@alanthomasdoyle In
Moose Jaw I fell right in Love. Thanks all. 29 October 2013.
I really like this review for a couple of reasons. It was
Great Big Sea’s first time in Moose Jaw. While the article didn’t say much
about what happened at the concert it provides a great understanding about what
happens on the road with a band and their love of all things Canadian. It is
about making their concert relevant and meaningful to the people who go and
listen to the music and their humour, comments and interest obviously meant a lot to the audience.
There is a collection of 11 great pictures for fans to
enjoy at mjtimes.sk.ca (no copyright infringement intended). The Brandon review is in Saturday's newspaper and will be added to this blog post.
Great Big Sea bring the folk to Mosaic Place articles and photographs by Justin Crann. Published in the Moose Jaw Times Herald on 30 October 2013
There were very few towns left in Canada that Great Big Sea had yet to visit in their 20 years of folk-rocking, but Moose Jaw was one of them.
That
changed Tuesday night when the band came to Mosaic Place to play before a crowd
of more than 2,200 as part of their XX — or 20-year anniversary — tour.
"I've had this gig marked on my calendar for a long time," Alan Doyle, the band's frontman, told their audience between songs. "There's about three towns in Canada where we hadn't done a show before, and this is one of them."
Doyle and the rest of the band had that audience on their feet for much of their back-to-back sets, belting out songs ranging from their earliest hits — Ordinary Day, When I'm Up (I Can't Get Down), and Run Runaway — to more recent favourites like Nothing But a Song.
And while the songs drew plenty of applause, it was the banter between them that really got the audience roaring.
Fans took a particular liking to Doyle's reflections on his Moose Jaw visit prior to the show, including stops at the Uptown Cafe, Mae Wilson Theatre, and the Dambusters Mural.
But it was his suggestion of a jam at another Moose Jaw landmark that drew the heartiest response.
"We went to Crescent Park for most of the afternoon, and I saw a little stage thing there (the amphitheatre) — there's been gigs there or something, in the summertime?" Doyle asked the audience at one point during the show. "Let's go do that. Should we do that?"
“There's about three towns in Canada where we
hadn't done a show before, and this is one of them” Alan Doyle Great Big Sea
frontman.
While the band's return to Moose Jaw is a far shot away from being cemented, Great Big Sea certainly seemed to appreciate the audience — "Thank you for coming," was a recurring comment from band members between songs.
To hear the fans tell it, no thanks was needed.
While the band's return to Moose Jaw is a far shot away from being cemented, Great Big Sea certainly seemed to appreciate the audience — "Thank you for coming," was a recurring comment from band members between songs.
To hear the fans tell it, no thanks was needed.
"We've been huge fans since childhood," said Laurel Stueck, a young fan who attended the show with two of her sisters.
"Every time they come, we're going to come," added Jessie, one of her sisters.
Great Big Sea next takes the stage in Brandon, Man. on Wednesday before heading back west for two dates in Alberta to conclude the current leg of their tour.
