I was in the front row, on the right hand side, 2nd seat in. The 4 seats on my right were empty. There was a lady sitting beside me on my left. Her sisters had treated her to the concert. However, they couldn't get seats together. So she was sitting beside me while her sisters were sitting in the centre section in the middle of the front row. I got there at 7:30pm. So I talked to this lady for half an hour. Their was also a security guy from Vancouver sitting in front of the stage for crowd control (although I don't think the audience would have done anything - the average audience age was between 55-60). We talked to him for half an hour as well. On Monday night they performed in Vancouver. However, for that show they had the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra with them so he said it was a totally different concert. Mary Jane's band didn't perform - only she did. The concert started at 8pm. Mary Jane came on with her group (including Wendy MacIsaac and Ray Montford (formerly with The Rankin Family). Mary Jane was wearing a purple silk shirt and blue vinyl pants. She opened with Bog a'Lochain, then did Oran Sniomh (Spinning Song), Seinn O, Hi Ri Him Bo, Sleepy Maggie, Tha Mo Run air a'Ghille, and ended with Horo Ghoid Thu Nighean. The crowd really enjoyed her music and she got a warm ovation. I'm a bit disappointed she didn't peform longer but then she was just opening the show. They were doing four dates with them (Vancouver, Victoria, Edmonton and Calgary). When I saw her in April, it was just her so she performed all the songs from her album. Then there was a half-hour intermission, which was really too long.

The Chieftains came on at 9pm and performed until 10:30pm. They are quite a lively group, especially Paddy Moloney, the leader. He was making comments after people played and mocking them. He made several jokes referring to places in Ireland. He was joined later on in the show by a guitar player (don't know the name) and a Spanish singer in full costume playing the bagpipes and she sang a couple of songs. They also had a couple of Irish Step-Dancers with them. One was Cara Butler (who I was told afterwards by Wendy is a sister to the lead dancer in Riverdance) and the other was Danny Golden. Both are world-champions. They were both wonderful. Now I can't wait to start learning Irish Step Dancing starting this Saturday. Around 10pm, Mary Jane came back on with her whole group and they performed some reels and traditional Irish tunes. Don't ask me for the names of them but it was a very lively show.

Now comes after the show: I went and talked to the security guy who I was talking to before. I asked if they usually came out after the show. He said no. I said that I wanted to get a picture signed that was taken in April of myself with Mary Jane. He said since I just wanted to see her that I could go backstage, along with 6 people who had got backstage passes. He was very nice and I really appreciated this. I waited downstairs in the green room while Mary Jane got changed. Then the security guy brought her over to me. I had a very nice chat with her for about 20 minutes. She remembered me from April as I had brought my gold pen to sign the picture with, which I had at the April concert. She signed the photo just Mary Jane because she said we were friends now. I also mentioned to her about e-mailing you and if I could talk to Wendy. Well, she got Wendy and we chatted for about 10 minutes. She was so nice to talk to. She thought it was neat for me to be chatting with so many people in Cape Breton when here I am on the opposite coast. We talked briefly about Celtic Colours, which they both were looking forward to. They were leaving this morning, quite early I believe, to Calgary which is where they are performing tonight. One thing I asked them was about changing time zones so frequently. Wendy said that last week, they went from Halifax, to Vancouver, to Scotland, to Halifax and then out to the west coast again. That was a tiring trip. I also mentioned that I had had a ticket to see them in August but unfortunately that show got cancelled. Just before I left they said they may be back in November performing with Spirit of the West so if I see that concert advertised to get tickets. I certainly will if I am free that night.

Overall, it was a very enjoyable concert!