I had a blast at the Bremerton show last night. 

 The majority of the audience were obviously there because they were season ticket holders to the venue.  I know that I saw the owner of the private Montessori preschool/kindergarten my kids attended there with her spouse.  They said that they had never even heard of Great Big Sea before but they were both enjoying them immensely.  At the intermission they asked for a recommendation for which CD to buy. In the restroom at intermission I didn't hear a single negative word about the b'ys, and I heard a lot of people gushing about how they'd never heard of GBS before and were LOVING the concert.  By the end of the concert some of the seated, non-participating folks were on their feet.

 I think the venue worked very well for the concert.  The theater itself has a nautical theme including underwater murals on the walls which seem appropriate for GBS.  The set up with the tables on the floor worked great and had the added bonus of having a bar inside the theater with a fabulous wait staff.  Alan and Sean joked about this being the perfect venue because you had the people above you in the balcony like a proper theater then the floor sections was like a bar - a best of both worlds.  Of course that started questions about are they serving alcohol and do they have food too or just drinks.  Sean ordered a Cosmo while on stage and had it hand delivered by the general manager of the theater.  The drink provided an endless source of amusement for the rest of the concert, even prompting a rendention of "Oh Cosmo" to the tune of "Oh Donna" by Ritchie Valens toward the end of the show.  Not to be outdone,during the second set, Alan was enjoying a Pyramid Snow Cap seasonal ale.

 Standing and dancing were definitely not discouraged, they only enforced have folks stay back from the stage itself.  There were contingents of die hard fans flanking the front sides of the theater and a few in the front row of the balcony.  The majority of the audience did remain seated for the bulk of the show, again I think it's because they didn't know the band as none of them were singing along either.  Those of us that were singing and dancing made up for them by singing with abandon.  Alan and Sean both spent the majority of their time singing to the sides as were were the ones really getting into the show.

There was a lot of great banter during the show and their adlibs led to impromptu renditions of "Something's Happening Here" and "Stir It Up" among others.  I have a copy of the set list, but somehow I feel like it's missing songs . . . it certainly feels like they played more than where's listed there.  I do know that instead of playing Lukey from their set list, they did the audience participation set of I Fought The Law/Faith/500 Miles/Bohemian Rhapsody.  Sean seemed to have problems following the set list, though, and after trying to introduce the wrong song he cumpled it up and threw if off stage.

 We had two new songs during the show, including a feel good tune called "Good People".   For me, high points included "Here & Now", "England", "Captain Wedderburn", and "Gallows Pole".  During their encore set Bob, Alan, and Sean did a beautiful rendition of "Clearest Indication" and they ended the show with their away from the microphones acapella version of "Old Brown's Daughter."

Awwww, you got Gallow's Pole? Lucky. Seannie must be feeling better, he wouldn't have done it otherwise.

Glad the show was awesome! Wish I had been there!

~ Loula

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Well there’ll be music all around you, You should see the way it feels

Wasn't it a fabulous show!? We had the best time. It was kind of funny watching that group in the center who were season ticket holders. You're right, they did finally start to loosen up. We were in the die hard group in front. I must have had good karma last night, because I caught two of the picks that Bob threw, and pointed out a third to my new friend Jo. The security guy told me not to reach up on the stage again and I agreed, but how could I resist that pick just laying there? My new husband, who had never heard of GBS before meeting me, is now a fan and had a great time. Can't wait for the new CD to come out.

We not only got "Gallows Pole", Sean _ate that song alive_. It was AMAZING.

I also noted the presence of two brand new songs, "Good People" and "Nothing But a Song". The latter was also quite stunning, especially when all five of the B'ys hit this fierce, high, sustained harmony in the bridge and the LED screens behind them all went PANG with vivid color in sync with them. Blew me away.

Anna the Piper

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Come check out Faerie Blood at angelakorrati.com, and everything else at annathepiper.org!
Amor uti mens: Love With Intellect. Swoon With Reason.

Anna, I'm so sorry I didn't get to meet you!!  But you are so right, Sean positively NAILED "Gallows Pole"! 

I loved getting to see Kim and her buddies from Minnesota and Montana, who also stayed at the same hotel we stayed in.  Poor Kim caught me at my worst when she got in - I was sweating on the elliptical in the hotel's exercise room! 

Cathy, what fun sharing the show with you!!  My new buddy!!!  And thanks for the "pick tip" - I didn't even see it land!!!  I loved it when Bob threw one that landed right smack on your chest though!!!  And the shocked look on your face was priceless!!

My ONLY disappointment with the Bremerton show is that they totally TEASED of doing the Mermaid, but then didn't...Alan had the first guitar strums going - strum-strum-strum *pause* strum-strum-strum*pause* -  Sean had the pennywhistle in his backpocket and appeared to be warming up the mermaid dance in the background in front of Kris, but then they brought Sean out a guitar and they went on with other stuff...why they didn't go with the Mermaid in that most perfect of settings is just beyond me!!  Not that I didn't like what they DID do - fabulous from start to finish, and the finish was the longest encore set I've ever seen!!  But wow, to skip the Mermaid with all those lovely mermaids on the walls of that beautiful theatre all around them...SCANDELOUS!!! 

Ann, sorry I missed catching up with you after the show - hope you and your large crew had a great time in Bellingham too!!

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Jo

Out of the WA shows this week, Bremerton was my favorite. The venue was like a Great Big Sea in itself, and Alan made a comment about it "being made for them" or something like that. It would be wonderful if they truly did become the "house band," there. LOL

The energy and banter was so wonderful. They must be getting so tired and am glad they have a day or more off, now.

Although I'm sad to see them leave our humble state, I'm glad they're heading homeward as it's gotta be so hard to be "far from the shores" for so long.

I also loved this venue because of the stairs along the sides. It was amazing to just be able to sit down by the stage instead of going back to a seat for the slow songs. "Old Brown's Daughter" and "Clearest Indication" from stage-step-side were truly a treat. Just like a casual night at the local pub watching the house band. :) Chris went down into the audience during the Fortune Set portion. My boyfriend thought he hugged people or something while walking along the front. The stairs gave the ability to do something like that. I was worried for a split second when he came back up onstage. I thought for a  second that he may really trip up the stairs, but quickly realized he was just joking. (My Half second thought process: "Shite, Chris looks like he may trip on those stairs...also protect the accordion....oh, he's being silly, thank God" ) It was a really funny moment. Thanks, Chris, for coming out from behind the kit. And for giving your drumsticks to that little girl, last night. I'm sure that's something she'll remember, forever.

I hope they come back to Washington for multi shows, in the future. "Washington looks empty, tonight."  

Cozmos all around...on me!!

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Jo

BombMom:

Cozmos all around...on me!!

Cheers, Jo!  *clinks glass*  Bremerton was truly a blast!  I was a little concerned with the table situation, but it really WORKED!  (The table service wasn't too shabby either!  )

It was SO great to see you again and to have the opportunity to meet your hubby!  I could not have possibly asked for better table mates in Janet (thanks for selling me your extra!) and Gretchen.  Came home with a few new friends, which, I'm happy to say is often the case!  Looking forward to the Spring and the next round of shows.  Gonna be a long winter, but have plenty of memories of this past tour to keep me warm and bring a smile to my face!

K.

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

I think it was a good show, I was up front, stage Murray, so I had a good view.

Sean was in a much better mood than he was in Edmounds, which was good. He seemed to be in a bad mood for the first have the show in Edmounds.

I thought sercurity was a little hard on us, I was standing right against the stage and the sercurity guard told us to move. That worked OK for the first half, but he made us stand way to the side for the second half. Until Alan said "Get Up! Get Up!" at least, there was really nothing he could do about it. 

After the show, he said sorry and we got a setlist from him.

Right before Excurison Around the Bay, Kris was standing on the edge of the stage and I started to smile at him and he regnoized me and made eye contact with me and waved. 

After the show, we stood and waited for them a little bit, Kris came by and asked me if he saw him wave and I said that I had and told me that he remembered me from Seattle. 

Here's the Setlist from the show:

SET 1

Donkey Ridin'

Captian Kidd

Love MeTonight

Paddy Murphy

Lukey (As it says on the set list but they didn't play it, anyone remember if they played something else instead?)

Jack Hinks (Don't remember if they played this or not)

England

Gideon Brown

Good People (New Song)

River Driver

Here and Now

Nothing But a Song (New Song)

70's Songs

Run Run Away

SET 2

Jigs

Chemical Worker's Song

Captian Wedderburn

When I am King

General Taylor

Scolding Wife

Everything Shines

Helmethead

Gallows Pole (Did the play it in this order?)

Consquence Free

Mari Mac

Ordinary Day

ENCORE

Clearest Indication (sp?) Trio

Excurison Around the Bay

Fortune

The Old Black Rum

Overally, great show, I even got a roadie to get the guys to sign my set list!

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

Did they do the impromptu "Stir it Up" in place of Lukey...?  I know they did Stir it Up sometime before Nothing but a Song because Alan announced that we should watch for Nothing on the next album, and Sean quipped, "As well as Stir it Up"....

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Jo