Great Big Sea in Kingston: Nov 27th, 2010

Great Big Sea's Safe Upon The Shore Tour hit Kingston last Saturday night.

I had the good fortune to have a ticket provided by my dear friends Kevin and Myriam (thank you one further time!) to some seats 5 rows back on the floor in front of the stage.

Murray, Alan, Sean, Bob and in the back on the drums, Kris.

  The K-Rock Center seating was tight for anyone who wasn't a Twilight escapee or an anorexic, so most of us immediately gravitated to our feet and stayed there for three hours.

The concert was a mix of the old and the new, starting off with several lively old favourites and rolling into the newer material, including some powerful sea shantys. Powerful stuff and dark in quite a few places - there were jokes made on stage about having 3 songs in the set with hanging involved and another about chemical workers. Sean pointed out it was worse because his toddler was singing 'Old Black Rum'!

Sean plays the balron.

The band did two long sets, running overlength in both sets (they were on stage 45 minutes longer than the people running the K-Rock Center expected). They indicated they had no professional obligations the following day (the rest of their tour schedule is hairy) and were in no hurry. They were conversational and showed good humour and an appreciation for their own success.

They spoke of their US touring, of their generous Canadian nature in congratulating the Americans on their splendid Silver medal finish in Men's and Women's Olympic Hockey, and of how greatful they were to their fans for their success. It was a near sellout crowd at the K-Rock Center as testament to that success.

Alan sings an encore by himself.

They also proved they could play a ridiculous number of instruments with equal facility - I saw Alan play acoustic guitar, something that looked like a mandolin, a banjo, and an electric guitar (at the least). Sean played harmonica, shakers, guitar, balron and probably other instruments I missed. Kris did drums and accordian plus wielded a mean fiber optic camera. Bob is in a league all his own: Accordions three, fiddle, guitar, shakers, tin whistle, flute, and I'm sure I'm missing several others.




Great Big Sea demonstrated showmanship; They made the human connection with the people of Kingston by sharing a shared love of hockey, of music, and of good fun (and apple juice *wink*). They shared an their humour, their love of the maritimes and the music of the east coast and their love of Canada first and foremost.

The boys backup Sean on the chorus.

They also made tangible the connection to their past by speaking of playing at Queens University, at A.J. Hangar, and at the Grand Theater, and partying on Princess Street. Tir Nan Og was also mentioned. These are some of the landmarks of the town and they've been in and out of their since  the mid 1990s, claiming they've "never had a bad night in Kingston".

If you like maritime music, if you like folk music, if you like dark tales about the sea or about life on the east coast, or if you like jumping and stomping kitchen party music, Great Big Sea has it all. Vocals, instruments, and powerful or funny lyrics - they are the musical triple threat, to be sure.



Well worth the money. I'm considering raiding a piggy bank to see them again in Ottawa.

Check out their albums. They're worth it. My favourite tunes are "Recruiting Sergeant" and "General Taylor", but some of the songs Sean sang lately, presumably from Safe Upon The Shore, make we want to grab that Album too. I'll bet Steve Jobs is waiting to sell them to me via the iSuckTheMoneyOutOfYourWallet interface.

Alan, Kris, Bob, Sean and Murray: Good show, Lads!