Gaelic Storm at the Wolf Den

Katie June 28, 2022 0 Comments

Saturday night Gaelic Storm returned to the Wolf Den at Mohegan Sun.  I had not been to Mohegan since 2019 and was sad to see while everything else seemed to be the same, my favorite machines were no more.

We waited in line for the 3 hours before the show, since the last time we went to see them we barely made it inside.  It seemed like despite being a Saturday night, people were a lot more fashionably late to arrive and for a while we weren’t even sure the small place was even going to fill in.

The band took the stage at 8 with their new fiddle player, Natalya Kay. She seemed to fit right in and I thoroughly enjoyed the evening.  Lionel Richie was playing in the Arena and they made a few cracks that we could “even dance on the ceiling!” “Hello!” showing that they knew what they were up against (and at the end, thanked us for going to see them instead of Lionel)

While there was a lot of clapping in the first song, for the second we were told we needed to wave at them… for the whole song… and that the song was 46 minutes long.  It turns out that it wasn’t and we didn’t even need to wave the whole song, just when we were instructed to.  But there was indeed a lot of clapping because at one point my Garmin said I was at 998 steps and by the end I was into the 1200s.

They also made some jokes about driving on 95 and that it has been around since BC but they have been working on it ever since.  I mean, it’s probably not too far from the truth. Some stretch of it is always under construction.

Another cool thing they did was partner with set.live, a website where you can check in to the show you are at and sign up for the artists mailing list.  At the end of the show, they selected 2 winners from those who had checked in to come on stage and get a personalized signed poster.  The site seems really neat and I’d be interested to see if any other shows I go to end up incorporating it.

Big Time Rush at Hartford Healthcare Ampitheater

Katie June 28, 2022 0 Comments

Friday night, Big Time Rush played their 2nd show on the Forever Tour at the Hartford Healthcare Amphitheater in Bridgeport, CT. (Will that ever not be confusing?)  Connecticut born Dixie D’Amelio opened the night and I am absolutely too old to have any idea who the heck she is. (The mom next to me was reading on her kindle throughout her performance which probably wasn’t a bad idea considering the amount of books I need to get a move on to read and review)

Although the fashion made me think I was back in the ’90s, I knew I was in the ’20s when there was a sea of phone cameras were held up anticipating the curtain in the front of the stage to drop and for Big Time Rush to take the stage.  I opted to take a photo of it with my… actual camera.  No doubt one of only a very few in possession of anyone in the crowd.  (Several tour photographers were out and about however with theirs)  They started with “Windows Down” which samples Blur’s “Song 2” which I remember vividly from 1997 and I honestly wonder how many of these girls jumping around and screaming the “woohoos” were even alive then.  (I heard one of the girls next to me say the last time she saw them was 10 years ago when she was in 4th grade.  I was much older than that the last time I saw them, also about 10 years ago)  I also need to direct some of these girls to check out some *NSYNC performance videos because the dance moves they were cheering for, while I appreciated the choreography, were mediocre at best. (Though I was impressed by James feeling the need to jump all over the platform and not use the stairs – especially since he was seen wearing a knee brace in rehearsal photos.)

Not included in the setlist.fm set is in the acoustic breakdown when they did a medley of songs with Carlos playing the ukelele.  Carlos did Na Na Na, Kendall morphed it into CeeLo Green’s “Forget You”, Logan decided it sounded more like Sublime’s “What I Got” and James… well he started singing “I’m Too Sexy” which made Logan jump up in front of him when he started to take of his shirt.

Big Time Rush played for nearly 2 hours, the amphitheater was absolutely PACKED and they even went out in the crowd for a song with Kendall and James ending up dancing on one of the Dugout bars which I don’t think was part of the plan considering they had platforms out in the crowd for them.  Also of note, they had a T-Shirt cannon, but Logan and Carlos opted to throw a shirt out into the crowd by hand – both of them landing with the same person which made Carlos fall to the ground laughing.   What are the odds?  They also brought out a boombox to which one of them said, “Hey there’s a cassette inside!” and one of the others quipped, “no idea what that is.”  Cmon boys, I already felt enough like a grandma in that crowd lol

Sorry not sorry for all the James pics. I clearly have a favorite.