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annathepiperAs I have written earlier in my journal, I was quite excited to discover that Great Big Sea was going to have a live performance broadcast on TV... and thanks to having gotten the Trio, I was able to record it! Watching GBS on TV isn't nearly as fun as seeing them perform live, but watching the show was pretty much Required.
I had thought that this was going to be a broadcast of an earlier performance, but realized that it had to be from this year as they wound up doing two songs off the current album -- "Stumblin' In" and "Sea of No Cares". Moreover, they had Kris on the drumset in the background. I don't know when precisely this concert took place, though.
The locale of the concert was the Ottawa Civic Centre, apparently. Which is freggin' huge. It was quite the switch to see Great Big Sea playing a huge crowded concert hall, as opposed to the tiny venues I have seen them play, i.e., the Showbox, Chateau Ste. Michelle, and the Malkin Bowl in Stanley Park in Vancouver. But then I remind myself, these are the kinds of shows the B'ys actually play in Canada!
They had a huge spacious stage, too, with nice draped curtains of flowing colors in the background, all red and purple and blue and green, and a bit of a compass rose to give something of a nautical look. All the boys were wearing black, and Séan even had on a jacket; apparently, this is their Playing Huge Crowded Concert Halls attire. And while I did spend most of the program paying close attention to who played what on which song, this is probably the first time I got a real good look at Darrell's bass. This is what I get for usually being at Stage Bob at the shows. ;)
Boy, was it satisfying to hear the opening strains of "Donkey Riding" playing over camera shots of the sea and the city, interspersed with the B'ys coming on stage before they finally cut to kicking in with the vocals. A more harmonious take of "Donkey Riding" than I'm used to, having imprinted on the version on Road Rage; keep the tight vocals, boys, but more bodhran! Must have more bodhran on this ditty!
"Stumbling In" was next, and I found myself singing along with most of it. Alan and Séan had their guitars.
Alan switched to bouzouki for "The Night Pat Murphy Died", and both he and Séan had capos on the second fret -- guess they think the chords for the key of G are easier than the chords for the key of A for this ditty. Which is a little weird to me, given that A, D, and E are all pretty easy on the guitar, but well hey. Got my first glimpse of Newfoundland colors in the crowd; somebody close to the stage had a pretty big flag.
Commercial.
"Boston and St. John's" had the expected instrumental lineup of Alan on guitar, Bob on the whistle (with a slightly different intro that I'm used to hearing, but quite nice), and Séan on his shakers -- though I swear they still look like sticks of dynamite to me.
(I can see it now... a Warner Brothers cartoon version of Séan apparently entirely unaware that his shakers have been replaced with TNT, as the Warner Brothers cartoon version of Alan is attempting to pull a prank on him. ;) They do not, however, blow up for Séan, who keeps failing to play the proper rhythm to trigger the explosion, and in fact do not explode until Alan, in a burst of frustration, seizes the shakers, rattles out the right rhythm, and *BOOM!*
But I digress. ;) )
Anyway, we got the expected squeals from crowd when Alan got to "I'm a rover, can you love me anyway?" Very big smiles on the faces of the audience. ;) Alan smiled, too, when the tempo picked up, and the audience started to cheer louder.
Alan and Séan both kicked back to guitars for "Sea of No Cares", and Bob picked up the instrument I've seen him play before, the one with the tape over the sound hole. I had thought this was a mandola at one point, but now I find myself supposing it is in fact a bouzouki? It's not shaped like Alan's zouk, so it's hard for me to tell. But now that I've played with a mandola, the neck on Bob's instrument looks too long for me to call it one of those.
Séan had a capo for this ditty, and it looked to me like it was five frets down the neck. I'll have to go back and look closer to verify.
Commercial.
"Consequence Free" saw Alan and Séan still on guitars, but this time with Séan's capo on the second fret -- an observation I had made the last time I saw them live, and Bob still on the zouk. The audience got into this one, up on their feet, and somebody started bouncing a ball around through the rows closest to the stage! Alan got a big cheer when he sang about losing his Catholic conscience, and he yelled out "and I do!" after singing about feeling guilty all the time, too. And, unsurprisingly, the crowd roared on the line "wouldn't it be great / if the band just never ended?"
By this point, Alan seemed to have gotten warmed up and was bouncing about with his usual verve, while by contrast Séan seemed almost restrained -- possibly because he was still wearing his coat. A bit difficult, I expect, to really bounce around the stage when you're wearing a nice coat.
Cut to Darrell and then Bob talking a bit about their history. It was rather startling to actually hear them talk! Alan is of course a quite familiar voice to me, but these two were a surprise, and Bob's voice came out deeper than I expected. Though it really shouldn't have, because his speaking voice is not far off from his singing voice.
On to "Jack Hinks" with the Newfoundland superhero intro, and Alan getting the audience to count them off: "I'll do 1, 2, and you do 1, 2, 3, 4!". And inviting them "maximize the vertical movement" in the room. But then he started off singing on the second verse instead of the first! DOH!
Immediate cut to the boys joking about how their shows are always different: "the mistakes vary". And proclaiming that they'll stop performing when they actually do a show right. ;)
Right back to "Jack Hinks", and Alan asking the audience for "their amnesia", to forget the false start. And boom, into the song. Alan's instrument was the zouk with a capo -- looked like the 2nd fret from some angles, but given that I know that "Jack Hinks" is in F, and that chords for the key of D are easier to finger on the bouzouki than chords for the key of E, it could have been the third. (Of course, Alan's hands are doubtless bigger than mine and I expect he has an easier time fingering chords for the key of E than I do, but well hey.) Séan on guitar also had a capo -- and again, looked like the 3rd fret, as key of D chords are definitely easier on the guitar than key of E chords. Because B major -- well, I don't even know how to play B major, but I'm fairly sure it sucks, especially in a fast ditty like "Jack Hinks"! (B, of course, in musical terms standing for "bite me"...)
Alan, Séan, and Darrell all wandered over to Bob during his solo, and Séan finally started getting into the music, bouncing about even though he still had his coat on; lots of Alan Hair Flips, too. The song ended with the B'ys singing out "grog-drinkin' hero--" and the audience roaring back in reply, "JACK HINKS!"
Commercial.
Back to "Everything Shines", with Alan on guitar, and Séan on guitar as well but with a capo way down the neck -- possibly the fifth fret. I think this ditty is in G, so a capo on the fifth fret would have Séan playing the chords for the key of D, and would make this a good example of what Monica was telling me about "rhyming chords". Bob on accordion.
Cut to Séan in the studio, with another snippet of interview -- and yum, what an accent Séan has! I hadn't realized his accent was quite that heavy before, even heavier than Alan's. He seems to have the heaviest accent of the four of them.
"Mari-Mac" came in surprisingly early in the lineup, with the familiar "what would you say if I said that Mari-Mac's mother's makin' Mari-Mac marry me" intro... and Alan sang the first few notes of the audience response along with them
Séan was on guitar, and so was Alan, though this time Alan had a different guitar -- a darker one. This was a much more sedate performance of "Mari-Mac" than I am used to, definitely slower than the smoking performance of it they did last April at the Showbox... and possibly even slower than the take on Road Rage. I could still understand what Séan was singing. ;)
"Ordinary Day" saw Alan switching guitars again, this time to what I think was his prior, lighter-colored guitar, with a capo on the 3rd fret; Séan to the bodhran, of course, and Bob to his zouk. Alan was particularly vigorous to the audience, yelling at them to "jump around" before scampering over to play the guitar at Bob and then Séan, and then getting the audience to sing a chorus.
Cut to the boys having their pictures taken -- it looked like the shots for the liner notes of SoNC, in fact, based on what they were all wearing. And Séan joked that he'd rather be playing hockey.
Commercial.
I was expecting "Excursion Around the Bay" and some encores, and the audience roaring "GREAT! BIG! SEA!". What I got, however, was "General Taylor" and the boys coming out into a platform in the audience.
Séan finally lost the coat, not really surprisingly; the man had to be scorching under the stage lights. While they sang, the audience clapped to keep time, and there was more Newfoundland flag waving; everyone went happily nuts over the "shanty man" verse and over Séan's caressing of the last verse and chorus. I noticed Alan picking up a guitar to hold on his shoulder during the last verse and chorus, apparently to get ready for the next song.
Cut to Darrell lauding the fans, and Alan and Bob and Séan talking about the show being something they want to "do" rather than "see", which made for a grand lead-in to the final song of the show, which was...
"Lukey". Which is very much a fine, fine example of a Great Big Sea Audience Participation song. Alan had his guitar, Sean his bodhran, and Darrell his "ain't no bass like an Outer Cove bass" bass, of course. ;) Alan kept up his vigorous encouragement of the audience, and bellowed to them at one point, "EVERYBODY IN THE HOUSE MAKE SOME NOISE!" NICE harmony on the final chorus!
Over the credits, as the album version of "Sea of No Cares" played, we kept flashing to the boys saying various things. Alan talked about how they've all been raised in small towns and like the pace of it... in amusing contrast to his cell phone ringing in his pocket, and him pulling it out and answering, "Doyle," and telling whoever was on the other end to "email me in the morning" and promising to have "the secretary" get back to them. Bob teased a dog, and Séan talked about their ironic sense of humor, and Darrell talked about how most kids do know the traditional Newfoundland songs, as part of growing up in their part of the world... until somebody beside him swatted him on the head, claiming there was a wasp, and Darrell good-naturedly groused over the tail end of the credits.
Nicely done, all around!
I had thought that this was going to be a broadcast of an earlier performance, but realized that it had to be from this year as they wound up doing two songs off the current album -- "Stumblin' In" and "Sea of No Cares". Moreover, they had Kris on the drumset in the background. I don't know when precisely this concert took place, though.
The locale of the concert was the Ottawa Civic Centre, apparently. Which is freggin' huge. It was quite the switch to see Great Big Sea playing a huge crowded concert hall, as opposed to the tiny venues I have seen them play, i.e., the Showbox, Chateau Ste. Michelle, and the Malkin Bowl in Stanley Park in Vancouver. But then I remind myself, these are the kinds of shows the B'ys actually play in Canada!
They had a huge spacious stage, too, with nice draped curtains of flowing colors in the background, all red and purple and blue and green, and a bit of a compass rose to give something of a nautical look. All the boys were wearing black, and Séan even had on a jacket; apparently, this is their Playing Huge Crowded Concert Halls attire. And while I did spend most of the program paying close attention to who played what on which song, this is probably the first time I got a real good look at Darrell's bass. This is what I get for usually being at Stage Bob at the shows. ;)
Boy, was it satisfying to hear the opening strains of "Donkey Riding" playing over camera shots of the sea and the city, interspersed with the B'ys coming on stage before they finally cut to kicking in with the vocals. A more harmonious take of "Donkey Riding" than I'm used to, having imprinted on the version on Road Rage; keep the tight vocals, boys, but more bodhran! Must have more bodhran on this ditty!
"Stumbling In" was next, and I found myself singing along with most of it. Alan and Séan had their guitars.
Alan switched to bouzouki for "The Night Pat Murphy Died", and both he and Séan had capos on the second fret -- guess they think the chords for the key of G are easier than the chords for the key of A for this ditty. Which is a little weird to me, given that A, D, and E are all pretty easy on the guitar, but well hey. Got my first glimpse of Newfoundland colors in the crowd; somebody close to the stage had a pretty big flag.
Commercial.
"Boston and St. John's" had the expected instrumental lineup of Alan on guitar, Bob on the whistle (with a slightly different intro that I'm used to hearing, but quite nice), and Séan on his shakers -- though I swear they still look like sticks of dynamite to me.
(I can see it now... a Warner Brothers cartoon version of Séan apparently entirely unaware that his shakers have been replaced with TNT, as the Warner Brothers cartoon version of Alan is attempting to pull a prank on him. ;) They do not, however, blow up for Séan, who keeps failing to play the proper rhythm to trigger the explosion, and in fact do not explode until Alan, in a burst of frustration, seizes the shakers, rattles out the right rhythm, and *BOOM!*
But I digress. ;) )
Anyway, we got the expected squeals from crowd when Alan got to "I'm a rover, can you love me anyway?" Very big smiles on the faces of the audience. ;) Alan smiled, too, when the tempo picked up, and the audience started to cheer louder.
Alan and Séan both kicked back to guitars for "Sea of No Cares", and Bob picked up the instrument I've seen him play before, the one with the tape over the sound hole. I had thought this was a mandola at one point, but now I find myself supposing it is in fact a bouzouki? It's not shaped like Alan's zouk, so it's hard for me to tell. But now that I've played with a mandola, the neck on Bob's instrument looks too long for me to call it one of those.
Séan had a capo for this ditty, and it looked to me like it was five frets down the neck. I'll have to go back and look closer to verify.
Commercial.
"Consequence Free" saw Alan and Séan still on guitars, but this time with Séan's capo on the second fret -- an observation I had made the last time I saw them live, and Bob still on the zouk. The audience got into this one, up on their feet, and somebody started bouncing a ball around through the rows closest to the stage! Alan got a big cheer when he sang about losing his Catholic conscience, and he yelled out "and I do!" after singing about feeling guilty all the time, too. And, unsurprisingly, the crowd roared on the line "wouldn't it be great / if the band just never ended?"
By this point, Alan seemed to have gotten warmed up and was bouncing about with his usual verve, while by contrast Séan seemed almost restrained -- possibly because he was still wearing his coat. A bit difficult, I expect, to really bounce around the stage when you're wearing a nice coat.
Cut to Darrell and then Bob talking a bit about their history. It was rather startling to actually hear them talk! Alan is of course a quite familiar voice to me, but these two were a surprise, and Bob's voice came out deeper than I expected. Though it really shouldn't have, because his speaking voice is not far off from his singing voice.
On to "Jack Hinks" with the Newfoundland superhero intro, and Alan getting the audience to count them off: "I'll do 1, 2, and you do 1, 2, 3, 4!". And inviting them "maximize the vertical movement" in the room. But then he started off singing on the second verse instead of the first! DOH!
Immediate cut to the boys joking about how their shows are always different: "the mistakes vary". And proclaiming that they'll stop performing when they actually do a show right. ;)
Right back to "Jack Hinks", and Alan asking the audience for "their amnesia", to forget the false start. And boom, into the song. Alan's instrument was the zouk with a capo -- looked like the 2nd fret from some angles, but given that I know that "Jack Hinks" is in F, and that chords for the key of D are easier to finger on the bouzouki than chords for the key of E, it could have been the third. (Of course, Alan's hands are doubtless bigger than mine and I expect he has an easier time fingering chords for the key of E than I do, but well hey.) Séan on guitar also had a capo -- and again, looked like the 3rd fret, as key of D chords are definitely easier on the guitar than key of E chords. Because B major -- well, I don't even know how to play B major, but I'm fairly sure it sucks, especially in a fast ditty like "Jack Hinks"! (B, of course, in musical terms standing for "bite me"...)
Alan, Séan, and Darrell all wandered over to Bob during his solo, and Séan finally started getting into the music, bouncing about even though he still had his coat on; lots of Alan Hair Flips, too. The song ended with the B'ys singing out "grog-drinkin' hero--" and the audience roaring back in reply, "JACK HINKS!"
Commercial.
Back to "Everything Shines", with Alan on guitar, and Séan on guitar as well but with a capo way down the neck -- possibly the fifth fret. I think this ditty is in G, so a capo on the fifth fret would have Séan playing the chords for the key of D, and would make this a good example of what Monica was telling me about "rhyming chords". Bob on accordion.
Cut to Séan in the studio, with another snippet of interview -- and yum, what an accent Séan has! I hadn't realized his accent was quite that heavy before, even heavier than Alan's. He seems to have the heaviest accent of the four of them.
"Mari-Mac" came in surprisingly early in the lineup, with the familiar "what would you say if I said that Mari-Mac's mother's makin' Mari-Mac marry me" intro... and Alan sang the first few notes of the audience response along with them
Séan was on guitar, and so was Alan, though this time Alan had a different guitar -- a darker one. This was a much more sedate performance of "Mari-Mac" than I am used to, definitely slower than the smoking performance of it they did last April at the Showbox... and possibly even slower than the take on Road Rage. I could still understand what Séan was singing. ;)
"Ordinary Day" saw Alan switching guitars again, this time to what I think was his prior, lighter-colored guitar, with a capo on the 3rd fret; Séan to the bodhran, of course, and Bob to his zouk. Alan was particularly vigorous to the audience, yelling at them to "jump around" before scampering over to play the guitar at Bob and then Séan, and then getting the audience to sing a chorus.
Cut to the boys having their pictures taken -- it looked like the shots for the liner notes of SoNC, in fact, based on what they were all wearing. And Séan joked that he'd rather be playing hockey.
Commercial.
I was expecting "Excursion Around the Bay" and some encores, and the audience roaring "GREAT! BIG! SEA!". What I got, however, was "General Taylor" and the boys coming out into a platform in the audience.
Séan finally lost the coat, not really surprisingly; the man had to be scorching under the stage lights. While they sang, the audience clapped to keep time, and there was more Newfoundland flag waving; everyone went happily nuts over the "shanty man" verse and over Séan's caressing of the last verse and chorus. I noticed Alan picking up a guitar to hold on his shoulder during the last verse and chorus, apparently to get ready for the next song.
Cut to Darrell lauding the fans, and Alan and Bob and Séan talking about the show being something they want to "do" rather than "see", which made for a grand lead-in to the final song of the show, which was...
"Lukey". Which is very much a fine, fine example of a Great Big Sea Audience Participation song. Alan had his guitar, Sean his bodhran, and Darrell his "ain't no bass like an Outer Cove bass" bass, of course. ;) Alan kept up his vigorous encouragement of the audience, and bellowed to them at one point, "EVERYBODY IN THE HOUSE MAKE SOME NOISE!" NICE harmony on the final chorus!
Over the credits, as the album version of "Sea of No Cares" played, we kept flashing to the boys saying various things. Alan talked about how they've all been raised in small towns and like the pace of it... in amusing contrast to his cell phone ringing in his pocket, and him pulling it out and answering, "Doyle," and telling whoever was on the other end to "email me in the morning" and promising to have "the secretary" get back to them. Bob teased a dog, and Séan talked about their ironic sense of humor, and Darrell talked about how most kids do know the traditional Newfoundland songs, as part of growing up in their part of the world... until somebody beside him swatted him on the head, claiming there was a wasp, and Darrell good-naturedly groused over the tail end of the credits.
Nicely done, all around!
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no subject
Date: 2002-07-21 09:40 pm (UTC)I'll have to bring one up ... save it for a little while??
Re:
Date: 2002-07-21 09:43 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2002-07-22 04:23 pm (UTC)Re:
Date: 2002-07-22 04:31 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2002-07-22 06:29 pm (UTC)Cause I liked some of the music and wasn't fond of the rest.
Re:
Date: 2002-07-22 06:38 pm (UTC)