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look for me by the moonlight
I went to my second Loreena McKennitt concert tonight. :) The first time I saw her in concert, I was eleven, and I wrote an exhaustive trip report that I still have but am too embarrassed to reread, as is the case with most of the writing I did when I was eleven. XD I won't do the same thing with tonight's concert, because I definitely enjoyed it, but just don't really have anything that worthwhile to say about it. ^^; Oh well, that's okay.
I was a little nervous going into this concert because the only other singer I've seen in concert twice is Jann Arden, and I looooooooved her first concert and was sorta bored by the second. I think the reasons for this are pretty obvious, though. The first time I saw her was on her Greatest Hurts tour, so I knew almost every song she sang, even just from hearing them on the radio. And she also told a ton of hilarious stories that night. The next time, she sang much fewer singles, and told fewer stories. So it was a little disappointing, although if I was more of a fan I'm sure I wouldn't have minded as much as I did just being a casual fan.
(Don't worry if you don't know who either of these singers are; I seem to have this thing where the only people I see in concert are Canadians, which of course means that if you're not Canadian you may well have never heard of them. El oh el @ our obscurity. ;D )
I think probably I did enjoy the first Loreena concert more than tonight's, just because I was younger and we had to go to Vancouver to see it and I got to meet her afterwards, so it was definitely a bigger experience overall. And I had been listening to her albums over and over and over before we went, as opposed to this time, when I wasn't even able to find the time to give her latest album a proper listen. (I blame my dad for only procuring said album on Monday.) But, having said that, I still really enjoyed this one. She sang all but one of the songs I was hoping she would sing, so I was satisfied. ;D I was actually pretty surprised how many of her songs I still recognized! What with being all H!P-crazy these past few years, I guess I'd just figured I wouldn't know them anymore. But I recognized quite a few of them even from just the first few notes, which was nice. :) It was nice that she sang so many songs I recognized! In a way I was like, "You've got a new album out, why are you still singing 'Lady of Shalott'?" but at the same time I was really grateful that she did. XD Otherwise I would have been annoyed at myself for not knowing her new album better than I do. ^^;
A few notes on a few individual songs (most likely out of order):
-- "The Mummer's Dance": To be honest, I was kind of hoping she WOULDN'T play this, just because it's the one that gets all the radio play and all the attention and I would imagine she's pretty sick of it by now. ;D But she played this quite early in the program, so at least she was able to get it over with, hahaha. ;D I mean, I do like the song, but I guess it's one of those things where once everyone else starts liking the song as well, you're kind of like I WON'T BE A SHEEP! and stop liking it as much.
Really that whole paragraph is just me trying to cover up how I have nothing worthwhile to say about this performance. Uhm, it was good. We were really close to the stage! Fifth row of the orchestra seating. Way off to the left side, though, so we couldn't see the guitarist or the percussionist. But we could see all the other performers quite well. For the most part I was watching either Loreena or the cellist, who I found really interesting to watch. When the spotlight was on her, as it often was, she was really into what she was playing, and when she wasn't playing, she held a very elegant pose so as not to distract from the others. I thought I was being weird, watching her the whole time, but afterwards we ran into one of my dad's co-workers and his wife said she was watching the cellist the whole time too, so that's awesome. XD;
(When we went to see Dido I was watching the percussionist the whole time ... Why did we even go to see Dido? None of us knew any of her songs ... That was sort of a waste of a night, I dunno ...)
And if you've never heard "The Mummer's Dance" (you probably have and just don't know it!), I have just now found an Escaflowne AMV that uses it as its music. XD;; Or, if you prefer, a Miyazaki AMV. XD;;; Should I apologize for all the anime links in this otherwise serious post? Surely you all know by now how ridiculous I am, right? XD
-- "The Bonny Swans": My absolute favourite Loreena song, this pops up pretty frequently in my "current music." XD My favourite part of the song is the question-answer of the electric guitar and the violin, which was pretty awesome live, especially as the guitar was so loud. XD;; I didn't recognize this song right away because she played the piano throughout instead of whatever instrument that is in the recording. But once I recognized it I was really really happy, because I was so afraid she wasn't going to play it! And then I would be forced to cry. XD
Here's the music video, although I have yet to be able to watch it all the way through without becoming embarrassed of it. So I would recommend letting this run in a different window while you do something else, so you can listen to it but don't have to watch all the bizarre expressions she makes while she lipsynchs. XD;
-- "The Highwayman": I really like this song but I feel guilty about it because it's all "DEATH! BLOOD! TERRIBLE THINGS!" But I think it does a really great job of creating a mood to fit the poem. Haha, but I remember when I was eleven and first heard this song and was like "I'M NEVER LISTENING TO THAT AGAIN!!!!!!" XD It totally scarred me. XD XD XD
Hahaha, I've just now found an FFVII: Advent Children AMV using this song. It sort of amuses me when people make AMVs in which they kill off characters. ^^;;
-- "Dante's Prayer": I don't think this is the most original of her songs, but it's still good. I went through a period where I listened to it a lot and since then I've only listened to it once or twice, because it's sad! :(
And here is a Fullmetal Alchemist AMV that uses this song. I watched the beginning about a month ago and then stopped because the anticipation of how sad I would be by the end of the video was just TOO MUCH. True story!! ^^;;;;
-- "The Lady of Shalott": This was the first of Loreena's songs that I really liked (this and "Greensleeves," for serious), and it's still nice, but I think I prefer "The Highwayman" (I always think of these two songs together because they're both taken from poems). "Shalott" is good but it doesn't have as much of a backbone as "Highwayman." XD
Here's a performance at the Juno Awards. I've been going through my old video tapes, and on one of them I found the 2003 Juno Awards. I remember taping it ... I just don't remember why. Maybe I was feeling particularly patriotic that year, haha. This year I pretty well ignored them, besides being CREEPED OUT by that commercial in which an animated Nelly Furtado morphed into her real self, for no apparant reason, gosh!
-- "The Old Ways": For whatever reason I particularly wanted her to play this song, and she did, and it was AWESOME. It was performed a bit differently than the recorded version - I think the only real difference was that the dynamics were altered. But that one little change made for such an awesome performance. It started out about medium volume, went a bit quieter once the first verse started, and then just built up and built up and built up until the last moment or two of the song was loud and intense and so good! It pretty well blew all my other favourite parts of the concert out of the water. XD I was a little frustrated, though, because this was the penultimate song, and then the last song and the two encore songs were all rather slow and all unfamiliar to me. I was like, dude, why didn't you end with that awesome rendition of "The Old Ways"??? I wanted to walk out of the theatre with that in my head! It was BRILLIANT.
Oh, and listening to the recording now, I think they also sped up the verses a little bit. You guys, it was so good. They were recording the concert for home video release ... if it's not silly expensive then maybe I'll see if I can't convince my dad to buy it for his Loreena collection. ;D
Man, I do really like this song, but the recorded version seems so weak compared to the concert version! It still builds but, I dunno, not as much I guess. In the recording her voice is still the most audible sound but in the concert it got to the point where it was just another instrument, sort of obscured by the volume of the others. But it wasn't a bad thing, it was so awesome. So yeah, I think they should have ended on that. XD
And to end, an Escamovie AMV to "The Old Ways." Loreena isn't even mentioned anywhere in this video's description, haha, so I'm glad I stumbled across it! XD Especially because for the past however many years I have really wanted to see Escaflowne combined with this song. No joke! hahaha. XD
The song I was hoping she'd sing that she didn't was "Samain Night," off her third album. But I can see why it wasn't played ... it's kind of old and it's kind of long with nothing really happening. But I like that one. Oh well. ^^;
It seemed to me like a really short concert, but it was actually about two and a half hours long (including a ten-minute intermission). I guess it seemed so short because her songs are all practically ten minutes, so you're like, "What? The first half can't be over! That was only five songs!" and it doesn't feel like you've already been there an hour. Well, it might've felt like that for my dad, who didn't enjoy the concert as much as I did. I think he went mostly out of a feeling of obligation. We are related to her, after all. XD
... which means that I had to put up with comments such as, "Oh, she's so talented! Do you have any of that talent, Sarah?" from my dad's co-worker. x_x; And then he asked me to say stuff in Japanese. After a day of mindless work and mindless concert going, I was not really in the mood to churn out a translation for him, especially when I knew he was only asking out of a certain sense of obligation to show interest in what I study. BUT LET'S NOT TAINT THIS WONDERFUL ENTRY WITH MY MINOR ANNOYANCES!!!
I forgot what else I was going to put here. XD; Hahaha, uhm. My dad was sad that she didn't sing "All Souls Night." So here's an FFVI: Advent Children AMV to that song. XD Oh, YouTube. My love for you knows no bounds.
XD XD XD XD XD
I was a little nervous going into this concert because the only other singer I've seen in concert twice is Jann Arden, and I looooooooved her first concert and was sorta bored by the second. I think the reasons for this are pretty obvious, though. The first time I saw her was on her Greatest Hurts tour, so I knew almost every song she sang, even just from hearing them on the radio. And she also told a ton of hilarious stories that night. The next time, she sang much fewer singles, and told fewer stories. So it was a little disappointing, although if I was more of a fan I'm sure I wouldn't have minded as much as I did just being a casual fan.
(Don't worry if you don't know who either of these singers are; I seem to have this thing where the only people I see in concert are Canadians, which of course means that if you're not Canadian you may well have never heard of them. El oh el @ our obscurity. ;D )
I think probably I did enjoy the first Loreena concert more than tonight's, just because I was younger and we had to go to Vancouver to see it and I got to meet her afterwards, so it was definitely a bigger experience overall. And I had been listening to her albums over and over and over before we went, as opposed to this time, when I wasn't even able to find the time to give her latest album a proper listen. (I blame my dad for only procuring said album on Monday.) But, having said that, I still really enjoyed this one. She sang all but one of the songs I was hoping she would sing, so I was satisfied. ;D I was actually pretty surprised how many of her songs I still recognized! What with being all H!P-crazy these past few years, I guess I'd just figured I wouldn't know them anymore. But I recognized quite a few of them even from just the first few notes, which was nice. :) It was nice that she sang so many songs I recognized! In a way I was like, "You've got a new album out, why are you still singing 'Lady of Shalott'?" but at the same time I was really grateful that she did. XD Otherwise I would have been annoyed at myself for not knowing her new album better than I do. ^^;
A few notes on a few individual songs (most likely out of order):
-- "The Mummer's Dance": To be honest, I was kind of hoping she WOULDN'T play this, just because it's the one that gets all the radio play and all the attention and I would imagine she's pretty sick of it by now. ;D But she played this quite early in the program, so at least she was able to get it over with, hahaha. ;D I mean, I do like the song, but I guess it's one of those things where once everyone else starts liking the song as well, you're kind of like I WON'T BE A SHEEP! and stop liking it as much.
Really that whole paragraph is just me trying to cover up how I have nothing worthwhile to say about this performance. Uhm, it was good. We were really close to the stage! Fifth row of the orchestra seating. Way off to the left side, though, so we couldn't see the guitarist or the percussionist. But we could see all the other performers quite well. For the most part I was watching either Loreena or the cellist, who I found really interesting to watch. When the spotlight was on her, as it often was, she was really into what she was playing, and when she wasn't playing, she held a very elegant pose so as not to distract from the others. I thought I was being weird, watching her the whole time, but afterwards we ran into one of my dad's co-workers and his wife said she was watching the cellist the whole time too, so that's awesome. XD;
(When we went to see Dido I was watching the percussionist the whole time ... Why did we even go to see Dido? None of us knew any of her songs ... That was sort of a waste of a night, I dunno ...)
And if you've never heard "The Mummer's Dance" (you probably have and just don't know it!), I have just now found an Escaflowne AMV that uses it as its music. XD;; Or, if you prefer, a Miyazaki AMV. XD;;; Should I apologize for all the anime links in this otherwise serious post? Surely you all know by now how ridiculous I am, right? XD
-- "The Bonny Swans": My absolute favourite Loreena song, this pops up pretty frequently in my "current music." XD My favourite part of the song is the question-answer of the electric guitar and the violin, which was pretty awesome live, especially as the guitar was so loud. XD;; I didn't recognize this song right away because she played the piano throughout instead of whatever instrument that is in the recording. But once I recognized it I was really really happy, because I was so afraid she wasn't going to play it! And then I would be forced to cry. XD
Here's the music video, although I have yet to be able to watch it all the way through without becoming embarrassed of it. So I would recommend letting this run in a different window while you do something else, so you can listen to it but don't have to watch all the bizarre expressions she makes while she lipsynchs. XD;
-- "The Highwayman": I really like this song but I feel guilty about it because it's all "DEATH! BLOOD! TERRIBLE THINGS!" But I think it does a really great job of creating a mood to fit the poem. Haha, but I remember when I was eleven and first heard this song and was like "I'M NEVER LISTENING TO THAT AGAIN!!!!!!" XD It totally scarred me. XD XD XD
Hahaha, I've just now found an FFVII: Advent Children AMV using this song. It sort of amuses me when people make AMVs in which they kill off characters. ^^;;
-- "Dante's Prayer": I don't think this is the most original of her songs, but it's still good. I went through a period where I listened to it a lot and since then I've only listened to it once or twice, because it's sad! :(
And here is a Fullmetal Alchemist AMV that uses this song. I watched the beginning about a month ago and then stopped because the anticipation of how sad I would be by the end of the video was just TOO MUCH. True story!! ^^;;;;
-- "The Lady of Shalott": This was the first of Loreena's songs that I really liked (this and "Greensleeves," for serious), and it's still nice, but I think I prefer "The Highwayman" (I always think of these two songs together because they're both taken from poems). "Shalott" is good but it doesn't have as much of a backbone as "Highwayman." XD
Here's a performance at the Juno Awards. I've been going through my old video tapes, and on one of them I found the 2003 Juno Awards. I remember taping it ... I just don't remember why. Maybe I was feeling particularly patriotic that year, haha. This year I pretty well ignored them, besides being CREEPED OUT by that commercial in which an animated Nelly Furtado morphed into her real self, for no apparant reason, gosh!
-- "The Old Ways": For whatever reason I particularly wanted her to play this song, and she did, and it was AWESOME. It was performed a bit differently than the recorded version - I think the only real difference was that the dynamics were altered. But that one little change made for such an awesome performance. It started out about medium volume, went a bit quieter once the first verse started, and then just built up and built up and built up until the last moment or two of the song was loud and intense and so good! It pretty well blew all my other favourite parts of the concert out of the water. XD I was a little frustrated, though, because this was the penultimate song, and then the last song and the two encore songs were all rather slow and all unfamiliar to me. I was like, dude, why didn't you end with that awesome rendition of "The Old Ways"??? I wanted to walk out of the theatre with that in my head! It was BRILLIANT.
Oh, and listening to the recording now, I think they also sped up the verses a little bit. You guys, it was so good. They were recording the concert for home video release ... if it's not silly expensive then maybe I'll see if I can't convince my dad to buy it for his Loreena collection. ;D
Man, I do really like this song, but the recorded version seems so weak compared to the concert version! It still builds but, I dunno, not as much I guess. In the recording her voice is still the most audible sound but in the concert it got to the point where it was just another instrument, sort of obscured by the volume of the others. But it wasn't a bad thing, it was so awesome. So yeah, I think they should have ended on that. XD
And to end, an Escamovie AMV to "The Old Ways." Loreena isn't even mentioned anywhere in this video's description, haha, so I'm glad I stumbled across it! XD Especially because for the past however many years I have really wanted to see Escaflowne combined with this song. No joke! hahaha. XD
The song I was hoping she'd sing that she didn't was "Samain Night," off her third album. But I can see why it wasn't played ... it's kind of old and it's kind of long with nothing really happening. But I like that one. Oh well. ^^;
It seemed to me like a really short concert, but it was actually about two and a half hours long (including a ten-minute intermission). I guess it seemed so short because her songs are all practically ten minutes, so you're like, "What? The first half can't be over! That was only five songs!" and it doesn't feel like you've already been there an hour. Well, it might've felt like that for my dad, who didn't enjoy the concert as much as I did. I think he went mostly out of a feeling of obligation. We are related to her, after all. XD
... which means that I had to put up with comments such as, "Oh, she's so talented! Do you have any of that talent, Sarah?" from my dad's co-worker. x_x; And then he asked me to say stuff in Japanese. After a day of mindless work and mindless concert going, I was not really in the mood to churn out a translation for him, especially when I knew he was only asking out of a certain sense of obligation to show interest in what I study. BUT LET'S NOT TAINT THIS WONDERFUL ENTRY WITH MY MINOR ANNOYANCES!!!
I forgot what else I was going to put here. XD; Hahaha, uhm. My dad was sad that she didn't sing "All Souls Night." So here's an FFVI: Advent Children AMV to that song. XD Oh, YouTube. My love for you knows no bounds.
XD XD XD XD XD
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And the Old Ways is totally one of my favourite Loreena song.
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hahaha, so yeah. XD
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Really, I think she was just copping out. Still love the song though ^^
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In unrelated news, is there a way to get my icon to post in every entry (on my main journal page) as well as just the one in the corner, which is the way it is now, so that if I changed my icon for an entry without changing my default icon, it would actually matter? Do you understand what I'm asking? ^^;;
no subject
AND APPARENTLY I FORGOT
Like, 100% forgot. I think in my mind's eye's calendar I had put it a lot farther in the future so I just wasn't thinking about it ... oh man. I'm special.
Why does she think Calgary? Did someone plant that thought in her head? Or is that just my default state? If she looks at my Facebook she'll see I haven't gone anywhere, my taco manager left a message talking about how she saw me at work yesterday ... whoops whoops whoops. XD XD XD;;;
And to answer your question: I think the only way to do that is to change the style of your LJ. So you go to the main LJ page, log in, look under "Journal" in the top menu, click "Customize Journal," and then go to "Look and Feel," and then there's that layout drop-down menu? Mine is apparently set to "Flexible Squares," and I get an icon with each of my entries, but there are other layouts that do that too. So yeah, just find one you like, I guess.