| GBS at Wolftrap The Uprooted Tour July 3, 2002 |
| Great show at Wolftrap on July 3rd! My daughter Karen tells me I grinned all the way through GBS’ set – “even when you were singing!” Although they didn’t sell out the venue, which would have been a huge surprise, truth be told, they did fill the shed by ¾ and the lawn looked full. Considering many people refused to go anywhere near DC because of terrorist threats, that was a great showing. There were plenty more people than were there when we saw GBS with the Chieftains 2 years ago. They should be very happy with the turnout. Saw Julie the Yank and Endi, met Street Team member Katie, and had a dancing ball with Garrett and his wife on our row. Endi and I ended up being 2 seats away from each other! Couldn’t have planned it better. My streak for meeting nice OKP people continues. Haven’t met a sour one yet! It was hotter than hot – the temperature gauge on a bank on the way down said 103 degrees. I believe it was still that hot when the Young Dubs began at 7 PM. The Young Dubliners said they weren’t thinking and dressed in black for the show. It must have been stifling on the stage, as it certainly was in the audience. The Young Dubs weren’t so young and were definitely a rock group, nothing resembling celtic folk. They had a decent show though. I was starting to get used to them when their set ended. Seven Nations followed them in about 20-25 minutes. A lot of equipment went up onto that stage. I don’t envy their stage hands. The lead singer was dressed in a pair of pajama pants like the ones Alan is wearing in Jakey’s Gallery (the bunny slipper ones) and a black shirt. Looked like an Alan outfit to me. I love bagpipes and that was one of the better things about 7 Nations. Probably about to get my butt kicked here, but they are “America’s Premiere Celtic Rock Band?” I’ll go with the Canadians. The Glengarry Bhoys and Hadrians Wall are better. I really like the way GBS shares the vocal spotlight between Séan and Alan and I guess this colors my reaction to other bands. The lead singer was good, understand, but I got a little tired of his voice. It was good that they threw a bunch of trad tunes in throughout the show. Really nice!!! I did enjoy those parts. At one point, the fiddler went into the backstage area and brought out a hockey stick and street hockey ball and was shooting it at the feet of the bagpiper while he was trying to play. The piper didn’t let him mess the tune up – it was amusing! 7 Nations got the audience up dancing a few times. Maybe we will see a better camaraderie with the audience as the tour goes on like we saw with Carbon Leaf. Both bands could learn something from GBS where audience participation is concerned. Alan and Séan do those “Is the audience having fun?” checks and change the show accordingly. The more I see GBS the more I am reminded that they are masters of their craft. Danny hurried through the set-up after 7 Nations left the stage and GBS went on at about 9:30 PM. We were hoping they’d be in shorts but no. Darrell was the sanest dresser – a simple white T-shirt, sweatpants and black sneakers. Alan had on a cool looking black shirt which looked like someone had painted a line of white spray paint across his chest and waist (he rolled the long sleeves up), and comfy blue jeans and black shoes. Sean was nuts! He had that ugly yellow-white hooded sweatshirt on and camo pants and his tan Vans. Bob of course, in black – boots, jeans and Junos shirt. Kris had on a dark T-shirt with a picture on it (couldn’t tell what it was but he was showng it off) and jeans. Danny and Tony were the smart ones in shorts. There were a group of about 5 girls in GBS cheerleading outfits right in the front. They seemed to have synchronized dances to some of the songs. What a trip! They might have gotten to meet the band before their set –at least that’s the way it looked to me. I think Séan and Bob enjoyed them. Set: Ordinary Day – Love when they open with this. We didn’t get to do a verse alone though. Would’ve sounded great! Most of the crowd was there for GBS and definitely knew the words. Chemical Worker’s Song – I always enjoy hearing THIS one. I am not sure whether they decided Kris’ messing with the percussion back at the drum set was enough, or Darrell forgot to bring the bones out – Kris was a percussionist’s fool back there, making all the factory noises. Sounded good! When I’m Up – if everyone hadn’t been on their feet before Ordinary Day ended, then they were up here! Karen suggested that GBS do this song with the Muppets on Sesame Street. What a great idea! Can you imagine them and Elmo and company? LOL! When Bob did his fiddle thing, Séan knelt before him and Alan and Darrell joined him in Bob’s corner of the world. Sea Of No Cares – Everyone sang! No worries about the new songs. It was definitely a GBS crowd. After the song, Alan talked about the upcoming July 4th celebrations and mentioned that it was Canada Day on July 1st and the Canadians celebrated well. He stated that the USA and Canada should get together and begin the celebrations on July 1st and just continue till through the 4th – one big celebration week. He also said that Wolftrap was the coolest venue in all of America! Goin’ Up – always a great song and we were in good voice for “the biggest Kitchen Party in Vienna, Virginia.” Alan stated that the band had the night off and the 4th too. “On stage we have to exercise restraint, and sometimes that fails!” “But we don’t have to exercise any restraint tonight, so give us your best shot!” Clearest Indication – nice song with the guitars doing a different strum – first time I noticed that. Paddy Murphy – “You are all very sick people,” Séan stated when we cheered Paddy Murphy’s demise. “The American girls got somewhat drunk…” Gideon Brown – Well this intro and the song was worth the entire price of admission!! It was priceless! Alan began the intro as “a cool song from Fogo Island where it s common to suffer from boat envy – envy of your neighbor’s boat.” Séan looks at Alan and asks, “Are you sure that’s what it’s about, Alan? You mean it’s not a song about erectile dysfunction? You can get a pill to fix that, you know.” Alan laughed and replied, “No, Séan, it’s about how big and fast your boat is and how your neighbors might envy it.” Sean retorts, “Well, I’ve seen your boat Alan. It’s fast but not that big.” At this point I thought Alan was going to turn into a laughing heap onstage. He wanted to say something but Séan reminded him, “Remember this is a family show, Alan, there are young people present.” Alan just started to sing the song “She could punch ahead in any gale…and completely cracked up laughing. He was bent over convulsing and finally faced the back of the stage to get himself together. He started again and the same thing happened. The third time was the charm, but at the second time they sing the chorus, he said into the mic, “Take this song however you want,” and every time he sang the chorus he laughed. The audience absolutely LOVED this song and sang louder than the b’ys for a good portion of it. Maybe THIS should be their next single? Penelope – First time I heard this live. It was cute. I have grown to like this song – I hated it when the CD first came out, but now it’s one of my faves. Here, Alan and Séan acknowledged the Young Dubs and 7 Nations and mentioned how much fun they were having. Séan- “We’ll be out touring with them for… the rest of our lives.” Alan – “Yes, who knows? We might be able to teach them how to play hockey.” Séan – “Yeah but they won’t learn how to win.” Alan – “Oh I have been very gracious lately in not mentioning our gold medal in Olympic hockey.” Well, that hit a nerve! All you could hear were loud boos! Old Black Rum – love this song! General Taylor – THIS WAS THE BEST GENERAL TAYLOR I HAVE HEARD TO DATE. Séan began by asking us to join him in singing and we did to a point. He was so into the song and playing vocally with notes, trills, lengths of notes. Oh my! We had “a pint of rum for every man and a barrel of whiskey for every wo-man!” He got a standing ovation after his song and it was well deserved. Stumblin’ In – love this song, too. Scolding Wife – Alan introduced it as a song where the “man finds himself in a relationship far from perfect.” To which Séan replies, “Oh, like in a band?” Bob was not in good voice this evening, sounded as if he was losing his voice or he had just smoked a dozen cigs. On his harmony parts, however, he sounded fine. I guess he is just not used to singing lead. This is also a fave of mine from the new album Feel It Turn – Sean – “This is a song about things getting better. It’s dedicated to the women of Enron.” I used to not like this live – I enjoy the constant, swirling whistle part on the CD that they can’t do live if Bob has to sing. Tonight I changed my mind about hearing it live. Kris used the tom-toms to his highest advantage. You know in the Simon and Garfunkel song “The Boxer” where it goes (Boom) Lie la lie, lie la lie lie lie la lie. Lie la lie (boom) liel la lie lie lie la lie lie lie lie la lie. Well I love that part in the Boxer and Kris was doing it with Feel It Turn – sooooo effective! “Feel it turnnnnn (Boom) feel it turnnnnn (Boom).” Wow! What a great addition. Thanks, Kris! Your drums are helping me to enjoy this song live. Mari Mac – a rousing version, really fast at the end and we sang the reply about 5 times in the beginning before he started the song. Lukey – I was confused here. It sounded like the intro to Jack Hinks at first. The intro was real long…maybe it started out being the JH intro and ended up where it was supposed to – at Lukey. I don’t know… always a fun song but now I don’t want to hear it because it signals the end of the show. (sniff) Encore – of course! Boston and St. John’s - Alan sang the whole first part all by his lonesome, no other accompaniment besides his guitar. Séan was collecting shakers and putting his earphones in at the drum kit and Bob was looking for his whistle and Darrell was taking his good ole time picking up the bass. I guess it was planned that way – even if it wasn’t, it worked well. Boston and St. John’s doesn’t quite fit in the setlist as it is and sounds much better as an encore. They all joined in for the second verse with instruments and it sounded good. Excursion – just wouldn’t be a show without this song. No wonderful harmonies from Bob this time – he was too busy fiddling with the fiddle for the next song. But Darrell was in good voice and we all did the pre-requisite “Hey!” arm-raising quite well. Feller From Fortune – like this live but not so much on the CD. Much more energy live. Sean joined Kris by standing on the drum stage and while Séan played the bodhran with his tipper, Kris played it with his drumsticks. Kris also played Séan’s head. Séan seemed to enjoy it! They all were interacting with Kris tonight more than the last tour. Sean at one point just sat on the drum stage and played bodhran, sitting. After this, members of the Young Dubliners and Seven Nations came out to join in for the last song of the evening. Alan had the 7N fiddler “give me a D,” and started in on a surprising song – an old Rankin Street song “A Man You Don’t Meet Everyday (Jock Stewart?).” Séan, Darrell, Bob, 7N's fiddler and the lead singers from YD and 7N joined in. Almost all the band guys were out by the end of the song. And Séan and the 7N guy who shared a mic, literally waltzed around the stage during the instrumental part– I forgot to look to see who was leading! LOL! Nice way to end the evening. Very nice. |
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