UK Show Reviews and Michael Moments - 7
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Went to the show at Wembley - terrific! Margaret Rex 194.6.84.98 - Friday, January 23, 1998 at 09:15:09 (PST)
I enjoy Micheal Flatley's show. Zoë de Haes 195.188.44.14 Northampton, England - Saturday, January 24, 1998 at 08:33:40 (PST) Thank you for coming to Birmingham. I thought the show was really fantastic. lily cooksey 195.232.25.46 - Saturday, January 24, 1998 at 14:11:44 (PST)
saw the show two nights running at Wembley. It was better than last years if possible. I waited at door 18 at Wembley and shook his hand and my mate got his autograph!Can someone give me info on michaels flute cd? Am i the only English VBer? Jane Marris 195.232.9.246 <stevemarris@compuserve.com> Benfleet, England - Sunday, January 25, 1998 at 07:24:41 (PST)
brilliant - i saw the show in wembley england on 19th jan 1998 - best show i've ever seen - well done nicholas webb 194.168.121.111 <ksn1.webb@aol.com> west sussex, england - Sunday, January 25, 1998 at 10:18:29 (PST)
i have been to see lord of the dance 6 times and my mum and friends have been 8 times at front row and are his biggest fans they are linda les and bobbie.the last time we went was a week ago and my mum got a kiss and les was standing on something screaming.they are also going tomorrow and to manchester on the 14 of feb at front row im also going then.michael is an excelant dancer and we hope one day our dreams will come true and we will meet him.we have met him once when we went to brighton but would love to again. Jane welsh 195.102.195.55 southampton, england - Sunday, January 25, 1998 at 10:20:52 (PST)
We saw the show at Wembley tonight (25 Jan) and thoroughly enjoyed it. It was much better than the video! Marilyn Gibbs 195.232.19.56 <JulianGibbs@Compuserve.com> Fareham, Hants, UK - Sunday, January 25, 1998 at 17:11:02 (PST)
I went to the show at Wemble Arena, and it was one of the best experiances of my life - so far (i'm only 19). I really want to meet Michael someday, that would be a dream come true. It was a shame I had the flu and was sniffing all the way through the performance. When's the new show? Arti Visana 147.197.183.80 <A.Visana@herts.ac.uk> London, UK - Monday, January 26, 1998 at 00:58:56 (PST)
Great show!Got home an Hour ago. Vincent Fitzsimons 194.168.99.137 <Vincent.Fitzsimons@which.net> London, England - Monday, January 26, 1998 at 15:40:47 (PST) Greetings from London. It is 5:30 in the morning here and sleep is out of the question, so I thought I would post briefly with just a few tidbits. Details will have to come later when I come down to earth. First - ALBY was able to deliver the CD to Michael personally. She wanted me to tell you that she will post in detail when she returns home. She is still on a cloud as are all of us who were present tonight. We all had a VB Michael moment that we will never forget. Michael told us to tell the VB that there will be a surprise for all of us tomorrow, and to watch the newspapers. We speculated wildly but do not really know what the surprise may be, so we will have to wait and see. Michael did exit the car tonight (along with Daire) and hugs and kisses were dispensed all around. AND - we got a group VB photograph with Michael. Cameras were clicking furiously so someone will have it. He was lovely and friendly as always but when Vanessa said "VB" his eyes lit up. When Linda asked if we could get a group picture, as there was a contingent from 6 countries present, he said "Let's do it!" And we did! We all agreed that it was well worth the wait in the cold for that incredible moment. But there was even more in store with some musicians and members of the troupe afterwards. Larry and I have just arrived back at our hotel after one of the most special evenings we have ever spent. Magic - pure magic. We told LindaUK to get her typing fingers limbered up for a major post. If anyone can capture the magic in words it will be her (she? - ah, grammar be damned). Much more to come from many more people (and some of the nicest people you could ever hope to meet). Don't know if I am even making sense now. ZAMMI, I didn't have to decide whether to ask for a hug or for a kiss, because I got both - as did most of us present. My, but the man smells lovely . Oh, yes - CATHERINE, I put Alex's gift into Michael's hand personally, and LEEANN, your letter was delivered, and BAWLMER LISA, some of the dancers and musicians asked us if they could have some of your armbands so of course we said yes and they were wearing them tonight. I guess this was not so brief after all, but, well, ah, YOU all understand, don't you? Teri 152.163.197.38 <terimwal@aol.com> London YES! YES! YES!, - Monday, January 26, 1998 at 22:33:01 (PST)
Hi everyone! :) THIS POST IS GOING TO BE LONG. I guess it's my turn to tell about my trip to see the show for the first time live. We landed in London on January 18th, after about 6 months of impatient waiting, filled with a lot of video watching and listening to the LOTD CD. I really couldn't wait to see the show, so I dragged my brother and my parents with me to Wembley the day we arrived, and was really happy to find out that there were still tickets left. But I really hadn't expected to get as good seats as we did. We were seated on the left of the stage, not very far back, so we had quite a good view, we could even see the expressions on the dancers faces. And we were seated so we could see one of the big video screens perfectly. We found our seats 45 min or so before the show started, and after about 15 minutes of listening to Liam O'Connors CD "Awakening" over the sound system, we could suddenly hear some tapping behind the curtain. Wow! We could actually hear MF doing his warm up, doing his steps and high kicks. I couldn't wait till the curtain was going up. About 10 min or so before the curtain was going up I could see Mairead Nesbitt and Cora Smyth find their seats on one of the towers and start warming up. The arena filled up and the lights dimmed out. Then we could hear a female voice introducing the show. Yes, Yes, Yes!!! The moment was finally there, the show was just about to start. The bells started ringing and The Little Spirit started playing her beautiful tune. This was what I had been waiting for the last 6 months or so since I ordered my first tickets. And it was all I had expected and more. The two hours flew by way to fast. The show was great!! Michael was dancing brilliant and all the dancers seemed to be having fun out there. During Siamsa we could even hear them cheer and see them smile and blink to eachother. And I finally got to see Don Dorchas new costume, he does stand out some more from the rest of the bad guys with his new costume and I also think he looked meaner here than on the video, and he even growls to the audience . I also noticed that MF had a new pair of leather pants with a white pattern on the sides and a belt, and ha also had very short hair now and only a little part of his hair on his forehead was bleached (sp?) blond (I guess you all know about this already). I heard The Flute Jam for the first time, which was really great. Think that was the number which really made the crowd going. But the audience didn't really stand up and cheer until after Victory, but only for a short while. They sat down and didn't get up untill after Planet Ireland (It really sounds like the audience in USA gave a bigger respons than people at Wembley). But Michael and the troupe was glowing up there on the stage anyway, and like all the other shows in England we got one encore. After the show me and my brother went to look for Michael Flatley. There were people crowding up at one location so we figured that that was possibly where he would come out, and they also after a short while announced over the speaker system that he would be signing programs. So we decided to stay for a while to see if we could get a glimpse of him. I guess it took 10-15 min or so before he came out to sign. People (esp. some girls standing right next to us) started cheering his name. We could see people crowding up around him on the other side of the glass doors we were standing behind, and some lucky ones came out with an autograph and a big smile on their faces. I only got a short glimpse of the top of his head before he left again. The crowd started leaving and so did we after a while. It had been a great night, fabulous show, very nice seats and I hadn't even expected to get any tickets at all. I was more than happy with my first night in London. On Tuesday I met up with some other VBers; Maria, Viv and Christina at the Hilton hotel, where the troupe was staying. We could see them start leaving to go to the venue a couple of hours before the show. After a while we went down to the arena too and found our seats (the thing I think is strange is that these tickets that I had bought 6 months or so before the show was not very good compared to those we were able to get on Sunday just a short while before the show). The show was brilliant and the crowd was better this night than on Sunday. After the show we hang around at the arena to wait for MF. While we were waiting we could see some of the troupe and band heading back to the hotel. But some of them stopped and I got my programmed signed. After a while the crowd started leaving and we headed down to the back of the arena to wait by the gates where MF would be coming out. After a little more than an hour or so the guards came running out and a black car came driving out. It pulled up right next to us and the window was scrolled down. Inside we could see MF and his assistant. I don't really remember much of what happened (guess I was flying up in the skies or something) but I remember him taking my hand and say hi. Maria said something like "She's come all the way from Norway to see you" and I think he said something like "that sweet", then I handed him my program and he signed it. After the car had driven off we (Me, Maria, Viv and Christina) headed back to the hotel. And I really hadn't expected to see so many of the troupe as I did that night. They were celebrating one of the dancers birthday. Some of them even came over and said hi and signed my program. It was really great. On Wednesday my brother had managed to get a 4th row ticket which he gave me. Before the show we met at Hilton again to wait until the show started. We headed down to the arena a short while before the show and found our seats. This was a really great seat, I could really see every expression on the dancers faces. After intermission Christina (who had front row seat) came over to me and asked if I wanted to sit on the front row, because there were two who had left to try to get seats further back. Front row!! Wow!! Amazing. I wasn't just flying up in the skies anymore, I must have been in another galaxy by the time MF entered the stage for the first time after intermission. It was brilliant. Now I could really hear how much fun they were having up there, cheering and smiling. And MF was looking even better so close up. It was really amazing, I had never thought I would be sitting only a couple of meters from MF dancing when I first thought about getting tickets to the show. Christina - Thank you so much for giving me that front row seat, I will never forget that. After a very long and cold wait for Michael after the show I got my second MF encounter and a second program signed (this time my brother's). Then we headed back to the hotel again where we met Christina. There were already lots of dancers gathered in the bar there and after a while there was even more. And Michael and Emma actually came walking in there too. They had had a 300th show party and was continuing the celebration there at the bar. After a while they started playing and dancing too. One of the dancers played the piano another one the bodhran and Liam got his accordion out and Cora (or was it Mairead) got her fiddle out. It was really great, they seemed to be having fun and so did I. My short trip to London turned out to be really great. I didn't think I would be able to get so good tickets for those two other shows. It was fun meeting other VB'ers and I had never imagined I would be hanging out at the same bar as the troupe and that they would be coming over to say hi and chat. It almost seemed like the other VB'ers I met was "part of the gang". Thank you so much Maria, Viv and Christina for letting me hang out with you guys, I really had fun. Hope I'll be able to go see the show again, till then I guess I have to survive by watching the video. -Marianne- Marianne 129.241.113.73 <mariaso@stud.ntnu.no> Trondheim , Norway - Tuesday, January 27, 1998 at 06:47:06 (PST)
Well, its about 2.30pm in England and I am supposed to be at work today, but due to severe sleep deprivation caused by events after last nights LOTD show in Wembley, I've opted for staying at home and taking a "sicky" (technical British term meaning a day off work sick !)instead. You see Vanessa (my wife) and I got home about 6am this morning and I was supposed to get up for work at 7am ! As I have taken the time off, I thought I should do something useful with the time and what better than to post my thoughts from last night. Vanessa is currently in no fit state to post due to her still riding about on Cloud 9 somewhere in the statosphere, and also she only managed about 2 hours of uninterrupted sleep. She promises to post soon, but she is going to LOTD again tonight and she may not have time today. TERI - Congratulations on getting that post in this morning so soon after events, I have to say Vanessa and I had no problem getting to sleep ! So back to last night. Vanessa and I met up with the following VBers:- Teri, her spouse Larry, and Marybeth (USA),(Maria (Belgium), Viv (Germany), Alby (Portugal), Heli and her spouse (Finland), and Michelle, Anne and Linda UK (England) and so there were representatives from 6 countries !!! I have to say gang it was a real pleasure meeting you all, Vanessa and I will have fond memories of our gatherings. So we all went off to the show. It was fabulous, I got to see Kelly dancing as the Temptress for the first time, and she certainly met with my approval. I would certainly like to see Gillian dancing that part - ah well (sigh) ! Michael seemed to be on top form last night and when the show was over, I felt sky high on adrenaline. It took a while to come down. I'd like to go to the show again tonight with Vanessa, but baby sitting is a problem today. BTW Michelle and Anne had managed to get front row central seats I gather as a result of ringing the ticket line very regularly until seats came available. By a lucky accident, they found they had an empty seat next to them and so they invited Alby to spend the second half of the show with them there. I thought that was a lovely gesture. So then we went on the autograph hunt, Kelly, Bernadette, and Helen came out and we got their's (and 2 others). Everydody was feeling the cold, it was another bitterly cold night. Eventually we headed round to where Michael would come out after the show. There was already another crowd of fans waiting to see Michael. We spotted his Rolls Royce car (I mistakenly said it was a Bentley last week, but it is definitely a Rolls - The security guard told me Michael has 2 Rolls Royces, but I dont know if that is true). We chatted and cracked jokes etc. and tried to forget about how cold it was, but this was proving difficult. We invented a new dance form as we jigged about trying to get our toes warm. Eventually (around 0:45 am) I noticed that the Rolls was being warmed up and so we knew Michael would be coming out soon. The Rolls came out and drew to a halt, Michael was in the back with Daire, and another dancer who I did not recognise. Emma surprisingly was not with him this time. More or less immediately Michael GOT OUT of the car (a first I believe in this current British tour) and greeted the other crowd of fans I mentioned earlier. At the same time Daire got out our side and greeted us. Eventually they swapped sides and Michael came round to us. He said something like "You must all be Freezing, Thankyou for waiting for me". He was wearing a long brown overcoat (Suede I think). AND THEN..... Vanessa said "We're all VBers Michael". As Teri said, Michael's face lit up and he immediately reached out to Vanessa and Kissed her - This made her day because it was so spontaneous - this is why she is still on Cloud 9. "Oh VBers the Magic word" he said gleefully and then proceeded to greet everyone enthusiastically with hugs, kisses and handshakes ). I GOT TO SHAKE HIS HAND at last ! (YES YES YES !) It was then that Alby had her very special moment, she handed Michael the CD she had compiled and explained all about it, Michael listened very attentively to what she was saying and thanked her. It was lovely to watch Alby having her moment, but I don't want to say anymore, that must be left for her to tell us ! Then Linda told Michael that there were 6 nationalities represented by our gathering and that we would really like it if he would have his picture taken with us. He said something like "Yes - Lets do it" ... so we did !!! He also mentioned how important the VBers were to him (he wanted you all to know that) but that he didn't get to read it much because only Emma knew how to access it. I think he said that their computer was not working properly at the moment. He also said that there would be some very special news for us in the British press soon. We heard a rumour and think we know what that is, but I think it best to wait for the official news. So far though we haven't seen or heard anything. Michael dispensed a few more hugs and kisses, and then said good night and left. I have to say, he came over as a real Gentleman to me, he was extremely pleasant to his fans, I can certainly see what the ladies see in him, but more of that from the ladies when they post ! We all agreed that this was OUR very special VB GROUP MOMENT which everybody had enjoyed. I have to say that as a consequence of this and other events that I have now made the transition from Flatspouse to Flathead !! We were all frozen by now although we all felt warmed in our hearts. In view of all the excitement, and also with a need to get warm, we all headed for the Bar at the Hilton Hotel. It's going to be very difficult to adequately express in words what happened for the rest of the evening but I will try. We all sat down with our drinks and relived OUR MOMENT time and time again. Each time we thought about it, it seemed to get more and more marvellous. I think we all felt that we were with a very nice group of people. Various members of the Troupe were also in the Bar, especially the band, I noticed the two violinists Cora and Mairead amongst others. When we first came in Daire was in the Bar, he must have been dropped off after OUR MOMENT. I was settling down with a Pint of Caffreys Irish Ale - You really must try this if you can get it, Larry certainly approved of it when I introduced him to it. Later in the MORNING I would switch to another favorite Irish Drink of mine - Jameson's Irish Wiskey. Vanessa was firmly glued to the ceiling and resisting all attempts to come down. It was then that the evenings entertainment began mainly courtesy of the LOTD Troupe members who were around. Patrick (a hotel guest), who had obviously enjoyed a few drinks decided to serenade the lovely Ashley by "playing" the theme from Love Story on the Grand Piano. Then a young lad from the band (sorry I can't remember the names - my memory is letting me down due to tiredness.)played the piano. Then Liam joined in on the accordion and John played the Bodhran. They played an Irish Reel which I think one of them had composed. This went on for some time, we all clapped along. Some of the troupe sat down with us and asked us what we thought of the show, how many times we had been etc. We were also treated to some Irish Dancing of course. There was also the "Psychic Child" act one of the troupe asked us to touch a glass on the table (out of say 6) whilst he wasn't looking. He then miraculously picked up the one we had picked. He got this right everytime except one, impressive ! The was also a very different interpretation of Goodness Gracious Great Balls of Fire by another member of the troupe. We had a great time. I was so tired / hyped up that I asked Viv for a couple of cigarettes to keep me going, this might not seem unusual, but I gave up smoking 20 years ago ! The effects of the Jameson Wiskey and tiredness have made my memories of the later part of the evening hazy and I'm sure that other members of our group will fill in the gaps when they post. Saddest part of the evening for me was having to say goodbye to some of the Gang like Teri, Larry, Marybeth, Maria, Alby and Viv. We eventually left the Hilton at about 5am. Exhausted we headed home and finally got to sleep about 6am. Vanessa got up at 8 am and collected to children from her brothers and took them to school. We then laid in bed until the afternoon when I started this post. WHAT A NIGHT !! - We wont forget it or the people who were part of it. This is the Magic of Lord of The Dance and the VB. Long may both continue and also all the lovely friendships we have made. Love to you all - Brian. Brian 195.147.12.133 <Brian@globalnet.co.uk> Hemel Hempstead, England - Tuesday, January 27, 1998 at 08:39:15 (PST)
Hello ! I went to see your show on Sunday, 24th January (98) at Wembley Arena. May I congratulate you and your entire 'crew' - my family and I have never been so impressed in our lives! I am actually 15 years of age, and I, was totally amazed at the, well, everything we saw ! The synchronisation of the dancing, the music, the atmosphere! It was terrific! Please, keep up the good work (I know you will!) and I look forward to seeing any future shows you produce. Thanks for showing us (and by the sound of the stamping on the floor the crowd made) and everyone else a great time. Best Wishes and good luck for the future, Richard. Richard 194.207.0.96 <webmaster@braingym.co.uk> London, United Kingdom - Tuesday, January 27, 1998 at 10:59:37 (PST)
Ooops! It appears I made a mistake about the date of the show, it was so amazing I wasn't thinking straight. It was infact the 25th and not the 24th ! Cheers, Richard. Richard 194.207.0.96 <webmaster@braingym.co.uk> London, United Kingdom - Tuesday, January 27, 1998 at 11:01:20 (PST)
I love the show, and would love to see one of my best friends perform in it, as she is a member of the second troup. Michael is great. Emma Pilfold 152.163.205.219 London, England - Tuesday, January 27, 1998 at 11:01:20 (PST)
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