Wow - it's been a long time since I've been here! Lots of new faces - good to see some old friends too!

 I can't find any reviews of last night's show yet (maybe nobody's up yet?) so I thought I'd post a brief one myself.

 Spirit of the West may be the ultimate opener for GBS. I remember seeing them together a couple of years ago and so was really excited when I heard they were the opening act again. They are so much fun to watch - I can't get over how much energy John Mann has! Of course they brought the house down with Home For a Rest. Another personal favourite was The Jones since I work with a child with special needs. According to John Mann, Victoria is the second sexiest city in the world - the sexiest being Venice (third place goes to Lethbridge!).

Great Big Sea was awesome! It's been a couple of years since I've seen them and I've never seen them perform in a hockey arena before. The show was almost sold out. I went with a co-worker who has never seen them before. We sat 3rd row from the back in the stands - stage Sean. My friend was thoroughly impressed from start to finish. Our only complaint was the sound quality - Sean was often hard to hear, while Alan's voice overpowered everyone's at times (even when he was singing harmony). There was much banter about the Junos and how they have never won one. There were threats to Ben Mulroney and Justin Trudeau followed by apologies to all children of Canadian Prime Ministers which someone is bound to post on YouTube. My personal favourite was when the boys from SOTW came out during the encore and sang two songs together - much mayhem ensued! I am wondering why they only did one encore - every other time I've seen them they've done at least 2. Is this a new thing, or might it have more to do with city bylaws, Alan's jet lag or something like that? All the band members seemed to be really enjoying themselves - they were all really animated (even Murray and Kris - who sang to us and told us that he was bringing sexy back!). One of my favourite bits of banter was when Alan commented that Canada was really lucky to be bookended by such great islands! As he said, "the rest is just filler - no offence Murray." Sean commented that he had gome for a run in the morning and tried to figure out why he didn't live here - then he looked at the real estate classifieds in the paper. Alan figured if they won a Juno on Sunday maybe the 5 of them could pool their money together and get a condo - LOL!

 I trust someone else will fill in more details (like set list, etc). It was a fantastic night! Good luck at the Junos boys!

 Mandy  

 

Nice review Mandy!!  I don't think I could add anything else!!  This was my first time seeing Spirit of the West and I have to say I hope to see them again soon!!  They were awesome!!  We were Row 2 almost Stage Murray.  We were right in front of the speakers and boy was it loud!!!  I agree about the sounds, I thought the sounds of the instruments really drowned out the singing for most of the concert and that was disappointing!!  Of course it doesn't help that we were right in front of the speakers I'm sure!!  It seemed to get better towards the end of the concert but then maybe that is because my ears and finally adjusted or something!!  I had an awesome time in the end and I hope it's not another 2 years before I see the boys again!!

---

Great job on the review - you picked up on all the highlights of the show. I wasn't close enough to grab a set list, nor can I remember them all. But I was stoked to hear "I'm a Rover" as it's one of my favourites.

I took a few videos of the encore set, and the first has uploaded if anyone's interested.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-mXEP7oxKWo

It's the last half of So Political, when SOTW joined the b'ys up on stage. The were so full of energy - can't believe Alan had only just stepped off a plane that afternoon.

---

Jess ~ Victoria, BC

Yes, the show was great!

When SOTW came out I thought the bass was a little loud. (I was Row 2, Stage Murray) But it got better when Great Big Sea came out. (No offense to Spirit of the West)

After the song, "England' Alan praised Murray, but he was humble about it and he reminded him to tell the crowd about Kris. Murray is such a nice guy.

For some reason, Murray was full of energy last night, he seemed to be jumping a lot. (I was too).

As some have mentioned, the sound wasn't very good, I recorded "Ferryland Sealer" but the sound probably isn't too good on it.

Oh, and the Spirit of the West guys were staying at the same hotel as me. (and the funny thing was, the people that came in after us, were at the show too! I also saw the SOTW on the ferry today.

I took some pictures and videos that I'll post when I get them on to my computer.

Thanks,

gbsiscool5531

---

There is no need for hate against any group of people.

I too noticed that Murray was quite energetic last night but I thought it was awesome to see him getting so into the music like that!!!  I got lots of pictures and videos and have posted some of the videos on my Facebook page already but I'm not sure if everyone can view them or not.  Here is a link to one of the videos.  Please let me know if it doesn"t work.

http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/video/video.php?v=142595645323&ref=nf

---

I have to say I found the instruments overpowering to the point where I often couldn't tell which song was being performed until half way through.  I think that SOTW's mix was better, but still unlistenable.  All in all, very disappointing.  The bass line was often loud enough to vibrate the metal structure.  I had to plug my ears and I feel sorry for the children in the audience.  My kids would have run screaming from the venue.

 

 

Ditto. 

Part of me wonders if the people responsible for the sound check just thought that's what a hockey arena sounds like and decided to settle for it. Well, GM Place in Vancouver is also a hockey arena albeit a much larger one with greater challenges. Yet, somehow, the performers there manage to balance sound levels accordingly. The old Victoria Memorial arena .. aka the Barn on Blanshard... was notorious for it's bad, echoing sound.  The sound engineers for GBS/SOTW came close to replicating that sound. Maybe we should thank them for the nostalgia?

 I am not criticizing either GBS or SOTW; I'm sure their monitors were great and they had no inkling that many in the audience could not hear them well. ... Although I thought I detected some puzzlement on Alan's face when the audience wasn't singing along quite as enthusiastically as they usually do. It was because we couldn't HEAR ... sometimes, regardless of how well we know the tune, the best we could do was guess.

 

Last night was so much fun! We were stage Sean/Bob, front row and had a total blast. I agree that the bass sounded really loud during SOTW, I could feel it vibrating through me. There seemed to be a lot of sound trouble with this show, but it was a blast anyways! Anyone figure out if Alan went out to a pub afterwards? We went to the Stickey Wickett for a drink but didn't see anyone (except a lady with reddish hair and a red shirt who was a few seats over from us in the front row!). Alan tossed some guitar picks at us though! I think my favourite part was the encore with SOTW, Political in particular although the Old Black Rum was lots of fun too. :) I got lots of pictures and some videos but those will have to wait till later, 'cause it's the Juno Cup tonight!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PCzSBiEtNII

Here is a video of scolding wife.

gbsiscool5531

 

---

There is no need for hate against any group of people.

It's really sad.  I played that clip for my 17yo and she couldn't understand the lyrics either.  I don't even remember them playing that.

I've been told in the past that, in concert, many bands try to mix their sound so that the people at the back can hear just as well as the people at the front. I suspect I had better sound than the people at the front, simply because I was nowhere near a speaker. I was able to figure out the tunes fairly quickly each time, but couldn't always hear the words - particularly Sean's. I found that SOTW's sound was far better than GBS. I have been to only one other concert at that arena and the sound was very good for that (or maybe the sound was so bad that I've blocked the memory ;)).

Of course the sound quality didn't stop me from having a grand time - and my friend told me the next day that she had also had a great time.

 Mandy   :D

Welcome Back, Mandy! 

It sounds like it was a great show - glad they came your way again!  I wonder if Sean's low vocals were because he was sick?

It sure is good to see you here again!

---

Helen




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

What a combination of GBS & SOTW!!!! OH MY! I was so excited since I found out they will play together!!! I was totally ready to dance & sing-a-long! One thing I have to say "THANK YOU" to the person or the group who organized the pre-sale tickets. I could not ask for more for the seat that I got~~ when I got the tickets and found out I am in Sec B Row 4, I wasn't sure how many rows of people will be standing in front of me... well... at least 4 rows from Sec B. BUT... when I got there, Sec B row 4 is actually the 1st row after the Sec Floor!! My bf and I got the space in front of us to dance like crazy! Not only that, I also right in the centre stage -- Alan & Sean Stage! Thank you once again for those wonderful seats!!!

OK... back to the show... My bf is a fan of SOTW, he went to their concert back in 1983 in UVic. (Too bad they didn't sing "Save This House".) Myself is more a GBS fan... I love all the songs arrangment, but I was a bit disappointed about some hit songs they didn't sing... ie. The Mermaid, Yarmouth Town, You Forget Me Not, Mari Mac... I wish they did more! Overall it was a GREAT show~ I hope I don't need to wait another 2 years before they come back to Victoria again.

I totally agree about the sound, I coundn't hear a word from Sean when they first came out. It was so terrible. I tried to give him some hand signal that his voice wasn't projecting that well... I can't really hear that... but what can he do? Not sure what had happened... Sean seems a bit quiet and not in the mood that night. I remembered he used to make funny conversation with Alan during the show... but not really this time.... also he didn't use his drum that much... anyone know what happened? But I am so glad to hear him sing in Juno, even though it wasn't their song (I don't really like that song), but you have to agree that Sean got a nice voice and he sing really well!!!

I never met any boys in person and I decided to get some autograph after the show, I waited there for at least an hour... and didn't see Bob or Sean. Alan was so nice that came out and sign autograph & take pictures with us. He is a nice man!

I hope GBS & SOTW will have another show together in future!!!!

Alan came out and signed stuff after the show? Dagnabbit! I'd never been to a concert in Victoria before so we weren't sure where to wait after the show so we didn't hang around at all. Dagnabbit! And we were a block away in our hotel room an hour after the concert! Oh well. Maybe next time. 

Here is a video of Sean doing a little walk during the singalong part!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Otwhssowegg