a dozen other forum members. It was a nice dinner and we took up two large tables. After dinner we headed back to the casino and got ready for the concert.

When we entered the venue it was the type with table seating. Most of our group had two tables in front of the stage just right of center. We arrived early and chatted with several people while we waited for the concert to start. There were about 150 to 200 people there for the performance.

When the concert started, MEAV came out wearing a dress that I hadn't seen before. As usual it was a really nice dress. She started off singing "Dulaman." MEAV sounded great as usual. In between songs she introduced the three members of her band that was backing her up. They were all great and they seemed to enjoy being there with MEAV. I found it interesting that the one on piano/keyboards was Connor O'Reilly. He had done the some of the arranging for MEAV on "Danny Boy." One of the things I liked was in between songs MEAV would tell stories about the songs she was singing. I really enjoyed that. Its nice to have a little history or background about the music. I've read the inserts on the CD covers so I knew some of it but it was nice to hear the performer talk about them during the show. MEAV sang just about all her songs from Celtic Woman. Of course "She Moved Through The Fair" is one of my favorites so I really enjoyed that one. Meav did a lot of the songs that are on her three solo CDs as well.

The whole concert was awesome. Meav has an incredible voice. She can hit such a wide range of notes and her pitch is flawless. Every song was done with perfection. But there were two songs that really made me perk up. She sang "The Voice" and "The Blessing." When she started singing "The Voice" I was like "Oh WOW!!!!!!" I think everyone had the same reaction as me. Meav also sang "The Blessing" and she did great on that one as well. If for nothing else, I have to say that having traveled from Alaska was totally worth it just to hear MEAV sing those two songs.

Meav did several Christmas songs as well. And I really loved "Silent Night." She closed the show with "Ding Dong Merrily On High." That is one of my favorite Christmas songs and it was nice that she included that one to end the show. Overall it was 1000% worth having traveled across the continent to see MEAV live on her premier solo tour since departing Celtic Woman. I'm glad I was able to do it.

Méav signing an autograph in Lebanon. Photo taken from www.meavforum.com (Michelle Spurr's post) The next morning after we ate breakfast at the casino we ran into Meav in the lobby of the hotel. I finally remembered to ask her the question I have been wanting to ask for some time. I asked her about "THE DRESS" (her first DVD dress..."the mermaid dress"). Everyone knows how much I love that dress. Meav told me that Celtic Woman has it in storage and that they were going to use it for another project. Of course I was crushed that "THE DRESS" isn't in Meav's possession. I told her that dress should go to her. That dress has a character of its own and everyone identifies it as Meav's dress. I think they are just holding "THE DRESS" hostage.

We packed up and left the casino about an hour later and made our way towards Plainfield, New Hampshire where Meav was performing that night. It was a long drive. Plainfield was about 280 miles away. When we finally arrived at the Plainfield Town Hall it looked just like the one picture I saw of it on the internet. It was really small. There was no parking to speak of and we were lucky that we were there first, otherwise we wouldn't have had a place to park. There was enough parking for about 6 to 8 cars in the parking lot. And three of the spaces were used by Meav's two minivans and the moving truck for the equipment. We went inside and found that the hall was closed but the small lobby was open, so we waited there. There was a small window in the lobby that looked into the kitchen, and Meav was in there along with everyone else eating. We arrived about an hour early so we were able to hear the sound checks before we were let in.

The Lebanon Opera House had told me a week earlier that the venue had been changed to Plainfield and that it would be small and intimate. It was that for sure! There were about 120 people there for the performance and still about 25 seats not filled. The whole building couldn't have been much bigger than the kitchen I work in and that is 40 feet by 56 feet, so it was really small. It was general seating so because we were there first we were able to take the front row. Meav did awesome there in Plainfield and she commented about the smallness of the town hall. In some ways I liked it better than any of the other theaters. Having that closeness and only seating less than 150 people was kind of cool. After the concert Meav came out and met with us. I would say there was about maybe 40 to 50 people that stayed.

Photo by Bill at the Manchester M&G When I woke up the next morning I looked out the window and there was about three inches of snow. Knowing that those people in the east don't know how to drive in it, I called Kendra and Michelle and told them we had better get moving because it could take all day to drive to Boston so Kendra could make her flight. We were almost to Manchester when we found out that the flight was canceled. As a result of that we decided to attend the last Meav concert in Manchester that evening.

We got tickets to see the last concert, and when we arrived it was the best turnout of all the concerts that Meav performed. There were about 250 to 300 people attending in Manchester. Meav did a wonderful performance as usual, and after the concert she met with us again and we got pictures. It was nice that we decided to go at the last minute. As a result Kendra, Michelle and myself went to three of the four Meav concerts and we enjoyed all of them. Each of the venues were radically different from each other and that made for a nice change.

I had an enjoyable time and it was worth it to travel to see MEAV perform solo. Meav still has the sweetest voice and I'm looking forward to seeing her again in the future. In the final analysis, MEAV has a great talent and is a great person. She has class and integrity. She didn't sell herself out for fame and fortune and it shows. I really enjoyed seeing Meav in December and I recommend that everyone see her if they get the chance.