We played for pretty much a sold out show last night in Portsmouth. Not often you get to do that on your first run through a town. It’s usually a much slower build.

I recall our first gig in Ottawa, Ontario, where we recently broke the 10,000 tickets barrier for the first time. Our debut was not so well attended. We played the Newfoundland Pub on Montreal Road for about 35 people, 25 of which were cousins or friends of ours.  

Tonight we play the Orpheum in Boston. Effectively this is the premier concert theatre in the city. It is a long way from our first visit to the Boston area when we played a wee Irish pub in Quincy for about eight people. My friend Connie, from Petty Harbour, brought six of them. From the pub in Quincy to the Orpheum in Boston, and it only took a decade of about twenty-five shows to do it.

Let’s hope slow and steady wins the race.

For those of you in the Toronto area, you might consider checking out a great piece of theatre this week. ‘Tempting Providence’, a play about a missionary nurse on the pioneering west coast of Newfoundland, plays at the Factory Theatre till the 22nd of April. It is about rural Newfoundland but it could be about India or South Africa or Australia, or any where in the colonies the British Empire sent doctors and nurses.

It is a clever four person show that uses only a table and cloth for a set. It may very well be the best play I’ve ever seen.

GBS at the Orpheum tonight. Finally.

Cheers,
Alan