I never had ‘just’ a review. Always wrote something personal…
This one will not be different🤭.
Almost a year ago I ordered tickets for Christel and myself. For the whole tour. The first time Christel was able to do it. Then later that year Deutsche Bahn (DB) was striking pretty often… And so was Lufthansa! Obviously we didn’t have anticipatory pleasure or fun. Finally a few weeks before the tour started DB came to an agreement. And I could start booking hotels😊.
I’ll not talk about all the troubles we had with Dutch Railways (NS).
We knew beforehand that we would meet several other known fans😊.
The first concert was in Tivoli Utrecht I’ve never been there before. We had a nice chat with people who had to use the escalator too. I forgot the name of the show they were going to. They were pretty young😊 and kind.
After a delay by technical problems we could go upstairs. I knew that Catherine (Kitty) would be there too.
The evening before we found out about the new MD…at least for this tour. A female MD. Hannah Nic Gearailt.
The show was different from other first shows of a Dutch Tour… Not only the set list. Why? What was going on? It was like (mostly) the last shows of the tour… As I love that one the most I didn’t complain😊.
We loved the set list❤️.
01 Red-haired Mary
02 Song for Ireland
03 Red is the rose
04 Fionnghuala
05 Nella Fantasia
06 In my Daughters Eyes
07 James solo Wild Mountainside, Voyage, Streets of London
08 Rocky Road
09 Carrickfergus
10 The Prayer
Interval
11 Feels like home
12 Isle of Hope
13 The Boxer
14 Matthew solo Galileo
15 I’ll tell me Ma
16 Daryl solo Brown-eyed Girl, Annie’s Song, Help me make it through the night
17 Can’t help falling in love with you
18 Spanish Lady
19 Caledonia
20 Remember me
21 The Parting Glass
Westering Home
Ireland’s call
The guys were joking around about the 25th anniversary. You never guess how old Daryl was at the beginning😂. The Donny Osmond of the group…
I made notes…but forgot where I put them…
From Utrecht we went back home. Same from Zutphen.
Partly by heart then🤭…
People who are on Facebook know that it gives reminders. As a tour often is in April I got a reminder every day of the tour of 2013. Maxine joined us virtually. I posted every day a photo of the venue.
Adding The Prayer it was a bittersweet moment every day.
The third show was in Sittard. An evening with a choir. The Royal choir of Roermond. Royal just says something about how long it exists. If it exists over 100 years one can get the addition ‘Koninklijk’ to the name.
The set list changed a bit as the choir had their own song(s). Sometimes a prayer will do appeared.
The encore was Westering Home.
Here we met Joyce and her parents.
We had a hotel we had before. No elevator, but the venue was just around the corner.
We had a lot of stress at the first day. That worked out awfully. But when I said to Christel that I might have to skip one or two concerts, her answer was that she wouldn’t go alone… So I thought I HAD to go with her. And of course I survived🤭.
Off to Oosterhout. Partly by bus. We found the hotel we booked and asked there where the venue is. The man at the reception thought we were not serious. It was in the same building😀. He offered us to bring us?! So we went through storage places etc.🤭.
Here we met Karin and Peter. Always a pleasure to see them again. Unfrtunately Peter had to work the next day so they couldn’t come to Papendrecht.
Then again by bus, train and bus again to Papendrecht.
In Papendrecht we met Frieda and Chris. It was a long time ago that I saw them… Too bad they had another appointment afterwards. We need more time to talk😉.
We booked a hotel though it was a matinée. We had a delicious dinner there and went to bed pretty early.
After two days at home we went to Goes. Some relatives live near Goes and I asked if some could come to Goes. They found a nice restaurant near our hotel. And that hotel was next to the venue😊.
There we met Joke and Gilles (?). They became fans 2 years ago. we hope to meet again in two years…
From Goes to Drachten. A 5 hours trip and due to the NS even 1 hour longer…
We had an appartment above a yarn shop. Christel told me that I had enough yarn🤣. She was right but I promised myself to have a look in the morning. Sure…closed😂.
Here the guys learned something in the Frisan ‘language’. The pronounciation of ‘Fryslân’ was great! Thanks to Fokke Miedema I am sure!
Here Matthew stumbled and the table with bottles of water fell down.
From Drachten to Hardenberg. We were in Hardenberg more often but never in a church. Think it was a kind of experiment. Too many things that need to be looked at. Often I love the sound in a church. This time it was too loud (for us…).
Will be the stumbling of Matthew a part of the show??? He did it again🤣.
We had lovely chats with people before the show and met them again afterwards.
Here we met Heike and Axel. We knew that for a long time. I ordered their tickets because Heike couldn’t come trough websites. Next time we’ll make an appointment for dinner together earlier…we just do 1 dinner a day. And we met Alina.
From Hardenberg to Hoogeveen. A lovely hotel though far from the venue (and far from the station).
Here we met Ute and Uli. We had an appointment with them to have dinner together. We didn’t need a taxi as they picked us up from our hotel and took us back after the show. Always great to meet them.
Then it was from Hoogeveen to Raalte. The last one and agin a matinée. Lovely theater, lovely staff and lovely people we met😊. Love to go there again but not on a Sunday. No busses and no taxi after the show. We were very lucky that Heike and Axel were here too. They have a van but no legal possibilities to let people drive with them. Heike said: “It is just a short way by car. We’ll take the risk and take you to the station.” 🙏
It was a time of making new memories and recalling so many ‘old’ memories.
I remember the first time I heard ‘Rocky Road’ in Harderwijk. And ‘From here to the moon’ and ‘In my daugter’s eyes’ in Jena. ‘Voyage’ in Weimar. And here Christel always says: “I never was there”. That kind of memories makes it very special to us.
This was just once as Christel said it was too heavy to ‘do’ the whole tour.
Oh and we think that (a part of) the difference is thanks to Hannah. And if so…PLEASE bring her for a next tour. She is lovely!
Photos © Christel and Heike
Text © CelticSarayu
Eén reactie
Dear Ali
After a long time I visited your website again and I was glad to find your long review regarding the Dutch tour 2024 of ‘our’ tenors.
Very well done Ali.
We met in Hoogeveen and as always it was a pleasure for Uli and me to meet Christel and you and spend some time before, during and after the concert. Going to a concert in a foreign country and knowing beforehand to meet old friends there is really great.
And though we don’t meet often or have much contact during the year, we always have a good time together as we know us for so long and have a mutual interest. (I think I needn’t tell you what I mean).
Your review brought back lively memorys but we can only guess what trouble you had with public transport and how exhausting this must have been for Christel and you.
I had to chuckle when I read that you were able to attend one concert in the hotel where you stayed – in Oosterhout. How convenient for you. 🙂 Maybe you should ask the tenors if they find more of such venues in future? 🙂
By the way – the photos you posted in your review are excellent.
We are looking forward to meeting you again at the next Celtic Tenors concert, no matter when this will be. But as in the past it will definitely be worth to drive from the South of Germany to your beautiful country!
Big hug
Ute