"I See A Light Inside, And It Comes From You" Part Two - A Few Priceless Alan Doyle, Great Big Sea, Danu & Oysterband Video Moments From The 2007 Tønder Festival

No matter how many technically perfect or even utterly gorgeous photos I might wind up taking of any particular show, there is always the photo that, for its own reasons, is sweeter and more dear to me than are all the rest. This is from GBS's Tent 1 headlining show on Saturday night at Tønder Festival 2007:

I believe there are times when the presence of the intrepid photographer might very well bring out the best and the brightest, as well as the sweetest and the most endearing, in the Rock Star Guitar God.

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Similarly, out of all the dazzling and exciting and breathtaking moments, there are always a few that reach out and touch my heart to the core, moments to treasure and hold dear in memory and to smile about for years to come. The following video links are of three of those precious moments at this year's Tønder Festival.

This first link is from that Tent 1 show, a priceless moment when John Jones of Oysterband came out on stage to perform his own song, When I'm Up, with Great Big Sea, and to help GBS celebrate the ten-year anniversary of their first appearance at the Tønder Festival. As much as I wish I could have seen them here back in 1997, I know how fortunate I am to be able to see them here in 2007.

When I'm Up, GBS With Oysterband's John Jones, Tønder Festival 2007     (212 MB)

And these two video clips are from the night before, when Alan joined Danu on stage at the Water Mill for a few tunes and an Alan-sized handful of sweet magic. "Fortunate" does not even begin to describe how I feel about being there for this.

Alan Doyle & Danu, River Driver, Tønder Festival 2007     (182 MB)

Alan Doyle & Danu, Molly Malone, Tønder Festival 2007     (150 MB)

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Although I don't think I was all that honest about it at the time, Tønder Festival 2004 more or less sucked, and not in the good way. There was a whole host of reasons for that suckage, reasons I could detail and explain but perhaps they are all best left behind and forgotten.  Tønder Festival 2007 makes that leaving behind and forgetting a very easy thing to do.

Tønder Festival 2007 has been wonderful, a pure joy from beginning to end, again for a whole host of reasons. These reasons I would love to detail and explain right here and now, but I have only a few short hours left here in my comparatively luxurious hotel room (luxurious when compared to four nights of camping in a cow pasture - although the imagination-inspiring shower in this room could be a decadent luxury under any circumstances) of the Tønderhus Hotel before we have to pack up and drive to Hamburg to catch our flight back to London.

I have spent my time well while here in the Lap of Luxury - diligent and dedicated, when not dallying and daydreaming in that boundary-banishing shower - charging camera and computer batteries, saving photos and videos from picture cards to USB storage sticks, and uploading a few of the most precious and priceless videos to link here before we head out of Tønder at sunrise. We also managed to make it to the final day's Songwriters' Circle and the closing Crossing The Atlantic Gala, with the result being yet more photos and videos to eventually put up here, these latter mostly of Bruce Guthro, but also of a fellow who was the "find" at this year's festival, Guy Forsyth. If the weather in St. John's turns shitty during the rest of September when we come back after a few more tourist days in London, I will have plenty of indoor work to keep me busy.

The second Great Big Sea show, this one at the Big Tent as the headlining act (openers were Crooked Still and The Mammals and since I'd have to struggle to say much that was positive right now, I'll wait and hope for a bit more objectivity later before writing about them), and while this show was not at all like their first show - not so much because of any big changes in what they performed, though changes there were...they did a lovely Something Beautiful and a giddily upbeat Everything Shines, along with what I suppose was a can't-be-avoided Donkey Riding (still no Old Black Rum, though, and three cheers for that - River Driver was again exquisite, Excursion and Fortune as ever delightful, and I loved the Rant & Roar ending) - it was one of the most purely enjoyable shows of theirs I've seen in some time. I can't recall the last time I laughed so much during a show; that had to be one of the shows where it most looked as if they were having  a wonderful time on stage, and there's really nothing that I enjoy more than that at a GBS show.

If the crowd is having a great time too - and this one was, at least some of that enjoyment tinged with palpable relief over the change in the show once GBS took the stage - that's all well and good, but it's more the frosting on the cake of seeing the men up on stage having a good time. And out of all of them, I love it the most when Alan is having fun; if Alan Doyle were not having himself a wonderful evening of fun in the Big Tent on Saturday night in Tønder, then all I can say is that he would be an even more gifted actor than is his friend and songwriting collaborator Russell Crowe, which seems most unlikely. And the rest of them looked pretty much on the same page as Alan was on. They were giddy and the way they played their show gave the impression that on this night, they felt free to be whomever and whatever they chose to be, unfettered excitement and unbounded pleasure.

The highlight of it all was, of course, the moment when Oysterband's John Jones came out to sing his and his band mates own song When I'm Up with GBS, which can be seen in the video clip linked above. God, they all looked so happy while playing that tune. Alan's feet looked to be at least six inches off the ground, then and for most of the rest of the night too.

I suppose it's not particularly sensible to wish that Alan could be that happy all of the time, to wish that they could all be so happy all of the time. LIfe just doesn't work that way; storms do indeed always fade, but it's just as sure that after they do, a new one will roll in eventually. But I am for sure going to keep right on hoping that Alan, and that they all, will be that happy as much and as often as is possible. And I am going to keep right on being grateful for having been able to see the sweetest and the dearest of Tønder smiles.

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This should be it from me until I get back to St. John's in a few days. We have some serious touristing planned for the last few days in London - finally, I get to see the Rosetta Stone, and that big Ferris Wheel is an irresistible lure - but once I do get there, and especially if the weather really does turn shitty, there is so much more to go on about the past few weeks, not just about GBS but about other music heard here, and also about the whole Runrig/Bruce Guthro/fan dynamic; that has been utterly fascinating, as well as enlightening, to observe.

A bit perturbing at times, as well. There was actually a stampede to get into this last GBS show - utter jerks pushing from the back as the poor little rookie security guard tried in vain to hold back the tide of assholiness - and while I reacted by doing what any reasonable person should do when a stampede is taking place behind her (that would be to run like bloody hell, ideally faster than the stampeders can run), it was still part and parcel of a dynamic that, along with the rest of what I saw here, has really gotten me thinking some serious thoughts about bands and their fans in general, about when those fans are a help and when they are perhaps a bit more of a hindrance.

But more on that later. Right now, I have just enough time for one final fling with my shower of endless-possibilities before I have to leave Tønder behind, this time.

Comments

[Birgit]

Hi,
just read through your Tonder story so far and I have to say that I admire you for your skill with words! And with the camera I might add! This was a very special festival again and I'm glad we had the chance to share a few moments. Hopefully the weather will not be too bad for the rest of your trip *grin*. Still can't get that photographer companion out of my head 8-)
Cheers & bye!

[Birgit]

Hi!
WHEN I'M UP 2007 just got kicked out of MEGAUPLOAD for copyright reasons :-(
B.

[Birgit]

Hi,
sorry to bother again, the link worked fine later and I am absolutely humbled by the sheer beauty of the vid *sigh*
Cheers, B.

[lynda]

Hi Birgit - No worries...feel free to comment as much as you like. I did check the When I'm Up video from the Hamburg airport after I read your other message (we had lots and lots of time at the Hamburg airport since we missed out original flight out...long story, to be told later), and it was fine by then. Probably a Megaupload glitch.

From what I have been told, Megaupload doesn't work very well for a lot of folks in Europe. I've been thinking that maybe I should put all of these Across-The-Pond videos (including the half dozen or so I have of Bruce) up on RapidShare too since that does seem to work well over here. Another project for the three weeks or so I have in St. John's, before I go back home to my own dial-up.

It was really good seeing you again - it's great to have friends to meet up with at Tonder. And that early-morning show at the Mill was a delight to share, wasn't it? I hope the intrepid photographer-companion you found so attractive realises that he officially has his own admirers now.

Keep an eye out here because I have a veritable treasure trove of videos and photos to put up over the next few weeks. Right now, I'm working on uploading Borderline vids. Each time we come back to the room from a tourist jaunt, I start another video uploading. I think you are going to like the results...no intrepid photographer companion, but lots and lots of his favourite subject.

[Birgit]

Hi,
I'm really looking forward to seeing more of your stuff :-)
Just went over to RapidShare and learned that the upload limit is 100 MB per file which would be too little for most of your vids :-7
Cheers, B.

[lynda]

I guess Rapidshare isn't going to work at all for me, then. Not unless I want to reformat and sacrifice the quality, and I just don't like the thought of that; I don't think too much of YouTube quality videos. Maybe there's some other way to compress/format the big files and keep the quality levels intact. I'm open to suggestions from anyone who knows more about it than I do, which should be quite a few people.

I've got all the Borderline videos up now, and the Tønder ones will follow soon. The GBS ones are already uploaded and now I'm working on the ones of Bruce from the Songwriters' Circle at Tønder. I should be getting those up a few days after today.

Right now, my atention is caught by what's likely to be the last GBS show I get to see for a few months and even more by that great new journal entry of Alan's., part one of what I hope will be many more to come about the trip across the Pond. I am so looking forward to a leisurely linger over that delightful piece of writing.