Great Big Sea of fun

The big night finally arrived! I was going to see Great Big Sea live. I have enjoyed their music for many years. I was able to get tickets two nights before the concert. (I volunteered to trade shifts at work, then found out GBS was playing, so when the trade fell through, I was slightly excited)

Warning: the video and audio quality is wretched. Now you may proceed. 



I was supposed to meet my friend at his place which was approx half way to the Mile One. The bus was 7 mins late, and I didn't tell the driver to let me off at the Y, because I knew where that was. So I get off, and start walking. I looked up his address on Google maps. So I start zigzagging through the streets, and I get to house's 60 & 62, look across the street where 61 should be, and it's not there.(at this point, I'm pretty proud of making it to the right place) I received a text message that says, I just seen you, and my phone promptly dies. So I knock on the door of 60 and talk to a nice lady who explains, that I need to go further up the street because of the townhouses at the beginning. So meander down the street, finally finding 61, I ring the doorbell twice, and I realize that there is a bus stop right across the street (this is after walking around the other corner for at least 10 mins) so I stand in front of the house freezing. Finally I give up and start walking to the waterfront (not exactly sure of where Mile one center is, but I have a good idea) I make there alive. Skipping my chai latte, because I have no idea what time it is at this point. I get the tickets and then wait until after 8 pm and I can hear Spirit of the West start playing. I finally venture inside the arena to find my seat, the usher makes me step over at least 4 people on the left side, when I could have stepped over 2 on the right side.

I was in the 4 rows from the back on the floor.


The music was horribly loud and after a song or two they finally get it tweaked so it's not grating on my nerves (at this point I am feeling very old, doesn't help that I know how to work a sound board)

 

(Spirit of the West)

About half way through the concert I was finally deaf enough to enjoy the music!


On the overall I wasn't impressed with my concert experience, it really made me feel older then my 26 years, because of all the drunken teenagers who couldn't just enjoy the music, they where up and down, and back and forth, text messaging, trying to talk to one another.

When GBS came on the stage they dedicated the first song to the Cougar helicopter that went down. With this line "We have taken from the sea for over 500 years, and this week she took back from us" Then they played the song England from their new album Fortunes favor. (see video) Here is a quote from Alan Doyle's journal   "Thought the gig at Mile One was a real success.  Difficult to party in the wake of the Chopper accident that has the entire city of St. John’s and indeed the whole NL Province in mourning.  Sean had the idea of singing a tribute to the fallen before the main body of our set commenced.  His kind words and expressive vocal delivery of England made for a fitting acknowledgment of the situation and a delicate condolence to the victims and their families.  The Telegram erroneously credited me with the opening dedication, when if fact the whole thing was Sean’s idea and he deserves all the credit for it’s delivery in such a delicate moment."




I moved up the aisle and enjoyed the rest of the show, they had some audience interaction where they would start the song and we would sing the lyrics, it was quite entertaining.

It seemed to me they played a lot of music from their older albums like: Lukey's boat, Mary Mac, Old Black rum, Consequence free, Sea of no cares, Scolding wife, When I am up, When I am king, Pat Murphy and many more.

It ended around 11, and of course every taxi was quickly snatched up. I fished my bus scheduled out, just to figure out I would miss the next bus.
 As I walked along the streets, music filled the air from the pubs, it was reminiscent of Mexico. It was all so inviting. I made it to a bus stop, and across from me there was a guy busking. So I had entertainment during my 40 minute wait, (the #3 is always late) Finally it came, and I was very proud of myself for only spending $2.25 rather then $20 on a taxi.

(they ended with this song)

I made it back to work by midnight and did some overtime.

Because my phone was dead, I didn't talk to Jason until 3am, I found out that he had been at his house the whole time waiting for me. I felt terrible, I was hoping he would remember that we needed to pick up our tickets from the box office.
   All in all, I had an enjoyable evening, even if it was by myself.