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annathepiper"If you go to a GBS show and don't come out of it hoarse from cheering and shouting and singing at the top of your lungs, with your hands stinging and your legs and arms aching from all the clapping, fist-pumping and leaping around, with your heart thumping and your ears buzzing and the surety that you couldn't be happier about it all, then I propose to you, my friends, that you are clinically dead and there is no hope for you."
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casirafics, over on her journal
Truer words were never spoken than these, because *sighs happily*, if you go to a GBS show and have not in fact experienced these very things, you are doing it wrong. As I write this, I am sore in the knees and hoarse in the throat and feeling a hell of a lot better than I have in the last couple of adventuresome weeks here around the Murkworks.
This was a return to the type of GBS show I'm more familiar with--the single-set show, about an hour and a half long. It wasn't quite as fabulous as the two-set show they were doing during the last tour, but then again, even the B'ys themselves would have a hard time topping the fabulousness of that. Still, even a single-set GBS show is pretty damned fabulous!
Since there were quite a bit of rumblings on the OKP amongst the Pacific Northwest crowd about meeting up before the show, I'd posted a link to this pic of myself with my usual red and blue hat, inviting OKP people to keep an eye out for it if they wanted to say hi. This let me actually meet quite a few people, which was really, really cool. OKPers met included MorganEH and his wife (Kikki, said her ID was KikkiScooter), OregonWildChild, AnnR, Binny, Sooz71, helenwheels, and Janeill. Along with the OKPers, I also met Linda Strout, who says she knows me from Norwescon as well, which was pretty neat.
LJers encountered werewingedelf and damashita, their little one scootercomputer, the fabulous casirafics who I know from Writer's Weekend, and of course auntmonkey and her step-kid.
auntmonkey, as I mentioned, had her incredibly cool Sekrit Plan that she hoped to carry out--she'd even mentioned this to me when solarbird was still in the hospital and she'd come to bring sushi to spazzkat and me. So when I told her I was definitely coming to the Bumbershoot show, she asked me if she should still carry this out. I told her yes, yes she should. Because I thought it was the coolest thing I'd ever heard of, and besides, I'm too chicken to try to pull off such a thing myself. But I wasn't too chicken to actually try to find her and see if she could pull it off, so I called her on my way into Bumbershoot to see if I could locate her. Turned out she and her step-kid Starr were already there, and we found one another in fairly short order.
Starr now wins for Youngest GBS Fan of my acquaintance--she apparently likes them well enough to have come to multiple shows with her mother now, and she was wearing a kid-sized version of the blue-sleeved Something Beautiful shirt. She doesn't know the names of the B'ys and couldn't tell me which was her favorite, but she did state her liking for "Scolding Wife" and a few other songs. Ah, the next generation of GBS fangirls. It's a beautiful thing. ;)
Since we knew that the B'ys would be playing at the Mural Amphitheatre, Monica scoped out the stage and figured out that in order to enact her Sekrit Plan, she'd need to hang out on the left-hand side (left assuming you're facing the stage, mind, the side closest to the Center House) and see if she could catch one of their crew guys and ask to send the card back. For the sake of solidarity as well as general hopeful nervousness, I hung out there for a while with her and Starr, diverting out just long enough to scope the general layout of the fair since this was my first Bumbershoot ever, and I just wanted to see what was going on.
As I've talked about before both on the OKP and this journal, usually we don't get to go to Bumbershoot since it usually conflicts with Worldcon. But since it's held at the Seattle Center, which is also the site for Folklife, I very much found it like walking into a mutant alternate-universe version of Folklife. All the same festival food vendors were there (mmmm Shiskaberries), but the layout of everything was completely unfamiliar and I got turned around a few times trying to orient myself. The crowd was entirely different as well, a whole lot of young people. And the music filling the air was rock and blues rather than the folk and world music you get at Folklife. Though I must also note that the act on the Mural stage prior to GBS, Luther "Guitar Jr." Johnson, was pretty neat.
Once I scored myself a couple of tasty snackies, I came back to Monica and Starr, then diverted out again around 7:30 to try to find OKP folks since the plan on the board was for people to try to meet just outside the beer garden closest to the stage. I didn't actually find the beer garden, but I did find several people. Or rather, they found me.wingedelf and damashita were pretty easy for me to find since they're both very distinctive-looking people, so happy hellos were exchanged and I shook hands with damashita. Then I wandered a bit more and found MorganEH and Kikki from the OKP, as well as OregonWildChild and, most happily, casirafics! I invited them all to come back around to where Monica and I were hanging out, to try to get a bit of a crowd together for later scoping of a good spot by the stage.
And it turned out to be a good thing, because we actually got to see the band come in. :D They rode in on a little train of golf carts, which was cute and kind of neat. Alan and Séan and Murray were, as I recall, in the one in the lead. And Alan winked over at us! *^_^* Much fannish swooning swept through us at that little thing once they'd passed. That also gave me a chance to get a look at Séan's infamous new buzzcut, and to see that it didn't look quite as scary as the lamenting on the OKP had led me to believe. Which was a relief.
Once they were in, Monica seized her chance to go find one of their crew guys and ask if she could send the card back--being very careful to emphasize that she didn't actually need to see the band. I didn't actually hear what she asked the guy, but it must have been the Right Thing, because he agreed to take the card back. And it came back shortly thereafter with five signatures on it! <3 <3 I informed Monica that she was a Goddess, bowed deeply, thanked her profusely, and tucked the precious card away into my backpack to take home to my beloved.
And once that mission was accomplished, we were able to head over to scope out spots by the stage!
There was quite a crunch of people right by the stage even by the time I got over there with the little crowd we'd gathered, so I wound up about four or five people back from Stage Alan. Close enough for a perfectly decent view, especially during high moments of Vertical Movement, since I am capable of bouncing quite high and seeing over the heads of people in front of me. Right there was where Sooz71 found us, and she expressed her pleasure at finding the "party girls". Right there in the stage crowd was also, I believe, where helenwheels first found me, and she also pointed out where AnnR was a little farther towards Stage Séan. I didn't actually see Ann at the time, but I frantically waved my hat in her direction.
It was during this little bit of hanging out as well that Kikki and I got to swap our Russell Crowe stories--because it turned out that Kikki was a fellow Russell and TOFOG fan! So I had to tell her my How Anna's Brain Shut Down Three Feet From Russell story, and she saw me that and raised me the tale of Russell Signing Shirts in Austin. I also got to tell Sooz all about how Russell is a raving GBS fan and had even covered "How Did We Get From Saying I Love You"--and to point her at myhandmyheart.com for all sorts of great Alan/Russell pics.
And I believe it was at this point where I was telling those around me about my and Dara's Malkin Bowl Curse, and that apparently Dara and I just aren't allowed to see GBS perform at Malkin Bowl. Linda suggested a cleansing ritual to break the curse. I told her I'd probably have a hard time getting hold of a lock of Alan's hair for proper ritual purposes. ;)
Sooz was in the right place for "party girls", anyway, because we were the ones cheerfully squealing as Chief Roadie Danny came out and started testing all the instruments and mikes. I cheerily remarked to her that you can always tell the major GBS fangirls in the audience, because we're the ones cheering Danny. Who can still, I might add, get a pretty kickin' rhythm out of Séan's bodhran! This also marked the very first time that I ever heard the "GREAT! BIG! SEA!" chant start up before a show, which I think is a pretty distinct measure of the enthusiasm of the crowd. The instant that started up, of course, my little group had to join in. This prompted a person I didn't know to turn to Sooz and me and ask us if we were fans. I laughed happily and said, "A little!"
So there we all were getting worked up and eager, and the dude from one of the local radio stations who came out to introduce the band clearly was aware of our growing level of hyperness, because he even cracked a couple of jokes about it. Fortunately, his intro was very, very short, and in no time at all, the "Donkey Riding" intro began. Which made me very, very happy, because as fabulous as the two-set TH&TE tour was, in the Land Of Anna, "Donkey Riding" is how a GBS show is supposed to start.
Alan looked trimmer than some recent pics I've seen of him. He was wearing a long dark shirt under a darker undershirt, and blue jeans. There was a tag of some sort on his jeans that I couldn't make out from my vantage point--it might have been a badge. You can see it in this pic ofkent's! And in the same pic, you have the Mur-man, though you can't make out his black pinstriped shirt over his t-shirt very well there. Kris had on a black and red t-shirt which said "Island" on it (and other words as well, but I couldn't make them out from where I was). As previously mentioned, Séan's buzzcut didn't look quite as alarmingly different in person as it had in OKP pics; he had on a green and white sports jersey.
But award for hottest-looking member of the band that show definitely goes to Bob, who was looking mighty fine indeed in that stylin' black pinstriped jacket he was wearing. Also, OMG Bob's Hair. <3 It's enough to make even a devoted Alanophile like me go "oooo".
Mindful of not wanting to distract anybody with the screen on my handheld this time around, I decided to try to track the set list the old-fashioned way and just scribble frantically in the notebook I carry around in my backpack. This proved a bit more challenging than I liked, since although I could still see what I was writing as it was getting dark, the notebook didn't exactly fit in my pocket and I kept forgetting to tuck the pen out of the way somewhere so I could free up my hands for obligatory clapping. Which meant that I kept dropping my stupid pen as well as its cap. The very patientcasirafics, just behind me, kept retrieving pen and pen cap for me, and I am relieved I didn't actually put her eye out or something. *^_^*
I did nevertheless manage to get notes scribbled down and was even able to read my own scrawls later, so I am pleased to bring you the Set List!
The show was kind of light on the banter, but there were nevertheless some great moments that must be noted.
Alan made some fabulous funny faces while holding out the notes in the intro to "When I'm Up". The louder we squealed, the funnier his faces. And he made up for lost time by cramming the last bit out really fast: "we'llkeepthegoodtimesrollin'waitandseewaitandsee". He is such a ham. ;)
Apparently the B'ys have made it their personal mission to improve American geography knowledge, because in the intro to "Lukey", when we were informed that they are Great Big Sea from the Tropical Island of Newfoundland (which still makes me giggle every time I hear it), Alan clarified, "It's a little east of here. It's a little north of here." And Séan added, "It's an ocean away!"
Séan got pretty lively, though, leading into "Something Beautiful". He described Seattle as the "most awake city in the U.S.", adding that he was "punctured with caffeine" and lamenting that he may never sleep again. "How do you people sleep?!" he cried. Alan added, "This is Bumbershoot, there'll be no sleeping here!"
Given my recent posts on the OKP about Dara's bike accident and all the promises people made me about singing "Something Beautiful" and "Ordinary Day", I couldn't help but get a little sniffly as the band proceeded to do "Something Beautiful". And I couldn't help but giggle as, after the song, Alan pointed over at Séan and said, "Something beautiful right here, Séan McCann!"
The Shantyman, still on the Caffeine Theme, announced that he was whacked out on coffee, and therefore ready to introduce a drinking song: "The Night Pat Murphy Died". Lots of amusement value in the intro to this this time around: "Oh the night that Paddy Murphy died / is a night that I'll never forget / all the Seattle girls got loaded drunk" (cue loud cheers from us fangirls) "and they ain't been sober yet / as long as the bottle was passed around / Kris and Murray were feeling gay..." That stopped the intro dead right there because various band members as well as various audience members lost it, especially when Murray went back by Kris' drum set and they made extravagant eyes at each other*. Séan announced that they were taking it to the "next level" and that there would be a reception after the show, and then he finally finished off the intro with "O'Leary came to Bumbershoot, some music for to play!"
* ETA 3:24pm: Courtesy of ToTheNines on the OKP, I must clarify that what actually apparently happened there was Kris 'proposing' to Murray, which I didn't quite see from where I was. Muahaha!
After "Everything Shines", Séan looked out at us and proclaimed, "What a big crowd of you there are!" Alan mentioned that they'd played the Moore in February, and that for those of us who'd missed it, it was the Greatest Concert Ever... "until tonight!" It was nice to see that although Alan had a bit of a tired and worn look about him, his talent for shameless self-promotion was in fine form.
Alan's intro to "Concerning Charlie Horse" remains a thing of snickerworthy beauty. He told us all about the unusually high preponderance of horse-in-pond songs in Newfoundland folk, and about how the lyrics of this song had two characters: Charlie the deceased horse and his master Shave. He stressed the importance of knowing the name of said master so that you would understand that the chorus, which goes "here's to Charlie Horse, here's to Shave the master" is not talking about the verb. Nor is the bit that goes "Charlie was like a brother to Shave" talking about shaving your brother, to which he added, "Ew!" And Séan chirped up, "Especially if you have a hairy brother."
After that ditty Séan asked us if we had a holiday on the morrow, and then looked over at Alan and asked him in an ever-so-clever segue kind of way if he would give us a holiday--if he were king! Which of course told us what song was coming next, though Séan helpfully added how next to Alan it says "King" and "Pick me!"
"Funny you should mention," says Alan. "If I were king, the world would look something like this--" And boom, song.
All the singers in the audience were then called upon, much to my great joy, for "General Taylor". We all got a little random on the key, and it kept creeping higher on later verses, but Séan was in very good form milking his notes as well as his volume. I tried to sing harmony and barely heard myself. We were all very loud!
ETA 3:25pm: ToTheNines on the OKP also says that Murray was miming eating the mike during a particularly long note in "General Taylor". I missed that too. This is what I get for being too busy singing! *^_^*
The best moment in "Scolding Wife" was hands down Murray coming over to consolingly pat Bob as he sang his verse. Hee!
All the singers were called upon again by Alan, who asked us, "Are you in the mood to sing along? Don't let me down!" To which Séan added, "He is your king, after all!" With encouragement like that, we sang like crazy for the medley of 80's-era ditties. Best moment in that? Definitely the two chords of "Stairway to Heaven" at the very end, at which every B'y on the stage then got this collective look of "oh hell no" before cutting themselves right off and heading on into "Run Run Away". In which, it must be noted, Bob was mighty fine on the electric fiddle.
Next up we had the longest and greatest intro to "I'm a Rover" ever. Alan congratulated all the singers and then asked the gentlemen to be patient while they sang a song for the ladies--"especially the bouncy ones!" And he proceeded to warble happily "everybody needs a bosom for a pillow" before heading into telling us all a story about a gentleman who was "lonely in the van", for lo, it had been a long tour--three whole days! There was much amusing rambly description of downtown Seattle geography as well, before our gentleman from the van finally got to his hotel, where he wanted nothing more than to "spoon with that Seattle lass". No "forking", he emphasized very firmly. Maybe a little chai latte, maybe some Law & Order. Muah!
Once he got into the song itself, we got the line "she opened the door and she let Bob in"--which would lead one to draw interesting conclusions about the "gentleman in the van", eh? ;) And he finished off with "I will climb them with greater pleasure that I've been with my Seattle love!" Clearly, Séan loves us. We love you too, Shantyman. <3 <3
The B'ys psyched us out with "Sea of No Cares"--they started it with a slow version of the intro before moving into the more traditional, faster take. Darn. I really like the slow version!
For the benefit of the geography-impaired in the audience, Alan then remarked that for those who were just joining in, they were from a place "called Newfoundland, in a country called Canada. It's north of here." And that he apologized if this was a sore spot, but that Canada "has the greatest women hockey players ever, and some male hockey players who try really, really hard!" Which of course led into "Helmethead", complete with Alan giving us the practice runs through "so goodbye / FARE THEE WELL!" Since this, of course, an Audience Participation song!
Alan dubbed "Consquence Free" "our anthem for the end of the summer", all about "acting irresponsibly and getting away with it". Yay! Cue obligatory scream on "wouldn't it be great / if the band just never ended?"
We got no intro whatsoever on "Mari-Mac", but holy crap, that was a great take. By the end they were on fire, the tempo had gotten so blazing fast. Well done. Well done indeed.
I had to sniffle again a bit for "Ordinary Day". <3
We only got one encore--which got off to a bit of a shaky start, as Alan's mike cut out in the middle of the first verse of "River Driver"! It was very, very weird to see Alan singing and to not hear him. He kept going, apparently because he hadn't realized that the mike had died, since he was wearing the monitor in his ear. Thankfully the mike came back on in time for the first chorus, though! 'Cause I mean, damn, of all the songs to have a mike problem in. Sniff.
"Excursion Around the Bay" was next, and taught me that if I really want to keep my voice going during a GBS show, I really just ought to sing on the choruses. *^_^*
"Fortune" was our "last chance to dance", which we did with great vigor and enthusiasm. I managed to keep from dropping my pen, finally.
And last but not least, the redoubtable a cappella "Rant and Roar".
Giggleworthy notes in the introductions of all the band members: Alan remarking of Murray on the bass that "he's not bad", and "on the Everything, Bob Hallett"!
I must close by noting that this was also the first time I'd ever experienced a GBS crowd so loud that the white noise from the cheering actually made my ears hurt. I've lamented about sound quality of the band in the last few shows I've attended, but this time around the band was fine, it was the crowd whose volume was overwhelming! Which I have to admit was kind of neat in a way, because that kind of noise out of a US crowd for GBS is a promising sign of their increasing popularity around these parts.
I don't think Alan has to worry about us asking him back.
There is a particular pub in Seattle where the B'ys have been known to show up on occasion after shows. Séan mentioned this place, Kells, during the enormous intro to "I'm a Rover"--he certainly seemed to be in the mood to show up. Alan seemed a bit dubious, answering, "I doubt it." So all us local fangirls were all "so are they showing up or not?" With the signed card in my backpack, I decided to chance it. 'Cause, I mean, hell, they'd signed a card for my spouse, so I felt it was pretty much necessary for me to see if they'd show up so that I could try to thank them to their faces for the signatures.
I walked out with OregonWildChild, who waffled about coming to Kells with me, except that she had a four-hour drive ahead of her and really had to get going. So I wound up walking to Kells all by myself, which made me a little nervous as late as it was. But I kept mostly to heavily populated streets, which helped--I followed Denny down to First. And I called Dara on the cell phone to let her know what was up, and promised to avoid drinking any alcohol since I did have to drive home.
At Kells I got some water (free, which was surprising), and just hung out for a while starting to transcribe my sloppily scrawled set notes into my handheld. But since I was sitting up towards the front (in the hopes of being in a good spot to espy any randomly wandering Newfoundlanders), I got found by OKP girls! Janeill and AnnR and her sister and helenwheels and I all wound up at a table, and we had a very pleasant conversation indeed, swapping stories of various shows we had attended as well as talking about various other bands we'd all come to love because of our GBS fandom. I am informed that I really ought to be checking out the Town Pants and Shanneyganock. We had quite a bit of Carbon Leaf fangirling going on as well, and some anticipation of the new forthcoming album as well as comparisons of Echo Echo and Indian Summer. I also heard a bit more about the Evening of Doyles which has been recently posted about on the OKP--and was absolutely charmed by the description of Alan singing with his father, and struggling to hold back his lead-singer stage persona so he wouldn't upstage his dad. Aww. <3
By 12:30 there was no sign of B'ys, and I regretfully withdrew--since I'd promised my still-recovering spouse that I'd try to get home by one, and as much as I loves me some B'ys, as I told my table companions, "I ain't married to 'em." But I thanked them all for the company and conversation, and tiredly and happily made my way back to my car. Apparently I should not try to navigate out of downtown Seattle when I'm that tired, because it took me a good fifteen minutes to actually get onto the freeway thanks to several wrong turns. But I hit I-5 without incident, and ditties from Rant and Roar were my soundtrack all the way home!
When I got up this morning, all weak-kneed and hoarse-voiced, I pretty much immediately had to give Dara the card, which prompted a huge smile out of her. And I had to go grab my signed copy of Sea of No Cares as well to compare the various unintelligible squiggles and figure out whose was whose! Séan's and Kris' were legible enough, and by general shape of squiggle I ID'd Alan's and Bob's, which left the last one to be Murray.
And that was the crowning concluding moment to a fine, fine GBS evening!
--
casirafics, over on her journalTruer words were never spoken than these, because *sighs happily*, if you go to a GBS show and have not in fact experienced these very things, you are doing it wrong. As I write this, I am sore in the knees and hoarse in the throat and feeling a hell of a lot better than I have in the last couple of adventuresome weeks here around the Murkworks.
This was a return to the type of GBS show I'm more familiar with--the single-set show, about an hour and a half long. It wasn't quite as fabulous as the two-set show they were doing during the last tour, but then again, even the B'ys themselves would have a hard time topping the fabulousness of that. Still, even a single-set GBS show is pretty damned fabulous!
Since there were quite a bit of rumblings on the OKP amongst the Pacific Northwest crowd about meeting up before the show, I'd posted a link to this pic of myself with my usual red and blue hat, inviting OKP people to keep an eye out for it if they wanted to say hi. This let me actually meet quite a few people, which was really, really cool. OKPers met included MorganEH and his wife (Kikki, said her ID was KikkiScooter), OregonWildChild, AnnR, Binny, Sooz71, helenwheels, and Janeill. Along with the OKPers, I also met Linda Strout, who says she knows me from Norwescon as well, which was pretty neat.
LJers encountered were
wingedelf and damashita, their little one scootercomputer, the fabulous casirafics who I know from Writer's Weekend, and of course auntmonkey and her step-kid.auntmonkey, as I mentioned, had her incredibly cool Sekrit Plan that she hoped to carry out--she'd even mentioned this to me when solarbird was still in the hospital and she'd come to bring sushi to spazzkat and me. So when I told her I was definitely coming to the Bumbershoot show, she asked me if she should still carry this out. I told her yes, yes she should. Because I thought it was the coolest thing I'd ever heard of, and besides, I'm too chicken to try to pull off such a thing myself. But I wasn't too chicken to actually try to find her and see if she could pull it off, so I called her on my way into Bumbershoot to see if I could locate her. Turned out she and her step-kid Starr were already there, and we found one another in fairly short order.Starr now wins for Youngest GBS Fan of my acquaintance--she apparently likes them well enough to have come to multiple shows with her mother now, and she was wearing a kid-sized version of the blue-sleeved Something Beautiful shirt. She doesn't know the names of the B'ys and couldn't tell me which was her favorite, but she did state her liking for "Scolding Wife" and a few other songs. Ah, the next generation of GBS fangirls. It's a beautiful thing. ;)
Since we knew that the B'ys would be playing at the Mural Amphitheatre, Monica scoped out the stage and figured out that in order to enact her Sekrit Plan, she'd need to hang out on the left-hand side (left assuming you're facing the stage, mind, the side closest to the Center House) and see if she could catch one of their crew guys and ask to send the card back. For the sake of solidarity as well as general hopeful nervousness, I hung out there for a while with her and Starr, diverting out just long enough to scope the general layout of the fair since this was my first Bumbershoot ever, and I just wanted to see what was going on.
As I've talked about before both on the OKP and this journal, usually we don't get to go to Bumbershoot since it usually conflicts with Worldcon. But since it's held at the Seattle Center, which is also the site for Folklife, I very much found it like walking into a mutant alternate-universe version of Folklife. All the same festival food vendors were there (mmmm Shiskaberries), but the layout of everything was completely unfamiliar and I got turned around a few times trying to orient myself. The crowd was entirely different as well, a whole lot of young people. And the music filling the air was rock and blues rather than the folk and world music you get at Folklife. Though I must also note that the act on the Mural stage prior to GBS, Luther "Guitar Jr." Johnson, was pretty neat.
Once I scored myself a couple of tasty snackies, I came back to Monica and Starr, then diverted out again around 7:30 to try to find OKP folks since the plan on the board was for people to try to meet just outside the beer garden closest to the stage. I didn't actually find the beer garden, but I did find several people. Or rather, they found me.
wingedelf and damashita were pretty easy for me to find since they're both very distinctive-looking people, so happy hellos were exchanged and I shook hands with damashita. Then I wandered a bit more and found MorganEH and Kikki from the OKP, as well as OregonWildChild and, most happily, casirafics! I invited them all to come back around to where Monica and I were hanging out, to try to get a bit of a crowd together for later scoping of a good spot by the stage.And it turned out to be a good thing, because we actually got to see the band come in. :D They rode in on a little train of golf carts, which was cute and kind of neat. Alan and Séan and Murray were, as I recall, in the one in the lead. And Alan winked over at us! *^_^* Much fannish swooning swept through us at that little thing once they'd passed. That also gave me a chance to get a look at Séan's infamous new buzzcut, and to see that it didn't look quite as scary as the lamenting on the OKP had led me to believe. Which was a relief.
Once they were in, Monica seized her chance to go find one of their crew guys and ask if she could send the card back--being very careful to emphasize that she didn't actually need to see the band. I didn't actually hear what she asked the guy, but it must have been the Right Thing, because he agreed to take the card back. And it came back shortly thereafter with five signatures on it! <3 <3 I informed Monica that she was a Goddess, bowed deeply, thanked her profusely, and tucked the precious card away into my backpack to take home to my beloved.
And once that mission was accomplished, we were able to head over to scope out spots by the stage!
There was quite a crunch of people right by the stage even by the time I got over there with the little crowd we'd gathered, so I wound up about four or five people back from Stage Alan. Close enough for a perfectly decent view, especially during high moments of Vertical Movement, since I am capable of bouncing quite high and seeing over the heads of people in front of me. Right there was where Sooz71 found us, and she expressed her pleasure at finding the "party girls". Right there in the stage crowd was also, I believe, where helenwheels first found me, and she also pointed out where AnnR was a little farther towards Stage Séan. I didn't actually see Ann at the time, but I frantically waved my hat in her direction.
It was during this little bit of hanging out as well that Kikki and I got to swap our Russell Crowe stories--because it turned out that Kikki was a fellow Russell and TOFOG fan! So I had to tell her my How Anna's Brain Shut Down Three Feet From Russell story, and she saw me that and raised me the tale of Russell Signing Shirts in Austin. I also got to tell Sooz all about how Russell is a raving GBS fan and had even covered "How Did We Get From Saying I Love You"--and to point her at myhandmyheart.com for all sorts of great Alan/Russell pics.
And I believe it was at this point where I was telling those around me about my and Dara's Malkin Bowl Curse, and that apparently Dara and I just aren't allowed to see GBS perform at Malkin Bowl. Linda suggested a cleansing ritual to break the curse. I told her I'd probably have a hard time getting hold of a lock of Alan's hair for proper ritual purposes. ;)
Sooz was in the right place for "party girls", anyway, because we were the ones cheerfully squealing as Chief Roadie Danny came out and started testing all the instruments and mikes. I cheerily remarked to her that you can always tell the major GBS fangirls in the audience, because we're the ones cheering Danny. Who can still, I might add, get a pretty kickin' rhythm out of Séan's bodhran! This also marked the very first time that I ever heard the "GREAT! BIG! SEA!" chant start up before a show, which I think is a pretty distinct measure of the enthusiasm of the crowd. The instant that started up, of course, my little group had to join in. This prompted a person I didn't know to turn to Sooz and me and ask us if we were fans. I laughed happily and said, "A little!"
So there we all were getting worked up and eager, and the dude from one of the local radio stations who came out to introduce the band clearly was aware of our growing level of hyperness, because he even cracked a couple of jokes about it. Fortunately, his intro was very, very short, and in no time at all, the "Donkey Riding" intro began. Which made me very, very happy, because as fabulous as the two-set TH&TE tour was, in the Land Of Anna, "Donkey Riding" is how a GBS show is supposed to start.
Alan looked trimmer than some recent pics I've seen of him. He was wearing a long dark shirt under a darker undershirt, and blue jeans. There was a tag of some sort on his jeans that I couldn't make out from my vantage point--it might have been a badge. You can see it in this pic of
kent's! And in the same pic, you have the Mur-man, though you can't make out his black pinstriped shirt over his t-shirt very well there. Kris had on a black and red t-shirt which said "Island" on it (and other words as well, but I couldn't make them out from where I was). As previously mentioned, Séan's buzzcut didn't look quite as alarmingly different in person as it had in OKP pics; he had on a green and white sports jersey.But award for hottest-looking member of the band that show definitely goes to Bob, who was looking mighty fine indeed in that stylin' black pinstriped jacket he was wearing. Also, OMG Bob's Hair. <3 It's enough to make even a devoted Alanophile like me go "oooo".
Mindful of not wanting to distract anybody with the screen on my handheld this time around, I decided to try to track the set list the old-fashioned way and just scribble frantically in the notebook I carry around in my backpack. This proved a bit more challenging than I liked, since although I could still see what I was writing as it was getting dark, the notebook didn't exactly fit in my pocket and I kept forgetting to tuck the pen out of the way somewhere so I could free up my hands for obligatory clapping. Which meant that I kept dropping my stupid pen as well as its cap. The very patient
casirafics, just behind me, kept retrieving pen and pen cap for me, and I am relieved I didn't actually put her eye out or something. *^_^*I did nevertheless manage to get notes scribbled down and was even able to read my own scrawls later, so I am pleased to bring you the Set List!
- Donkey Riding
- Captain Kidd
- When I'm Up
- Shines Right Through Me
- Lukey
- Something Beautiful
- The Night Pat Murphy Died
- Everything Shines
- Concerning Charlie Horse
- When I Am King
- General Taylor
- Scolding Wife
- Medley: Video Killed the Radio Star/500 Miles/Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)/Summer of '69/Stairway to Heaven
- Run Run Away
- I'm a Rover
- Sea of No Cares
- Helmethead
- Consequence Free
- Mari-Mac
- Ordinary Day
- Encore: The River Driver/Excursion Around the Bay/Fortune/Rant and Roar
The show was kind of light on the banter, but there were nevertheless some great moments that must be noted.
Alan made some fabulous funny faces while holding out the notes in the intro to "When I'm Up". The louder we squealed, the funnier his faces. And he made up for lost time by cramming the last bit out really fast: "we'llkeepthegoodtimesrollin'waitandseewaitandsee". He is such a ham. ;)
Apparently the B'ys have made it their personal mission to improve American geography knowledge, because in the intro to "Lukey", when we were informed that they are Great Big Sea from the Tropical Island of Newfoundland (which still makes me giggle every time I hear it), Alan clarified, "It's a little east of here. It's a little north of here." And Séan added, "It's an ocean away!"
Séan got pretty lively, though, leading into "Something Beautiful". He described Seattle as the "most awake city in the U.S.", adding that he was "punctured with caffeine" and lamenting that he may never sleep again. "How do you people sleep?!" he cried. Alan added, "This is Bumbershoot, there'll be no sleeping here!"
Given my recent posts on the OKP about Dara's bike accident and all the promises people made me about singing "Something Beautiful" and "Ordinary Day", I couldn't help but get a little sniffly as the band proceeded to do "Something Beautiful". And I couldn't help but giggle as, after the song, Alan pointed over at Séan and said, "Something beautiful right here, Séan McCann!"
The Shantyman, still on the Caffeine Theme, announced that he was whacked out on coffee, and therefore ready to introduce a drinking song: "The Night Pat Murphy Died". Lots of amusement value in the intro to this this time around: "Oh the night that Paddy Murphy died / is a night that I'll never forget / all the Seattle girls got loaded drunk" (cue loud cheers from us fangirls) "and they ain't been sober yet / as long as the bottle was passed around / Kris and Murray were feeling gay..." That stopped the intro dead right there because various band members as well as various audience members lost it, especially when Murray went back by Kris' drum set and they made extravagant eyes at each other*. Séan announced that they were taking it to the "next level" and that there would be a reception after the show, and then he finally finished off the intro with "O'Leary came to Bumbershoot, some music for to play!"
* ETA 3:24pm: Courtesy of ToTheNines on the OKP, I must clarify that what actually apparently happened there was Kris 'proposing' to Murray, which I didn't quite see from where I was. Muahaha!
After "Everything Shines", Séan looked out at us and proclaimed, "What a big crowd of you there are!" Alan mentioned that they'd played the Moore in February, and that for those of us who'd missed it, it was the Greatest Concert Ever... "until tonight!" It was nice to see that although Alan had a bit of a tired and worn look about him, his talent for shameless self-promotion was in fine form.
Alan's intro to "Concerning Charlie Horse" remains a thing of snickerworthy beauty. He told us all about the unusually high preponderance of horse-in-pond songs in Newfoundland folk, and about how the lyrics of this song had two characters: Charlie the deceased horse and his master Shave. He stressed the importance of knowing the name of said master so that you would understand that the chorus, which goes "here's to Charlie Horse, here's to Shave the master" is not talking about the verb. Nor is the bit that goes "Charlie was like a brother to Shave" talking about shaving your brother, to which he added, "Ew!" And Séan chirped up, "Especially if you have a hairy brother."
After that ditty Séan asked us if we had a holiday on the morrow, and then looked over at Alan and asked him in an ever-so-clever segue kind of way if he would give us a holiday--if he were king! Which of course told us what song was coming next, though Séan helpfully added how next to Alan it says "King" and "Pick me!"
"Funny you should mention," says Alan. "If I were king, the world would look something like this--" And boom, song.
All the singers in the audience were then called upon, much to my great joy, for "General Taylor". We all got a little random on the key, and it kept creeping higher on later verses, but Séan was in very good form milking his notes as well as his volume. I tried to sing harmony and barely heard myself. We were all very loud!
ETA 3:25pm: ToTheNines on the OKP also says that Murray was miming eating the mike during a particularly long note in "General Taylor". I missed that too. This is what I get for being too busy singing! *^_^*
The best moment in "Scolding Wife" was hands down Murray coming over to consolingly pat Bob as he sang his verse. Hee!
All the singers were called upon again by Alan, who asked us, "Are you in the mood to sing along? Don't let me down!" To which Séan added, "He is your king, after all!" With encouragement like that, we sang like crazy for the medley of 80's-era ditties. Best moment in that? Definitely the two chords of "Stairway to Heaven" at the very end, at which every B'y on the stage then got this collective look of "oh hell no" before cutting themselves right off and heading on into "Run Run Away". In which, it must be noted, Bob was mighty fine on the electric fiddle.
Next up we had the longest and greatest intro to "I'm a Rover" ever. Alan congratulated all the singers and then asked the gentlemen to be patient while they sang a song for the ladies--"especially the bouncy ones!" And he proceeded to warble happily "everybody needs a bosom for a pillow" before heading into telling us all a story about a gentleman who was "lonely in the van", for lo, it had been a long tour--three whole days! There was much amusing rambly description of downtown Seattle geography as well, before our gentleman from the van finally got to his hotel, where he wanted nothing more than to "spoon with that Seattle lass". No "forking", he emphasized very firmly. Maybe a little chai latte, maybe some Law & Order. Muah!
Once he got into the song itself, we got the line "she opened the door and she let Bob in"--which would lead one to draw interesting conclusions about the "gentleman in the van", eh? ;) And he finished off with "I will climb them with greater pleasure that I've been with my Seattle love!" Clearly, Séan loves us. We love you too, Shantyman. <3 <3
The B'ys psyched us out with "Sea of No Cares"--they started it with a slow version of the intro before moving into the more traditional, faster take. Darn. I really like the slow version!
For the benefit of the geography-impaired in the audience, Alan then remarked that for those who were just joining in, they were from a place "called Newfoundland, in a country called Canada. It's north of here." And that he apologized if this was a sore spot, but that Canada "has the greatest women hockey players ever, and some male hockey players who try really, really hard!" Which of course led into "Helmethead", complete with Alan giving us the practice runs through "so goodbye / FARE THEE WELL!" Since this, of course, an Audience Participation song!
Alan dubbed "Consquence Free" "our anthem for the end of the summer", all about "acting irresponsibly and getting away with it". Yay! Cue obligatory scream on "wouldn't it be great / if the band just never ended?"
We got no intro whatsoever on "Mari-Mac", but holy crap, that was a great take. By the end they were on fire, the tempo had gotten so blazing fast. Well done. Well done indeed.
I had to sniffle again a bit for "Ordinary Day". <3
We only got one encore--which got off to a bit of a shaky start, as Alan's mike cut out in the middle of the first verse of "River Driver"! It was very, very weird to see Alan singing and to not hear him. He kept going, apparently because he hadn't realized that the mike had died, since he was wearing the monitor in his ear. Thankfully the mike came back on in time for the first chorus, though! 'Cause I mean, damn, of all the songs to have a mike problem in. Sniff.
"Excursion Around the Bay" was next, and taught me that if I really want to keep my voice going during a GBS show, I really just ought to sing on the choruses. *^_^*
"Fortune" was our "last chance to dance", which we did with great vigor and enthusiasm. I managed to keep from dropping my pen, finally.
And last but not least, the redoubtable a cappella "Rant and Roar".
Giggleworthy notes in the introductions of all the band members: Alan remarking of Murray on the bass that "he's not bad", and "on the Everything, Bob Hallett"!
I must close by noting that this was also the first time I'd ever experienced a GBS crowd so loud that the white noise from the cheering actually made my ears hurt. I've lamented about sound quality of the band in the last few shows I've attended, but this time around the band was fine, it was the crowd whose volume was overwhelming! Which I have to admit was kind of neat in a way, because that kind of noise out of a US crowd for GBS is a promising sign of their increasing popularity around these parts.
I don't think Alan has to worry about us asking him back.
There is a particular pub in Seattle where the B'ys have been known to show up on occasion after shows. Séan mentioned this place, Kells, during the enormous intro to "I'm a Rover"--he certainly seemed to be in the mood to show up. Alan seemed a bit dubious, answering, "I doubt it." So all us local fangirls were all "so are they showing up or not?" With the signed card in my backpack, I decided to chance it. 'Cause, I mean, hell, they'd signed a card for my spouse, so I felt it was pretty much necessary for me to see if they'd show up so that I could try to thank them to their faces for the signatures.
I walked out with OregonWildChild, who waffled about coming to Kells with me, except that she had a four-hour drive ahead of her and really had to get going. So I wound up walking to Kells all by myself, which made me a little nervous as late as it was. But I kept mostly to heavily populated streets, which helped--I followed Denny down to First. And I called Dara on the cell phone to let her know what was up, and promised to avoid drinking any alcohol since I did have to drive home.
At Kells I got some water (free, which was surprising), and just hung out for a while starting to transcribe my sloppily scrawled set notes into my handheld. But since I was sitting up towards the front (in the hopes of being in a good spot to espy any randomly wandering Newfoundlanders), I got found by OKP girls! Janeill and AnnR and her sister and helenwheels and I all wound up at a table, and we had a very pleasant conversation indeed, swapping stories of various shows we had attended as well as talking about various other bands we'd all come to love because of our GBS fandom. I am informed that I really ought to be checking out the Town Pants and Shanneyganock. We had quite a bit of Carbon Leaf fangirling going on as well, and some anticipation of the new forthcoming album as well as comparisons of Echo Echo and Indian Summer. I also heard a bit more about the Evening of Doyles which has been recently posted about on the OKP--and was absolutely charmed by the description of Alan singing with his father, and struggling to hold back his lead-singer stage persona so he wouldn't upstage his dad. Aww. <3
By 12:30 there was no sign of B'ys, and I regretfully withdrew--since I'd promised my still-recovering spouse that I'd try to get home by one, and as much as I loves me some B'ys, as I told my table companions, "I ain't married to 'em." But I thanked them all for the company and conversation, and tiredly and happily made my way back to my car. Apparently I should not try to navigate out of downtown Seattle when I'm that tired, because it took me a good fifteen minutes to actually get onto the freeway thanks to several wrong turns. But I hit I-5 without incident, and ditties from Rant and Roar were my soundtrack all the way home!
When I got up this morning, all weak-kneed and hoarse-voiced, I pretty much immediately had to give Dara the card, which prompted a huge smile out of her. And I had to go grab my signed copy of Sea of No Cares as well to compare the various unintelligible squiggles and figure out whose was whose! Séan's and Kris' were legible enough, and by general shape of squiggle I ID'd Alan's and Bob's, which left the last one to be Murray.
And that was the crowning concluding moment to a fine, fine GBS evening!
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Date: 2006-09-04 08:16 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-09-04 08:20 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-09-04 08:43 pm (UTC)Glad to hear that Sean's buzzcut isn't as horrendous as first it appeared. Still can't say I like it, but... ::hugs::
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Date: 2006-09-04 09:45 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-09-04 09:34 pm (UTC)Sounds like a Heather Alexander concert. If you don't need water to keep your throat from going hoarse by the set break, then you just aren't doing it right. :)
I wish I'd made the GBS show at Bumbershoot! It looks like they played a few of my favorite of their songs. Alas, I was in Tacoma for a brunch -- also well worth it -- so missed out. Ah, well.
(Finally slowly catching up on LJ after several months away. Sorry to hear about the chaotic last few weeks...)
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Date: 2006-09-04 09:49 pm (UTC)Glad to see you on LJ again, I was missing you! But glad to hear that you had a great brunch in Tacoma as well.
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Date: 2006-09-04 11:32 pm (UTC)I think our fandoms are somewhat reversed; as you are with regards to the B'ys, I am with regards to Heather. I'm one of the various Knight Protectors of the Heatherlands, and when I'm feeling energetic I'm usually one of those out in front of the stage dancing (or "dancing") and singing along. Etc. :)
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Date: 2006-09-04 11:38 pm (UTC)Sounds like we have amusingly complimentary musical fandoms going on, yeah! And I'm a pretty darned happy Heather fan, I must note--I mean, she is after all the model I was using for the singing style of my character Shenner on SW1. I'm just way more vocal about my GBS fandom since my B'ys all percolate my hormones on top of engaging me musically! ;)
I need to see more of Heather's shows, though. I keep meaning to catch her performances when she comes to Norwescon and it keeps not happening! I may have to pay closer attention to her touring schedule.
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Date: 2006-09-04 11:42 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-09-04 11:49 pm (UTC)Yeah, I love me some Heather quite a bit. I just don't fangirl about her nearly so much! But she is indeed one of the artists I semi-regularly divert off to on the iPod--she, the B'ys, Elvis, and Russell/Crowe TOFOG are the starred playlists at the top of my iPod's menu. (I think I'll be needing to add Carbon Leaf to that lineup, too.) And her version of "Witch of the Westmereland" is one of the non-GBS songs I frequently love to belt out. :) :)
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Date: 2006-09-04 11:44 pm (UTC)I also recognize that I may well be alone in the world in considering 'Sea of No Cares' to be a pick-me-up song. ;)
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Date: 2006-09-04 11:50 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-09-04 10:01 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-09-04 10:05 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-09-04 10:09 pm (UTC)I'm sad that my friends and I couldn't work our way as far forward as we would have liked. One friend was coming down from Vancouver with a friend from Bellingham and they arrived REALLY late and so we barely had enough time to grab dinner and make it to the concert. Considering that, we did get pretty close. I was most irritated by all the people and their blankets spread out, though. Who the heck brings a freakin' blanket and/or folding chairs to a GBS concert? YEAH RIGHT like you're gonna be sitting down. And then they give you dirt looks if you happen to step on it (dude, put the blanket away and stop wasting valuable GBS space!). I had really hoped to get their early and be at the very front, though. Sad. Oh well, we were sufficiently close. Hopefully Kari's photos will turn out good. :-)
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Date: 2006-09-04 10:29 pm (UTC)Sorry I didn't get to run into you and Kari! If you've got photos, though, I'll definitely look forward to seeing them. One of the OKP ladies I was with said she got pics on her cell phone and she'll be trying to get those posted as well.
We wound up exchanging a few remarks up near the stage about all the people sitting down behind us, and a little worry about people not being able to see. I pointed out to my compatriots that this was a GBS show. NOBODY would be sitting down. I didn't think to look behind me once the show got started to see who all remained down, though. Too busy ogling Alan. ;)
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Date: 2006-09-04 10:35 pm (UTC)Ooh, yes! I couldn't tell if there was actually a ring or if they were just miming, but Kris slid a ring onto his hand, and Murray displayed it with a wiggle of his fingers.... ;)
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Date: 2006-09-04 11:39 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-09-04 11:42 pm (UTC)And hahaha coffeine!Sean again? Naw!
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Date: 2006-09-04 11:51 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-09-05 03:58 am (UTC)By which, our intrepid protagonist means that i'm over 1m85, have long reddish-brown hair and beard and a predilection for dressing in all black as well as accessorizing with small red-haired boys; and my wife has purple hair, which makes her somewhat more recognizable than others. ;-)
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Date: 2006-09-05 06:29 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-09-05 04:55 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-09-05 06:12 pm (UTC)And yeah,