Ten years ago today, I attended a Canada Day concert in Central Park in NYC. The Tragically Hip headlined the show, and admittedly, they were the main draw for me. Great Big Sea was the first opener (followed by the Jeff Healey Band), and though I'd heard maybe 3 or 4 of their songs, I arrived early enough to catch their set only because I wanted to be front and center for The Hip.

Long story short: Great Big Sea totally blew me away. I'm not telling anybody on this board anything you don't already know, but it was the most enjoyable live performance I'd ever seen, and particularly awesome because it was totally unexpected. They were the highlight of the entire afternoon for me, beating out even The Hip. (Although, I must add that I saw The Hip on their most recent tour maybe two months ago, and I'm still buzzing from the show. It was ridiculous.)

At any rate, I've missed only one NYC-area Great Big Sea show in the last 10 years, and I received my Row C tickets for the Tarrytown gig just last night. The band has been a really fun part of my life for the last decade, and hope they stick around for another decade to come!!! 

I know exactly how you felt.  I went to a outdoor concert at the Festival of Friends in Hamilton in 85 and I can't even remember what band I was dying to see.  GBS blew everyone away.  I have had to drag friends to go over the years and even though they all said no at first, after seeing them, they are all fans.  Latest fan just saw them in Guelph and she will be taking her husband to Buffalo this summer.  I took my sister on the cruise and she also could not beleive how much fun there concerts were. 

I don't think anyone seeing them live can not love them.

BillandAudrey:

I have had to drag friends to go over the years and even though they all said no at first, after seeing them, they are all fans.

This is so true! I once tried to count how many different friends I've dragged with me to various Great Big Sea shows over the years (it's seriously in the neighborhood of 15-20), and all but one of them are big fans now. (The one who didn't enjoy the show had a whole lot of family drama going on at the time, so we'll chalk her remarkable ability to have a bad time at a Great Big Sea show up to that!  )

BillandAudrey:

  I went to a outdoor concert at the Festival of Friends in Hamilton in 85

Not to be a contrarian, but I seriously doubt you saw GBS in '85.  They played their first gig in '93.  Alan would have been 16 in '85.  Either a typo or a case of failed memory. 

Cheers!
Janeill
<a stickler for details>

I was at that Central Park concert. They did Everything Shines for the sound check! I met a lot of grreat people there that evening. You can see our review here - http://www.geocities.com/ka3kcj/nycreview.html and more photos here - http://www.geocities.com/ka3kcj/nycpics.html

Anne

AnneInPhilly:

I was at that Central Park concert. They did Everything Shines for the sound check! I met a lot of grreat people there that evening. You can see our review here - http://www.geocities.com/ka3kcj/nycreview.html and more photos here - http://www.geocities.com/ka3kcj/nycpics.html

Anne

Thanks so much for posting these!!! Because I wasn't terribly familiar with the band at the time, I have very few specific recollections from the show. It's filed in my memory more as a "really fun experience" than anything specific! I do remember Alan's horrible pants now that I see the pictures though!!! 

But you're right! This show happened in 2000, not 1999. (So it's only my 9-year anniversary.) It's weird, because there are a lot of very specific things -- where I was living, my roommate at the time -- that made me think this show occurred in 1999, but I just checked my CD collection, and Music@Work (which The Hip were supporting at the time) was released in 2000. How odd!!! I'm going to have to do some thinking on where those memories came from!

Anyhow, happy 9-year anniversary to me, I guess! 

Somehow I managed to avoid GBS for years.  Sometimes it kills me to think about it.  4 trips to Newfoundland, I was a Gaelic Storm fan, and GBS even played a free concert minutes from my home one year.  I never found out about them until 1 ½ years ago.  Someone bought me a CD and said you have GOT to listen to this!  I’m addicted now and we made it to 3 concerts last year. 

I’m always sooooo jealous when I hear of people who have been fans for a long time, have gone to many concerts and have been with the band as they have changed and grown.  Imagine how much happier my life would have been if I had GBS music in it for the past 10 years!  Sigh….

CodCheeks:

Somehow I managed to avoid GBS for years.  Sometimes it kills me to think about it.  4 trips to Newfoundland, I was a Gaelic Storm fan, and GBS even played a free concert minutes from my home one year.  I never found out about them until 1 ½ years ago. 

I definitely consider myself fortunate. Absent that inadvertent encounter, I doubt I'd ever have come in contact with the band -- they don't get any radio play here, and I've been the one to introduce all my friends to the band.

It's cool when that happens though. I see a guy called Matt Nathanson every time he's in town, and that was the same sort of thing. I'd gone to an O.A.R. show at this hideous amphitheatre on Long Island. They don't serve alcohol inside, so the entire audience was tailgating in the parking lot when Matt started playing. I'd have been out there, too, but at the very last minute, the person with whom I was attending the show had to bail, so I was there alone. Figured I might as well go inside. I counted, and there were literally 14 other people in the entire place. But this guy starts playing, and he was just fantastic. His music was a little emo-goofy, but he was hilarious and a really great performer. That was probably 5 or 6 years ago, and I'd guess I've seen him 20 times since then.

I guess it's why bands have opening acts. (Although I'm perfectly fine with the Evening with Great Big Sea format -- more GBS for us!!! :o)

My first real exposure to Gret Big Sea was watching them on CH New Year's Eve from Niagara Falls.  My ex-boyfriend's sister was (and presumably still is) a huge fan, and would plan her year around how many shows she could get to.

 Heard the music on the radio and really liked it.  My brother's girlfriend is a great big fan and talked us all into going to the Molson Ampitheatre show in July 2008.  We loved it, and saw them again in November at Hamilton Place.  We decided that we liked the show in Hamilton better, so reluctantly took a pass on the Ampitheatre show this summer.  (Besides, I'm spending a weekend in Stratford next month seeing a couple of shows so there goes the entertainment budget).  Will have to satisfy my concert longings by listening to Road Rage (once I get the CD player in my car fixed) and grabbing a couple of DVDs

Isn't it great how we all came to being GBS fans, though we come from vastly different places and generations? :-D

I've been a fan since I was 12, and I just had to know more about that cool-sounding Canadian band who made that wonderful song "Ordinary Day" - the one that's cheered me up on countless occasions.  Then it just sort of blossomed from there.  :-D