| GBS at Irving Plaza 2004 |
| Ordinary Day was intense. The New York audience was sooo into this show that the b�ys on stage seemed to revel in their unbridled joy. It was fun just to watch and listen to the audience react to GBS�s music. What a great crowd! I was honored to be included in it. I always watch Bob during this song. He obvious enjoys singing it, hanging onto those notes with tenacity. Grinning and energetically playing both bouzouki and accordion. The last �And I�ve got four walls around me� found Bob triumphantly raising his fists into the air. |
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| Encore 1 The �GBS! GBS! GBS!� chant started even before the band completely left the stage. I was alternately in agony and excited anticipation. About � of the way thru the show, my one ankle started throbbing and the other knee swelled up. The ankle became so swollen and painful to stand on that I seriously considered leaving my prime spot stage Bob one row back and going off way in the back to sit down. There wasn�t enough room to sit on the floor and I honestly didn�t think I�d be able to get up if I had. The ONLY thing that kept me there was the lovely news that Recruiting Sergeant was on the setlist. That alone gave me the fortitude to stay. As my mother says, �No sense, no feeling!� The idea that I was FINALLY going to see/hear Bob do a solo was almost more than I could bear. I was almost giddy. Or maybe I was. I must have had �Bob� written all over my face because for some reason when he began to sing, people in front of me moved right out of my way. I don�t think I asked them to either. When Lynda reminded me not to go anywhere with Bob coming up soon, Donna next to me said � �You must be Anne.� Lynda described Bob as coming out with a swagger, but that was his usual walk/swagger. He just did it slower, more deliberately. Or was that in my mind? Kris came out with him, carrying a guitar, and pretty much hanging back by the drum kit. I can�t really tell you how Kris�s guitar playing was because, to be perfectly honest, I didn�t hear it. But I HAVE heard him play (he was great) and I�d bet he was great tonight too. But I heard nothing but Bob and saw nothing but Bob. I have only felt that way at a concert once before. And the other time I was smack in front of Art Garfunkle as he sang �Bridge Over Troubled Waters� for the first time in Philadelphia. I didn�t notice the other 1100 people in the venue tonight, didn�t hear the guitar. Lynda says it was like I was drawn to the stage by a magnet. I don�t remember moving, but when he was done, I was right under his mic. I think I must have grinned like a fool thru the whole song. |
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| Bob came out confidently but tenatively. He stood like a soldier in the beginning and whenever it was appropriate to the song. I was awed when he stepped up to the mic and began the song. Two recruiting sergeants came to the CLB, for the sons of the merchants, to join the Blue Puttees So all the hands enlisted, five hundred young men... Enlist you Newfoundlanders and come follow me They crossed the broad Atlantic in the brave Florizel, And on the sands of Suvla, they entered into hell And on those bloody beaches, the first of them fell... So it's over the mountains, and over the sea Come brave Newfoundlanders and join the Blue Puttees You'll fight in Flanders, and at Galipoli Enlist you Newfoundlanders and come follow me. |
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| Bob is a great soloist actually, raising his arms, standing like a soldier, connecting with the audience, controlling the level and intensity of his voice, and using facial expressions to capture us. He was appropriately solemn-faced throughout and marched us away to Suvla with the recruits. �Come follow me,� he fairly whispered into the mic at the end. I think the audience would have followed him anywhere at that point. I thought I had gone to heaven. I had been transported elsewhere to a place I felt very comfortable and safe. I didn�t want anyone else to come on stage to break the spell. I wanted the evening to end right there. �Come follow me,� he pointed at himself. And I almost did. |