overlap

For many bands, carrying on having lost a member who was a major creative force is difficult, if not impossible. And yet every now and then, the enjoyment of making music together keeps those who are still around interested in carrying on to some degree. When I first saw Big Country, I was possibly expecting too much, and without going back to my diary to check, I'm fairly comfortable saying I thought they were great but not quite earth-shattering. They're another band I have more than one album by, and who I definitely like, but for one reason or another never became a devoted fan of. All the same, I was very much saddened by Stuart Adamson's death, and touched by another band who first toured with Big Country dedicating a song to him in their live performances at the time. A gig by Tony Butler, Bruce Watson and Mark Unpronounceablename (as those of us of a certain age and a history of Smash Hits reading will always think of him) as a trio was a very interesting prospect, and one that could have gone several different ways. Rosie Jones' support slot fits somewhere close to Carina Round's mixture of melody and screaming, with a dollop of Lily Allen's almost spoken delivery in places, and Tennessee in particular is good fun. Not something I'm going to chase hard, but I'll be interested to see how her writing develops if our paths cross in the future. Bruce in particular looks like he's having a great time, and Tony, in between taking most of the lead vocals, looks like someone who'd liven up even the dreariest party, so it's great to see people enjoying what they do to start with. Stuart is mentioned enough times that the gig is a worthy tribute without descending into an overmawkish spectacle of sentiment, and leaving it to the crowd to sing the vocal on Chance is a nice touch. The Teacher rocks like a quarryload of granite, Look Away bounces like Zebedee on a bouncy castle, the few new songs sound like they fit right in, and the final encore of In A Big Country finishes early enough for me to be on my way home by 22.15. Here's a set of their autographs, collected eighteen years ago, and my recollection of meeting them to get these was of warm and friendly, personable and approachable chaps, anything but the archetypal rock star nonsense. Given the chance, I'd recommend you check them out, and you will be in Wonderland!

Labels: Big Country, Bruce Watson, gigs, Mark Brzezicki, music, reformations, rock, Stuart Adamson, Tony Butler