Alan Doyle On The BNL Silverball Tour 2015…Some great reviews in B.C. Part 2.

After I finished the last post ‘Alan Doyle on the BNL Silverball Tour 2015…some great reviews in B.C.’ I realised I had missed a couple of other reviews circulated on social media a review from the concert with the Barenaked Ladies in Vancouver and a review from the concert in Cranbrook, British Columbia. So I have created another post to include them because they contain some kind words and great photographs.

As with the previous post, I have copied only the parts relevant to Alan Doyle and The Beautiful Gypsies due to copyright. For fans interested in the Barenaked Ladies part of the concert I have shared the reviews where possible on my Google + page.

I have also included some information about Alan Doyle singing the anthems at the Edmonton Oilers v Montreal Canadians hockey game in Edmonton, Alberta from social media.

The first review on this post is from the Barenaked Ladies with Alan Doyle concert in Cranbook and titled “Manic Monday in Cranbrook”. The article was written by Barry Coulter and published on 27 October, 2015 in the Cranbook Daily Townsman. Alan Doyle and the Beautiful Gypsies made a big impression on this reviewer as this performance covered the majority of the review.

“…Monday was temporarily suspended in Cranbrook, on Oct. 26, by decree of Alan Doyle and the Beautiful Gypsies. Doyle (known for his Great Big Sea affiliations) and the Gypsies, followed by the Bare Naked Ladies, were expanding the weekend in a house-rocking double bill concert at Western Financial Place.

"Ain't no Monday here today," Doyle exclaimed to an enthusiastic crowd. "Feels like the longest weekend ever. When you got a rink full of people on a Monday night you know you're in Cranbrook."

Doyle and the Beautiful Gypsies played a pulsating rock set with an East Coast backbone. Doyle was joined by a five-piece band — Corey Tetford on guitar, Todd Lumley on keys and accordion, Kris MacFarlane on drums, Shehab Illyas on bass, and Kendal Carson playing a fabulous fiddle. And along with the songs from Doyle's two solo albums, they made sure to intersperse lots of Newfoundland spice — Great Big Sea's "When I'm Up, I Can't Get Down," the traditional "Lukey's Boat," the heartbreaking "Laying Down to Perish."

The very personable Doyle and the Gypsies set the bar high for the evening, but the Bare Naked Ladies (BNL) were up to the openers' challenge with a high octane set of their own.

The town of Cranbrook was a recurrent theme in the stage chatter. Doyle talked about jogging to the point of exhaustion, looking for the Cranbrook arches so he could take a selfie…

“Doyle came back on stage for "Lovers in a Dangerous Time," the Bruce Cockburn cover BNL made into a hit of their own. Tetford and Carson joined them for an Appalachian flavoured "For You."

They finished with a pop medley, including a cover of "Let It Go" that brought the house down. Both bands came out to participate in "If I had A Million Dollars."





Photograph by Barry Coulter (no copyright infringement intended)

The other review is about the Barenaked Ladies with Alan Doyle concert in Vancouver. “The Barenaked Ladies and Alan Doyle the greatest kitchen party in B.C.” history is by Leslie Ken Chu for the Vancouver Weekly and available on the publication’s webpage. Alan Doyle shared this review via Twitter. Although this review doesn’t contain any photographs it is always interesting to read what songs make an impact on the reviewers and the stories shared. I have shared this via my Google + page.

“…Starting with the uplifting opening chords of “I Can’t Dance Without You”, Doyle and his new band, the Beautiful Gypsies, were poised to make the night one to be remembered. Despite still having been on East Coast time, Doyle vowed, “We’ll have the greatest kitchen party in the history of British Columbia.” It could very well have been with hits that ranged from “So Let’s Go” (the title-track from his second solo album), “Sea of No Cares”, and of course, GBS’s best known songs, “When I’m Up (I Can’t Get Down)” and “Ordinary Day”. “Thank God for this song right now, I tell ya!” he said with utmost gratitude.

Between songs, Doyle told many stories including the wild sight of seeing someone jump in the ocean recreationally the first time the band played Vancouver. “I saw a fella do that this morning, actually.” From here, they went into “Laying Down To Perish”, a song inspired by a trip to Fogo Island, “where the oceans are very different.”

Barenaked Ladies frontman Ed Robertson made a surprise appearance, joining Doyle & the Beautiful Gypsies for “1, 2, 3, 4″. “This song won’t sing itself ,” Doyle said, encouraging the audience to complete the phrase “1, 2″ by jumping in with “3, 4!”

“It’s a long way to Heaven,” Doyle sang on the straight-rocking “I’ve Seen a Little”. But during the band’s hour-long set, Heaven didn’t feel so far…”

On a rest day on the tour Alan Doyle sang the anthems at the Edmonton Oilers v Montreal Canadian hockey game in Edmonton. As fans know Alan is frequently asked to sing the national anthems at various hockey and other events. He always received rave reviews from the fans. Alan was accompanied to the hockey game by some of his Beautiful Gypsies band mates Cory Tetford, Paul Kinsman and Kris MacFarlane. The Montreal Canadians unfortunately for Alan Doyle did not win this match. The story was shared via social media including Twitter and Instagram.


This photograph is from the Alanthomasdoyle Official Instagram account (No copyright infringement intended).

Alan Doyle @alanthomasdoyle Another fun time singing the anthem. Thanks @edmontonoilers for having me. 30 Oct, 2015.

From Twitter.

Alan Doyle @alanthomasdoyle Friggin’ cool. Singing the anthem at the Hab’s/Oilers game tonight in Edmonton. Yeha. 30 Oct, 2015.

Alan Doyle @alanthomasdoyle Habs, buoyed by what was reportedly an incredible anthem get three quick ones against the Oilers. The some other stuff happened, apparently. 30 Oct, 2015.

Alan Doyle On The BNL Silverball Tour 2015…Some great reviews in B.C. Part 1.

As the Barenaked Ladies Silverball Tour with Alan Doyle and The Beautiful Gypsies winds its way from Vancouver through rural British Columbia and onto Alberta journalists and photographs in the local areas been providing their readers and the fans around the world with some wonderful reviews and photographs via their newspaper’s webpages. However, these reviews and photographs differ from those of the fans, mostly in their length and detail and have been a treat indeed for those fans interested in finding out what is happening on the tour. They have kindly been collected and circulated via social media and fan sites by the Barenaked Ladies fans and I have collected some of them here and shared them on for anyone interested.

There were two interesting things about the professional reviews and photographs so far. The first one was there was a noticeable absence of professional reviews from local newspapers in Vancouver, the major city on the west coast of Canada, well not yet anyway. The other interesting thing is there are some photographs and nice words being allocated to Alan Doyle and the Beautiful Gypsies, the support band on this tour. Alan Doyle and Great Big Sea have performed in places like Prince George, Victoria and Kamloops, British Columbia over the years. Alan Doyle mentioned recently on Twitter that he had performed in Kamloops for example, over half a dozen or so times and they seem to have been taken him into their lives but also into the hearts of the local press. I have only copied the reviews for Alan Doyle and The Beautiful Gypsies because of copyright reasons. All the articles have been shared by legal means via my Google + page for those interested in reading about the Barenaked Ladies and seeing the wonderful photographs attached.

“The Barenaked Ladies + Alan Doyle & The Beautiful Gypsies @ Queen Elizabeth Theatre  October 21st 2015” posted October 26, 2015 by Andy Scheffler for the Concert Addicts webpage more than made up for the absence of any major newspaper review. The article is a considerably detailed review of the concert in Vancouver. There is a collection of some really nice photographs and a link to a bootlegged video of Alan Doyle performing with the Barenaked Ladies ‘Lovers in a Dangerous Time’ by I am happy to say a regular concert goer. I have circulated the bootleg via my Google + page.

The reviewer writes about the bootlegging of the song in one of the last paragraphs “ …Alan Doyle came back out, brandishing one of those small stringed instruments from earlier, a bouzouki. He added his playing and singing to the BNL cover of Bruce Cockburn song “Lovers In A Dangerous Time,” a song that I still totally love from them. Actually, it looks like someone recorded this at this very show – check it out here. That’s not the only one out there I’m sure, judging by the amount of camera phones being held aloft for this one. “That’s Alan Doyle, and he is holy-shit good!,” applauded Robertson as Doyle left the stage to wild cheers. “I can feel the struggle…” he continued, noticing again how the audience would stand or sit rapidly.

The article contains quite a detailed description of what happened for the interested fan who could not attend, the music played, the storytelling, the local references and the interaction between the band and the audience.  I particularly liked the personal story told by the reviewer about the Barenaked Ladies being the first grown up concert he and his friend went to on their own. The reviewer wrote over 650 words on Alan Doyle and The Beautiful Gypsies alone.

“Right on time, the lights dim, and Alan Doyle barrels out on stage like he’s at a pep rally. The audience, clearly here just as much for him as for the headliners, breaks into a hefty cheer. Doyle is followed by his bandmates, The Beautiful Gypsies, cutting into the tune “I Can’t Dance Without You” as he summoned the audience to continue to cheer and to dance (step-knowing or not). Of course, this is a seated show, so the dancing room was limited, but pockets of people around the room sprung up to shimmy along as best they could considering the space. Doyle is affable as only a Maritimer can be, interacting with the room and flinging accolades to his bandmates. He begins telling us that he’s still on east coast time, meaning he woke up last night, and then went into Stanley Park… at night… “which was a mistake. A bit sketchy. But when the sun rises over the city, I can see why you love to live here.” He went on to tell us it was his intent to make this night the biggest kitchen party in all of BC. He just makes you feel all warm and fuzzy, like if he had the means, he really would invite the entire theatre’s worth of people back to the hotel after to carry on the shindig. He will sometimes just settle down on the drum riser to let one of his super talented band members have the spotlight. The set was rife with solos from just about everyone.

Soon, Doyle got nostalgic, talking about his first time in Vancouver with Great Big Sea back in 1993. “I went down to… what is that called… English Bay?” He looks over to enlist the help of local musician Kendel Carson, whose primary role is the fiddle (as well as singing and guitar at times, and who must be the hardest-working fiddler in the country with all the projects she’s involved in) to make sure he’s got the name of the beach correct. “That’s the first time I ever saw someone go into the ocean recreationally. You’ll never see that on a Sunday morning in Petty Harbour [Newfoundland, where he’s from].” On a more serious note, they then played the touching and sad song “Laying Down To Perish,” based on a fisherman’s gaff, now in a Newfoundland museum, on which four men, aware they were doomed in poor weather on the ice in 1917 and upset less so about their impending fate than about their families thinking the men may have abandoned them, carved their names and that phrase before setting it adrift. The gaff made it home. The men, as far as I can see, did not, and were never heard from again.

As the show turns back towards a more uplifting vibe, I’m noticing there is a delightful variety of tiny string instruments coming out intermittently. Before long, a familiar Morse-code beeping sound sends a ruffle through the audience and signals the start of huge Great Big Sea single “Ordinary Day.” “Thank God for this song, I’ll tell you that right now,” admits Doyle. The audience is up now, clapping and stomping along. I can actually feel the floor of the theatre moving, which is pretty impressive, possibly terrifying. To end the set, Doyle got the audience involved in some participation with his newer single “1-2-3-4.” “When I say 1-2, you say 3-4. ONE TWO…,” and the audience responds in kind with a hearty “THREE FOUR!” Yep, that’s a kitchen party atmosphere all right. Doyle re-introduces his fantastic and lively band, then gets us all revved up by telling us we want one more thing to bring the house down… and out comes Ed Robertson from the Barenaked Ladies to introduce Doyle himself, and do the little rap section and fade out, just like you’d see in the video for the song. Talk about bringing down the house. You mean that was just the opening act?!”

In ‘Kamloops This Week’ there is a wonderful, inclusive collection of photographs taken of Alan Doyle and The Beautiful Gypsies (of all the band including Alan, Kendel, Cory, Paul, Kris and Shehab) and the Barenaked Ladies as well. The article “Photo Gallery: Barenaked Ladies and Alan Doyle live in Kamloops” published on 26 October, 2015 has been circulated via my Google + page for those interested in taking a look.

The Morning Star newspaper in Okanagan also published a review in their entertainment section “Concert Review: Barenaked Ladies treat their fans in the Okanagan.” by Heidi Forgo published on 27 October, 2015 and some nice photographs from Anita Forgo. The article has been circulated on my Google + page.

“Opening act Alan Doyle and the Beautiful Gypsies set the bar high as they got the crowd to their feet with their rocking celtic sound, including past Great Big Sea hits such as Wait and See, When I'm Up I Can't Get Down, and Sea of No Cares.

Not counting on security from past days, Doyle threw in a handful of new catchy tunes from his solo album, So Let's Go, with the raspy toe tapping sounds that come with the combination of bass and fiddle.

Especially enjoyable was the soul touching ballad Perish and Whiskey 1234, which provided a quick pick-me-up.

Newcomer Kendall Carson was born to play fiddle. She is a show stealer who is worthy of watching solo or with the band. The pick of this band for an opening act provided the perfect platform for the Barenaked Ladies to step onto."

Barenaked Ladies, The Silverball Tour And A Little Bit Of Bootlegging…

This is one of those posts that has resulted when one has held their tongue long enough…So off we go and stuff the consequences.

As the Barenaked Ladies’ Silverball Tour with Alan Doyle travels across Canada, the chief pirater and bootlegger @Lyndahere from the Great Big Sea fandom continues to record and load up bootlegs of every interaction of Alan Doyle and The Beautiful Gypsies with the Barenaked Ladies on stage. Firstly, @lyndahere rushed to the opening night in Prince George where she bootlegged Ed Robertson performing the song 1, 2, 3, 4 with Alan Doyle and then later on in the night when Alan Doyle returned to the stage to perform Lovers in a Dangerous Time. And then there were a range of other bootlegs catching every syllable uttered, every note played and every interaction between the two groups.

Firstly, I love the official video Alan Doyle did of 1,2,3,4 and the insight it gives into life as a band member on the road. I don’t think the fandom needs anymore interpretations in particular after the performance for CMT and the excellent video in which Ed Robertson also appears. Secondly her endless bootlegging doesn’t leave much surprise for those people planning to see the concert and thirdly it just floods the already numerous, mostly poor quality versions that @lyndahere and others have recorded before. There is a long way to go on the tour. Finally, it also doesn’t say much about the respect for the Barenaked Ladies who address the issues of piracy over the years.

I am reposting a post I wrote a while ago about the Barenaked Ladies association with the moves to stamp out piracy. Their interest in piracy came from Steve Page who has since left the band. However, their name and brand have become associated with leading the way on music piracy although they have said nothing in recent years that I can find. Bands and musician’s opinions about piracy and bootlegging regularly change to incorporate new technologies and attitudes to the way we listen to music. This tour @lyndahere bootlegs have been supported by one of the Barenaked Ladies major fan sites on social media via Twitter. Although given a different cover it doesn’t make the story inside any more tolerable or respectable.

What does stay the same is that fans like @lyndahere continue to have no respect for the musicians and artists rights to have control of their own music and how it is distributed and watched. Although many of the points made in the post have been made in previous posts since then I think their worth repeating. For example, if the justification for bootlegging is used to sell the music and concert experience the Barenaked Ladies may well think about lowering the price of their very expensive concert tickets to make them more accessible to the average Canadian music enthusiast to get up and close with one of their music traditions. Tickets in the front rows of most venues cost hundreds of dollars.   

@lyndahere and musicians and artists opinions of bootlegging published 20 January 2013.

It’s a new year and @lyndahere is off stalking and bootlegging Alan Doyle of Great Big Sea on some of his solo gigs in America and Canada in New Hampshire, LA, New York and Vancouver and British Columbia Canada. She did quite well in bootlegging the Russell Crowe New York Indoor Garden Party concerts at Joe’s Pub on 8 December 2012 on all accounts after receiving approximately 200000 hits for all the live recorded videos put up Youtube. Approximately $1000 tax free if she is collecting revenue from Youtube. Not bad for four hours work when the average American wage per hour is low.

On her Twitter page @lyndahere wrote these tweets along with all the rest

@lyndahere @alanthomasdoyle Yes, you were awesome, that is. As always. Tonight White River Jct. will be Awesome Trifecta 12 January 2013

@lyndahere I love it when people get excited about your solo music. That’s almost as sweet as is gets. NYC show will be awesome, Alan @alanthomasdoyle 11 January 2013

@lyndahere 5.30 am airport shuttle = time to get a bit of sleep tonight. Great night tonight with the Alan Doyle Band. More shows alandoyle.ca/tour 11 January 2013

@lyndahere A gorgeous Dream of Home Alan Doyle Tupelo Music Hall, Londonderry NH on Youtube @alanthomasdoyle 11 January 2013

@lyndahere Gotta love a man who knows right where he belongs: Alan Doyle, Tupelo Music Hall, Londonderry on Youtube @alanthomasdoyle 11 January 2013

@lyndahere I love St. John’s but from what I am hearing and reading about current weather conditions, I don’t think I mind not loving her until Tuesday 11 January 2013

So what do some musicians and artists think about the bootlegging of their live shows? After  a brief search of the Internet the opinions of musicians and artists recording their concerts are pretty diverse. Some don’t like it and make their opinions very clear. Others issue statements and develop policies. Others approve for a variety of reasons with some conditions on recording like for personal use only and no trading. Some bootleg their own concerts and release them to fans. But regardless of what the musicians or artists want most people like @lyndahere who buy tickets to concerts will always do exactly what they want with little respect for what the musicians and groups want and still call themselves fans.

In 2000, over 70 musicians and artists formed a coalition in the fight against all kinds of piracy. They included Canadians Bryan Adams, Barenaked Ladies and Alanis Morissette and Bon Jovi, Christina Aguilera, Faith Hill, Garth Brooks and Metallica. “AAP’s goal is to create public awareness, appreciation and understanding of the value of music and to advocate artists’ choice in determining how their music is presented, distributed and marketed online”. The initiative was also supported by various companies. The fight continues as British musicians and artists lead by Sir Elton John, Pete Townshend and Robert Plant wrote a letter to the British Prime Minister David Cameron to influence the government to implement the antipiracy focused Digital Economy Act 2010 that will assist in the fight against music piracy.

Action seems to be taken at venues as well as artists and musicians at various concerts. They are described in a bootlegger’s blog called “Starknakedtruth: Confessions of a Rock Concert Bootlegger”. Most alleged self-confessed bootleggers like so many started out with good intentions and to trade only but then get into selling. This bootlegger writes about the conflicts between his real job and his bootlegging business, developing tricks of the trade, running a website and customers, numerous conflicts with security and police, fights with other fans who reported him to the RIAA and band’s management, and problems of distribution through sites like EBay blocking the sale of some bootlegs. He talks about fans willing to take action or perhaps other bootleggers ratting out the opposition. “Janis’s lawyers sent me a letter to ‘cease and desist’ in any distributions of copies of this show, after a fan on her message board rats me out to her lawyers. I would receive about half dozen of such legal letters to comply to from various bands like Cheap Trick, Journey ect in their future”. Despite all the objections from the musicians and artists themselves, their security, fans and actions by EBay this person continued to bootleg and sell them.

In 2004 a Finnish man was prosecuted for spreading unauthorised recordings of Alanis Morissette concerts on the Internet. The man was found to have swapped over 1900 copies of unauthorised concerts recordings between 1999 and 2003 with other bootleggers through his website. He had not made illegal recordings himself. He was ordered to pay $21 756 in compensation to Morissette and others for copyright infringement. Alanis Morissette was of course at the for front of the Artists Against Piracy campaign established in 2000 as were many of the musicians and artists bootlegged by the author of Starknakedtruth blog.

The Dave Matthews Band is one band whose views on tapping live shows is well documented and is on their official site as they allow it at almost all of their performances. Their taping policy on their official webpage states “ We feel that each show is unique and want to offer our fans the opportunity to recreate the live experienced through the audio reproduction of our shows. At all taping authorised performances tapers can tape from any ticketed seating located in the venue. Also for many of these performances tapers are able are to purchase specially designated taper section, normally located immediately behind the soundboard…Taping is limited to audio-only, using microphones…We sincerely appreciate all of our fans so we ask you that you please be considerate of those around you by not obstructing anyone else’s of the performances…All recordings must be used for personal used or trading only…”.

The Dave Matthews Band unlike others recognises bootlegging is a major problem in the music industry. They recognised the contribution fans can make in the fight against bootlegged material “Those of you who have passed along information about commercialised recordings have been very instrumental in our fight against bootleggers. An equality important violation of the integrity of the music is the unauthorised commercial exploitation of the band now occurring on television and radio…And don’t forget the battle of the bootleggers is an ongoing one”. But despite their best intention, generosity and attempts to cooperate with their fans by allowing taping and trading there will always be those out to exploit. A search of the Dave Matthews Band on Youtube shows this in the number of hits of illegally copied pirated videos and bootlegged material. Despite the policy being displayed on their home webpage some fans remain ignorant and choose to ignore it. 

To me the taping policy of Great Big Sea has been made perfectly clear via Twitter. That is they don’t mind people taping their shows for personal use but they don’t like their entire concerts being taped and posted on Youtube. This is evident in the fact the three primary members of Great Big Sea (Alan Doyle, Bob Hallett and Sean McCann) have never officially acknowledged or retweeted any of @lyndahere’s hundreds of videos she has sent them via Twitter in the last year or so. Alan Doyle has on occasions tweeted @lyndahere welcoming her presence at concerts but never acknowledged any of her videos. Links and retweets of her videos have on a very few rare occasions been provided by  Russell Crowe, Scott Grimes and other friends of Alan Doyle such as Great Big Sea member Murray Foster and Alan Doyle Band member Kendel Carson. Nearly all Great Big Sea fans respect their unspoken taping policy and are more interested in creating memories for the moment listening and enjoying the music than creating memories for someone else to visit sometime in the future. But I could be wrong.

Bootleggers and those that view and make live recordings at concerts continually justify their activities with a range of arguments. Bootlegging is a hobby of music enthusiasts and they should be allowed to do free from legal threat. There is a thought that a fan base will increase if they are allowed to video and trade in bootlegged material following certain guidelines or rules and create a community of fans. However, it is clear in the case of Great Big Sea and Alan Doyle that the primary bootlegger @lyndahere is not interested in following other guidelines laid down for taping by the venues or tickets holders or those of the musicians and artists.

Bootleggers seemed more concerned about the fans their bootlegged videos on Youtube they may attract than the people who have already purchased tickets and are there at the concert. In the official and bootlegged videos of the Russell Crowe’s Indoor Garden Party in New York bootleggers have their cameras on in the front row and they are raising their cameras above the crowd obstructing someone’s views and shining a light in their face. There is clear evidence they piss off some performers such as Neil Young. “With the Internet there is no more privacy and not even the chance to express yourself in front of your audience in the intimacy of a concert that lets songs evolve. You cann’t do this because they immediately get it circulated”.

Bootleggers like @lyndahere believe live recordings help bring in new fans who will in turn go to concerts and buy CDs. While illegal live recordings are used as modes of word-of-mouth advertising to increase enthusiasm amongst fans the way social media can and create a community. Bootlegged recordings are also often the first material many fans see and as a consequence may be turned off because of the poor quality. Bootlegging can also work in reverse and piss people off who don’t agree with piracy, support the coalition of musicians and artists who don’t support piracy. 

Bootlegged recordings made by relatively unknown bands can be used as a cheap form of publicity without paying for the large overheads like labour to produce it, the license to record or the distribution. Where once there was a kind of code amongst bootleggers Youtube has changed that as money is now involved. In a country like America on the brink of an economic crisis, money for entertainment of any kind is limited. If a show is bootlegged in the way @lyndahere bootlegs more and more people are going to watch it on Youtube. Rather than spend $30 on a ticket to show they can pay for Internet usage for a whole month. They are very unlikely to buy a CD if they can access it for free.  

References

“Artists speak out against piracy” www.musicunited.org viewed 10 January 2013

“Artists Against Piracy” Launches Nation Media Campaign www.interentnews.com/ec-news/articles viewed on 10 January 2013

“Finn ordered to pay Alanis Morissette for Internet bootleg spreading” www.murmurs.com viewed 10 January 2013

Rolling Stone 2012 “Elton John, Pete Townshend and Robert Plant Sign Anti-Piracy Letter to British Prime Minister” 25 July 2012 www.rollingstone.com/music/news viewed 10 January 2013

“Starknakedtruth; Confessions of A Rock Concert Bootlegger” 9 October 2012 www.startnakedtruth.blogspot.com viewed 10 January 2013

A Tribute To Stickman Tak...Alan Doyle's guitar.

The latest photograph by Alan Doyle on his official Twitter account of his guitar and trusty sidekick Stickman Tak inspired this post. The photograph (copied below) was uploaded as Alan began touring with the Barenaked Ladies on their Silverball tour across Canada.

Alan has posted many photographs of his guitars on his official Twitter and Instagram accounts over the past couple of years. This collection has come from the Great Big Sea XX tour, the Australian Indoor Garden Party concerts in 2014 and a charity event. Although it was difficult to pick photographs to be included in this essay my favourite one is of Stickman Tak lying in his case in the snow in Bannerman Park, St John's waiting to perform with a local school choir for a charity concert in 2014.

The fans regularly ask Alan questions about his guitars and in particular Stickman Tak on his official account on Twitter. I have included a couple of the them here and Alan's answers in his own words which provide a bit of a background about their special relationship. If only Stickman Tak could talk, the stories he could tell. The fans have certainly taken this musical instrument into their hearts.

You have to pick only one instrument (besides your voice) to play for the night...what is it and why?? 5 May 2015

Alan Doyle@alanthomasdoyle my stickman tak...we've been through a lot together 5 May 2015

How old is the Stickman guitar? I think she's staring to look her age. lol

Alan Doyle @alanthomasdoyle Bought it at Steves music on GBS's first trip to Toronto in 1993. I figure Stickman has played in over 3000 shows. 11 April 2013

(No copyright infringment intended)





Alan Doyle @alanthomasdoyle Another tour, old fella. Off we go. 19 Oct 2015




Alan Doyle @alanthomasdoyle Stickman in the Snow. 8 Feb 2014




Alan Doyle @alanthomasdoyle Aus IGP Taks ready to rock. 8 Jan 2014

Alan Doyle @alanthomasdoyle Stickman, TC Bouz and King Les Paul ready for soundcheck in Regina. 16 March 2013

Alan Doyle @alanthomasdoyle Stickman Tak rests before taking on Calgary one more time. Yeha. 15 March 2013

Alan Doyle And The BNL Silverball Tour 2015...The beginning.

It has been a couple of days since the start of the Barenaked Ladies with Alan Doyle Silverball Tour in Prince George, British Columbia on the 19 0ctober and I have been waiting patiently for the first newspaper review of the concert. And today the first review finally arrived via Mike Devlin of the Times Colonist about the concert in Victoria.

In the meantime I have read some great reviews of the Barenaked Ladies tour in the United Kingdom and United States just to find out how their touring was going. I was interested to read they had a different opening act, Colin Hay formerly of the Australian band Men At Work. I have fond memories of Men At Work and their music in Australia. Wikpedia tells me “in 1983 they were the first Australian artists to have a simultaneous No. 1 album and No. 1 single in the United States on Billboard with Business as Usual and Down Under. In 1983 they won Best New Artists at the Grammy Awards”. I would describe Down Under as one of a couple of unofficial national anthems in Australia. Colin Hay has since gone his own way as a solo artist and received some nice reviews of his performance as the Barenaked Ladies opening act. Until today I didn’t realise how successful Men At Work were outside of Australia.

In 2012, I went to see Alan Doyle and Great Big Sea during their brief tour of Melbourne, Sydney and Byron Bay in Australia. I remember Alan Doyle sang Down Under at their show at The Basement in Sydney. Although the audience was mostly ex pat Canadians I was really touched they sang that song which Australians hold with such great affection. Today Alan Doyle and his band the Beautiful Gypsies were taking over from Colin Hay for the Canadian leg of this Barenaked Ladies tour.

Mike Devlin in his review published extremely promptly in the Times Colonist offers an interesting perspective on the Barenaked Ladies. He speaks highly of Alan Doyle and of his band the Beautiful Gypsies as “ a dangerously good opening act”. In preparation for waiting for the review I had also read the social media feeds so I was aware Ed Robertson joined the band on stage for its final song 1, 2, 3, 4 and Alan had returned with the Barenaked Ladies to perform Lovers in a Dangerous Time one of my favourite Barenaked Ladies songs. But glad the fans have loved it.

"....The band was paired with Great Big Sea frontman Alan Doyle and his band, the Beautiful Gypsies, a dangerously good opening act.

The fans rose up big-time when he played Great Big Sea hits Ordinary Day and When I’m Up (I Can’t Get Down), delivered with more of a country influence than usual, although he still brought a Newfoundland appeal — his story about fishermen meeting their deaths in Laying Down To Perish paid tribute to his Atlantic roots.

Credit some of that to electric guitarist Cory Tetford and fiddler Kendel Carson. Carson, who was raised in Victoria, was a dynamo on acoustic guitar and fiddle, and supplied some key backup vocals on another Great Big Sea smash, Sea of No Cares. Tetford was explosive on a pair of 2012 rockers from Doyle’s solo career, I’ve Seen a Little (But It Ain’t Enough) and Testify.

Robertson joined the band for its final song, 1,2,3,4, and Doyle returned the favour during the Ladies’ set, duetting with Robertson on the Bruce Cockburn cover Lovers in a Dangerous Time.".

I have circulated the review by Mike Devlin titled “Quips outshine music, but fans happy as Barenaked Ladies play Victoria” at Times Colonists October 22, 2015 via my Google + page.

A gorgeous selfie from the official Twitter account of Alanthomasdoyle working on Cory Tetford's new album on a day off the tour (No copyright infringement intended). 

Alan Doyle@alanthomasdoyle Working on @corytetford album. Yeha. 20 October 2015.

Allan Hawco And Mark Critch Phone A Fan…

Last night on Twitter Mark Critch (A Newfoundland/Canadian comedian and Ned in Republic of Doyle) asked a fan (a mature age woman confined to wheelchair because she has Multiple Sclerosis) for her phone number so he and Allan Hawco could call her. And they did! Mark Critch then thanked the fan for all the nice tweets he had received from her.

What a thrill it must have been to have two of your favourite celebrities in world phone you. Their phone call was a dream come true for the fan who shared her delight via Twitter. She was unable to travel to concerts and events due to her illness.

What a really nice thing for Mark Critch and Allan Hawco to do for a fan.

From official Twitter accounts of Mark Critch and Allan Hawco (the name of the fan has not been included to protect their privacy).

Mark Critch @markcritch I’m with Allan Hawco – what’s your number? We will call you – dm me 7 Oct 2015

Allan Hawco @allanhawco So lovely to talk to you (fan’s name)! 7 Oct 2015

Fan’s name @allanhawco OMG!!! I’m all chocked up! Loved chatting with you ! <3 <3 <3 and Mark 7 Oct 2015

Mark Critch @markcritch @allanhawco Cheers! After reading your kind tweets I thought it was the least I could do to call. Thank you ! 7 Oct 2015

Fan’s name @markcritch @allanhawco you are too sweet Mark thank you for being so kind to me :) 7 Oct 2015

(No copyright infringement intended)





The National@CBCThe National Oct 5

@markcritch @alanthomasdoyle @allanhawco talk politics w/ @petermansbridge in Newfoundland

Concert Bootlegging Revisited…The good, the bad and the down right dreadful.

It is interesting researching bootlegging practices by different nationalities around the world and within the fandoms I am interested in.  When Canadians go to concerts and in particular to large festivals in Canada there are some photographs but very few bootlegs. They are more interested in the music and their present company than in hits on YouTube and strangers.

Some Americans just seem to have the need to bootleg and are more interested in the hits they will get on YouTube and the comments they will receive and sharing on Facebook and Twitter with strangers than experiencing the music at concert with their partners and friends. It must be uncomfortable to say the least to sit and watch a concert through the lense of a camera. The majority of bootlegs in these fandoms to the best of my knowledge come from Americans and occasionally Canadians. 

Recently Alan Doyle retweeted someone who had shared one of Lyndahere’s bootlegged videos of Cory Tetford’s performance of Georgia at a concert on this year’s American Fall tour. To me Alan Doyle’s bootlegging policy is pretty clear although not officially stated. He doesn’t mind the odd bootlegged performance of another artist and musician’s performances and of songs that are not his own and in which he doesn’t have the copyright ownership. But Alan never retweets or shares his own music and in particular that copyrighted to others. He has retweeted I Am A Sailor but this song to the best of my knowledge was given as a complementary song to the digital copy of the So Let’s Go album.

Lyndahere’s description informs us Alan Doyle has stood aside to let his fellow Beautiful Gypsies band mate Cory Tetford perform his interpretation of the song Georgia. She writes on the description of the bootleg loaded up on to her YouTube site Between the Rock and dated 24 September, 2015  “Alan steps out of the spotlight (and watches from the audience) as Cory accompanied by Kendel, amazes everyone at The Egg in Albany”. For someone who has attended recent concerts at the Fat Cat in St. John’s, Cory’s shows in Halifax and the five concerts on the American Fall tour she has an awfully short memory. Alan Doyle had gate crashed three of Cory Tetford’s shows, one in St. John’s and two in Halifax. So I guess it is a generosity on both sides. I definitely think Cory’s loyalty and assistance in making albums and performing on stage has earned him some solo time in Alan Doyle’s concerts. And the fans definitely appreciate his talents.  

I have recently been exploring the musical talents of Cory Tetford on YouTube after coming across a wonderful bootleg of Proud Mary bootlegged at one of his favourite haunts in Halifax in 2011. Again this bootleg fits all the criteria I have of an excellent bootleg. Well recorded, with great sound and only one or two songs of the whole show.  There are quite a few bootlegs and pirated copies already of Cory Tetford singing Georgia on YouTube including more than a couple of copies by Lyndahere.

Lyndahere had just recently bootlegged Georgia as part of a collection of songs at the Fat Cat in St. John’s a couple of weeks earlier. Although I didn’t watch the bootleg of Cory’s performance on Alan Doyle’s American Fall tour I did watch the copy at the Fat Cat in St. John’s. And to be honest it wasn’t great. The recording sound level was way too high and resulted in static all the way through. Lyndahere who bootlegs concerts for a career and has for over 10 years, I had to wonder why she hasn’t sorted this common problem she has out. This doesn’t take away from the brilliance of Cory’s guitar playing, singing and performance.

I question her reason for her bootlegging the performance and circulating them. Two other performances circulated by Lyndahere on the Alan Doyle’s American Fall tour have been bootlegged many times before by herself including Fast As I Can (someone’s request) and Where I Belong. Lyndahere has bootlegged Where I Belong over 20 times on her YouTube site Between the Rock at various concerts over the past couple of years. And while all concerts are special experiences and unique for fans that attend I really don’t see any point in bootlegging the same songs over and over from the same spot in prime notice me position in the front row.

Recently on the Online Kitchen Party Facebook page for the Great Big Sea community a whole concert was bootlegged and distributed by a regular Great Big Sea and Alan Doyle bootlegger Squinty4e. I really don’t like bootleggers who record whole concerts without much thought or consideration for the consequences of their actions. Bootlegging concerts in their whole derail future projects and quality projects in which the creators make a profit. The bootlegger Squinty4e had his five minutes of fame when Russell Crowe shared one his bootlegs of Scenes From An Italian Restaurant with Alan Doyle and Scott Grimes at a concert in New York City. Although Squinty4e has over 4000 subscribers on their YouTube account and is a regular concert goer and bootlegger this was not reflected in the number of views of his bootlegs. It didn’t take long to find out why.

I was all excited when I thought I was going to watch a whole concert but all the anticipation soon evaporated. The concert bootlegged was in Hartford on the 25 September 2015. I began by watching the second song of the night I Can’t Dance Without You. For the first couple of minutes or so I was looking at the back of someone’s head with an out of focused, overexposed Alan Doyle in distance until he stepped out from behind the microphone. The bootlegger alternated between close ups of Alan and his band mate Kendel Carson. I quickly moved onto the next song When I am Up from Alan Doyle’s Great Big Sea days. Pretty much more of the same as the camera moved from a close up of Alan Doyle to a close up of Kendel Carson. It was difficult to see the whole band on stage due to the bootlegger sitting down. Even when people got up to dance the bootlegger remained seated and I saw a lot of the back of people’s heads and the guy in front singing along.

I decided to give Squinty4e and his whole concert another try a couple of days later for this blog post. As the bootlegs were numbered I headed towards the end of the concert hoping the bootlegger would find his feet. I watched Alan Doyle perform Fast I Can. The bootlegger had zoomed in Alan Doyle and his guitar Stickman. Although Alan is delightful and funny and I enjoyed the story telling and humour brought to the song and he looked beautiful I really didn’t like the quality of the bootlegged video. Then I watched Shine On. I love the interpretation of the song which I had seen before of Alan starting the song and the rest of the band coming back on stage. But again the audience really did get in the way. The sound of the recording was not too good either. Due to the position of where the bootlegger was sitting it was hard for him to be inclusive of others in the band caught brilliantly by other bootleggers. The bootlegger was all over the place zooming in on people through the audience.  Fortunately there are already so many professionally made videos and good bootlegs I didn’t need to watch any more. 

As the readers of my blog know I am not particularly fond of bootlegged videos. However, every now and again I will see something created by a fan that is totally awesome. Larry Steves I am going to say is a star when it comes to bootlegging Alan Doyle and the Beautiful Gypsies. I love some of his bootlegs which I shared via Google +. There are about 20 bootlegs all recorded at the beginning of the So Let’s Go tour. The bootlegs fit all the criteria I have of what makes a great bootlegger. The whole concert was not recorded and loaded up onto Youtube and there was a clear indication the bootlegger had favourites including the songs Stay and Laying Down to Perish which were recorded several times. There were also a couple of Great Big Sea songs for example Sea of No Cares. The bootlegger was sitting further back and was inclusive all the members of the band. The sound quality was okay too.  They thought about what songs they would put up and only the best.

As much as I like watching good bootlegging like Larry Steve nothing beats a professionally made video, the quality of the sound and the stories they tell. By the hits on YouTube for professionally made videos compared with bootlegs concert goers do too. 

Correction...In March/April 2014 Alan Doyle retweeted on Twitter two of Lyndahere's bootlegs of new music, the songs Stay and Laying Down to Perish. It was almost a year before they appeared on the So Let's Go album and to the best of my knowledge he did have copyright. His book Where I Belong was released later in the year.