Ha! I was just about to post my review, so I'll cut and paste it over here!
No Tarrytown review yet,
eh? Not sure I’m the best equipped to provide the first one, but for what it’s
worth, good lord I had a good time last night!!! Admittedly, the circumstances
were well set for me to have fun – my old roommate (and very best
friend) flew up from South Carolina
to go to the show with me. We lived together in NYC for seven and a half years
before she moved to Charleston
two years ago. We went to 10 or 12 Great Big Sea shows during that
time, and each of them was like, best night ever levels of fun, so
having
her (a) back in New York for a visit and (b) with me at a Great Big Sea
show
made last night pretty much the very best of all the best nights ever!
That
said, even absent my happy personal circumstances, the
band put on a great show last night! To use Sean’s phrasing, last night
was the
“penultimate” show of this leg of the tour, and I got the vibe, at
least, that
the guys were in great moods – psyched to be going home soon, but not
at all
road weary. Probably the most energetic set I’ve ever seen them play –
with the
minor exceptions of England, John Barbour, River Driver, and Chemical
Worker’s Song, every song was a “get up and dance” kind of deal. And
dance we did! Props to
the crowd: I was a little nervous because my experience has been that
the seats
go well-used at venues that have ‘em, but the folks on the floor, at
least,
spent most of the night on their feet boogy-ing!
Other notes:
1.
We had a near disaster at one point during the show. I don't recall
which song they were playing, but Alan was wandering toward Murray,
then suddenly did an about face, charged toward Kris, and catapulted
himself onto the drum riser. The carpet beneath the drum set slipped
under the weight of Alan's enthusiasm, though, knocking down some
equipment on the drum set, kicking a bottle of water onto the floor
(the cap was on it, at least, but it rolled toward Murray, who then
spent the next 15 seconds attempting to kick it off the stage, except
it kept getting caught in his wire) and nearly sending Alan straight
into the drum set. With the knowledge that tragedy was, in the end,
averted, I can report that it was pretty darn comical to watch!
2.
Personal favorite moment: I'm one of these hopeless (or, hopeful?)
Fruheads who continues to hope that Moxy Fruvous will, some day, end
the hiatus, so admittedly, I was a little Murray-focused during the
evening. So at one point toward the end of the show, Bob came over to
sing with Murray into Murray's mic. I guess Murray's vocal part ended,
because he backed away from the mic, but Bob kept singing, and in his
enthusiasm (everybody was very enthusiastic last night!), he emoted some
kind of "Oh yeah!" type of shout at the end of his vocal part and
nearly blew Murray right out of his monitor. Murray grabbed his ear in
semi-comic pain and started cracking up. It was the sort of thing I
could see Sean doing to be intentionally mischievous, but I think Bob
just got a little wrapped up in things and plum forgot that shouting
into Murray's mic might kill Murray.
3.
Confession: They played a song that they're testing for the new album,
and I hated it. Something about good people? I don't know. My roommate
totally called it: Her parents live in Hilton Head, SC, and every
Tuesday night, a children's performer comes and sings for all the
tourists staying in the little harbor area where they live. This song
sounded like something that guy would sing. Just a little too simple.
4. I absolutely loved the venue! For the faraway folks, Tarrytown
is a little Hudson River town, about 20 miles north of New York City. A quaint little place (as old Hudson River towns tend to be) with tons of history. The
theatre was built in 1885, and it really doesn’t appear to have had much work
done to it since then. (The non-profit organization that runs the place is
attempting to renovate and restore it, but they don’t appear to have gotten
terribly far.) The downside of this was that the place was a little
treacherous: Entering the theatre involved mountain goat-ing one’s way down the
most insanely steep ramp I think I’ve ever walked down, and getting to the
(three stall, one sink) bathroom involved a bunch of rickety old stairs. But the place was
beautiful. At one point Alan actually asked that they turn on the house lights
so we could all take a minute to appreciate the building – intricate carvings on
the ceilings and just a cool old-time theatre vibe. Super nice staff, too.
So yeah. Just a great night! One of the best Great Big
Sea shows that I’ve ever
seen, I think. It didn’t have the down and dirty, sweaty energy of a gig packed
into the Bowery Ballroom or some other seedy SRO-type place, but an awesome
show in a good, clean fun kind of way! Can’t wait till the next one!