Great Big Sea .... of People!!

Their was absolutely no band more perfect to play Grand Parade...er... Celebration Square  than GREAT BIG SEA for the big FREE outdoor concert on Saturday night during the Canada Games! The city of Halifax loves them and I’m pretty sure the love is mutual. It was the place to be for sure. It didn’t matter that it was cold and snowing, the 15000 people showed up. The crowd was a sea of people, both young and old, all singing along to every song. 

If their was ever a band who knows how to read the Halifax audience so well, it’s Great Big Sea. As always, their concert turned out to be like going to a huge ass, high energy kitchen party, minus the liquor of course (although I did see a couple of flasks). The crowd was into every song and jumped up and down to most of the tunes. When you’re packed like sardines that’s all there is room enough to do. The band came back for two encores. Their were signs in the crowd asking the band to play the Haligonian favorite “Old Black Rum” and the crowd were not going leave until they heard it. Personally, I think that was a well calculated move on the bands part. They didn’t want us to leave either....

The Hot item of the night was the flashing red, blue and purple sunglasses that Atlantic Lottery was passing out. We were lucky enough to get our hands on a few pairs. Thanks to one of the 2011 Canada Games mascot’s Sammi. It looked pretty awesome when they showed shots of the crowd and alls you seen were flashing lights. During the mass exodus following the concert, it seemed like the police were everywhere but if you looked closer it was just the red and blue lights from the people still wearing their sunglasses.

Notice how I did not say anything about the special guess Jeremy Fisher, who was the opening act? Yeah, I know that he probably has more of a “cross-Canadian appeal” and has opened for Great Big Sea in Ontario but he pretty much made most of the crowd want to take a nap. I think it was an over-sight on the part of the Canada Games committee pandering to the rest of Canada and maybe not actually knowing the Halifax audience. The show would probably have been perfect if The Stanfields had opened for them. Voted as the best band to get trashed to, they are much more in tune with the Halifax audience than Mr. Fisher. For a while there, I thought he was just killing time. Talking about nothing while strumming his guitar. The energy flow defiantly changed when Great Big Sea finally arrived on stage, Thank God!

Great Big Sea are Halifax legends. Though they hail mainly from Newfoundland, their popularity really began to gather steam when they moved off the rock to Halifax. Many of us youngins never got to see Great Big Sea play at the Lower Deck, a popular pub here in Halifax which features live bands almost every night. But we’ve all heard the stories of how they use to rock the house. For us, they are more than just a band, their music embodies our unique Atlantic Canadian Culture in which we all tend to carry with pride. Alexander Keith may be the pride of Nova Scotia, but Great Big Sea is the pride of Atlantic Canada.

Heck, I went to see Russell Crowe’s movie Robin Hood just because I knew GBS front man Alan Doyle was in it. 

The band turns 18 in a couple of month. I was fairly young when the first time I seen the band play live. It was at one of their Great Big Picnics on the side of Citadel Hill. I remember loving every minute of it. Last night, they let the crowd know that they also would play Summer Games. I actually hope that the massive crowds that spilled over into the streets makes them reconsider putting on another one of their Great Big Picnic.... maybe even invite Russell Crowe’s band?!?!