i know there's already a thread or 2 about this great band, but the first one i found was kinda creepy, so i thought i'd start a new one, seeing as i happened to see Big Country tonight and it was totally awesome, dude.
anyway, the newest incarnation of the band delivers. there's a crazy family feel to the whole thing (i know about bruce watson and his son playing guitar together) that extends beyond the band. they really draw the crowd in. the drummer (Mark Brzezicki - insane next level drumming) gets TONS of hollas from the crowd, and he earns it. Bruce is an insane performer. High kicks and crazy guitar freakouts. he's got dad jeans on and he's sweating and having a GREAT time and it looks cool to me. his son is detached, but leans in when he's needed, and has badass chops. he plays hard enough to break a legit sweat. bass player is no longer tony butler, it's now derek forbes - he's wearing a kilt and strumming his bass like lou barlow. it's awesome.
and all of it could fail if the singer missed the mark. Big Country was a band of magicians - every member with world class chops - but it always revolved around the twists and turns of Suart Adamson's masterful songwriting and the interplay of his and Bruce Watson's asskicking guitar work (FWIW - Bruce and son Jamie really do a fantastic job presenting those interlocking melodies, etc..). so anyway, the whole thing could fall flat if the singer couldn't energize and make you believe the way, i imagine, stuart did. Mike Peters LOVES these songs - you almost get the sense that they're more sacred to him than his own songs, which are pretty badass, if you ask me.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3EQeiQfney8
yeah, the video is bad, but the song is awesome.
anyway... Mike Peters absolutely loves the shit out of Big Country's music, and he pours his heart and soul into his performance, and the songs lend themselves naturally to fist pumping and pogoing and riding a horsie and screaming woah woah woah's and it's awesome. the set leaned heavily on their debut album "the Crossing": BIG HIT, fields of fire (this was particularly awesome), Harvest Home, Inwards, 1000 stars, etc... surprisingly awesome were new compositions from the current lineup, which earned fantastic receptions from the crowd. Have you heard this tune In a Broken Promised Land?! it's awesome, and it's new. they had the ballzz to open with this one, called Return, also a new song:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7vPGGOYqJ98
and the crowd was great too. it was at a weird like dinner theater. and there were seats right in the front, which sucked. but pretty quickly, everyone abandoned their seats and got to horsie riding and fist pumping. they'd be a great festival band. if you ever have the chance to see this band, grab it. i don't think you'll be disappointed. after all, they did THIS:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NMeipHcDmbI
i mean, imagine this: with a replacement singer, in a sit down club of 2 or 300 people, they got 30- 50 year olds to act like their version of that last video, and then slap everyones hands on their way off the stage (that happened). it happened. so fucking cool.
anyway, the newest incarnation of the band delivers. there's a crazy family feel to the whole thing (i know about bruce watson and his son playing guitar together) that extends beyond the band. they really draw the crowd in. the drummer (Mark Brzezicki - insane next level drumming) gets TONS of hollas from the crowd, and he earns it. Bruce is an insane performer. High kicks and crazy guitar freakouts. he's got dad jeans on and he's sweating and having a GREAT time and it looks cool to me. his son is detached, but leans in when he's needed, and has badass chops. he plays hard enough to break a legit sweat. bass player is no longer tony butler, it's now derek forbes - he's wearing a kilt and strumming his bass like lou barlow. it's awesome.
and all of it could fail if the singer missed the mark. Big Country was a band of magicians - every member with world class chops - but it always revolved around the twists and turns of Suart Adamson's masterful songwriting and the interplay of his and Bruce Watson's asskicking guitar work (FWIW - Bruce and son Jamie really do a fantastic job presenting those interlocking melodies, etc..). so anyway, the whole thing could fall flat if the singer couldn't energize and make you believe the way, i imagine, stuart did. Mike Peters LOVES these songs - you almost get the sense that they're more sacred to him than his own songs, which are pretty badass, if you ask me.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3EQeiQfney8
yeah, the video is bad, but the song is awesome.
anyway... Mike Peters absolutely loves the shit out of Big Country's music, and he pours his heart and soul into his performance, and the songs lend themselves naturally to fist pumping and pogoing and riding a horsie and screaming woah woah woah's and it's awesome. the set leaned heavily on their debut album "the Crossing": BIG HIT, fields of fire (this was particularly awesome), Harvest Home, Inwards, 1000 stars, etc... surprisingly awesome were new compositions from the current lineup, which earned fantastic receptions from the crowd. Have you heard this tune In a Broken Promised Land?! it's awesome, and it's new. they had the ballzz to open with this one, called Return, also a new song:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7vPGGOYqJ98
and the crowd was great too. it was at a weird like dinner theater. and there were seats right in the front, which sucked. but pretty quickly, everyone abandoned their seats and got to horsie riding and fist pumping. they'd be a great festival band. if you ever have the chance to see this band, grab it. i don't think you'll be disappointed. after all, they did THIS:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NMeipHcDmbI
i mean, imagine this: with a replacement singer, in a sit down club of 2 or 300 people, they got 30- 50 year olds to act like their version of that last video, and then slap everyones hands on their way off the stage (that happened). it happened. so fucking cool.
, I couldn't go. Now I'm depressed all over again.
