PETTY HARBOUR DAY!!!
Headed out to Petty
Harbour and arrived about 5pm and listened to some local talent…actually
they were quite good, but it was funny how many of them were doing GBS
songs!! I know, you're thinking, "but they could just be singing the
traditional songs - not necessarily GBS tunes!!"….I know, but, they were
singing them with the GBS beat and mannerisms!!! Very cute! -
especially the kids!! :-) It was great to see the townsfolk just get
up and do a number! Alan was scheduled to come on at 8pm, but didn't
come on until about 8:30, but WHAT A SHOW!!!!!!!!!!!! Anyhow, to go
back a bit in the day, I was standing in line to get Jenny some fries
and a little girl (about 5 or 6 years old)and her mother were standing
behind me and we all got to talking (the line was going VERY slow). The
little girl had something clenched tightly in her fist, and was munching
on something in the other fist. Her mother asked her what on earth she
was holding and it turned out to be that fruit rollup stuff called
"Fruit by the foot". Her mother asked why she had a smaller piece
clenched in her fist. She looked up at her mother with this innocent
look on her face and said "It's for Alan!". Her mother was a little
shocked and said "Ok…when are you going to give it to him?". She
thought about this for a moment (imagine her face crunched up in a "I'm
thinking" look) and suddenly her face brightened in this BIG smile and
she said " After the concert", then she got a serious look on her face
and said "'cause he'll be hungry!". Her mother & I exchanged looks like
"Awwwww… isn't that SOOOO cute!!!!". Hee hee. Ok…back to the concert.
Alan came on and played (in no particular order): Jolly Roving Tar,
Rant & Roar, Someday Soon (he started this off by asking if anyone in
the crowd had heard of GBS' first album - of course a roar went up from
the crowd - then he asked if anyone HAD that album….at least 95% of the
crowd put up their hands!!! :-), Run Runaway (with a 9 year old boy who
had performed earlier), Boston to St. John's (a new song Alan has written
about leaving loved ones behind - OH MY GOD…..what a fabulous
song!!!!!!), Ladder (a new, absolutely hilarious song about a girl
trying to climb the ladder of success by kissing butt along the way),
Consequence Free, Ordinary Day, Lukey, Old Black Rum (which Alan said
proved that Bob was a wonderful song writer! Until that moment I hadn't
realized that Bob wrote that song - I thought it was a traditional
song. Alan said to have people think a song you've just written is a
traditional song is a great compliment to the writer), When I'm Up, Fast
As I Can, Mari-Mac was requested but Alan said "That's Sean's song -
he'd kill me! By the way, he's travelling around France at the moment -
I really miss the guys, but we'll see each other in a few days" (of
course this brought back a memory of a story Shelley told me about one
of the first concerts she went to - The boys were really hyper one night
so Alan decided to explain why… this was their first show after a break
and it was the first time he'd seen the others in a WHOLE week!!!! He
asked Sean if he'd missed him, and Sean said "Actually it was nice &
quiet", but you could tell he regretted it and wished he could eat his
words as soon as they were out of his mouth, so he was fumbling around
trying to apologize, but the look on Alan's face - he was just
devastated!!!! Anyhow, after a couple minutes of groveling by Sean,
Alan turned around with a big grin on his face and said to the crowd
"talk amongst yourselves - we must embrace!", and that's what Sean &
Alan proceeded to do, ran towards each other with arms outstretched and
hugged!!! Darrell & Bob just shook their heads…..Anyhow, I just love
that story, and as soon as Alan said he missed the boys, I just started
to laugh 'cause I pictured this story!!). Alan called his Dad up on
stage to sing a sing with him.
Alan: "Is Tom Doyle in the crowd? I'm sure some of you know this man -
I just call him Dad. My Dad taught us this song, and we've adapted it
for GBS."
Dad: "I taught him everything he knows - which isn't much!!"
Alan: *laughs*
Dad: "Ok, let's go"
Alan: "in the key of 'G' right?"
Dad: "Yeah", as he looks at Alan's guitar "that's those 2 fingers
there!"
Alan: *doubles over in laughter*
They start singing Paddy Murphy. Some different words but still a great
song, in fact, Jenny liked that version better! His Dad stayed on stage
for another song and they called Alan's Uncle's up on stage to join in
Berry Picking Time, Alan called his sister up on stage and they did
Cyndi Lauper's Time After Time, and Big Yellow Taxi, Alan sang Old
Brown's Daughter. He was on stage for close to 2 hours - no one wanted
him to leave!! It was great - the crowd was wonderful - very friendly
and looking out for one another. All the little kids were sitting at
the front and the adults formed an arc around them. The announcer
started off by NOT announcing Alan, she just had the crowd start
chanting: "Alan, Alan, Alan…" until he came on stage. Almost near the
end he was begging for a bottle of water (Damn…left mine in the car) and
finally got one and almost drowned himself in relief! :-) Afterwards
it was the weirdest autograph signing I've ever seen - they had Alan
sitting inside a hut signing stuff through a window!! Sarah said that
Angela had asked her to get something signed for her "wee beastie", but
Sarah was too shy/embarrassed?? to get it, so I went up to the window
and asked Alan to sign the program for a little guy named Adam who lives
in Ontario. So got that and joined the other two at the side door.
OH….and we met Jenny & Megs from the chatroom there too!!….anyhow, Alan
came out the side door and saw us and said (with this huge grin on his
face) "Hey, you made it….Welcome to the ROCK!!!". He seemed really
happy to see Hostage and I. Hostage told him we were leaving in the
morning to go down to the southern peninsula to her family's home in
Lawn. We chatted for a few more minutes and
then Alan said he had to go before his brother killed him for being
late, so we left (it had been a long day) and drove Sarah home and
headed out to our hotel. --Claire Saunders
