What a great evening in Denver! After the lads had to cancel Red Rocks a couple of years ago, I was most anxious for the show. My 9-yr old daughter Becca had fallen in love with the music over the last two years, and couldn't contain her excitement in the restaurant next door prior to the show - bouncing in and out of her seat, garnering many chuckles from the diners around us!!

It appeared to be a full house, and when the lads took the stage, the audience roared! The energy was intense, and was maintained through the concert, which was spent mostly on our feet!

The banter between Alan and Sean was quite comical, and the visuals created of horses and skidos breaking through the ice, and those of mermaids..........well, those of you who were there know what I mean!!

The lads have a strong following in Colorado, and they certainly did not disappoint!! It was a diverse crowd - young children to those clearly in their later years - all who enjoyed. The young boy next to me was handed the drum sticks from Kris - what a joy to him! I recognized many people who had attended the 32 Blu concert in Colorado Springs two years ago - there are many Canadians living in the Springs who are here in the military. Helen and Janeill - what a joy to see you both and big hugs to you both.

May the lads return soon to the Mile High - and to their favored venue - Red Rocks! They are loved!

Cheers!

Shauna

Shauna, what a treat to hear from you! Sounds like everyone had a GREAT time, including Becca! Let's hope the b'ys make it back to Colorado soon!

Thanks for sharing your concert experience with us!


.

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Sandy

What a GREAT time was had by all in Denver last night! The audience was full of energy and enthusiasm for the band, and vice-versa

It was so much fun to be surrounded by old and new friends from all over the state, and from elsewhere too. A Great Big Sea show in my own home town, was actually somewhat of a Novelty for me! Hugs to Kristin and her gang, Shauna & Becca, Amanda, Nate and his Mom, Brenda, Marianne and Kaitlin (CopmassRose & daughter), Tennis Gal, Noel, Larry, Eric, Janeill, The Shcrock Family and everyone from Kansas (forgive me if i've forgotten anyone!)


I realized, that while this was my 9th GBS show, it was only the 2nd time I'd seen them in Colorado, and the first time was only the 7 song E-town broadcast in May 04 ~ Making this the first FULL Great Big Sea show for me, here at home!


There was a huge crowd gathered before the show at Fado's Irish Pub, with little NFLD flags on about 6 tables, and a big one draped over a divider. About 10 minutes after we arrived someone in the Pub put Road Rage on over the speaker sytem and we all felt right at home. However, in Denver we were all enjoying one of our first PUBLIC hearings anywhere of GBS !!!

We were all amused by this decoration, which was right behind our reserved area:
Signage Inside Fado's Irish Pub


The Bus, efore the show...almost walked right past it before i saw it! They had the sidewalk taped off around the bus! Was surprised to see that!


At the merch table Glenn told me they had a 6:30 flight home in the morning, so the weren't going out to party. OH WELL. Good for them, they deserve a break.

The show was so much fun! It was a fairly typical set for this tour, with the Horse through D'ice being Charlie for the night. We got the Living Room SoNC and a General Taylor that WAS on the list this time. General Taylor was one of the best I've ever been a part of! River Driver was fabulous. Going from rough and growly (mmmmmm) to tender and sweet (mmmmmm). In Scolding Wife Bob threw the mermaid naked on the floor!

There was a lot of on-stage banter and it was hysterical, ending in several giggly starts to songs. Do I remember any of it well enough to quote it?

At one point, it may have been during Fortune, kris was behind Alan and began strumming Alan's guitar, while Alan played chords and sang; never missing a beat, and then Kris went right back to his accordion, while Sean was up on the drum kit! YUP must have been Fortune! It was wild!

The 80's sing-along set included Sweet Dreams, Video Killed, Jesse's Girl and Phantom of the Opera.

The sound was good too. Sometimes in the front rows you loose some sound quality, but they hed it set up great! Murray's bass solos sounded excellent, ever improving

I didn't take any pictures.

I was so absorbed in enjoying the music, and being with my friends, and just wanted to soak it all in and BE in the moment. They also seemed pretty strict about cameras there. I was having too much fun! I hope someone got some photos.

Kristin got a set list, I hope she'll post it here later.


Cheers!

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Helen




I'm goin' Straight to Hell-On-Wheels!

Thanks for the reviews, ladies! Looking forward to seeing them back in this neck of the woods after a well deserved and I'm sure, much needed break!

Glad to hear that a good time was had by all, but didn't doubt that it would be anything other for a single second.

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live simply - love generously - care deeply - speak kindly - leave the rest to God

Okay I have a question... I keep seeing

"The living room SoNC" what does this mean exactly have I missed something.. is there a version of this song I have yet to hear ??

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Music washes away from the soul, the dust of everyday life.

- Berthold Auerbach

quote:

Originally posted by Smiley44:
Okay I have a question... I keep seeing

"The living room SoNC" what does this mean exactly have I missed something.. is there a version of this song I have yet to hear ??

I heard it for the first time in Brantford. It's an acoustic version and Séan sings the second version. it's also a bit slower if I remember correctly it's how they originally learned the song.

Anyone please feel free to jump in and correct me if i'm wrong.

Yes Tanya you have it right. It's the version Alan first heard when Sean and Chris Trapper first sang it to him in Sean's living room. Unpugged.

Anne

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And when the winds of change begin to blow,
I'll whisper, "You're my lighthouse" in case you didn't know.

Sons of Maxwell

visit my website!:
Anne's Philly Phan Site at http://www.gbsfanatic.com

Oh me, Oh my .. I can't wait to hear this version..and Sean sings the second verse, how wonderful Alan and Sean singing one of my fave tunes !!

Giddy up St.Pat's day your taking to long to get here.

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Music washes away from the soul, the dust of everyday life.

- Berthold Auerbach

and thanks for the info girls.. that was quick !!

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_____________________________________

Music washes away from the soul, the dust of everyday life.

- Berthold Auerbach

Having only known about GBS for about a year, the Denver show was my first GBS show (and pretty much the first concert I've honestly really wanted to go to). I had a great time at the show last night, even if the sound was a touch off seeming now and again. I really enjoyed the energy of the show and the banter on stage which made the show that much more entertaining.
I look forward to having the chance to see GBS again someday, whenever my luck will have that occur.

Oh, and those who were on the left side of the theater may have seen me roaming about as I had my griffon puppet, Max with me last night. It was a hoot wandering around with him during intermission.

.\_/.

Welcome to the kitchen, Darcarin! How did you find out aout GBS? And don't worry, they'll be back to Colorado sometime, they always include us when they tour!


Something that made me laugh today was remembering a string of introductions to songs in the first set:

The intro to Charlie Horse had Ski-Doo's going through the ice, and a quiet murmur of "here's to electrolisis" and the usual discussion of Shave, and wax, and so forth. The talk on stage was so long and rambling that Alan seemed to forget which song he was introducing!

After Charlie Horse it went something like (paraphrased):

"we now go from songs about horses fallin' tru d'ice to a song that seems to be about lust, or love, lust, well its really about something else, its about breaking and entering" leading into I'm a Rover

This was followed by "so going from songs about horses thru d'ice to songs about breaking and entering, now we have another song about lust, lust and insurance fraud" and thus began Gideon Brown.

this isn't word for word, but you get the jist, it was a fit of giggles both on an off the stage! Alan DOES have a delightful way of saying "lust" which he must have repeated quite deliberately many times in his intros!


its back to life, back to reality tomorrow!
cheers,

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Helen




I'm goin' Straight to Hell-On-Wheels!

Thanks for the welcome. I ran across GBS just over a year and a couple months while playing with Musicmatch Jukebox on my laptop, and tuning into a celtic station through it. GBS popped up on it, and that's about all it took to stir my intrest in them. It takes something mightly special in a band to get my attention like they have. Not many bands catch my intrest past a few songs, where with GBS I enjoy the majority of what they do.
I'll prolly be off to Florida by the next time they come around here though knowing my luck. Only in Denver for a couple of years for school.

.\_/.

The show was absolutely amazing. I was stage Bob (like directly in front of him, but a few rows back , but the stage was so small that I had a great view of the entire band. Two sets plus the encores weren't near enough!

The only problem I had with the show was people getting up to go get drinks in the middle of the sets. The rows in the orchestra section were so jammed that almost everyone had to file out of the aisle to let someone in the middle out. It should have been like a hockey game where you're not allowed to be seated while the action's going. Oh, that and the couple in front of me were, ahem, politely asked to leave the theatre right before the first encore. It seems the gentleman almost came to fisticuffs with an usher over a flask they had smuggled in. *sigh* Some people.... ah, well.

Can't wait until the b'ys get back this way again!

At the outset, I'll say that it was definitely worth the 800 mile round-trip from central Kansas to Denver to see the show and glad that we brought 4 Denverites to see GBS for the first time. The band's positive energy has been refreshing each of the 5 times I've seen them.

Having said that, there were two things that kept it from being a perfect evening. Both pertain to the venue instead of the band. They were

• the sound system
• the security people

One thing I like about GBS (and other Canadian artists) is that you can usually understand every word at least if you have a copy of the Dictionary of Newfoundland English which I do. That's certainly true on the GBS records and was true the other 4 times I've seen GBS. I seriously doubt that GBS has been taking mumbling lessons from American rock stars, so I think it was the sound system (some overmodulation somewhere between the mikes and the speakers). Those of us who are already GBS fans already know the lyrics, so it may not have been as obvious. However we had brought 4 newbies to the concert. From time to time, I'd wonder whether they understood certain phrases and doubted that they did.

The other downside of an otherwise perfect evening was security. During the break, my son and I draped a 3'x5' Newfoundland flag over the balcony. See http://shorock.com/gbs/20060219/showpix.html?id=33. A security guard told my son that it had to be removed. We did so. Then occasionally, we'd stand up and hold it with our hands. Even that provoked another visit from the security guard who threatened my son with arrest if we persisted. GBS has been good about creating jobs for Newfoundlanders by bringing along one of the best road crews in the music world. Perhaps they could create a few more jobs by getting a second bus and bringing their own security crew. I know that no bouncer from George Street would ever chastise someone for waving a Newfoundland flag.

Returning to a positive note, I'm very, very glad that we were invited to the Street Team get-together at Fado Irish Pub and Restaurant before the show. It was a pleasure to meet Helenwheels and all the others (including one other couple from Kansas).

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http://shorock.com/gbs

It was great to meet you and your family too Don!

I must have turned around just at the right moment, because i saw your banner proudly waving over the balcony!

And, about that get together at Fado's: Thank you for the table decorations! And if it wasn't for your NFLD flag, I wouldn't have spotted our group!

I had three newbies with me too, and they all loved it. The music, the performance, the musicianship, the humour, the stage presence; it all reached each one of them, each in their own way. Two of my friends were brought to tears. My friend 3 times and her husband once! My other friend (aa musician) was just staring at Bob, and commented on how he played everything! They all wanted to know about THAT DRUM ! They were all eager to go again next time the band is in town.

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Helen




I'm goin' Straight to Hell-On-Wheels!