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).
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.
