Alan Doyle and the So Let’s Go Tour hits St John’s…

Last Saturday night I was lucky enough to attend Alan Doyle’s concert at the Holy Heart Theatre in St. John’s, Newfoundland. There is always something special about attending an Alan Doyle or Great Big Sea concert in front of their home crowd in St. Johns, Newfoundland or where they belong to. And this concert did not disappoint.

There was a brilliant combination of songs from his Boy on Bridge (I Have Seen A Little, Where The Nightingale Sings, Testify, My Day) and the new So Let’s Go album (So Lets Go, Can’t Dance, My Kingdom, Shine On, Sins of Saturday Night, 1 2 3 4) and of course some favourite Great Big Sea songs (When I’m Up, Ordinary Day, Lukey’s Boat, Old Black Rum, Sea Of No Cares, ) all which got the crowd up and dancing on their feet. I really loved Alan Doyle’s cover of John Mellencamp’s Paper and Fire.

One of the highlights of the concerts was when Alan Doyle invited local Carol Anne Fowler up on stage to sing as Fast As I Can. Alan kindly stepped aside and let her take centre stage accompanying her beautifully with Stickman and on vocals. The performance brought the crowd to their feet. As social media was all abuzz with the performance Carol Anne did an interview with the local St. John’s radio where she stated the opportunity changed her life and was a dream come true. It was wonderful to see fans realising their dreams to sing their favourite songs with their favourite musicians in front of their family and friends and community.

The Holy Heart Theatre was the perfect venue for a home coming concert for the So Let’s Go tour, small and intimate. The concert attracted the Great Big Sea fans as well as the Alan Doyle fans. I really enjoyed this concert as was more about the music of Alan Doyle than Great Big Sea. This was also the first time I had heard the songs from the new album played live,  in particular So Let’s Go, Sins of Saturday Night and 1 2 3 4 which transferred beautifully from a recorded CD to a live concert. The band that supported Alan Doyle (Kendal Carson, Corey Tetford, Shehab Ilyas, Todd Lumley and Kris McFarlane were brilliant). Alan Doyle seems to have a wonderful time with with the band and home crowd sharing funny stories about his youth and gladly showed their appreciation.

After the show a number of fans waited patiently for Alan and were lucky enough to meet him. He generously gave his time to have a chat and sign things. Earlier that day I was lucky enough to meet Alan Doyle (as many fans do) at Pearson International Airport on a flight to St. John’s and he graciously signed my CD’s. Newfoundland has been place for many of my dreams to come true.

On the way out I was lucky enough to spot and say hello to the totally gorgeous Allan Hawco who was generous and gracious. What a thrill it was and a dream come true for me to meet him. I love my television and I truly admire anyone who can come up with an idea for a television series unique as the Republic of Doyle and turn it into a reality. This television series showcased St. John’s and Newfoundland and its people to mainland Canada and the world to see on the best days of the year.

The below article was circulated on social media about Carol Anne’s appearance on stage with Alan Doyle and an interview on VOCM radio. Fan videos were posted on YouTube and collected thousands of hits much to the excitement of Carol Anne and Alan Doyle.

“Local Fan Shares Impromptu Duet with Alan” in VOCM Local News Story Doyle February 9 2015

It was a dream come true for a local Alan Doyle fan: Carol Anne Fowler was invited to join Alan Doyle on stage on Saturday night for an impromptu duet. Doyle was home in St John’s as part of a tour for his new album “So Let’s Go.”

Fowler says “she got brave” and made a song request to Doyle via Twitter, asking if she could join him for “Fast As I Can. She didn’t think anything would come of the request, but to her surprise, Doyle invited her on stage at Holy Heart Theatre".