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Author Topic: THK Pittsburgh review  (Read 3976 times)
Thomas
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I am The Voice - I will remain (Thank You CC)


« on: September 20, 2008, 04:23PM »

Here is The High Kings Pittsburgh show review from the Tuesday September 16, 2008 performance at the Byham Theater.

As many of you know this was my 15th anniversary surprise gift to take Darla with meet and greet tickets to her favorite show, The High Kings.

We started our evening together by going to dinner at our favorite restaurant O’Charley’s.  After our meal, we started on our drive to Pittsburgh for our 7PM meet and greet meeting.  Once we arrived in Pittsburgh and found a parking spot which was a challenge, as a Pirates game was going on at the same time, we found the Byham Theater with 10 minutes to spare.

We met up with some forum folks from WV there, Henry & Karen as well as Jim & Myra.  Once inside the theater, we headed to the merchandise table to load up on stuff to get signed.  Darla wanted a black tee shirt, and she had her special silver sharpie pen ready to go.

Our meet and greet experience was fantastic as this was the first time that Darla and I have attended a Madstone Productions meet and greet via PBS/WQED.  There were only 20 of us there and we all mingled and had plenty of time to share with all of the lads.  We started speaking with Brian first and he openly talked about his family back in Ireland, we were moved that he shared such personal details with us.  Then we met Martin and wished him a Happy Birthday and I was surprised that Martin recognized me from the CW Toledo show where we spend a good bit of time in the bar together.  Then we had a great conversation with Finbarr and congratulated him with his recent marriage and he proudly showed off his silver wedding band.  Darla finally got to meet Darren, her favorite and we also congratulated him with the recent birth of his daughter.  Darren simply lit up when I mentioned that Timi said hi.  All of the lads remembered Maggie from Orlando, which I made a special mention of as she is off helping the hurricane victims.  I was very impressed by the positive and sincere appreciative response I received from all four of them with the hats and all of the promotional work that Charlie and Norma have been doing.  We also had the chance to meet and speak with both Ken Craig the Promoter Representative and Maryjo Spillane the Tour Manager. 

We had plenty of photos taken and autographs collected and now off to the show we go.

While we were waiting in the atrium before they allowed us to go to our seats, Anthony Byrne played the bagpipes for us, which was a really nice touch.

Our seats were awesome being center stage in the 5th row right next to Henry and Karen.

The songs from the show were as follows:

The rocky road to Dublin
The black velvet band
Jimmy Murphy
Marie’s wedding
A storm in my heart
The auld triangle
The wild rover
My home in sweet glenlea
Ar éirinn ní neosainn cé hí
Paddy’s green shamrock shore
Galway to Graceland
The holy ground
Will ye go lassie go
Fields of glory
Star of the county down
The little beggarman
Beggarman jig
Dance at the crossroads
The leaving of Liverpool
The fields of athenry
Whiskey in the jar
The parting glass
The irish rover

Sorry, I did not take notes, but each lad had a solo number which was very well received and Shane McAvinchey set the house on fire with his two dancing numbers.  I could not believe the energy and smiles that he generated. 

The Pittsburgh audience really got into this show as the house was full and we were all ready to have a great time and we did.

During intermission, we did a Mel maneuver to center stage 2nd row with Henry and Karen following us.  It was great to be up close for Act II and see the reactions from the THK that we just met an hour earlier as we sang along “word for word” and “toe to toe”. 

Afterwards, THK had a table set up for autographs so we got back in line and thanked them once again.  Their reaction to our having such a great time with them was the icing on the cake for our evening.  Then we parted ways with our forum friends and you know what CD we played in the car all the way home!!!!!

If you can see THK this tour, please do so, we had a fantastic time and a concert experience we will always fondly remember.

Thank you to:  Martin, Brian, Finbarr, and Darren for being so wonderful both on and off of the stage and for making our anniversary celebration something very special.



Thanks,


Tom & Darla

« Last Edit: September 21, 2008, 05:42AM by Thomas » Logged

 
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Charlie Brock
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« Reply #1 on: September 20, 2008, 08:45PM »

Great review Thomas,
First...Happy Anniversary to You and Darla. What a nice way to celebrate the special ocassion. Hope Darla was as happy to meet and greet Darren as Norma and Kathy. Joe and I had a fantastic time talking with the whole group and were able to congratulate Finbarr and meet his lovely new bride...Grainne, and congratulate King Darren on his new arrival. He's such a nice and genuine person, as all of these guys are.
We had a chance to meet Martin's wife (Jane), but missed the opportunity to allow them time to attend a baseball game at Finway in the rain.
Norma has a new respect for Brian, as he was open and very personable, and his performance was so much fun and animated.
We get two more chances to see THK on this tour and are just as anxious as we were in Boston. I plan to shoot a few more promo photo's in Dallas prior to the concert there. It's really been allot of fun driving around Dallas and Ft Worth with the THK mag signs on the Edge.
Thanks for the mention in your review. It's nice to know the lads with the High Kings, are so happy with all that the fans do to support them. We hope to share a concert with You and Darla some time on our Journey's to be with the Kings and our dear lassies from Celtic Woman.
Take Care....Slánte, Charlie and Norma
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Thomas
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I am The Voice - I will remain (Thank You CC)


« Reply #2 on: September 20, 2008, 08:56PM »

Charlie and Norma,

Thank you for your nice comments,

Darla and I feel the same way.


Tom
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