Three days late but the result is still the same: yay Newfoundlanders!

[annathepiper]

As solarbird has already written, this past Sunday she, mamishka, our friend Fred and I all went to go see Great Big Sea perform in Vancouver this past Sunday, the 29th.

Short form: DAMN, I needed that. And yep, they can keep the new guy. But going to a concert with a broken arm that keeps you from going up front to enjoy the show with your partner sucks!


Written over the course of 6/30, 7/1, and 7/2/03... because these things take a lot longer with a broken arm.

2003 as a year has just generally blown, from our house getting vandalized to lots of emotional turmoil in the household at large to six solid months of being unemployed. And more! With this kind of a year on my hands my reaction to hearing that Great Big Sea would once more be playing at Malkin Bowl up in Vancouver was pretty much "OH THANK GOD!" A good strong dose of singing Newfoundlanders was desperately needed, especially since a Malkin Bowl show would give me an opportunity to really properly share a GBS show with my partner solarbird. She can't really attend indoor shows, due to being allergic to cigarette smoke and also having really acute hearing -- so the acoustics of an indoor venue are usually too much for Dara. Moreover, I opted to treat our housemate mamishka to a ticket because her birthday was this past Wednesday.

Folks on the greatbigsea.com message board, the OKP, even took my half-teasing crack about a pre-show picnic and ran with it, which was pretty cool. I started having visions of taking my recently acquired bouzouki up to the picnic and doing "Jack Hinks" and maybe even getting it signed.

My friend ssha had her ability to hit the show pretty much nixed as well, thanks to the brain surgery she's had to undergo. It's derailed her ability to drive, not to mention her ability to work -- so she couldn't afford to go. But, a very kind person on the OKP emailed me out of the blue to offer to buy Cyn a ticket, which was one of the sweetest things I've seen come off the OKP in some time. Unfortunately, by the time gerimaple started trying to score a ticket the show sold out. Still, she gets major points for trying.

And then I went and broke my stupid arm, just ten days before the show. While I was in the ER I plaintively inquired of the doctor whether I would be able to still attend. Said doctor looked dubious until assured that there wouldn't be any vigorous action on my part. No medical denial was given me, so I determined to go, broken arm or no.

Because well, darn it, GREAT! BIG! SEA!

So we made our plans to scamper up to Vancouver: me, Dara, Fred (the OKP's own U.S. Navy Sailor) and Mimi. Mimi had had a mishap of her own, a rather nasty twist to her ankle, and so we decided that Meems and I would sit comfortably on the lawn while Dara and Fred went up front. And Dara and Fred were entrusted with the duty of picture acquisition.

Getting our stuff together and getting on the road went smoothly, aside from a bit of a last-minute concern about the tickets not printing up right -- which Dara fixed -- and forgetting Dara's camera, which was not fixed on the grounds that we were already on the road by the time she realized she'd forgotten it. But we made it to Fred's place more or less without mishap, so we could pick him up and he could feed us Belgian waffles. Which were quite tasty, and involved strawberries and raspberries and blueberries and Canadian maple syrup. Fred also made sure to get his camera so that we would not be without picture-taking capability.

On the road Mimi read us excerpts from the book by Odd Todd (see www.oddtodd.com), and inevitably, we sang at the top of our lungs along with one of my GBS tapes. It is a fine thing indeed to have four people in a car all roaring out "Mari-Mac" along with the B'ys!

Canadian customs was nice and fast; we were not asked for our passports, and the guy told us to enjoy the show when we said we were going to a Great Big Sea concert in Vancouver. Traffic was light getting into the city, and en route I commented that that stretch of highway looked like any stretch of U.S. highway... but the vibe was different, because different country. And we wound up getting to Vancouver earlier than expected.

However, the weather started looking pretty gray and sprinkly on the way into the city. And then we discovered our map was wrong and got ourselves lost; by the time we got un-lost and on the proper trajectory into the park, we also bumped into sucky construction-delayed traffic. And blew another half-hour just getting into the park. We got there late enough that we pretty much figured we'd miss the picnic.

Once we got in, I realized pretty quickly that the last time I'd come to the park I'd clearly completely blown finding Malkin Bowl -- which is pretty much right by the front entrance. Boy did I feel sheepish. :)

On the way up to try to find the picnickers we bumped into our first OKPer, who warned us that there was already a fairly big line, which pretty much mandated not looking for any of the OKPers -- and that they weren't letting lawn chairs into the audience area. The lawn chair issue was confirmed by one of the security people going up and down the line and giving people announcements about what could and could not be taken into the audience area. The guy told us we would have to take our chairs back to the car, which greatly distressed Mimi, since her injured ankle really wouldn't take standing up the whole time. Fortunately Meems later got clearance to take her chair in so long as we promised to sit where we would not obstruct anyone's view.

While seeing if I had time to get food as well as search for someone to ask about Mimi's chair, I found Mandy and Lynda from the OKP further up the line, but didn't have much time to chat with them as it was getting close to time to let us all in. My sling also got me recognized by Daffy, who gave me a small Canada flag to wave around or to tuck jauntily in my sling as whim dictated. She also had donut holes! They were from Tim Horton's, which Fred heartily recommended, and as per Fred's enthusiastic input, they were quite tasty. (Thanks Daffy!)

My food acquisition turned out to be scarfing one of the sandwiches Mimi had brought with her, and I got a bit of a chuckle as I was trying to finish off said sandwich. We were all talking about where we would be sitting, and I remarked something to the effect that I wasn't worried about standing -- but I was concerned about people bumping my elbow. Cue the kid in front of me to nudge my elbow by accident in his general restlessness. He didn't actually hurt me, as I assured his mother (who proceeded to tell the kid that my arm was something he had to be careful about, like hers had been when she had surgery on it). And we were amused by the timing of it all.

One more OKPer caught up with us: the aforementioned Geri, who proceeded to hang out with Mimi and me as we finally got let into the audience area and scoped out our seating. Since the weather was continuing to be questionable, Meems opted for a spot up the hill to the right of the stage, under the trees. This was a good choice, since it kept us dry and also pretty much assured that we wouldn't block anyone's view; we were almost as far back as the fence. Also, I was amused by the guy who inspected our tickets, who said to me, "No mosh pit for you, huh?"

Things got started fairly late, so while we were waiting Fred made certain preparations to get ready for when GBS came on stage. I hereby disavow any knowledge of the hot pink thong tossed up onto the stage, or of the words "Happy Birthday Murray" written upon it. That black Sharpie was just coincidentally in my bag, I swear!

I went down to check out the swag booth while we were all waiting... and was tempted by the light blue fleece sweatshirt they had. But there wasn't going to be any way I was going to get that thing on while I was wearing a sling, and I didn't want to buy one without trying it on. So no fleece for me. Geri did let me wear her coat for a bit as things got chilly, which was good since I didn't have any kind of coat whatsoever.

Dara and Fred at last went down to stake out their positions up front, though they wound up in different sections of the audience. And at last, some music began.

The first act turned out to be a lone gentleman with a guitar whose name I didn't catch. He sang songs of the "I'm a hard-drinkin', ass-kickin', woman-lovin' sorta guy" variety, and while he wasn't bad he seemed a bit out of place with what I knew would be coming later. He sounded like he would not be out of place singing in a Texas bar, but it was weird to see him at a GBS show, especially one with kids in the audience. Because of said children, Geri did not approve of his language.

I'd forgotten that there would in fact be an official opening act until I'd seen CDs by the Waifs in the swag booth. In fact, considering how late things were getting started I half-hoped that the guy with the guitar would be the only opening act, and at least during the first bit I didn't see much to make me happy that there were in fact two opening acts.

Like the first act, the Waifs were sort of country-flavored. There were five of them, three guys and two girls, and the women did most although not all of the singing. Very minimalist stage presence, too. The entirety of the intro to their first number was, and I quote, "Hi." They had to be heckled into actually introducing themselves as well, by someone in the audience yelling out, "Who are you?"

They warmed up a bit, though, both to the audience and musically. One of the women talked about how she was trying to get Canadian residency, and about a point system in which she had 67 out of 75 required points. I was horribly slow on the uptake identifying their accents, though; I didn't realize they were Australian until they started talking about Australia! And given that my other favorite band is Australian, you'd think that I'd have pegged their accents. (I blame my stupid arm.)

Musically they got more entertaining when one of the women whipped out a harmonica and started going to town on it, up-tempo and vigorous. "Now that's more like it," I said to Mimi and Geri, and this shift met with approval all over the audience as well. I spotted a little redheaded boy dancing, and Mimi spotted a guy out past the fence, a guy wearing safety-orange clothes and a blue cap, getting down as well. I also noticed a bird perched up on the very top of the shell over the stage; this bird proceeded to fly in and out of the stage's shell throughout the rest of the show. And we saw a woman making her way through the audience, handing out stickers for the local radio station promoting the show.

It turned out that I was not the only person in the audience with a sling on, either. Mimi spotted another girl walking about with a sling on her right arm -- which just goes to show that busted arms are insufficient reason to keep ANY GBS fan from a show, not just me. ;)

There was another wait after the Waifs left the stage, and another representative of the radio station came out to apologize for the delay, thank us for our patience, and get us psyched up for "the boys from the Rock". It should surprise no one that she didn't have to work very hard. ;) We had discussed amongst us how the show had sold out and that 3,000 people had been packed into the area... and as the opening strains of "Donkey Riding" kicked in, with the erratic rain going away at last, every one of those three thousand people got up and started cheering. I got my sling back on, since I'd taken it off to give my arm a rest, and got up with everyone else to bask in the Newfoundlander goodness.

I started trying to write down the set list, as is my usual wont, but it became quickly apparent that I would not be able to do that quickly. So Geri took over writing down the songs as they were played -- thanks, Geri! This set list is brought to you courtesy of her:

• "Donkey Riding"
  
• "When I'm Up"
  
• "Sea of No Cares"
  
• "Lukey"
  
• "Happy Birthday" for Murray
  
• "Goin' Up"
  
• "Clearest Indication"
  
• "The Night Pat Murphy Died"
  
• "A Boat Like Gideon Brown"
  
• "Beat the Drum"
  
• "Jolly Rovin' Tar"
  
• "Penelope"
  
• "General Taylor"
  
• Medley: Instrumental (neither Geri nor I recognized the tune)/"Summer of '69"/"Blister in the Sun"/"Video Killed the Radio Star"/"I Wanna Be Sedated"
  
• "Run Run Away"
  
• A few bars of "Pour Some Sugar On Me", courtesy of Alan making Def Leppard jokes
  
• "Everything Shines"
  
• "Scolding Wife"
  
• "Feel It Turn"
  
• "Consequence Free"
  
• "Mari-Mac"
  
• "Ordinary Day"
  
• Encore #1: "Excursion Around the Bay"/"Feller from Fortune"
  
• Encore #2: "Rant and Roar"/"Old Black Rum"
  

Now, given that we were so far back in the audience I couldn't get a look at what the B'ys were wearing, so I can provide no report on that aside from Alan wearing something that involved red and blue. Also, the one problem with our vantage point was that half the time we couldn't see Bob at all! Fortunately Fred got plenty of pictures to make up for this problem; thanks, Fred!

Since I was lamentably denied up-close-and-personal viewing I spent a good amount of time with my eyes closed just listening, and there was plenty good to hear. This was arguably the most spirited and energetic GBS show I have attended to date, thanks to Kris providing some fantastic drumming, Alan and Séan being in stupendous banter form, and Alan especially taking advantage of it being Murray's birthday to give Mr. Foster pretty much non-stop razzing all throughout the show.

Speaking of Murray, I was especially anxious to hear how GBS would fare without Darrell, and whether they would get someone worthy of stepping into Mr. Powers' shoes. My anxiety was not only soothed, but even turned into a distinct eagerness for the band to keep this gentleman around.

Some highlights of the performance include:

• "When I'm Up" was rather more energetic and vigorous than I have heard it done in previous live shows, and the main part of the credit for this goes to Kris for one magnificent drum line. However, Alan also gets kudos for shamelessly milking the final "no-o-o-o, I can't get down", drawing out those last few notes until Geri turned to me and started making amused cow noises as long as Alan was milking us.
  
  
• "Lukey" was earlier in the set than I'm used to, and in fact was the first of a series of pleasant little surprises sprinkled through the performance. I'd thought they were heading into "Jack Hinks", but no, "Lukey"! Not quite the same without "there's no bass like an Outer Cove bass" in the second bridge (*sniff* miss ya, Darrell!), but still very fine and very sing-along-able.
  
  
• After "Lukey", Alan announced to the crowd that aside from all the other reasons to celebrate the evening, it was Murray's birthday! This prompted not only the flinging of the aforementioned hot pink thong onto the stage but the entire audience singing "Happy Birthday" to Murray as well. A very nice moment indeed.
  
  
• "Goin' Up" had some particularly nice backup vocals on the part of Mr. McCann, along with the high-energy audience singing. Plus, Alan fancied up Bob's line in the lyrics: "And we've got Mr. Bob Hallett from St. John's, Newfoundland on the squeezebox!" He had to just yell that bit as he pointed over to Bob, though, as otherwise it would not have scanned.
  
  
• The intro following "Clearest Indication" started off with Alan informing the crowd that every time the band comes to Vancouver he remarks to Séan, "We are some out of shape!" And he went on to add that the denizens of Vancouver are so hyped up on coffee that they jog three extra miles a day. Séan chimed in with, "We're here to put a stop to that," and as Alan gleefully joked about the "Great Big Sea Fitness Program", Séan told us that the next song was an anti-Starbucks song. With a buildup like that, I was expecting "Old Black Rum", but we got "Paddy Murphy". This was not, however, a bad thing in the slightest.
  
  
• "This song is about SEX!" Séan announced by way of starting off the intro to "Gideon Brown". Alan faked a gasp, pointed meaningfully at the audience, and warned, "Children!" Undaunted, Séan sallied back with "Well, that's what happens!" Alan went on to tell us about how winters in Fogo Island and Petty Harbour are so long and cold that there is nothing to do besides "envy the size and efficiency of your neighbor's boat". But he rather sabotaged himself with his own intro, because he flubbed the beginning of the song. And gave Séan an opening to drolly observe that Alan was obviously busy "envying his neighbor's... boat."
  
  
• Next came the new song "Beat the Drum". The song was nice enough, though it didn't make much of an impression on the folks in my group, as we noted later once we all got back together. But I remember having a similarly neutral reaction the first time I heard "Sea of No Cares" -- which had been at the first Malkin Bowl show I'd gone to in 2001 -- so I'm willing to give this a shot! More entertaining was Alan telling us that a new album would be coming "soon", that it would be "amazing", and that it would prompt us all to start using the Beatles' White Album as a coaster. Hee.
  
  
• It was a distinct pleasure to hear the B'ys do "Jolly Rovin' Tar" live! Especially since they announced that they were going to do a song about the life of a sailor. "I like sailors," said Séan. "I wish I was a sailor." He went on to describe GBS as "asphalt sailors" travelling all over North America, and noted that it was a wonder they didn't have skinned knees.
  
  
• "How 'bout a shanty?" was Alan's lead-in to "General Taylor". Séan sounded a bit rough and hoarse voice-wise on this ditty, but Murray picked up that small bit of slack and then some when he hit a STUNNING low note to round out the final chord. That note dropped my jaw, Geri's jaw, and Mimi's, and led Dara to tell us admiringly after the show, "The new guy contributes!" Geri concurred, asserting that they should just bite the bullet, become a quintet, and sign Kris and Murray on RIGHT NOW.
  
  
• Next came an instrumental that neither Geri nor I recognized. We thought it was "Feller from Fortune", but they actually did that one later in the set. But we didn't get much time to identify said instrumental, because the B'ys proceeded to hit us with a barrage of songs done in medley. Alan got the audience singing "Summer of '69" before Bob broke into "Blister in the Sun" -- then right around to "Video Killed the Radio Star", which made me laugh out loud, and made me certain as well that Dara would be amused as well since she likes that song. I was right. ;) And then around to Séan, belting out "I Wanna Be Sedated" before the whole shebang rolled around into "Run Run Away". Very satisfying indeed! THAT kind of thing is exactly why one needs to go see Great Big Sea live.
  
  
• Not content to limit his jokes about other bands to the Beatles, Alan also made Def Leppard jokes and broke into a few bars of "Pour Some Sugar On Me".
  
  
• They did "Scolding Wife"! I'd been hoping for "Scolding Wife" and they did it! And Murray carried his verse quite nicely even if his lack of a Newfoundland accent was pretty apparent in comparison to Alan, Séan, and Bob.
  
  
• "Feel It Turn" set off at least half a dozen lighters down front, held up while Séan was singing. Hee.
  
  
• "Mari-Mac": not the fastest I've ever heard 'em do it, but still highly enjoyable. Especially when I turned around to sing harmony with Mimi. :D
  
  
• I'd been prepared for Alan to take on the duty of singing "Excursion Around the Bay", so that wasn't a surprise... though again, I'll be missing Darrell here and more than at any other point of a GBS show. Alan doing this song I'm sure will grow on me, but he still needs a bit of time to get the hang of it, I think. He flubbed a little bit of this song as well, though not as big a flub as with "Gideon Brown."
  
  
• "Old Black Rum" turned out to be the final song -- which was good, because I would have been bummed if they hadn't done this one! By then I'd sung myself hoarse, trying to make up for my inability to properly dance by singing my heart out, but I had to muster up a little more breath for one of my definite favorite GBS ditties. So did the audience down front, who belted out an entire extra chorus!
  

I think that in addition to being the most energetic GBS show I've ever been to, it was possibly also the largest with that headcount of 3,000. And being way back up on the hill did give me one very fine visual that helped make up for not being up near the stage: the sight of three thousand people with their hands in the air, clapping with everything they had. The energy was incredible even on the very edge of it, and I'm certain that the B'ys must have picked up on it and channeled that power right back out into their performance.

Because, well, WOW.

Dara and Fred came back to find the three of us under the trees, and not being up front with my partner was made up for somewhat by her glowing commentary about how GBS is fun from in back... but so much better up close. And about how Alan has an indisputable gift for making everybody in the audience certain he's looking straight at them. It's a wonderful thing to see a new GBS fan being born, folks.

There were no opportunities to try to get autographs after the show. By the time it was all over it was 10:30, and we were all exhausted and hungry... so we trudged on out with the rest of the teeming masses. On the way back to the car we did catch a glimpse of a van pulling out with the band inside; here's hoping they got a good night's rest after one hell of a show!

And here's hoping there will be another outdoor show later this summer or next year that I can get to... because next time, Dara and I will be down front together!

Comments

[petit-chou.livejournal.com]

*sputter*sputter*

Am I to understand that the delectable and fabulous Murray Foster formerly of Moxy Fruvous has joined Great Big Sea? LE GASP! Info is neither forthcoming on the GBS page nor the MF one.

[annathepiper]

It is indeed that Murray Foster; however, it is not certain yet whether he is officially joining GBS or just serving as their stand-in for Darrell Power until they find someone more official as the new GBS bassist. He has been, I am given to understand, the bass player at all of GBS's shows so far this year. So they must be fairly happy with him -- and he did one helluva job on "General Taylor". :D

[petit-chou.livejournal.com]

Suh-wooooon! Considering that Fruvous has been "on hiatus" for over two years now, I'm sure glad that Mur's doing something with another band I like a lot. I'm so jealous that you got to go see them in BC!

PS - Glad to hear you're working. In my boyfriend's building, no less! Which floor are you on?

[annathepiper]

Malkin Bowl is a FANTASTIC venue. I just wish I could have gotten up front! But Fred, my friend who was with us, got pictures. :D

I'm on the 2nd floor, with the Digital Media group.

[technoshaman.livejournal.com]

*snork* you *still* confuse Lukey with Jack Hinks... :)

[annathepiper]

Quite. ;)