Review by Alan Steenson for MPM
Off to the big smoke again… Big Country (more on later) with support from a 4 piece act called The Psychs who hail from Dublin.
The crowd was very thin on the ground when they took to the stage at first glance the singer with his mop top hair and dressed in Ramone style outfit looked like a charismatic front man.
With the first few notes he was grabbing his old style 50’s microphone and the band launched into a blistering set of 7 up tempo songs starting with Surreal which was a typical good old fashioned rock song… I hate saying ‘in the style of’ as it tends to say they ‘sound like’, which is always an insult to bands who do try their own stamp on whatever genre they are in… but anyhow in the style of good old fashioned hard rock and we will leave it at that.
As a 4 piece they delivered a great clear sound both musically and vocally, and with a front man that has lots of charisma the crowd that was there were treated to ‘Surreal’ with its cowbell accompaniment on drums to add to the feel of the track, ‘Rock Bottoms’ followed, an instant up-tempo number that started and stopped which always sounds good on a song at the end the singer tried to get the crowd enthused and jokingly said this was their first time in Belfast and maybe their last… With a laugh the guitar sound changed giving us a number that rocked back and forth called ‘Sweet Tooth’ which was my favourite from the set, their 5th song of the evening was apparently a new song called ‘Hail Mary’ with strong bass and powered with heavy riffs and climaxing into quite an anthemic track.
During the songs the singer was changing mic position face on then sideways with no deterioration in the overall sound and adds that showman feel to the performance.
‘Tequila’ the penultimate track of the evening was decent and before they launched into the final song of the set the singer was giving thanks for the opportunity and hoped the crowd would enjoy Big Country and even tried again to whip up excitement by going all gospel as he kicked into ‘Gimme the Wheel’ a really good song to end the evening with a more grungy feel to it and a darker sound… All in all a very tight outfit and hopefully they wont be put off by the lack of heads watching but the heads that were there were nodding along in appreciation.
So…. Onto Big Country a band I know very well, or I used to know very well, I will admit to taking this review with a certain amount of scepticism. Owning every album and having watched BC a lot back in the 80’s and 90’s with full electric and acoustic gigs they were a band that always delivered, and for me delivered because of Stuart Adamson who sadly left us back in 2001.
Since then, I always backed out of going to see them as I just didn’t have the enthusiasm anymore since his passing (which hit me quite hard) so a bit older and wiser I slapped myself about and decided to address this once and for all. The crowd consisted of similarly aged folk and a good few Scottish accents to help make me feel at home.
The current tour is a 40-year anniversary of Steeltown the bands second album and contains my favourite BC song, so I knew at the very least I’d get to hear this.
The band entered onto the stage with original members Bruce Watson and Mark Brzezicki along with Bruce’s son Jamie on guitar, Gil Allen on bass and a new front man Tommie Paxton who replaced at short notice Simon Hough, with Tommie fronting his own Big Country Tribute act he was essentially the perfect replacement.
The opening song ‘Flame of the West’, from the first guitar chord, gave me a taste of what was to follow with a powerful ensemble of guys that new how to play together and even with the late introduction of Tommie, this did not detract from pinpoint guitar riffs and with Mark on drums the effortless driving force behind one of the UK’s finest acts. From the outset Tommie’s vocals were reminiscent of Adamson’s and whilst no one could ever replace, it was for me, the best I could have ever hoped for in terms of trying to get that original vocal sound.
The powerful and pounding drums of ‘East of Eden’ was next with Jamie and Bruce walking about the stage and kindly posing for photos while playing … the interaction of father and son on guitars for me was terrific, the title track ‘Steeltown’ was note perfect and then my treat of the evening in the form of ‘Where the Rose is Sewn’ with its slow intro and launching into the anthem that makes me wish I played guitar to deliver the most ‘Big Country’ sounding riff, Bruce and Jamie again looking like they were enjoying every second.
Bruce took to the mic to thank the Belfast crowd who had by now filled the entirety of the Limelight and told us about making the second ‘difficult’ album and they travelled to Sweden to record the album as they knew Bjorn and Benny from Abba and they made use of their studio for 6 weeks.
He went on to thank Tommie who arrived on this tour at such short notice and was greatly appreciated by the crowd. ‘Tall Ships go’ was next with Bruce taking the front and delivering another note perfect intro, with Jamie accompanying Tommie’s vocals when needed, with a slight technical hitched fixed by ‘the drummer of Bon Jovi’ according to Bruce we got back on the way again with a change to the running order from the Girl with Grey Eyes to ‘Winter Sky’, after this Bruce took a well-deserved rest on a seat to play slide guitar on the track ‘Raindance’ back upright again and straight into ‘Great Divide’ with a long intro with Bruce again leading the way with his familiar posing and outstretched arm at the end of certain notes ‘Just a Shadow’ another BC classic followed with its glorious opening sound that just encapsulated what BC are all about live, Tommie’s vocals were particularly good on this track.
Tommie then announced that concludes the Steel Town album with Bruce jokingly saying goodbye, another quick introduction to Jamie Watson and then the climax of the evening with 5 killer songs from ‘The Crossing and the Seer albums’, ‘Look Away’ from the Seer a firm favourite of the crowd and this favourite was outdone by ‘Chance’ with what took ages to get started as the lads were getting ready the drums continues with Jamie joking ‘ this song is Sunday Bloody Sunday’ the classic BC ballad.. when the long intro finished Tommie’s vocals and everything was simply spot on with the familiar 2,3,4 during the chorus from the fans, another Crossing classic and signature song ‘In a Big Country’ wowed the crowd with Bruce getting feedback off his mic before that familiar riff and drum intro and “shout” off we go into the track, for me not the greatest vocally but ‘Wonderland’ and ‘Fields of Fire’ made up for that with two other classics to end the evening of hits the band left the stage but returned for one final song and a favourite of Tommie’s as it is the name of his band ‘Restless Natives’
So as the dust settled I realised something, I’m a bit of a twat for not seeing one of my favourite bands again sooner, but I also realised that Big Country had a soul and I thought it died with Stuart Adamson but it was the music that was the soul and Bruce and the effortless Mark still have that in abundance and I cant think of anything more fitting as a tribute to his name as these five guys and in particular Bruce and Mark who now carry that same aura that Adamson had…. And yes, I will be back for more of the same next year should they visit….
Photography by Darren McVeigh for MPM
