REVIEWS
Europe 2001
This is a collection of comments posted by various Runrig and Great Big Sea fans in the Online Kitchen Party Chatroom over the last few weeks......
If you have any objection to your comments being posted here, please e-mail me and I will remove them. Also, if you saw any of the shows and want to add comments, e-mail me too!
Posted by Vikki on May 29, 2001 at 17:09:15
I'd never even heard of GBS til I arrived to see Runrig. What a wonderful introduction! I really want to follow this band - they were talented musicians, really rocked the place, had real presence and a great sense of humour. Need to see again!! Soon!!!
Posted by andy deakin on May 29, 2001 at 16:51:27
hi,just thought i'd drop in and say how great GreatBigSea were last night supporting Runrig,i was so impressed i bought the Road Rage cd which i'm constantly listening to!!! Hope to see the band return to the UK with their own tour very soon.
Regards,
Posted by chris boyle on May 28, 2001 at 17:03:50
After waiting over two years to see GBS in Scotland, they certainly didn't let me down, nor indeed the rest of the crowd at the whitehall Theatre.
To be honest, i don't remember the order of the set ( when you see your favourite band live for the first time, it tends to be a bit of a haze ), but suffice to say, songs like Lukey, The Night Pat Murphy Died, and Ordinary Day did something to a crowd who before they went in may well have been saying Who ?
Judging by the number of people who were getting CDs signed by the guys in the foyer, I think they'll be well remembered. Fingers crossed for a swift return to Scotland !!
Posted by hazel nicoll on May 27, 2001 at 08:56:46
Hi Guys we went to your concert/tour in inverness with Runrig last night (26th may) We thouroughly enjoyed it and got your C.D. the new boy in Ruunrig will get it signed for us sometime during the tour. We hope to come and see you perform again perhaps in Canada, that would be KOOL!!
Posted by MacDee on May 27, 2001 at 11:54:04
Had the good fortune to see you guys with RR!!!!!!
Enjoyed your music VERY! much.
The new cd is brill!!!!!
keep up the good work,and hope to c you again sometime!
Posted by Gail Morrison on May 26, 2001 at 13:20:32
Great gig in Aberdeen last night - better than Runrig!
Posted by Matt Hall on June 04, 2001 at 13:35:50
I had never heard of GBS before i saw them play live as the support band for Runrig in Sheffield, England last week. What a great sound, i can hardly believe i never heard of these guys before?! I have been a huge fan of Runrig for several years now and have got all their albums, videos, t-shirts etc etc. I suppose i'm going to have to start again now with GBS! Just to top off the perfect evening i got the chance to meet Alan Doyle after the show who kindly signed the cover to the new copy of Roadrage i had just purchased a couple of minutes earlier.
Posted by clive woods on June 06, 2001 at 14:37:26
last night i witnessed somthing very very special! i have seen many bands over many years but GBS at symphony hall provided quality very rarley heard today. I am shamed to say i had never heard of GBS before last night,how can this be?,.
i can now look forward to many hours of getting to know them, once the cd's arrive. GBS! dont stay away to long!
long live paddy murphy.
Posted by Alex Seaton on June 06, 2001 at 12:51:10
Just to confirm previous messages re this gig GBS did the business, I had seen them at Nottingham the previous night and at B'ham they were definately better, so much so they received a standing ovation.They all came on at the end and sang Summer Walkers with Runrig it brought the house down. I can only assume they are over here through Bruce Guthro but whoever arranged it THANK YOU they are without doubt the best support Runrig has ever had. As I'm posting this Sean is giving me Paddy Murphy loud and proud on the CD.If nothing else GBS come back soon you have found a special place in many Runrig fans hearts.
Posted by Julie Stanton on June 05, 2001 at 21:50:18
I went to the gig in Birmingham as a Runrig fan. I came away as a Great Big Sea fan also.
What a wonderful big kitchen party.
Alan seemed to be enjoying every minute. There was lots of banter. He suggested that we might like to buy some of the merchandise including a blow up doll of Sean. He said he had one. Which made Sean a little worried.
Harmonies were tight, instruments played well. They were the best support band ever.
It would be good if Runrig could play over there with GBS because you would certainly like them as much as we like GBS over here.
I'm not good at remembering song titles but if you bare with me, I remember something about a general; Paddy Murphy's dead; something about no consequences; one about asking his love to wait for him while he does one more tour (that one got a big Aahhhh from the audience!); and one that he said comes with a Newfoudland birth certificate (obviously old, traditional - I remember singing something like Wahay boys).
Hope these ramblings have given you a small taste of what it was like in Brum (that's what we call Birmingham)
Debbie
I also went to the Birmingham show and it was truly excellent, though, of course, the GBS set could have been longer! All the songs they did were from the Road Rage album, I can't remember exactly but I know that they did the following and possibly a few more...
Goin' Up
Chemical Worker's Song
Lukey
Consequence Free
Ordinary Day
General Taylor
Billy Peddle
Boston and St John's
The Night that Paddy Murphy Died
When I'm Up...
...err, that's all I can remember...
Anyway, it was a fantastic gig and the merchandising stall ran out of Road Rage albums, as well as tour programmes, before Runrig had even come on stage, which has to be a result. I managed to get my Turn CD signed and am now walking round Uni with a big silly grin on my face!
I just hope that they don't leave it so long to come back to the UK next time!
www.chalmers76.freeserve.co.uk/index.html
Posted by Rachel Eaton on June 06, 2001 at 13:20:57
My mate bought me a GBS album (Up) in anticipation of the coming Runrig concert. I have to say that I liked the album, but the live event at Birmingham yesterday was even better than I expected. Never mind the Beatles, these are the fab four! I am going to buy more albums now! Certainly the best support band I have ever seen on a Runrig tour. Well done, chaps!
Posted by DangerGirl on June 06, 2001 at 20:06:45
Hello All, I figured you folks might be interested to know how Murray is getting on, filling in for Darrell.
I've seen Great Big Sea a number of times traveling in North America, but never in the UK. So I sorted things out with a mate and we hoofed (ok, yes, we took the train) it out to Bristol last week to see them with Runrig, another band I highly recommend for those of you who haven't seen/heard them yet. I think Runrig's latest album will be released in the US in June, but I'm not sure about a Canadian release date.
In response to Murray Foster:
Wow. Wow. Wow.
I have always found GBS to be brilliant in concert and thoroughly enjoyed myself. Bob, Sean, Alan and Darrell are marvelous together, but putting Murray's voice in there was really top. At one point, during a truly amazing rendition of General Taylor, I clutched my chest and caught my breath in surprise. That feeling one gets in the torso from really low notes on the bass guitar had just been reproduced, most brilliantly, by Murray with a microphone! No man has ever made my chest reverberate like that! Ta, Murray!I definitely need to hear this man in concert again.
Murray seemed to be enjoying himself. He smiles easily. He danced about a bit. He didn't speak much, but his contribution to the harmonies fleshed them out in a way I've not heard before and dare I say, I enjoyed it more. Perhaps I thrive on change.
Even though Great Big Sea played a short set as the opening act, I believe it was the best show of theirs I'd been to yet. I think the line-up change livened up the rest of the band as well as they performed with gusto even though the crowd was sitting. The audience was clapping along and smiling, but still sitting, which is unfortunatly encouraged by the nature of the theatre and reserved stalls.
If I hadn't been so knackered on Friday, I'd have seen them at the London show as well. Now that I'm recovered, I wish I had. But, I've left the UK again and won't be back until they're gone.
Does anyone know where oh where I can see Murray again?!
"borrowed" by Fran E from the Moxy Fruvous newsgroup
Subject: Short Review : GBS at Nottingham, UK - 4th June 2001
Date: 05 Jun 2001 17:22:37 GMT
From: (RChappo)
Newsgroups: alt.music.moxy-fruvous
Hi all,
just thought I'd share a few thoughts on the GBS supporting slot at the Royal Concert Hall, Nottingham, England last night 4th June. (see my profile (Chappo) on FHDC for photos ..coming soon!!!)
Ok, I admit, the only reason I went to this show was the catch Murray performing in the UK. I'm not a fan of the main act that night Runrig...and I hadn't heard any GBS music before last night...so I did wonder whether it would be worth forking out £18 for a ticket to see "the bass player in the support band"!!! But with FruJersey on I made my way to the venue in plenty of time so I didn't miss a thing.
GBS came on stage at around 8 pm starting off with an accapella song (you will have to forgive my ignorance of the song titles)...and immediately got the audience involved clapping along. I was impressed with the way they worked the crowd as not many supporting acts seem to make the effort...and the Royal Concert Hall in my experience has always had an unexcitable crowd at the best of times.
Having never seem them before I can't say what effect Murray had on GBS's sound. But he seemed to fit in very very well playing the acoustic bass and adding the bass harmony vocals...and he was really enjoying himself and jumping around with the rest of the band..and taking some slick bass solo licks towards the end of the set. Early in the set the singer (Alan?)..mentioned that they had played in Nottingham before "a long time ago on a plastic ski slope"..and that whenever someone mentions Nottingham to them now they "don't think hey that's where Robin Hood came from..but that's where the plastic ski slope is"!!!
Also during the first few songs where the audience were singing back lines to him he told us to "empty our wallets on stage and prey to the idol Murray" Altogether they put up a great show and I hastily made my way to the merch table to get a copy of "Road Rage". I left about half way through Runrig's set (cos quite frankly they were boring me to tears!!) and ran around to the stage door to see if I could get to talk to Murray, but I think that the band had left already to sample the Nottingham nightlife. But it was a great night out...good to see Murray over this side of the atlantic and good to see GBS.
Any chance of any other members of Fruvous venturing over this part of the world either alone or together???
Cheers everyone!
If you have problems with the e-mail button above, my address is teddy@ukonline.co.uk
