Loreena McKennitt live at the Grand Rex in Paris, 15 March 2007 The Lady of Shalott hasn't toured in a while. I think it's been ten years. The voice of one of the tours de force of the music world has been pretty much silent all that time.
A couple of months ago she released her first new album in all that time, An Ancient Muse, and it was definitely worth waiting for. Most of the musicians who played on it are on tour with her, including Bryan Hughes on guitar, the incredible Hugh Marsh on violin, and seven other top- flight musicians she calls her "idling Porsches," because they have bands and albums of their own, and they rarely get to really stretch out when they play with her. But they play with her because they *like* playing with her. Duh. She's a tour de force. Anyway, she's obviously touring in Europe right now, but she'll be heading back to North America soon, and if she's performing near you and the concert isn't already sold out, I would very much recommend that you go. If you're on this forum, I think you'd like it. There really isn't anything in the music world quite like a Loreena McKennitt concert. For those who know her music, here's the set list, which, because of all the sets and the lighting and the incredibly choreographed nature of the show, will probably remain the same throughout the tour: Set I: * She Moved Through The Fair * The Gates Of Istanbul * The Mummer's Dance * Penelope's Song * Marco Polo * The Highwayman * Dante's Prayer * The Bonny Swans * Caravanserai Set II: * The Mystic's Dream * Santiago * Bonny Portmore * Beneath A Phrygian Sky * Kecharitome * The Lady Of Shalott * The Old Ways * Never-Ending Road (Amhrán Duit) The set for this tour is an enormous, ornate Persian doorway. The lighting is so superb that you'll see that doorway -- and what lies on the other side of it -- a thousand different ways before the evening is over. Loreena McKennitt is an old soul stuck in a world that neither she nor her sensibilities fit into gracefully. That's probably something that many of the people here on this forum can identify with. But most of us "make do," and find some way to "fit in" to this new century and this new vibescape we find ourselves in. Some of us even *dig* it here, and have turned living in this Gnarly New World into an artform. Loreena strikes me as an incredibly sensitive old soul who opened her eyes just after being born into this Gnarly New World and really didn't like it much. It just didn't resonate with who she was. So rather than adopt to the Gnarly New World and find a way to "fit in," she managed to turn her world into an ongoing anachronism. Loreena is Canadian, of Soct-Irish heritage and with the red hair and the temperament of her bloodline. She's got a remarkably pure voice -- also out of keeping with this time -- and is drawn to songs that tell the stories of True Love, and of doomed romance, and of women like Homer's Penelope, who sit at home waiting for their men who are off at sea. And so what happens? Loreena's beloved fiancé goes off to sea for a pleasant day's sailing and drowns. An old soul who had managed to find a way to "fit in" with the Gnarly New World might have shrugged that off and gotten on with her life. Loreena McKennitt hasn't recorded or toured for ten years. Thursday night she was still fragile enough and emotional enough when singing the song she'd written for her fiancé to break down in tears and cut the song short. Loreena McKennitt is a woman who, as far as I can tell, was last comfortable in the Middle Ages or the Renaissance. She's out of place in our time, but in her music she's provided us with a portal into hers. It's a pretty wonderful world on the other side of that doorway. For a glimpse of what you'll see if you catch her on this tour: http://www.quinlanroad.com/newsandviews/currentupdates.asp?id=632 To hear more samples of her music: http://www.quinlanroad.com/explorethemusic/index.asp For the tour schedule itself: http://www.quinlanroad.com/performances/performances.asp
