Alan Doyle @alanthomasdoyle 24 Hours or so till the Gig of the Summer. @GeorgeStLive in St. John's. Regatta Roulette. The best Tuesday Night on Earth. 4 August 2014
Alan Doyle @alanthomasdoyle Walking down to @GeorgeStLive now. Let's Get it On. 5 August 2014
One of the best photographs I have seen in a long while taken by Alick Tusi at the George Street Festival and distrubuted on Twitter. Many thanks for sharing Alick. (no copyright infringement intended) Alick Tusi@positively4ever
(Sorry something happened with this blog post so I am just reposting it)
As I have mentioned in previous posts one of the things I
love to do after concert performances of the artists and musicians which this
blog is about, is to read the social media pages about how people share their
stories. I love to read the thoughts of the musicians and artists whose gift it
is to entertain, the professionals whose job it is to review such concerts and of
course the fans who share their stories via words, photographs and on some
occasions bootlegged videos. This time it is the George Street festival.
The Twitter feed of the official George Street Festival
account kept fans in touch with what was happening nicely. Last night I came
across the mother load of bootlegged videos of Alan Doyle’s concert soon after
the event. They were uploaded onto YouTube and distributed on social media by a
fan Jason Janes. It has been a while since I watched any bootlegged videos of Great
Big Sea and their friends, so for this post I am going to revisit and watch
some (These videos were acknowledged by George Street sites so I will take that
as an okay approval type of thing).
I love the story these bootlegged videos told about Alan
Doyle and the closing concert of the George Street Festival. They told me Alan
Doyle was a showman and definitely where he belonged, in St. John’s Newfoundland.
What I love about these bootlegged videos
was they told a story not only of what was happening on the stage, but what was
happening off. To me the concert was more about Alan Doyle giving the
audience what they loved and wanted to hear including the songs of Great Big Sea, Old
Black Rum, Hit The Ground and Run and of course Ordinary Day. At times he let the
audience run away with the song as he so often does. Alan Doyle and the fans
were truly one in George Street on what Alan Doyle referred to on his Twitter
feed as the best Tuesday night on Earth.
Alan Doyle and the band broke out in the Great Big Sea
classic Ordinary Day, thanking God for the song. You know he meant it from his
heart. It was the song that gave Great Big Sea their break and has remained a
crowd favourite. He shared fond memories of the first time he played down the road
at Trapper Johns in 1988. He paid tribute to the television show Republic of
Doyle which Great Big Sea and Alan Doyle had been part of since it came to
light over six years ago bringing St John’s and Newfoundland much exposure on
the mainland and around the world. However, this was not Great Big Sea.
It must be a hard juggling act for any musician or band
trying to remain grateful for the music and success of the past while trying to
create a new future. Alan Doyle did this with style and grace. This was the
Alan Doyle Band. The members of the Alan Doyle Band were fabulous indeed. Kendel
Carson on fiddle and guitar, Cory Tetford on guitar, Shehab Illyas on bass, Great
Big Sea’s drummer Kris MacFarlane and musician Paul Kinsman on piano and
accordion. Together they provided a different, but excellent feel and sound to
some old Great Big Sea favourites while forging ahead with their own music. There
were the uniquely Alan Doyle Band moments and songs and the uniquely Alan Doyle
moments and songs too. For example, I absolutely love I Don’t Like To Dance with Alan Doyle and his trustly sidekick Stickman Tak plus the gorgeous and
fabulous Kendal Carson and her fiddle.
Then there was Where I Belong sung solo by Alan Doyle in
front of his home crowd to close the concert filmed by @Lyndahere. The song Where
I Belong tells the story of Newfoundland joining Canada and the migration of its
people to the mainland which I gather would have touched many of the families
in the audience. The crowd vocally let Alan Doyle know they also loved St Johns and Newfoundland and share the same feelings that when they
also leave for the mainland, for whatever reasons, they too know where they
will always belong in St John’s and Newfoundland.
What I like about these bootlegged videos was the sound
which was heaps better than @Lyndahere’s bootlegged videos she distributed soon
after because she is often too close to the stage. While @Lyndahere’s bootlegged videos may be technically better and
are free of obstacles like fans and their body parts and cameras they often do
not tell the other stories of what is happening on the stage and in the
audience. That is her choice and the story she wishes to tell. As I have said
before I don’t mind watching the occasional bootlegged video of a concert
experience by a genuine concert goer but not those of what I term a ‘professional
bootlegger’.
Bootlegged videos do not in any way replace a concert
experience but are part of the concert experience. They tell me a lot about what
the fan who is recording wants to see, hear and share which is sometimes not what
the viewer wants to see and hear. Bootlegging is clearly a personal thing. The
bootlegged videos by James Janes while not the best quality bootlegged videos I
have ever seen told me important stories about the members of the band on the
stage and the fans in the audience. They were on fire and just loving being
together with family and friends singing, drinking and well having a good time on George Street, St John’s Newfoundland.
Thanks to Jason Janes for sharing. Links are available from
his Twitter @JasonJanes account or YouTube account.
