Loreena McKennitt In Dallas

I have to seriously scale back my enthusiasm as I am writing about this. Since I first heard her rendition of 'Greensleeves' in Hungary on the radio back in 1992, I am a serious fan of Loreena. I have all her music, of course and I am a member of her online community. her music helped me to cope with more tough emotional situations in my life than I really care to remember, and since I am a quasi-serious writer, some of her songs will forever be tied to certain scenes in either never, or half-realized scenes of my writings, or the writings of others.

All of this explains why I went seriously 'SQUEE!' when I read on her website that there will be an US tour this year, and about a week later that she is coming to Dallas, and to boot all of that, that she'll be performing at the Nokia Theatre, which is just about as close to our house as a concert venue can get.

So my lovely sister-in-law, who is also a fan, accompanied me to the concert, where we had really good seats, too, AND freshly roasted cinnamon pecans and almonds...I mean, what else one needs? Our husbands' company would have been nice, but they decided this was too girly for them, and watched a zombie movie at home instead...never mind that about half of the audience consisted of couples, and mostly middle-aged, middle-class comfortable ones, too.

She sounds just as lovely on stage as on her recordings. her soprano is exceptionally clear and strong, and her voice soared above the stage like birds made of glass, of wind, of fire or light feathers. Her band was mostly form the same musucians she plays in the studio, but live, the arrangements were much idifferent, and they lent such dynamism to some of my favorite instrumental tracks (like Santiago or Marco Polo) that one can sense on the studio albums, but that can only bloom on stage. Like Loreena herself said (she spoke a bit between songs--she has a wonderful, warm humor), it's like gathering ingredients for a really lovely dinner, cooking it, but it won't be really appreciated or fully realized until friends come to the table to share it.

We shared last night. I am not ashamed to admit that I was crying at some points--like when she sang Dante's Prayer, the song that really helped me to pull through not one, but two really tough times of my life.

I was really, really fortunate to be there, and the evening was truly something special without being overwhelming. It just felt like being there, and sharing that experience, sharing her love of life, songs and warmth, something fell into place in me, and I feel whole again.

I don't know how long this feeling will last--but thank you, Loreena!