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March 25, 2006 - Beloeil, QC We stayed in Montréal last night, right downtown near the Bell Center where the Montreal Canadians play hockey. The city was buzzing with excitement, because the Toronto Maple Leafs were in town for a couple of games, and the great weather brought everyone out to St Catherine Street in their jerseys to enjoy that scene. Cool. It felt like play-off time. The show tonight was in Beloeil, about 40 mins east of the city. Once again, great efforts were spent on lights and sound, and we had a ball at the show tonight. The audience was very enthusiastic, which always makes us play our best. Good times, for sure. After the show, we packed up fast, and we drove back to Ottawa, where the boys had a short sleep and caught their early flights home. Not too bad a weekend, all in all, I guess. Long as the shows are good, we can pretty much survive anything the other 21 hours of the day throws at us... ............................................................................................................................... March 24, 2006 - L'Assomption, QC Back in Quebec for a couple of shows. One of the first shows I ever had with Natalie was here in this lovely little town near Montreal. This is a cool little theatre, really well designed and a nice place to spend a day. Production is always very good in Quebec, they spend a lot of effort on sound and lights. So, we looked good, and sounded good. Donnell is here to help with little Mary Frances, and it's very cute to have the family unit on-site. In the past it's been family taking care of Mary, but we didn't have the Mummy/Daddy unit on-site until this weekend. Good stuff. ............................................................................................................................... |
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First, a very bad scene for the Leahy's early yesterday morning, further north up the east coast. Very rough night there. End of the run for us; we shared the stage with our brothers, the Sam Bush band once again. That's always fun, and this was no different. Although the crowd was rather small, they were mighty, and they really showed their appreciation. And it was another perfect day here in Florida. Tomorrow morning, we all get up at 4am, and head out to the airport for flights home to the warmth of our families, and the coldness of the Canadian winter. Fair enough, we'll see you next weekend from Quebec... ............................................................................................................................... March 18, 2006 - Palm Beach, FL Another hot day down here. We had an overnight drive, and some of the boys got up when we arrived in and went to the pool. See, there was a women's Lacrosse team out there, sunning and frolicking. I rolled out of my bunk around 11, and went to see how they were doing; they were fine, and seemed in a good mood. I needed coffee bad, so I left them in good hands, or whatever they were in out there. Boys will be boys. The show; nice small theatre tonight, with an enthusiastic crew and audience. We had an excellent show, everything felt great, the tunes grooved hard, and no one left unhappy. except maybe a few of the older folks who left when the show got louder and more rockin' in the last two tunes. Sorry folks, we try to cover all our bases, but we can't please everyone all the time. We sure do appreciate you all coming out tho, that's for sure. Tomorrow, we split the night with the Sam Bush band in Jacksonville, then we head for home for a few days. I'm gonna miss the warm sun .................................................................................................................................. March 17, 2006 - Gainesville, FL We had a BLAST tonight. St Patty's day and all that, nice big venue, nice people to work with, and they even made us a toast after the show, with green Corona, no less! Good times. And we are loving the weather, its got pretty nice down here now, more like what we think Florida should be like; hot, sunny and a light breeze. Perfect. ............................................................................................................................... March 16, 2006 - Daytona Beach, FL
We drove down here after the Hammond show, and had the night off. There
was a bit of a party on the bus last night, since it was
tour manager Lee Moro's
birthday.
We had cake, then drinks, then the guitar came
out, and the tunes started and then some more drinks and...well, you
know. We arrived at the hotel mid-morning, and although it was sunny, it
was really windy, and not very warm. Never mind, we all enjoyed our half
day by the beach. ............................................................................................................................... March 14, 2006 - Hammond, LA After a couple of much-needed days off (and long drive down) we played in Hammond tonight. It's not too far from the gulf coast, maybe an hour, so shrimp and crawfish are dirt cheap. We took advantage of that over the last couple of days, believe me...mmmmmmm. Tonight we had a really nice show for the folks of Hammond, very gracious people indeed, and it felt good to get some pepper back into the show. We were getting a bit tired, 5 shows in 5 nights, with an overnight drive between each one. I was starting to wonder what day it was, actually. Anyway, the Hammond people made us feel very welcome, southern hospitality and all. Glad to have visited there. ............................................................................................................................... March 11, 2006 - Decatur, IL Blustery scary weather today, they were calling for heavy rain, and tornado warnings. During the show, it was raining so hard we could hear it beating on the roof during the show, and some of the water was coming through the roof and onto the stage. We're talking about an indoor theatre here...it was really coming down. We had the TV on downstairs in the dressing room, watching various counties all around us reporting tornado's, but nothing touched down where we were. After the show, we loaded up the bus in the pouring rain and got out of there. Turns out that the next day there was a lot more bad weather. Glad we left in time... ............................................................................................................................... March 10, 2006 - Morganton, NC Another nice day. Nice show tonight, nothing huge happened, just a good solid performance. One thing I have to mention is the supper tonight, it was awesome; BBQ pulled pork with sauce, buns, coleslaw, beans and hush puppies. Yummy... ...............................................................................................................................
March 9,
2006 - Raleigh, NC
A note to any autograph-seekers after the show; 9 times out of 10, little Mary Frances is needing a feed, so Nat doesn't have time to come out and visit you as often as she used to right now. Don't give up hope though, as we all get used to the new routine, things will change. ............................................................................................................................... March 08, 2006 - Alexandria, VA The Birchmere. We love playing here, it's always great. Tonight was no different, except that for the first time, Natalie sold it out, so it was a special night for her. And, we had cousin Kelly up doing a step in the second half of the show, to the delight of all. Yup, another beautiful show day for us. ............................................................................................................................... March 07, 2006 - Pittsburgh, PA Great night, great start to the tour. Everything just clicked tonight, even though we had less than half a house. Didn't matter, they were happy to be there, and we all enjoyed ourselves doing our show for them. Natalie's cousin Kelly is along on this run to help with little Mary. Kelly's very nice and good to have around. So, we have a bunch of shows in a row now, overnight drives, no staying over...we'll be happy to have a day off, but not til Sunday. But, it's in Louisiana, and they are forecasting 80f degree's, so I think we'll be ok there! ............................................................................................................................... February 11, 2006 - Rexburg, ID We all left our homes yesterday (Friday) for the full day of many flights to get out here to Idaho. We all had multiple connections, long waits and for everyone it was a very long day. We finally got to our hotel beds around midnight. Jump to Saturday; it's as cold here as it is back home. They know winter here. We were especially well taken care of by the Mormon community, they were sure to see to our every need, and happily answered any questions we had about their beliefs and life-style. I can tell you, every single person I met was very nice, helpful, and seemed to be having a really good life. It was an eye opener for everyone. The show itself was as much fun as we have had in years. There were about 3200 people in the auditorium/gym for the event, and after a short prayer, we kicked into our show. Well, a more attentive and vocal audience we have never seen, it was unreal. We were like rock stars, they just went wild. They made it so much fun to be on-stage for us, we just unleashed ourselves. It felt great, which is probably just
what we all needed. Those
wonderful people made the long days flying out and back Sunday morning, we got up before sunrise, headed out to the airport, and all flew our separate ways on multi-connection flights back to our homes. Myself, I got home around midnight Sunday. Tired, but energized. ............................................................................................................................... February 5, 2006 - Cambridge, MA We had an afternoon show today, in the same venue as last night. Sold out again, and another rabid Celtic music crowd. Nothing special stood out for me this afternoon, just another solid show, everyone went home happy. After the show, we scrambled to pack up and race for the airport to get our flights back to our homes. ............................................................................................................................... February 4, 2006 - Cambridge, MA Here we are back in Boston again. People love Natalie here, she's got a strong following, and there's lot's of Celtic music fans in the area. Tonight's show was sold out, not an open spot in the building. Once again, Minnie came up to dance a step in the second half, and once again the roof almost lifted off when she did. Mary continues to take it all in stride, making very little fuss at all. ............................................................................................................................... February 3, 2006 - Portland, ME
Portland is another place
we do really well. Sold out just under 2000 seats tonight, Friday night
show. Great audience response here, lovely large hall with three levels,
full right up. We are starting to really feel comfy on stage again now,
having got a few shows under our belts...the fun is starting to happen.
Minnie came out again to dance, ............................................................................................................................... February 2, 2006 - Portsmouth, NH Ah, Portsmouth. We always, always have a good time here, there's something about this crowd here, they just go hog-wild for Natalie. And they went especially wild when Minnie came out to dance a step in the second half again. I thought the roof was going to lift off. Good times. Mary seems very well behaved, we hardly ever hear a peep from the little thing. But the girls really have their hands full coming in and out of airports, hotels, restaurants, theatres...so much baby stuff to carry. But the MacMasters take it all in stride it seems, so it's going quiet smoothly, at least from where I sit. We have a special guest with us for the next few days, a young cello player from California, Tristan Claridge. He plays on 4 or 5 tunes, and is really a good sounding player. Nice kid too. So...lots of people in the van, and on-stage too. ............................................................................................................................... February 1, 2006 - Wilmington, DE Back in the saddle again. Interesting show tonight, we all ran a little loose, having had 4 months off, and only one rehearsal. But, it was good... We pretty much remembered everything we had to do! We even tried out a new opening tune that we learned last night at rehearsal. The best moment was when Natalie's Mom Minnie (who is along to help take care of baby Mary Frances) came on stage, handed the baby to Nat, and did a step-dance to one of the tunes in the second set. The crowd went wild. So, we made it through... On to the next one...
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