| Great Big Sea at the South Street Seaport Celtic Nights, July 5, 2002 New York, New York |
| GBS loves New York and New York loves GBS! What a fun night! Sorry to say we missed the Young Dubs set. But we caught 7 Nations' set and they were much better tonight. I don't know why. They just had more "umph!" We arrived and got a parking space very near the venue. Passed a green bus with an Ontario-plated trailer on the back. Didn't take us long to figure out which bus was theirs. The Young Dubs had a Killian's Red bus, Seven Nations had their own bus with Seven Nations written all over it and then - this green bus with Ontario plates. :-) After Karen and I grabbed some pizza at the Seaport, we ran into Darrell grabbing a smoke outside the bus. We gave him some water toys for the GBS crew to play with and torment the other bands. He laughed and said, "Well. we'll have some great fun with these!" They were little Nerf-like balls painted likes fishes and sharks that you run under the faucet or soak in the sink and they work just like water balloons, but don't break when they hit someone. Darrell's eyes just lit up when we told him that. He also noticed my shirt which said in big letters, "You can never have too much BOB" "I love that shirt," he commented, "It rocks!" Then he went into the bus. We went back to the stage saw Doug Shaw and company from the Long Island Maritime Museum, and we also saw other OKPers. I know I'll forget someone but here's what I remember at 2 AM. Frandigo, Emily, Caroline, Cheryl and Howard, Michele from LI, uh oh...then we made some new friends - Jason from Milwaukee and his sister, Lia. It was Lia's first GBS show and we sort of pushed her up to the second row so she could get the full effect. I was really missing my camera tonight. *sigh* lots of opportunities for great pics. I am glad that Caroline shared with me. They opened with Donkey Riding! That was a surprise! Danny started the fiddle music a little early and by the time it ended, the b'ys hadn't arrived on the stage yet and the audience was starting to sing the words. But in a few more seconds they appeared and bounded onto the stage. Séan started right in and off we went! When I'm Up was next and Alan held that note real long! Everyone was singing and Alan looked surprised and pleased. Darrell was having so much fun tonight. He was all smiles and just hopped around and had a good time. Alan and he were sort of feeding off each other. Séan and Bob were a lot less energetic tonight, but Séan brightened up considerably about a third of the way through and Bob smiled quite a bit. Sea of No Cares came next with everyone singing. Alan spoke about how it was cool to be in New York for the fireworks on the 4th of July. He said they watched them from the Upper East Side and he felt like he was immersed in American culture yesterday. He said they felt "a little bit American now" Séan agreed and said this was "after having had a little indoctrination in the American culture." Clearest Indication - Alan commented on the neat venue and how it was nice to look out on the harbor and know the sea was so close. "Just hop on a boat out there in the harbor. It's a short run to St. John's." He also said it was "A good day to be in New York City. Well, any day is a good day to be in New York City." BIG CHANGE HERE - Bob played the fiddle instead of the whistle. It was a welcome change. You can't hear the whistle that well in the song and the fiddle just sounded wonderful tonight! Thanks Bob! Jason from Wisconsin and I had fun during this song doing harmonies. He's got a great voice - both Bob and Jason! Paddy Murphy came next and it was spirited! Everyone was clapping for Séan and Alan asked us all to say "Séan is great." We were obedient souls. He then had us repeat "Séan's shirt is excellent." He told us that Séan had been worried that his shirt looked weird. It was red and white striped. Looked good on Séan! Darrell picks the best shirts that accentuate his muscles. Mmm Mmm! A nice white one and dark blue loose pants. Alan was wearing a long sleeved black shirt and dark blue jeans and Bob was wearing *drum roll* a nice plain, black shirt and black jeans. Kris was looking good in a red shirt and jeans. Alan went on to say that Séan had just bought the shirt that afternoon on the corner for $5. Sean said the shirt reminded him of one in the closet in the Men in Black II movie. Alan said "And right up the street I bought a Rolex watch and Orkney (sp?) sunglasses for $11!" To which Darrell retorted, "And they threw in the Scooby Doo tape for free!" They did some "shameless promotion for the new album" and Alan announced that they still had Blow-Up dolls for "Myself, Darrell and Bob. But the Séan Blow-up dolls sold out right away!" They then launched into: Gideon Brown - Alan almost cracked up in the beginning but kept it together. No shenanigans like Wolftrap. Penelope is a real crowd pleaser. Everyone sang along and had a grand time. Alan does the trumpet part on his guitar - turns the electric switch on the guitar and does it. Sounded good! After Penelope, Alan was still gushing over what a great night it was and the fact that the show would be over by 9 PM and how lucky they all were."We haven't had a bad time yet in NYC," stated Alan. Séan replied, "We haven't had a bad meal either." Alan said that, "The libraries are open late at night and are fantastic. See, usually the shows don't end till 11 or 12 and then there's not many places open to go to." Sean suggested that everyone could "be home in time to see Law and Order." "Oh is it Friday?" asks Alan. "Well if it's Friday you have to go out on the town. We apologize to the fine people of Boston for tomorrow's show. We're celebrating tonight. It'll have to be just ballads tomorrow. All ballads in Boston." Old Black Rum was spirited with the audience singing along and raising their fists at the right time. General Taylor came next with Sean in good voice. We had a little swaying dance going for the whole song which seemed to amuse Alan and Séan. The audience was singing in harmony too. It was a neat experience. Alan seemed impressed. Lukey - they went right into after GT and Darrell had some new solo bass riffs going on. I love to watch Séan play the bodhran and get all those different sounds out of it. We all sang this one well too. After this they introduced Kris. "You know that NFLD has a great tradition of hiring out-of-work Nova Scotians..." "Nova Scotia is a province sort of next to Newfoundland," says Séan, giving us a geography lesson. Then Sean began talking about things that come from Newfoundland that are not rum. He told us about the "Iceberg Vodka" that they are making from Newfoundland icebergs. "Yeah, they put an iceberg on a barge and tow it right here to NYC and make Iceberg Vodka. I saw it on TV with Peter Jennings. I think he had one before he went on," says Séan, "I recommend it. I have one every morning at breakfast." Alan gives Séan a strange look and says, "Okay there has to be a segue (sp?) here. I got it! If you have Iceberg Vodka for breakfast everyday, then you might also wish to have no restraints put on you." Looking very pleased with himself for thinking of it, he launches into: Consequence Free - I have sung this song more times that I care to think about on my way home from school this year. One of my faves. Mari Mac was next. Not a terribly fast version but Séan was making some seriously twisted faces here. I am sure the photographers got some scary Séan pics tonight. Ordinary Day - my worst fear where concerts are concerned is this song last. *boo hoo* I love it and just get so depressed that the show is over. We got to sing our own verse several times, They lengthened the instrumental part in the middle, it was new and different. :-) Encore Excursion - We really sang this loud and Darrell just grinned so broadly at the end. I love that guy - he just has so much fun on stage. Feller From Fortune came next and then 2 Young Dubs and the lead singer from 7N came onstage and they sang Jock Stewart - a nice song to end with, nice harmonies going on there. A great show. We tried for another encore but they fairly ran back to the bus and were long gone inside very soon. Afterwards we met up with Darrell again who talked to us about babies and the joy in his face as he spoke about his Ben was priceless. He also helped me solve a problem. He is a gracious man. Alan was also meeting and greeting and we got to have a nice chat with him, too. He gave me a look of recognition and Karen, too, and commented on my BOB shirt "nice shirt there." He did me a favor for a fan and I asked him if I could give him a hug. He nicely obliged. The man is nice to hug, girls. He is also growing a little "Kris tuft" of hair under his lip. Don't know whether I like it yet. Oh, and Darrell had some nice cologne on. Kris spoke with us about the drums in Feel It Turn. I had told him how much the drums improved that song live. He said that he either does it extremely well or messes up entirely. Wednesday was an "extremely well" night. When he signed an autograph for me he said, "You're from Philly, right?" I hadn't told him. Maybe he heard it from Michele and her sister. I don't know... I meant to ask him for his website address but I had a freudian slip and asked him for his email addy instead. LOL! He looked at me kinda funny and then Karen corrected me, thank God. We heard about Howard and Cheryl's trip to Ottawa and Kris got to see all their photos. Howard took some nice ones. "Hey, that's me!" Kris was heard to exclaim. So cute! Such great guys. I thank my daughter Karen for being such a great roadtrip buddy. We had a super time together this evening. And that's the truth! |
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