Ranting and roaring
22 August 2007Last night was about as Canadian as it gets. If you’re from the east coast, anyway. It was a Great Big Sea gig.
SWMNBN, PC, the She-Aussie and I went to the tiny Borderline club off Charing Cross Road (yes, you huddled Canadian masses, I know what you’re thinking: the very same road mentioned in that great folk-rock singalong song “Home For a Rest” by Spirit of the West). The opening act was Halifax-based Jill Barber, a girl with a guitar, a sweet voice, and some pleasant songs. She sounded nice, but at least one upbeat song would have been nice.
Great Big Sea came on a bit early, much to the joy of the 250-person full house. What they did next was no surprise at all: they played every hit and then some. They charmed the crowd (a significant number of whom were from Canada, naturally) with their laid-back Newfie humour. They smiled and laughed and jumped about and led us all in singalongs.
The crowd loved “Run Runaway”, “Mari-Mac”, “Donkey Riding”, “Sea of No Cares” and “Helmethead”. My favourites were “Excursion Around the Bay”, “The Old Black Rum”, “The Night Pat Murphy Died”, “The River Driver” and “Scolding Wife” (heh).
They even played us a couple of brand new songs that they say they hope to record next month for their new album. I thought that these sounded pretty good, to be honest.
It was extremely hot in the bar, but most folks didn’t mind too much. It felt friendly and fun in there, and we all sang along when we could to show it. It was as Canadian as I’ve felt in a while.
Great Big Sea….always a good night out.
I must be the only person from the east coast who hates Great Big Sea. HATES them.
When I want to feel Canadian I listen to the Rheostatics. For the love of God (aka Lloyd Robertson) the CBC commissioned songs from them to compliment the paintings of The Group Of Seven. Surely that’s the physical limit of Canadian-ness in the known universe.
Yeah, snobby, arty Canadian-ness. I’m down with the populist view.
Great Big sea! Give me a break! They’re an awful,Boring band.They couldn’t write a good original song to save their lives!If it wasn’t 4 traditional Irish and Newfie songs they wouldn’t be able 2 play half a set!I’m from newfoundland but i hate talentless hacks who sponge of other peoples music!If they wrote good original music with the trad stuff that would be great’but they don’t!They’re nothing but talentless parrots fooling young people who’ve never heard these trad songs before!They’re pathetic!
They’re not awful: they’ve got a lot of acclaim, both popular and critical. They seem down-to-earth and charming.
They’re certainly not boring, as anyone who’s seen them live will attest.
I disagree about their songwriting: some of their early originals are passable. But I think that on Something Beautiful they got a couple of good ones, and the two new songs I heard last night were better still.
What’s wrong with playing in a traditional style, and playing traditional songs, sometimes their own versions of them? They certainly don’t hide the fact that they do this. There are few artists who are being truly original: almost everyone plays in an already-established style or genre.
I’d rather have young people appreciating good music whilst not knowing where it came from than not appreciating good music at all.
I’d suggest the populist Canadian band would be The Hip, not Great Big Sea. Unless you’re 55 and watch the Rita MacNeil Christmas special.
ITS PLAIN TO SEE TIM HAS NEVER SEEN A BAND LIKE THE POGUES OR SHANE MACGOWAN! THESE ARE THE POEPLE WHO MADE CELTIC MUSIC POPULAR AGAIN NOT GREAT BIG SEA!SHANE MACGOWAN MAKES GREAT BIG SEA LOOK LIKE THE MUPPET SHOW!HAHAHA!
Crazy yelling people like The Pogues, apparently.
Itdan your soo witty you sure added alot of your knowlege with that 2 cents worth!!
I Dont mean 2 b mean 2 u man but christ there’s alot of good irish and nfld bands out there! all i’m saying is explore them before u think g r b is a great band. do u think paris hilton is a great pop singer? Her vids are all over the scene! the media should not fool this generation! Great big Sea is the name of a song !! Old song from nfld! Great big sea hove in long beach! I understand y people like g b s dont get me wrong, i’m saying they’re r better bands than them! if your young and irish and celtic music is new 2 u well maybe im wasting my breath! ps i’m not old if u call 33 old! i’ve played with bob and alan in petty harbour bob is a good accordion player, alan cant sing for beans darry the bass player was the driving force behind the band before he quit because the band wasnt writing original songs! ITS THE END OF THE WORLD AS WE KNOW IT [by great big sea] Oh no they didnt write that who wrote that? I dont know i thought it was that band called [great big sea]!!
Shane: perhaps you don’t mean to be mean, but do you mean to come across like an idiot?
I am unfortunate enough not to have seen The Pogues or Shane MacGowan play live (I’ve had chances to see Shane here in London, but the man is a car wreck these days). I do own a lot of their music, though. I was never defending GBS as the best example of anything (except perhaps Canadian nostalgia). It’s inarguable that The Pogues are light-years better than GBS, and were influential to bringing Celtic music to the post-punk crowd. And I know full well who wrote “It’s the End of the World…” (R.E.M.) and “Run Runaway” (Slade). If you’re going to extrapolate crazy opinions from the fact that I like GBS, then at least make them more interesting, like I believe in the Illuminati or something.
You last post actually makes me believe you’re joking. No 1 over the age of 25 (except Prince) intentionally writes in the way that u do here. No one with any sense would make the claim that a band is rubbish just because they take their name from a song. No one honestly thinks a band is bad simply because there are better bands out there.
If you’re just trolling, please stop.
Take off your Tin Foil hat Tim Your out to lunch!
Give up, Tim. “Talk sense to a fool and he calls you foolish.”
only children need the last word! since we’re all chidren here! itdan has nothing 2 say only riddles he learned from a book!
shane macgowan play live that’s a laugh both gig I went to where he was supposed to be he never showed leaving his band to make an excuse from him. best one was the claim to be delayed at the airport, when he was already in London getting absolutely arseholed on the booze, seeing his fans crying and storm out of that venue was one of the funniest things I’ve wittnessed
great big sea was NEVER on Rita Macneil christmas special
I doubt anyone would cry if great big sea didn’t show up 4 a gig!