Great Big Sea rocks with an Irish flair
Great Big Sea rocked the Harbor Friday night, generating enough energy to charge up the vast horde of ready souls in attendance and make them bounce, dance and take part in group karaoke exercises.
It was an amazing experience watching so many people pogo-ing en masse, twirling around in little clusters of humanity and belting out lyrics like a giant a capella choir on steroids.
The fact that, as band member Alan Doyle noted, the current Buffalo Rocks the Harbor concert series — returning after a year’s hiatus — was the start of the band’s latest tour only made the meshing of musicians and audience that much more special. It’s as if Western New York was home to the most rabid Great Big Sea fans outside of its Newfoundland base.
Touring in support of its latest album, “Fortune’s Favour,” the group whipped through a set of songs old and new, rewarding longtime fans with some of their favorite material while introducing tunes that could turn out to be future classics.
The group entered onto the stage as a recording of the “Banks of Newfoundland” banged out of the speakers and, by the second song, had dived headlong into partying mode with a rollicking song for an Irish wake (“The Night Pat Murphy Died”) that turned into a ceilidh — or Celtic party — revival. Bob Hallett, the group’s resident multi-instrumentalist, played his heavily amplified, two-row accordion with impressive ease, tearing through phrase after phrase as if they
were hors d’oeuvres at an all-you-can-eat spread.
It is this blend of lively traditional Irish music with equally high-powered rock ’n’ roll that makes Great Big Sea such a remarkable live act. It is really quite impressive how they can go from a straight-ahead barn-burner such as “When I Am King” to a more historic rave-up, “A Boat Like Gideon Brown,” or a more modern bit of balladry, “England,” which captures the pain behind so much traditional material.
Mason Jennings, a Minneapolis-based singer-songwriter, was the scheduled opening act. Playing guitar in conjunction with a bassist and drummer, Jennings wove his way through a set of original material before a surprisingly large coterie of admirers crowded near the front of the stage.
With a voice that had eerie similarities to Lou Reed, Jonathan Richman and, at times, Tom Petty, Jennings’ approach to singing was more about sliding into or onto a note rather than hitting it square on the head. It was a mannerism that was effective more often than not and was used to greatest effect in quirky yet catchy tunes such as “I Love You and Buddha Too,” “Fighter Girl” and “Butterfly.”
Samantha Stollenwerck, who was the opening act for this week’s Thursday at the Square concert, was a surprise opening act.
Concert Review
Great Big Sea
Friday night as part of Buffalo Place Rocks the Harbor at Erie Canal Harbor.
