In this interview prior to the concert at Meaford Hall called "Sean McCann Raidates The Joy of a Man Awakened" published in meafordlivemusic.com on the 27 April, 2017, Sean discusses the usual, for example leaving Great Big Sea, his journey into sobriety, and getting back to the basics of the music business and making music. For a musician who has allegedly seen the ‘light and truth about his time in the popular Canadian band Great Big Sea’ I am a little confused about his comments from a fan perspective. In this article the writer quotes him as saying “it was pretty much impossible for the other band members Bob Hallett and Alan Doyle to carry on without him. But it was something he had to do.” Recently in New York four members of Great Big Sea had a mini reunion at one of Alan Doyle and The Beautiful Gypsies' concerts and from all accounts was a success. It is well documented Sean has used legal action and his continued role as shareholder in Great Big Sea to stop any further activity by the other two founding members.
Along the way Sean has often taken a dig at how fans were listening to music and attending concerts. Sean states “He began to see the big arena shows as something of a cheat for the audience… He hates to see concerts where people are not even listening, too busy taking selfies on their phones. And he considers big arena shows to be antithetical to good quality music, “I will never play a hockey rink again,” he says “It undervalues the audience.” Instead he seeks out smaller venues, festivals and concert halls where the audience is there to listen and there is the real opportunity to share something meaningful with the audience. As his own manager and booking agent, it's an element of quality control that is in his own hands and he makes the most of it.” There are not too many interviews I have read now or in the past where Sean doesn’t take a dig at someone including his former band mates or fans.
If fans thought huge arena shows and festivals were cheating them in any way they would not pay for them. How fans choose to spend their time during a festival or concert should be entirely up them, as long as they don’t infringe on the rights and enjoyment of the musicians and artists and other fans. From my experience of researching music concerts on social media it is the fans that attend large events that share less on social media than those who attend smaller concerts because they are often too far away from the stage to take good photographs or videos. Most of the coverage of large festivals and concerts are by professional online music sites.
Sean’s comments are interesting about large festivals and concerts who pay large fees for music acts and where fans fork out large ticket fees often over several days (plus accommodation and travelling expenses). It was those festivals and concerts (and there were plenty during his time with Great Big Sea) that set him and his family up for life and now give him something to fall back after he has decided to take a different road career wise. Now Sean is telling fans they allegedly were cheated. It is also the phones, videos and pictures taken by fans at smaller venues that Sean has constantly turned to when he needs a little bit of publicity and or a video or two to promote his new music and shows. How is using a phone at a small venue different to a large venue?
Recently Sean circulated this review from his official Sean McCann Sings Twitter site about the Meaford Hall concert. "Being Alive With Sean McCann" by Bill Monahan published at
www.meafordlivemusic.com on 8 May, 2017. I found the review really interesting for many reasons but particularly with the comments that he seems to be coming to terms playing Great Big Sea music. “One of his most moving stories was about his participation at Shaun Majumder's annual concert called The Gathering, held in the town of Burlington, Newfoundland. It was just after he had broken up the band and he wasn't feeling too good about the thought of singing any Great Big Sea songs. But he encountered backstage a woman who had been following the band for years and she changed his mind, at the same time changing his life. I'll leave it to him to tell you the rest of the story (which he does so well) when you see him in concert (which you definitely should do) but this “angel” made him realize that “anger is the enemy”, a lesson everyone would benefit from learning”.
I have copied the review below for those fans interested. I have edited it for copyright reasons. No copyright infringement intended.
"Being Alive With Sean McCann" published at www.meafordlivemusic.com on 8 May, 2017. Review by Bill Monahan of Sean McCann in concert at Meaford Hall, May 5, 2017.
So the question is, when a pivotal member of one of Canada's best known party bands, celebrated for its drinking songs, decides to get sober, leave the band and go out on his own, filled with an overwhelming enthusiasm for abstinence, what kind of concert can you expect? On Friday night at Meaford Hall, Sean McCann, formerly of Great Big Sea, provided the definitive answer…Parteee!!
The concert, from the moment he came dancing out on stage to the encore when he and accompanist Chris Murphy walked singing through the audience, was an endless ode to the joy of being alive.
Well maybe not entirely. The opening song, though stirring, was a grim sea tale in the true tradition of Newfoundland, where an ebullient life meets daily with the dangers and tragedies of the sea. Sean walked across the stage, down the steps and stood on the floor in front of the stage, daring to open his concert without the benefit of amplification. “Can you hear me?” he asked the hushed audience, “I'm going to start here.” And he sang a cappella, “Safe Upon the Shore” the title song from Great Big Sea's 2010 album, about a girl who asks the sea to return her sailor safely to her. Seeing him floating on a spar washing in toward her, she “thought with bliss how she would kiss the lips she did adore” only to discover as he came closer that he was a corpse.
One thing's for sure, Sean McCann has landed safe upon the shore after his painful parting from Great Big Sea and conquering his alcoholism. The concert was a great big celebration of resilience and courage and most of all, the power of love. And if that sounds all a little too sober, it was the opposite, with every song set in that alternatively rollicking and heartfelt style that characterizes the music of Newfoundland. Throughout the concert he had the audience singing along. And they were so into it, when he sang a line from the old chestnut “You Are My Sunshine” just as a little aside, the audience immediately and without urging sang the entire song. This was indeed a communal celebration of life, the kind of thing that Meaford Hall (“built from love” he said) is built for…
The music was wonderful. Sean occasionally plays some delicate finger-picking but he usually revs up his acoustic guitar with fast strumming, and multi-instrumentalist Chris Murphy added beautiful textures to every song in a way that dressed them up very nicely.
While he didn't take it to extremes, and he certainly didn't preach, Sean made it clear how sobriety has improved his life and he had a little story to tell about each song. He told us how producer Joel Plaskett convinced him to include the last drinking song he wrote, “Red Wine and Whiskey”, on his “recovery” album, “Help Your Self” because it too was part of his story, and the anecdote added context to emphasize the power of alcohol dependency expressed in lines like “A dry life ain't worth living / The desert grants no Ease / So I'll sink into the Ocean / And drink the 7 Seas.” The rest of the songs in the concert proved that the opposite is true.
One of his most moving stories was about his participation at Shaun Majumder's annual concert called The Gathering, held in the town of Burlington, Newfoundland. It was just after he had broken up the band and he wasn't feeling too good about the thought of singing any Great Big Sea songs. But he encountered backstage a woman who had been following the band for years and she changed his mind, at the same time changing his life. I'll leave it to him to tell you the rest of the story (which he does so well) when you see him in concert (which you definitely should do) but this “angel” made him realize that “anger is the enemy”, a lesson everyone would benefit from learning.
Near the end of the second set, he asked for requests and dozens called out song titles. While teasing us with “whatever you want, I'll sing it for you,” he shook his head and said no to every title he could make out, finally giving us a very nice rendition of Johnny Cash's “Ring of Fire”. He had a request of his own, to hear a song from Chris Murphy. Chris borrowed his guitar and sang “Finally Coming Home”, the title song from his own album. Chris is from Kingston, Ontario but everything about him, his pennywhistle, his accordion, his bodhran and his songs sound like the maritimes. His album was produced in Cape Breton by famed musician J.P. Cormier. Chris is a member of the Celtic/Folk quintet Turpin's Trail, worth keeping an eye out for (be sure to catch them if they come to Meaford Hall)…
