Great Big Sea
Tuesday, September 28Presented by North Carolina Blumenthal Performing Arts Center
$27.50 buy tickets
Call 704-372-1000 to order
On March 11, 2010, Great Big Sea celebrated their 17th birthday as a band. And like almost every one of their many anniversaries spent together, they celebrated it by playing a concert in Omaha, Nebraska. For the players it was an important landmark, but for the fans, some of whom had traveled hundreds of miles, it was a chance to spend a night with a band that has come to define the energetic spirit of Newfoundland. Somewhere along the say, Great Big Sea ceased to be just a band - for the three core members and their assorted collaborators, it's a way of life.
"No one is more surprised than us that we have lasted almost 18 years," points out lead singer Alan Doyle. "Like most bands, when we started we were just looking forward to the next tour, the next show or the next song. Then, after a few years we realized that we liked doing this more than anything else. So we kept going."
The band has its roots in St. John's rowdy pubs, where co-founders Sean McCann and Bob Hallett met while playing Newfoundland folk songs for boisterous crowds made up of hard-partying university students and off-duty fishermen. In1993, after meeting fellow socio-holic and pub stalwart Alan Doyle, they started Great Big Sea in an attempt to create a new approach to Newfoundland folk music, one that combined their original music with the traditional sounds and instruments they had grown up with. In 2002 drummer Kris MacFarlane joined the band, and a year later bass player Murray Foster came aboard.
Their latest album, Safe Upon the Shore, reflects the newest twists in their original plan. The album is a feast of creative impulses, recorded in fits and starts over a six month period. Some of it was recorded in New Orleans with producer Steve Berlin, while other songs were recorded at the band's studio in St. John's. The band used guerilla setups to record the rest of it on tour buses and in various dressing rooms.
Tickets go on sale Friday, June 18, 2010 at 10am. Ticket prices begin at $27.50
 | This organization is supported, in part, with operating support by the Arts & Science Council. |
Dates:
- Tuesday, September 28, 2010 @ 7:30 pm
