Advisory: The reading of minute concert reviews has been deemed a chief
symptom of GBS addiction.
The Birchmere is a huge place, a proper concert hall holding 300 or
so people, with a sound booth and two aisles. Instead of rows of
seats, there are tables. We were of all ages, very young to very old,
with waitresses to serve poboys, crabcakes, various entrees and big
pitchers of fine Virginia Ale. As Alan was to say: a great big kitchen.
The lights were turned down and a voice said: "Ladies and
Gentlemen, welcome to the Birchmere. We want to remind the audience
that there is no talking while the performers are on stage."
The warm up band from Boston was called the Pushstars. They played
about five songs and were a lot of fun. They had good voices and good
harmony. By their last couple of songs, they were really warming up the
place.
The lights came on and the stage was cleared and reset. Then with the
lights down again, there began the sound of waves crashing, and then a
chorus of Great Big Sea. It was a sound recording that didn't sound
like them but an older more traditional version. They appeared Darrell
first and Bob last, from a side door on to the stage with Danny handing
them their instruments as they ran past him. They did three songs
without stopping Process man, then BillyPeddle during which Alan shouted
for us to sing along, and then right away Ordinary Day. We were hooked.
They stopped to let us catch our breath and to change instruments.
Alan raised his hands up in that " Greetings, I've come in Peace" pose
of his and said: "Good People of Alexandria, now how regal that
sounds. When people ask my home town I say that I'm from Petty Harbour,
(look of amusement) name for name, it doesn't have the same clout. But
I am proud of Petty Harbour as you are proud of Alexandria, for it is
the place we call home."
"I think we could have our biggest kitchen party ever" was the
introduction to Going Up tonight after which Alan asked us if we liked
their shirts. They all had on nice shirts of differing shades of rose
and purple. There was loud applause for the shirts. "We all went out
and bought new shirts for this tour, Yes and since it's all we have,
we'll be trading shirts for the rest of the tour. Tomorrow in
Philadelphia, I plan to wear Darrell's, and Darrell is wearing Bob's.
And the next night..." Séan interrupted: "You don't get to have my
shirt."Alan made a quick remark about how Séan was most handsome and had
the better taste in shirts which left Séan speechless a while. It seems
there is some long standing rivalry going about who dresses best in this
band.
When Séan finally returned that he had never heard that one before,
Alan said in a caring tender voice: You look down tonight, I just
wanted to cheer you up. Séan responded: Oh am I not funny enough
tonight for you: Am I the not-funny guy then?
It was time to introduce the next song: "Ladies and gentlemen, to my
immediate left the not-funny guy...Sean added: who will now sing a
not-funny song. Did you guess Paddy Murphy? It was getting harder and
harder to obey the stay seated rule.
" So we want to thank you for coming out tonight; It looks like we
have a full house (great cheers) It's only the second time we've
performed here at the Birchmere...( our curiosity is stirred) When we
were here for Sound track earlier today, there was a lot less people(oh
man We're all getting envious) Sean says: As I recall it was just you
and me Buddy. (They got us good!)
"Beggarman was next, which Mr Power rapped out in a concentrated
steady way just like the never say die bass man that he is.. He was
also to sing Excursion around the Bay later.
After Auntie Mary, Alan gave us the history of the band. The
two most common questions are #1 How did the band get started? "Well.
Bob and Darrell can actually play and Sean is gorgeous and I had a van."
#2: Their ethnic background: Are they Irish? In truth, we are one half
Scottish (a few cheers in the audience) and one half Irish (loud uproar)
which means one half of us wants to get drunk all the time while the
other half doesn't want to pay for it!
Alan reminded us of how Newfoundland sticks out on the coast:
"We're kind of like Canada's version of Hawaii but we have prettier
girls." Newfoundland has always been the gateway to the new world. a
crossroads for sailors as such so we've learned a lot of Sea Shanties...
When he started his "perhaps with a little encouragement we can
persuade" routine, the "not funny" Seán just broke in and said "He's
like this all day too, you know. " Bob and Darrell nodded their heads in
agreement, conjuring up the image of Alan walking the streets, giving
great romantic speeches. General Taylor
Séan told us that in the next song his part had eight words and our
part had seven: "My Part is:..(he sang) and Your part is (we sang)... I
think we can just go right into this." The Band agreed. After
Mari-Mac, Alan said "We're going to speed it up now " and they sang Fast
as I can.
"We want to declare the Birchmere a consequence free environment.
We're all catholic. So we'll be taking confessions in the lobby after
the show. Feel free to sin as much as you want. And for one time only,
we will be selling indulgences, free passes to heaven. (they continued
to add on) Sean: " The Pope has a discount on all those; he's doing
better than we are." They bantered until they ran out of things to say
and Bob caught their attention by shaking his head so Séan said: What
do you think Bob should we talk more? Alan: Feel free to jump in."
It was here during Consequence Free and many points after that I
remarked how very strong and well harmonized their voices are . Bob's
voice is noticeably stronger and he plays his numerous stacks of
instruments with such confidence. We were in good hands for the night.
There was some sinning going on for Old Black Rum; a spritely Young
Grandpa who was coming back from trip no. 4 to the bathroom, stood
dancing at his chair, smiling and showing off for his family until they
finally made him obey the rules and sit down. Then they sang a song
"about being bad:" Rover
They picked up the Bouzouki's and Alan said: Now to bring a little
dignity to the stage. First, they gave us an Ode to Joy and then it was
the End of the World.
They invited us to visit their SWAG table. Alan started with his "What
a bargain" routine. I do believe 9 dollars US is getting to be worth
more in Canadian dollars everytime! We're selling t-shirts, Séan had to
add: "nice t shirts for those who don't want to dress like Alan" hats
even socks really thick ones a real bargain.. oh and inflateable dolls
of the band... but Séan is sold out.
The intro to Boston-St John's was simply that it was written quickly on
their way from St. John's on their first ever US tour. That song has
been worked to perfection!
They also sang When I'm up, Rant and roar, and Jolly Butcher: their
exemption from women's revenge on men.
The first encore was old Brown's girl: an example of what men will
do "even go into politics" to win favor with the ladies. (You don't
suppose they had a certain President in mind, do you?) Alan sang the
whole song with his hands in his pockets, like a lovestruck schoolboy.
We were then invited to come visit them "in house." Darrel and Alan
switched mic's for Jakey's song. When they tried to leave, we beat on
the tables so they returned and did Runaway with Séan on the flute.
Apparently some of us had not sinned enough that evening. We were
lead back out the main entrance to the bar in the lobby, where we
commensed to be as wicked as possible. We drank sixteen bottles for the
price of one, trying to get the chance just to talk to one member of the
band, an autograph. We looked around with evil grins and contemplated
bloody racket. Someone asked their stage manager Danny for a dance and
he gave her a second glance but not a soul was allowed back past those
well guarded doors to Paradise. We wallowed in our Purgatorial despair,
begged and pleaded, cried on our partner's shoulders but to no avail.
Alas they never came to the bar as they had promised and it was only the
very wicked, who had stayed behind in the concert hall somehow that gave
their confessions, received their nightly hosts and left one by one with
a look of absolution on their faces. --Jane
it was such an amazing show! i managed to twist arms of five friends of mine and get them to come.
it was really funny afterwards, because they all thanked me profusely.
if you could hear it, we were the ones who shouted "we love you Séan!" in the middle of the show.
we had such great seats! there are two levels, and we were at the very front table of the upper
section, so the sound was good and we had a good view, too.
I think Alan and Séan noticed that I was singing along (very loudly) on all but two songs - jolly roving
tar was one of them. the other one was the song that had a chorus of "I'm a rover, seldom sober..."
and talked about a guy meeting a girl at her window. anyone know what it's called?
we also got strange looks from Alan when we just couldn't sit down and started dancing in the aisles.
first Sarah and I were dancing, and when I sat down, this guy who seemed vaguely sober dragged
Sarah back out and showed her how to *really* dance. at one point she ended up flipped over his
shoulder - you should have seen the look on her face!
I don't remember all of the songs they did, but I know they did process man, ordinary day, when I'm
up, Paddy Murphy, Mari Mac, old black rum, General Taylor, end of the world, Goin' Up, Billy Peddle,
Auntie Mary, consequence free, Boston to St John's (that's *such* an awesome song!), jolly roving tar,
and that song I don't know the name of, fast as I can, run runaway, and a verse of rant and roar. I
know I'm missing some. --Joanna
Actually, it's "Bob and Darrell can actually play
and Sean is gorgeous and I had a VAN."
The Scottish/Irish gag was a trip, everyone cracked up.
it was perfect.
The show was great, just NO dancing which in my
opinion sucks. I don't know how much I would
have done since I was there with my mom, but just
having the option...
Anyway, fantastic show. We got an Old Brown's
Daughter and Alan said that they had just recorded
it, so it will be on the album. YEAH!!!
Can't wait for that to come out. --Kate
