Saskatoon fans give Great Big Sea a great big response

I was researching some university archives for information about Great Big Sea and found this review about fan’s reactions to one of their concerts in Saskatoon in 2006. Nearly ten years and while the Great Big Sea hiatus is on nothing much has changed much for the fans.

Fans of all ages are up on their feet, screaming and clapping whether it is Alan Doyle or Sean McCann playing their own music or music from the Great Big Sea catalogue.

Saskatoon fans give Great Big Sea a great big response by the Star Pheonix (Saskatoon) February 6, 2006.

A Great Big Sea of fans were on their feet, screaming and clapping, even before the band from Newfoundland hit the stage Sunday night at TCU Place.

You know what they say. When those GBS fans are up, they can't get down.

Why would they, when confronted with a party atmosphere and some of the most rollicking traditional tunes ever to leave Newfoundland? Where is my pint of Guinness?

Now, you might expect such wild audience behaviour from rock 'n' rollers, but these fans were standing behind songs from GBS's new CD, The Hard and the Easy, a mixture of songs about sailing, pirates, horses and strange looking mermaids.

Alan Doyle, Sean McCann and Bob Hallett -- the core of GBS -- came out stomping and singing, with Doyle's gorgeous resonant baritone leading the way. Murray Foster on bass and Kris MacFarlane on percussion were right behind them.

They stormed acoustically through three songs before Doyle slowed the tempo to inform the crowd that Sunday was a very special night: the group had Monday off. It took a while to get the message out, because he could only get a few words in between more screams and applause.

McCann then launched into the lovely Sweet Forget Me Not, a song he said his grandfather sang to his grandmother before they were married. The pennywhistle played by Hallett could bring tears to your eyes.

Hallett had a veritable magic trunk of instruments beside him: accordions, whistles, fiddles, you name it.

Then it was the time of the horse. Doyle said he's sure the latest CD sets a record for having two songs about horses falling through the ice, which is funny. The one he sang, Tickle Cove Pond, wasn't entirely. Despite its uptempo style, it could make grown men cry, and apparently has.

Other rousing tunes included I'm A Rover; The Mermaid, a hilarious tune about an upside down, well, mermaid; and great seafaring songs A Boat like Gideon Brown and Old Polina.

The most beautiful song of the evening was The River Driver's Lament, sung a capella with just the bodhran drum keeping time. Lovely four-part harmonies make this heart-rending song even more intense; if this one doesn't get you, nothing will.

After a break, GBS returned electric, and howled through When I Am King, When I'm Up -- to even bigger cheers from the crowd -- and The Night Paddy Murphy Died.

The great thing about a Great Big Sea concert is that the band seems to be having as great a time as the audience. Relaxed on stage, with gently funny bantering between songs, they really do make you feel as if you're at a kitchen party (apart from just a touch too much bass).

Deadline came far too early for all of me Sunday night, except my ear drums. I hope GBS had a great, big party Sunday night in Saskatoon. I hope they had a pint for me.