''I See A Light Inside, And It Comes From You'' - First Great Big Sea Tønder Show & Alan Doyle Being Magnficent Twice In One Evening

The primary reason I'm here in the Tønder Bibliotek a bit before 11 am today after having been up till 6 am this morning is because I am in desperate need of recharging my camera batteries, which is not such a bad situation to be in since it means that those camera batteries were well-used (as well as hard-used) last night. And while I get as much of a charge as I can during the few hours the library is open on Saturday, I've got some time to try to say something about last night that might manage to go beyond breathless and incoherent - albeit sincere and abiding - affection. Perhaps.

For once, I think I will just cut to the chase. The show last night - three bands on the bill in Tent 2 at Tønder, Lau (amazing players, especially the accordionist), Great Big Sea, and the Levellers - was so much beyond what I had dared to hope for even in my usual stubborn optimism. With a second slot, I figured GBS would play maybe 45 minutes, an hour if we were very fortunate; when they let us into the tent more than a half hour late (because the tent's pub had an electrical problem...apparently, if there is no pub at Tønder, there is no show at Tønder), I was even less sure of how much time GBS would wind up having on stage. Then Lau came out and played a fascinating but fairly long first set, and I was yet more unsure.

No need at all to worry. I'm not sure what the set-up was, if perhaps GBS was considered a co-bill with the Levellers, but whatever was on the go, GBS wound up playing a full set, every song that you'd expect at a proper GBS show (and even better, they opened with a blissful Process Man), including full encores of River Driver, Excursion, and Fortune (yet more blissful, no Old Black Rum). It was another wisely crafted set list, one that showed their range and versatility and depth. Speaking of versatility, there's a blurb in the Tønder Official Programme that goes on about how GBS's energy is derived solely from acoustic instruments; I think it's the same blurb they used when GBS last played Tønder in 2004. It is a blurb that very badly needs to be rewritten for 2007: Alan brought down the house (rather, the tent) with When I Am King and even more so with Straight To Hell.

Alan had sent a clear enough message about his electric intentions to those of us in line hours earlier during soundcheck. I could see some eyebrows raising when they heard him wailing away on Les from inside the tent. One fellow smiled as he heard the little black guitar being played within an inch of its life; he looked over at me and uttered what might have been the only word of English he knew: Cool. Alan was indeed Cool then, and then Alan would get Hot later. And then even later in the evening, Alan would become sweet and splendid and so endearing that even trying to write about it now is putting the most foolish smile on my face.

I have more I could say (and will eventually say) about the show in Tent 2. I'm still not quite sure whose main show it was, since we had to leave after GBS left the stage and missed the Levellers altogether, partly because their fans were more than a bit scary but mostly because we had tickets for another show later that evening, or, rather, early the next morning at 1 am. But one thing that really shouldn't wait to be said is that while it was overall a very good show - a very receptive crowd too, even after some people left mid-set to go over to Tent 1 when Runrig came on stage -  and while Alan  simply blazed across that stage all night long, there was also another superb performance going on over on the far right. I thought Bob put on a great show last night in Tønder; in fact, he's been playing very well this entire run of shows, but he stepped it up yet another notch last night. It has to be exciting for all of them to be able to spend time with so many outrageously talented musicians; so far it looks as if this might be a Tønder that will be a grand memory for them all. For myself as well.

I am going to have to stick in one complaint, not so much because I want to, but because it's bad enough that not to mention it would be dishonest. The lights sucked last night, really and truly sucked. I don't know who was doing them, but it was way too dark and there was too much fog, not a matter of not being able to take photos or even to get enough light in videos - more a matter of not being able to see them at all at times from a few rows back in the crowd. They really do deserve to be seen as well as heard by all the people in their crowd.

Not being a few rows back, I could indeed see, as well as video. I got quite a bit of video clips, including Walk On The Moon, Penelope, When I Am King, the RRA Singalongs (priceless moment of Alan singing the ''Bonanza'' theme song in Danish) and a totally incendiary and heart-tugging Straight To Hell. I might not get those videos up online till I get back to St. John's. but they will eventually make it up here.

Along with some other very special video footage. The late night/early morning show we went to at the Visemøllen was a Danu show, but it was actually billed as ''Danu And Friends''. Friends there were aplenty, fantastic musicians playing along with the superbly skilled members of Danu, most of whom I had never seen or heard before. It was all wonderful and marvellous and exciting, and it became far more wonderful and marvellous and exciting when I saw a familiar sweet swish of a walk heading into the little venue, Alan with a eager smile on his face, accompanied as he had been all night long by his intrepid and admirably dedicated photographer companion.

As beautifully as Alan Doyle performs on his own, it is when he finds himself performing in a group of fellow artists that he shines the most brightly. If ever there were a man born to be the Captain of the Championship Team, he is that man. When Alan came up on stage with the members of Danu for a rendition of River Driver and then of Molly Malone (yes, video of both and it is all utterly delightful), it was a priceless, precious moment that all by itself made the entire trip here to Tønder more than worth it. Alan was magnificent twice in one evening, and the only way it gets better than that is for the number to increase.

I know I am not at all objective when it comes to Alan, but even making allowances for tender-hearted affection, it still seems to me as if there is an energy and magnetism that shines its brightest from him when he finds himself in the midst - most assuredly, in the centre of the midst - of his peers. His palpable joy at being in that place at that moment causes him to shine in my eyes, to shine with a brightness that both warms and dazzles. As he said in his intro to Molly Malone, it was the first song his Dad taught him on the guitar and after he learned it, ''there was no looking back''. There is something about a man whose eyes are always looking toward what lies ahead instead of what remains behind that gives him a power and command that is moving and endearing, admirable and irresistible. In a word, a word that is both straightforward and complex, which suits it perfectly to the man it describes: Dear.

Great Big Sea impressed me last night, and Alan Doyle impressed me even more. I am sure that the man for whom there is no looking back already has his gaze fixed on what marvels and wonders lie ahead tonight. As do I.

Comments

[Monica]

Hi Lynda, happy you are having such a great musical experience with GBS and Alan in Europe. One question is Strait to Hell the song Alan said he wrote with Russell?

Saludos and keep enjoying you trip

Monica

[lynda]

Hi Monica - sorry to take so long to answer you. No, Straight To Hell was written by Alan alone. It's the song Where I Belong that's the Alan Doyle/Russell Crowe co-write. To the best of my knowledge, Alan performed this song only one time, at the Summer-Tour-opening Kalamazoo, Michigan, show.

Where I Belong is an awesome song, with such an emotional impact that it feels more like I heard it last night than several months ago. It feels like I have been hearing it all of my life. It's a Straight To The Heart song, and as I keep waiting and waiting to hear Alan do it again, I kick myself harder and harder for not going ahead and videoing it that first time (and sole time, so far) he did do it. I did not realise then how long I might have to wait to hear it again. Even just having the lyrics would mean the world to me. Every show, I keep hoping, and looking forward to the day when everybody else can hear it too.

Alan and Russell sure do great work together, don't they?