"...We were headed out to cross Newfoundland and back on our first-ever tour, our entire gear barely filling two small cars. Just two speakers, an audio mixing board, microphones and stands, two acoustic guitars, a bodhran, a bass, an accordion, a mandolin, a fiddle, and some tin whistles. There was much joking and carrying on as we rolled west, but in the few quiet moments, each of us had own fantasies of a much bigger tour to come sometime in the near or distant future. Of a fleet of buses, fitted with cushy bunks, for us and the crew of technicians who'd carry and tune our instruments. Of transport trucks full of sound and lighting equipment to load into the biggest concert venues in the country. Of record deals, music videos, and heartfelt acceptance speeches on televised award shows. We joked about these things like we were talking about winning the lotto, not letting on that somewhere in the bottom of our hearts and the back of our minds, we actually believed all this possible..."
As those of us who are fans know most of the dreams shared in this paragraph have come true for Great Big Sea and Alan Doyle. There have been many images of various tour buses for Great Big Sea and Alan Doyle and The Beautiful Beautiful Band shared in videos, on webpages and on social media. When I read this passage from the book I thought of one of the most recent images of Alan approaching his tour bus parked in the Toronto airport for the third leg of the 'Come Out With Me' Tour in 2018 shared on his official Twitter account Alanthomasdoyle. No copyright infringement intended.
Another recent image that came to mind was a photograph that was taken at the end on the second leg of the 'Come Out With Me' Tour of the whole gang including The Fortunate Ones, The Beautiful, Beautiful Band members and the crew. I have included a copy of that photograph shared on Alan's official social media site on Instagram. No copyright infringement intended.
