Celtic Christmas Tickets

we really enjoyed it...the variety...the mixture of local and famous musicians...

The show was absolutely awesome. Ric pulled together a great group of performers -- the dancers were a tremendous asset.

This was a great way to start the Christmas holiday off. Sound was clear, music was wonderful. Great performance! Would see this again.

The program was good. I loved the dancers and especially the kids!

A CELTIC CHRISTMAS ... just like (talented!) friends and family making Christmas music in the kitchen. Outside, the temp was 15 degrees; as the concert began, the Ryman Auditorium heated up -- the music was like Grandpa's wood burning stove, hot enough to make you move, but too cozy to leave....Rick Blair described it as an early style Christmas celebration: good music with family and friends... and he hit the bodhran on the head!!! Overall, an excellent concert, Jeff one of the percussionists, did a very good Scots accent reading the Christmas story from Jamie Stuart's Glasgow Bible ... ("what it was all a'boot" ..."the wee bairn" .... "the shepherds were gobsmacked" ) Like the 12 Days of Christmas there were ladies dancing (FANTASTIC JOB, NASHVILLE IRISH STEP DANCERS!!!) and singing -- Mauread Ni Mhaonaigh. Besides the ladies of the Nashville Irish Step Dancers leaping, there were also Lords a leapiing -- okay, he probably isn't a Lord... but Rick's energy level kept him bouncing around the stage! There were drummers drumming, Rick & Franko on bodhran, Jeff & Chris(?) on percussion; pipers piping (Ivan Goff & Eric Rigler!!!! WORLD CHAMPION TALENTS) ... and also fiddlers, guest Mauread Ni Mhaonaigh, (and violins-a great string section) fiddling...and I missed the name of the other young lady fiddler, she's a regular member of "The Celts". On the down side --- There WERE just a few small quirks that kept it from being a perfect 5 star performance ... a few microphone cues were off, some of the live music was louder than the live vocals - but hey, it's LIVE music--not lip sync'd, and the issues were pretty quickly fixed. MY biggest complaint is probably one voiced by others... the Ryman is a beautiful auditorium, and viewing is great just about everywhere-- but the old church style pews make for uncomfortably cramped close quarters, especially in winter clothes. (I found out about the concert late, and could only get balcony seats-maybe they're tighter?) My body shape is NOT that of a concert go-er 25 - 75 years ago; we had 6 in our pew section that was marked for 8!!! If those two seats had been sold---they would NOT have been able to sit in them!!! Add to that, I'm a bit long legged, and my knees were only 1 inch away from the pew in front of me; to let anyone out, you either have to empty the whole row or everyone must stand in their seat. It wouldn't have hurt a bit to have had cushions, either. Guess I'm spoiled; but I didn't even have room to get up and dance a bit (probably a good thing, even though the music made you want to move!!). Stomping my feet ( and probably the lady's next to me) had to suffice. Speaking of the lady on my right, she said she thought it was too loud; but me being an old rock-n-roller, I said, maybe, but I'm getting kind of deaf -- I think it's about right, maybe less instrument and more vocals, but yeah, my Mom probably would agree with you... (my wife, on my left side, elbowed me and whispered,." You realize you just called her an old lady? I said, "Who me?") I didn't think it was too loud, again, there were some quirks and missed mic cues, and it's hard to understand Gaelic words with an American English brain... but the beauty of the song made up for that; plus the spoken translation afterwards helped as well. The after concert meet and greet was really nice, just a bunch of friends saying hi! Wish I could've met the whole band. OVERALL-- I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS AS A GREAT CONCERT... I REALLY REALLY HOPE THIS WAS THE FIRST ANNUAL CELTIC CHRISTMAS -- I can hardly wait for next year's!!!! and if it's in the Ryman, I'm bringing a cushion...