This is my 300th post and to me it is a significant milestone in my blog writing. While researching the Internet for other posts, I found some pictures of two beautiful posters advertising Great Big Sea’s tour to Australia.
The first one was a Great Big Sea poster advertising their events in Sydney and Melbourne. The other poster is a Byron Bay Blues Festival poster from 2012 with their name included in the line-up. Both posters are beautiful pieces of artwork. These posters brought a whole bunch of wonderful memories for me about Great Big Sea’s time in Australia.
Four and half years ago at the end of 2011, Great Big Sea announced they were coming to Australia to do concerts on the east coast of Australia in Melbourne, Sydney and Byron Bay in 2012. I couldn’t believe it. While I love seeing Great Big Sea live in a concert with thousands of other fans, I was lucky to see the band live in several small audience friendly venues where I met so many wonderful people who also loved their music. I was also extremely lucky to see and meet some of the boys in the airport in Sydney. It was a great thrill indeed and inspired me to go on other adventures to Canada and Newfoundland.
Not much is written and recorded about Great Big Sea in Australia. There are a couple of interviews with the band before their trip, a couple of bootlegs recorded in Sydney and Byron Bay and a couple of pictures on the Internet. Most material I gather was recorded for private consumption as was mine. Or perhaps people were just having a great time in the present with the music.
Alan Doyle shared some his experiences in Australia and the concerts via his social media pages including Twitter and FTR posts on the Great Big Sea webpage.
I found his comments interesting, in particular those experiences with Australian customs and the how the concerts almost didn’t happen in Melbourne. Despite all the drama happening back stage, the show still went on and from an audience perspective you couldn’t tell as they were so professional. Great Big Sea from when they walked on stage had the audience rocking whether they were ex pat Canadians or Australians. To me I couldn’t get over how close I was able to get. I had travelled across Australia to see them and they didn’t disappoint.
I have copied a few paragraphs from Alan Doyle FTR blog pages here for their Australian tour here. They are available in full on the Great Big Sea webpage.
“…GBS has now played on three continents. Forgive for patting myself and the lads on the back here, but that’s friggin cool. The gig at the Corner Hotel in Melbourne was a triumph in many ways. The band played and sang well (with the exception of me completely forgetting the words to the last verse of Scolding Wife) and the crowd seemed to have a great night out. It was a grand way to start what I hope a future filled with many concerts in Australia.
And to think it was very near to being a complete disaster and may not have even happened at all. The trouble lay in the fact that while we were in Melbourne ready to Rock, our gear was being held under the lock and key Australian Immigration. I’ll try to explain…
And in the end I should thank them as, just in the nik of time as the opening act was about to finish, an exhausted promoter rep burst though the back door saying, they came back in to clear the stuff. The truck will be here in ten minutes!
Our Brit and Andy and Johnny got our stuff on stage in record time and GBS hit the stage at 9:36 for a slated 9:30 show. Yes B’y.
The rest is history. Our first gig in Australia was awesome for many reasons, but in the end mostly because it was in Australia. Finally.” Alan Doyle on FTR post “Tour Diary, April 4, 2012 Tour Diary — April 4, 2012 — Virgin AUS Flight DJ 845 — Melbourne – Sydney
“...I am so grateful for this past week or so in Australia. The gigs and fans were an amazing thrill. To go so far away from home and to have so many singing our songs back to us remains one of the most gratifying aspects of this job. Thank you all.” Alan Doyle on FTR post Tour Diary - April 10 2012 AC Flight 1196 Almost Home Wednesday, April 11, 2012.
Prior to the concerts Great Big Sea did an interview with a local Melbourne music online magazine in which Alan Doyle talks about coming to Australia, what concert goers can expect, touring in Canada, their music, their instruments, the 20th anniversary tour, their side projects and of course their fans. I particularly like this comment about their fans back home.
“…Your fans are legion and stalwart. What is the craziest length a fan has ever gone?
A little while ago, we met a couple who had basically tattooed 4/5th of their arms and torsos with various Great Big Sea images. The mermaid from the front cover [of The Hard and the Easy], lyrics down their arm, an imagined portrait of Merri Mac [from the song of the same name]. I thought that was easily one of the most extreme things I’ve seen. It’s pretty cool that people like it that much…” Great Big Sea - The Corner Hotel - Music - Time Out Melbourne published in April 2012.
I have copied some photographs of the posters here. I have included a photograph from Steve Ford of the Byron Bay Blues Festival in 2012. The picture is from the Great Big Sea Wikipedia entry. No copyright infringement intended. I have also circulated two bootleg videos I found and enjoyed.
Photographs by Steve Ford from Wikipedia (no copyright infringement intended)
