| GBS at the Norva Norfolk, Virginia |
| Photos taken by me, Anne Tenaglia |
| It was fun, short - but fun. I introduced my sister-in-law to GBS (figuratively and literally), and now we have one more fan! It was definitely a hoot to watch a fan being born right before my very eyes. After filling the 10-CD changer with a combination of GBS, Punters, Depeche Mode, Barras, a ska mix and some others, we took off on the 6 hour drive down to Virginia Beach. As we crossed the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel PLAY began to play. Just as we came out of the first tunnel we heard "I've got the sun in the sky all the water surrounds me." What a great song for a great trip with a great friend and a great daughter to see a great band! We went to pick up Mary and then head off to the Norva. She has 7 kids and never gets out on the town. Karen had offered to babysit so Mary could go and not have to worry about what time to be home. I did miss my concert buddy though. Parked in the lot across the street and saw Danny and Darrell walking around outside the theater. Decided not to bother them. We had not eaten dinner yet and went to the Grille in the mall and had a good time being serenaded by the piano man. We heard opera, broadway, swing, and all manner of song. I was tempted but not motivated enough to request GBS. Ate and then went across about 30 minutes after the doors opened. Almost no one was there! We did see Fran and Bob Egan, Endi and her brother, Kelly, Carley and Colleen of the cheerleader fame at Wolftrap, a couple members of the Virginia Street Team who made me jealous telling me of all the help they had down there, and a security guard named Carol for the Norva who had a night off and came to see the cute band members. She had never heard of any of the bands and was curious. A nicer newbie you couldn't want to meet! I knew I was going to like her when I turned to her after having hugged the OKPers and she said, "No, you don't know me!" I think the people Nancy was talking to were Molly and ???? from Canada. They were thrilled to get so close to the stage. The venue can hold a little over a thousand is my guess and I'd also guess at the peak of attendance we may have had 400-500. Not bad for the first time in a city for GBS. It was a 7N headlining night and GBS went on second. The Young Dubs were in good form, grabbed the audience at the start and kept them in their respective palms. The sound system was much better here and everyone could be heard clearly and it was not overpoweringly loud. They had sooo much energy and as Nancy said, "They were user-friendly!" My sister-in-law ran right out and bought their CD and had it autographed by them all after their show. I continue to REALLY like "Scream" and "Fisherman's Blues" and the "Brown Dog" one. I think I will give their CD another chance. First time through it was too "rocky" for me. But It is growing on me. |
| After the takedown for the Dubs and setup for GBS, we finally heard the beeps of Ordinary Day and the b'ys bounded out. I like their washed out stone green backdrop. Looks good. I never did see what Kris was wearing during the show, but I know he had clothes on. Endi tells me it was a red shirt and jeans. Séan and this other big,tall guy in front of me successfully blocked my Kris view. Darrell was in a light grey T-shirt-like shirt and dark pants, Alan in a black T, nice blue button-down long-sleeved shirt, and blue jeans, Séan in a paisley shirt and light blue jeans, and don't hold your breath! Bob wore the black Junos shirt and black pants. When I'm Up came next with everyone participating in the vertical movement. I think it was here that Alan announced that their was someone from Petty Harbour at the show and he was excited. He said that usually doesn't happen at shows. SONC came next with the audience singing pretty well. Alan and Bob seemed really happy about this. Alan and Bob seemed really happy all night. I don't know whether they had a private joke going on or not. Bob has been a jolly fellow this tour! Darrell was his usual happy, funky self and Séan was dancier and dancier as the night wore on. After SONC, Alan said how nice it was to be in Norfolk. "It's our first time in your fair city. Please invite us back! We've been travelling, the three bands side by each up and down the East Coast. We're going directly to the libraries to read some periodicals. And Séan will also be saying Mass." At this point Séan said something about saying the rosary but I didn't catch it all. What a segue to - Paddy Murphy - Well at this point I will say that my sister-in-law started to gaze at Séan with wild abandon. LOL! He sang "MacFarlane came with the bagpipes, some music for to play!" It was one of the better versions of Paddy Murphy I have heard yet. Nice going, Séan! Now for some strange reason I found myself also mesmerized by Séan last night in addition to Bob and forgot to write down some songs. So this may not be a complete list. But I am fairly certain they did Gideon Brown here. I know I heard it and the only thing that made it to the paper was "Boat envy is alive and well." So I'll conclude it came here. The audiences everywhere just love this song! Alan stated it was "from our new album which is assaulting the charts. We have Shakira shaking in her boots. NSYNC is worried. Hey, one of NSYNC is on Broadway!" At which point Séan pipes up with "No, isn't one of NSYNC going to the moon?" Alan says, "No, that's another one." Then Sean continues, "You know, Alan, you could be on Broadway. You could be whatssiname, Joey...Fat Tony. Yeah, you could sing Mari Mac!" There was some more NSYNC and Backstreet Boys talk which I didn't hear. |
| Consequence Free came next and I spent the whole song in a fog watching Bob. There was definitely some Bob Magnetism there as I started out stage Séan and ended up all the way in front of Bob. General Taylor was amazing. Séan pulled out all stops to win over anyone in that audience who hadn't already been swayed into GBS' camp. The harmonies were some of the best I have heard. Darrell's bass made your chest buzz. And I could hear Bob loud and clear. He really belts out his part. But Séan really milked it again. And Mary went completely over the edge. Her eyes were fogged. LOL! Alan did a little rap intro to Lukey - "Put your hands together for the Shanty Man, Séan McCann on the mean bodhran, All the way from St. John's, Newfoundland!" Everyone participated in the vertical movement and sang also. The bass, drum and bodhran solos were a little longer it seemed, and all the b'ys were lively and dancing - even Bob. I think it was here that Alan and Séan switched mics for a bit, or that could I was too busy swooning to write down anything except "Sw.mic and booty." LOL! Bob was very dancey here! In the middle of the song, Sean winked at someone, sidled over to Alan and started to do some dance moves swinging his hips into Alan's, then he bent over slightly and was butting Alan with his booty in time to the music, doin' the Bump! Alan was laughing. Sean then proceeded to dance all over the stage, kicking up his legs and generally acting the fool. But he was having so much fun! I have Mari Mac down as the next song but I could be wrong. It was fairly frenzied and "Mari Mac's mother's making Mari Mac marry Alan," was one set of lyrics in the song this evening. Darrell went over and played Kris cymbals, Bob danced a little with the fiddle, Alan jumped all over the stage. It was fun to watch! Excursion appeared, thank God, and Alan ran all over the stage as usual. Bob sang more harmony than he's been doing and Darrell seemed to have a darn good time. The audience "Heys" were perfect almost from the start! |
| Feller from Fortune ended the night and Alan was encouraging a woman who was dancing in front of Darrell and him.. He kept mouthing "Come on up!" Well, she finally did! And she was good! She danced up on stage with the b'ys for 3/4 of the song! Both Alan and Darrell thanked her for dancing. Whoa! That was too short! Even Darrell commented after the show that "It was no sooner started than it was over!" He was shocked at how quickly their time went. When 7 Nations came on, the crowd in front had changed considerably. Some of the same people were up there but 7 Nations has a much younger fan base, it seems. Us old folk mixed in with the young'uns for GBS but the 7N front row was all young folk. Us old heads went upstairs to sit down. The sound system was much kinder to 7N and you could clearly hear the fiddle. Dan, their fiddler is really good but has been plagued with mic problems. They still need to work on the parts where the pipes and fiddle play at the same time together. The pipes drown out the fiddle every time. 7 Nations is a much better headliner than opener. They had more energy it seemed and had engaged the audience more. I even enjoyed a few tunes this time. They were still way too loud, though. We were all the way in the back and it was still real loud. Darrell and Alan showed up to watch 7N from the balcony and Mary got both autographs and pics. Bob, the slippery devil, popped up for about 2 minutes and disappeared before we knew he was there. When Nancy and Alan and Mary were ready to have a photo taken, I had trouble with the camera. I had to ask them to wait while I went over to the bar, laid my stuff down and found the right setting. Alan made a comment that it was a marvelous way to spend wait time with his arms around two lovely ladies. "Being surrounded by seven guys on a bus all day? This is definitely one of the perks with this job, hugging the babes" |
| When the set was almost over for 7N, they called out the guys to sing Jock Stewart. Séan had a Free NFLD shirt on and carried a bottle of water. I got an awesome picture of the whole group on the stage. Bob did not come out to sing. Nicely done, more harmony than I remember and it looked like they were all having fun. The last number for 7N was Amazing Grace, which was amazing. The Dubs fiddler, Chaz, stayed out and did a harmony part against Dan's fiddle part and the bagpipes. WOW! Now THAT was nice. ******** ******** ******** Endi says - Several times during the set, Alan would wander over to Kris, grab a drumstick (while still holding his guitar/bouzouki) and play the cymbals a bit. At one point, Kris reached out and simultaneously started strumming Alan's guitar. This is what led to Darrell, too, wandering over for a little instrument exchange with Kris later on. LOL! At one point, Alan cracked a bunch of us up by doing a super-fierce violent rockstar-type strumming on the bouzouki...perhaps pleased by that test run, he then wandered to the back of the stage, where the 7N bagpiper (Scott), was watching. Now, having seen 7N play three times now, I'd say that this guy comes across as kind of grim. I hadn't seen him smile onstage at all. Alan had him cracking up, though. Séan was indeed very dance-y, and while there was no Elvis-like shaking, the butt shimmy was indeed a sight to see. As were his Rockette moves near the end, and one pirouette-type thing where he almost fell over. Heee. 'Jock Stewart,' the encore, was lovely--Séan has some beautiful harmonies at the start. I was particularly impressed because this seemed like a rather disorganized encore--I think that 7N called them out earlier than they expected (Darrell, for example, missed the first verse or two, and there was much mic confusion). |
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