Westhampton Beach Performing Arts Center Presents Great Big Sea

Celtic Rock Band

Updated: October 4, 2009, 9:10 am; hamptons.com

Westhampton Beach - Juno-nominated Celtic-rock band Great Big Sea (GBS) brings their solid original tunes and rock interpretations of traditional Newfoundland folk songs to the Westhampton Beach Performing Arts Center on Sunday, Oct. 11 at 8 p.m. in the Mollie Parnis Auditorium.

Featuring members Bob Hallet, Alan Doyle and Séan McCann, GBS plays with a refreshing lack of pretention and an endless supply of vigor. Known for their high-energy shows, this eclectic and charismatic band fuses traditional Celtic music with modern pop to create a crowd-pleasing, boisterous show. Their unique blend of instruments bellows sheer joy, incorporating elements of bouzouki, fiddle, banjo, accordion and whistles into their sound.

Great Big Sea's highly original live shows encourage audience members to shout and bounce along to their soulful ballads and rousing jigs. The band's lyrical storytelling songs like "A Boat Like Gideon Brown" and "The Night Pat Murphy Died" will place you right on a fishing boat of the coast of the North Atlantic.

Great Big Sea is currently touring in support of their most recent album, "Fortune's Favour." Consisting of 12 original songs produced by Canadian indie performer/producer Hawksley Workman, the album brings a new pop sensibility to their Celtic/folk/pop mix. "Fortune's Favour" sees GBS boldly embracing new sounds and new ideas, fearlessly pushing the boundaries of their own art and music. In their lifelong quest to marry the traditional music of Newfoundland with their own pop explorations, "Fortune's Favour" is a new benchmark.

For more information visit www.greatbigsea.com.

Tickets are $50, $40, and $30, and be purchased in three ways: On-Line at www.whbpac.org, calling the Box Office at 631-288-1500, or by visiting WHBPAC at 76 Main Street, Westhampton Beach. Tickets are available Wednesday through Sunday, from 12 noon to 6 p.m. and later on show nights.