Great Big Sea review! ⇒
Finally, the moment you have been waiting for....my review of the GBS show I saw in San Francisco. This review would be longer, but I was just about done then my #$%!@# browser crashed!! Anyway...to the review. The show was at Slim's in San Francisco. It is in a slighly run-down, seedy area of town, so it provided some nice atmosphere. For an example, the store across the street had a deli, beer, wine, hard liquor, snacks, bread, a pool table and some arcade games! Nice!
The place was packed...the max. capacity is supposed to be 400 people, but I think there were many more people than that! There are no seats on the main floor so everyone was just milling around. It was nice to see all the crazy Canadians oot and aboot for an evening of fun. Lots of Canadian t-shirts and hats! The drink were reasonable ($5 for a Vodka Seven, which is what I was drinking due to the "heaviness" I was feeling from all the beer I had that day!!) and they were served fast! Nice bartenders.
We got there about 8 and the opening act came on at about 9. I wanted them off the stage by about 9:10. They were lousy. I don't even remember their name. The only thing I remember is that they sounded just a Matchbox Twenty cover band...only worse. Boring drums and guitar and a lousy lead singer. The loudest cheer came when they left the stage! The funny thing was was that they said they just signed a record deal with Capitol Records! Someone paid to listen to this?! Wow.
Our plan was to hang around at the back until the crowd thinned during the break and then move to the front. Great plan, only one problem. The crowd didn't thin. So, we pissed off many people and barged our way to the front. I'm sure there were a lot of unhappy people, but it has happened to me many times, we were drunk, Canadian, and in a partying mood!!
This was their last show of the tour. There were tired and relaxed, but very, very tight. In fact, I think this is the tighest I have every seen/heard them. Not only their playing, but also their banter. Quite a nice production. They seemed like they were having a great time up there...they clearly love performing. At times they were laughing so hard they missed entrances and forgot words! It was great! I think these are the songs they played, although they are not in order:
- Excursion Around The Bay
- Run Runaway
- Goin' Up
- Mari-Mac
- Lukey
- Old Black Rum (encore)
- Ordinary Day
- When I'm Up
- The Night Pat Murphy Died
- General Taylor (Sean almost forgot the words!!)
- Consequence Free
- Feel It Turn (maybe my favourite GBS song)
- I'm A Rover
- A Boat Like Gideon Brown
- See Of No Cares
- Scolding Wife
- French Perfume
- Bang The Drum (a new song...very cool!)
- Clearest Indication
- Rant & Roar
A weird thing occurred when GBS was playing...some people didn't dance. In fact, some people didn't move or smile at all?!?! WTF?!?! How can you not at least tap your foot to their music? It is so infectious. Even people at the very, very front were moving! Very strange. We made up for it though by dancing for their entire set!
What a great show!