| Great Big Sea at the Keswick Theater Glenside, PA 7/7/02 |
| A wonderful evening in Glenside, PA at the Keswick Theater. I am familiar with it because I went to college there in Glenside and my brother lives there now, a half-block from the venue. It wasn't sold out, but almost. A good showing. We rode by the venue first to see where the busses were and then ordered pizza to eat ay my brother Tom's house. My sister-in-law made the most delicious mint iced tea! When we got to the venue, we gave the security guard some cinnamon bread and panini bread from the Atlanta Bread Company store near us to give to the b'ys. We also brought presents - T-shirts for the guys! Each shirt said something different, picked out especially for each one. I wrote a little note to each guy and pinned it onto the shirt so they'd know whose was whose. I think some you could figure out. Bob's, for example said, "I'm only wearing black till they make something darker." The guard was real nice about delivering. The Young Dubliners were great but loud. I am enjoying their set a little better and they seem to have a rapport with the crowd. A bunch of people got up to dance while they were on. "Scream" was great. and the Kilt song they played. I think Nancy said it was "The Fisherman." Then a brief intermission and 7 Nations came on. Not quite the same energy as in New York. They really clicked with the fans in NYC. I am enjoying their set a little more too. But they need to try a different tactic to get the audience to sing. First teach us what we need to sing, practice once or twice, and then we'll sing when that part comes in the song. I didn't enjoy being yelled at to sing. In fact, when one of them yelled "Sing, you bastards," I stopped singing all together. Don't EVER call me a bastard if you want me to be nice to you. Made me disinclined to dance also. They did have quite a few people up dancing, too. I was too pissed to say anything to them tonight, but they'll get told at some point. After they left the stage and while Danny was setting up, I made the rounds and saw vot ona, Cheryl and Howard, Shelly in PA and her sister Kim, and Tim Murphy (hi Tim!)with me were BJ Moose in his moose hat, my brother Tom, Doug and Terry, Louise, Karen and Jackie, and Fr. Dan. It was Tom, Doug and Terry's first GBS show. They are used to opera and Broadway shows. It was a bit of a shock to them I think. And I thnk I am forgetting someone here... |
| Well they changed the setlist once again. I am so glad they didn't end with Ordinary Day. Started with it tonight instead! They bounded on stage wearing... Darrell-white t-shirt and jeans, Alan - the faces shirt with a black t-shirt under it and blue jeans, Sean - his new red and white striped shirt with blue jeans and Bob was in basic black, of course. Kris - blue jeans and black T-shirt. Chemical Workers' Song came next with some changes. Darrell played bass here and Kris played percussion and Sean the bodhran. Bob just sang. Will wonders never cease. When I'm Up came next and they had most people up dancing. We were in good voice tonight. After When I'm Up, Alan announced several times that this was a special night on the Uprooted Tour. Sean finally gave in and ASked, "So why is it so special, Alan?" Alan smiles and says, "Why thank you for asking, Sean. Tomorrow there is no show. Being professional musicians we are used to adhering to a strict regimen of discipline and vocal training. (At this mention of training, Bob makes a muscle! LOL!)But tonight there is no need for restraint at all since we have a day off! Nice segue into: Goin' Up was great with people dancing and singing. Clearest Indication was sung well. Karen has made a sign on red foam board that said "This is the Clearest Indication that Philly loves you back, GBS!" It had little Liberty Bells with their names on them all over it. We were going to see if we could get them to sign it after the show. I suggested to Karen that they wouldn't see it in the dark theater and maybe she should run over and put it on stage between Alan and Sean before the song ended. She did and at the end of the song Alan held it up for all to see and then put it back on the drum kit. But not before teasing the audience a bit. Alan - "This is a family show. I can show you THIS side but not the other side." He proceeds to show the other side to all the b'ys secretly (there was a blank canvas on the other side, BTW) and then asks Sean, "So how many people do you think are in that tub, Sean?" Sean replies, "Too many to count Alan, too many." |
| Paddy Murphy came next and it had a funny intro. Sean announced that every night "We perform this ritual of killing Paddy Murphy and then resurrect him the next night to do it again. It's like a modern Day Prometheus, I tell you!" stated Sean, "Or it's like Kenny from South Park! You kill him again and again!" Alan then thanked us all for coming out on the end of the Holiday weekend. "The big day in America is July 4th. Our big day in Canada is July 1st. I keep thinking we should get together and make it a whole week of big celebrations! What would we call it though? 'Canamerica Day'?" Sean then suggested, "How about 'Indecanada Day'? It's Independence Day and Canada Day." Alan says "Yeah! We could do things together! Canada could open it's borders! We'll call off our troops! Beware the Canadian Army - four hockey players and a figure skater.. But watch out, they're all pissed off!" That was the intro to the intro of Gideon Brown! LOL! "Sean's Dad found us this cool song from Fogo Island." At this point a Sean fan yells, "Go Sean!" He says a humble "Thank you!" into the mic and Alan says "Keep it up Sean!" A bit of shameless promotion has Alan telling everyone the song is on the new album and they should go buy it "A bargain at 20 American dollars! You could buy a small town with that in Canada." He also mentioned that they had Blow-up Dolls of Darrell, Alan and Bob but the Sean dolls had sold out. After Gideon Brown (I still think that should be their next single), they were telling us about how they spent the day in the bus in the parking lot outside the Keswick. Alan said people kept knocking on the bus door and asking if they were somebody from Foreigner,who will be playing there tomorrow. At that Alan began playing a riff from a Foreigner song about a guitar and also played and sang a couple lines from another song - "I Wanna Know What Love Is." Sean says into the mic, "Alan, if you don't stop now, I won't get into the tub with you ever again!" Must've been a good threat 'cause Alan shut up and began to sing... Penelope! - I do like that song - even Karen says it's a great song live and she doesn't like the CD version at all. |
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| Old Black Rum - this was so much fun with most people up dancing. Alan blessed himself when they got to the "Kneeling at the altar of my nightly post" part. There was a row of older people in the front and the young girls dancing up there were trying to get the men up to dance with them. They finally succeeded about halfway thru and those two old guys had a ball! They were dancing fools! The audience was forced over to either side to dance. *sigh* always a pain when you have a seated show. Seats are nice especially since I am limited to the amount I can comfortably stand but I don't understand how people could NOT get up and dance at their seats when they hear this music. We did for a number of songs and no one behind us complained. We needed the quiet of General Taylor here though. Everyone was exhausted and hot from dancing. It just got hotter and hotter as the night wore on. Sean stepped right up and sang with the usual Sean McCann the shanty man schtick. He invited us to sing and we did! At the end where he sings really quietly, you could have heard a pin drop. Everyone was in a total rapture listening to him. Good job, Sean! Something was terribly out of tune when they did Stumblin' In. I think it was Darrell's bass. He was seen to be fiddling with the tuning pegs. Nicely done - the audience really enjoys this song. Consequence Free was next and Alan was acknowledging the dancers on both sides of the stage. He also mouthed "Thank You!" to Karen for the sign when he caught her eye. |
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