Nov 17

Follow Your Dream, Day #518: Celtic Fire at Hyde Park

One of the most exciting changes from the original 1996 #LordOfTheDance video to the 1998 #FeetOfFlames Hyde Park video is the addition of a band number, Celtic Fire.

To this day, there are people who don't realize Michael Flatley is a champion flautist. Completely self-taught, he can't read a single note of music -- but he can bloody well play the rivets off the flute. Although Celtic Fire had been added to Lord of the Dance's setlist prior to Feet of Flames, only those people who had seen the show live would have been familiar with it -- although there are a few tantalizing glimpses of it in Lord Melvyn Bragg's South Bank Show episode devoted to Michael and LOTD.

Celtic Fire is a fun number. A fusion of two tunes -- Mrs. McLeod and Jenny's Chickens -- the arrangement is incredibly high-octane. Here, in this excerpt from "In the Fire" (the making of Feet of Flames video), we see Michael Flatley, Máiréad Nesbitt, and Cora Smyth discuss this rousing showstopper of a number.

Planet Ireland arises: 2021.

#FollowYourDream