Celtic Connections Photos

Hey y'all. Stu here. Celtic Connections was lots of fun, from the "old world charm" of the Central Hotel to the lovely people we got to know. We feel lucky and honored to have attended such a warm-hearted gathering of folk music lovers.



For more on our trip to Glasgow:

Celtic Connections Photos

Report from Fiddle Freak

--Stuart Mason

The Results Are In....

... and we're sad to say that we didn't make the Final 6. Very disappointed of course but the finalists are all great performers and we wish them well. You can see the announcement of the finalists here.

We won't soon forget the Celtic Connections experience and we made some solid booking contacts should we ever return to the UK, so all was not in vain. We're browsing through our huge collection of photographs from the trip and will publish some soon.

Home, with fingers crossed!

Arrived home safely on Tuesday evening after the usual 10 hours sitting on a plane. Stu is still in Glasgow though, taking a few extra days vacation with his wife Joyce.

The only disappointment is that we found out that the live feed of our performance didn't happen due to technical problems at the radio station, and the same problems meant that the radio station didn't record it either. Fortunately, we did video the performance and you can see it on our YouTube Channel.

If by any small chance, there was anyone in the audience that night who recorded the show, we'd love to get a copy, just email us at theband@mollysrevenge.com.

Here's a few pictures of Glasgow and the band.







All we can do now is sit at home and keep our fingers crossed. The decisions will be made after the last performances on Saturday and we'll post another blog entry with the results. It's impossible to tell how we'll do but we got a lot of compliments from the radio guys and the sound engineers wanted to know how we were going to perform at the finals on Feb 1 if we were going home!!! Anyway, you can judge the crowd reaction from this YouTube video of Lorelei.




Don't forget, the only CD with this song on it right now is Evolution with a live performance at the Grass Valley Festival. You can check out all the tracks on the CD and buy it for $10 now or find out more about it at our web site. All the proceeds go to finance the Celtic Connections performance, which was unpaid.

Our Performance

We're immersed in the barrage of Celtic music here at Celtic Connections. Aside from the official concerts, every night there is "The Club". You never know who will be turning up there to play and sometimes get some amazing pairings of musicians who don't normally play together. First time we went there, Bela Fleck, the banjo maestro, was on stage and later in the evening, our friends from Slide got up and gave a rousing performance.

Moira arrived on Friday and we had a quick rehearsal with her and then went up the Royal Concert Hall for sound check. The sound engineers there were great, very professional and efficient and had us all hooked up and ready to go in short time. The nerve wracking part was that they wouldn't tell us what time we would be playing that evening! We finally found out that we would be the last performers a few minutes before the show started.

We sat backstage waiting for our turn listening to some really great performers. Finally our turn came.

We started the set with The Northern Shore and the audience loved it. Next, Moira joined us for Weave a Garland which was also enthusiastically received. Then came the evening's pipe set, 3's A Crowd. That was a major hit with the audience clapping along and great cheers at the end of it. The judges asked us to do one more number, so Moira joined us again for her great rendition of Lorelei, another huge favourite with the audience.

We have video of the whole performance and will find a way to get it available to everyone when we get home.

Now we just have to wait and see if we make it to the final 6. We're quietly confident since many people involved with the stage have been asking us when we're going home and will we be there for the finals.

There's a chance we may be on the radio again on Monday, still waiting to hear more about that.

Pete

Hello From Glasgow!

We arrived safely in Glasgow on Wednesday evening after the usual long, arduous house sitting on a flight from SFO to LHR then on to Glasgow.

It's pretty much like being in California - the sun is shining, the economy stinks, the banks are going broke, and the government is bailing them out!

When we were checking in at SFO,, we were wished good luck by the mother of Rachel, one of the dancers who was with us for our Christmas shows. She happened to be there dropping someone off for a flight. We're taking that as a good omen!

Went to scout out the room we'll be playing in last night. Nice room, good sound system, we feel good!

Pete

September/October

September was a very busy month with festivals.
The band had a wonderful time at the Sebastopol Celtic Festival with old friends from Old Blind Dogs. It started to rain just before the guys started their set, however, this just made for a more intimate and packed tent. The enthusiastic audience started standing and shouting halfway through the first pipe set!!

Oregon Part 2

Our last day at the Winston Games was wet so it was decided to play an acoustic set on the stage with our friends Golden Bough.


Thank to you all of our friends and fans for making our trip to the Pacific Northwest so memorable. Look out for us up there in the New Year.