Members DaveAronow Posted August 31, 2013 Members Share Posted August 31, 2013 Had a rare night off tonight and was looking forward to staying home and chilling and just playing piano, or whatever. My long time buddy, soundman we used to tour with called said he was in town working s ound with big country , come on up snd hang out. I said ok, sounds like fun even though I know less than nothing about Big Country. I didn't even know the song Big Country was theirs, was just in to other stuff in those days.Standing at the board, and From the opening chord, WHAMMO! They come out. Slamming it! Pis stomping I , LOUD and crystal clear. Songs are great, banis great , how did I miss these guys? Very pleasent surprise and glad I decided to go. Any fans? Experiences with these guys? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members PurpleTrails Posted August 31, 2013 Members Share Posted August 31, 2013 I saw them in their original lineup at a smallish club back around '82 or '83 right after their first album came out. They seriously kicked butt, the audience was going nuts and wanted more, but they ran out of material and started playing some songs a second time. That may be the only time I've seen a serious band do that. The show was pretty good overall, but I still regret going to it: I had the chance to either go see them or U2 at a larger club that night. By the time U2 hit town again they were playing arenas and stadiums. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members peskypesky Posted August 31, 2013 Members Share Posted August 31, 2013 huh?Didn't the leader of Big Country commit suicide several years ago?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members DaveAronow Posted August 31, 2013 Author Members Share Posted August 31, 2013 No. Your source is an idiot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members chimi Posted September 1, 2013 Members Share Posted September 1, 2013 I am a HUUUUUGE Big Country fan. The guitar work and to be fair the bass/drums in that band were amazing. Stuart had a great knack for not only writing melodies but really meaningful lyrics that normal people could relate to. Not just crap about dragons and warlocks. I'm 27 so i never got a chance to see the original band. In my opinion (MY opinion only) they were much better than U2 in terms of musicality as well as having a great message. Not only that they kept evolving in terms of their sound. Compare their early to mid 80s stuff to the stuff they put out in the 90s. Very different but all of it very very good. They were actually playing in Asbury park a few weeks ago (about 15 minutes from where i work) but i didn't find out until the night of the show. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members GreaserMatt Posted September 1, 2013 Members Share Posted September 1, 2013 http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1032u_big-country-in-a-big-country_music Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members peskypesky Posted September 1, 2013 Members Share Posted September 1, 2013 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Willyguitar Posted September 4, 2013 Members Share Posted September 4, 2013 Like DaveAronow, they are firmly entrenched in the early to mid 1980s in my mind. Not that you should any the less of them for that. I enjoyed them back then. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Danhedonia Posted September 5, 2013 Members Share Posted September 5, 2013 There really can't be Big Country without Stuart Adamson. What's next? Nine Inch Nails featuring Buckethead in place of Trent Reznor? I understand not everyone on the board enjoys and respects the band's history or cares about their fans, but geez, that is in serious poor taste. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Ratae Corieltauvorum Posted September 5, 2013 Moderators Share Posted September 5, 2013 Willyguitar wrote: Like DaveAronow, they are firmly entrenched in the early to mid 1980s in my mind. Not that you should any the less of them for that. I enjoyed them back then. Indeed for me, the middle ground of the 80 and a bit like the Manics and Stereophonics, I always get Big Country mixed up with Simple Minds, who are also back filling venues. The band I never thought I would get are Duran Duran, but their last album All You Need is Now was damn good and they are back in the studio with Mark Ronson and working through their next album and have just come off a two year world tour and packing them, sharper than they ever were, although no Andy Taylor Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members DaveAronow Posted September 5, 2013 Author Members Share Posted September 5, 2013 Danhedonia, you probably need to get over it and move on. While I do understand where you are coming from, I cringe everytime I hear about that cover band out there using the name Lynyrd Skynyrd, legally I guess they have the right to doit but should they? Well, the answer is that they would llaugh at me if I tried to tell them they shouldnt. They are going to do what they want anyway. As long as they are making a living at it, I gess theyll continue. Let me tell you about the big country show I saw. The one in which you probably would have hated. I knew nothing about this band , had only heard there one hit, went to the show on an invite not knowing the names of the members, their faces, who is original, who a fill in. Theey came out slamming full of enthusiasm, looked like they were really happy to be there, the band sounded amazing, LOUD, but yet still really clear. From a non fan point of view, and with nothing invested, the singer did a great job and fit the band like a glove. So much so, that when I was told he wasnt the original singer near the end of the show, I would not have been able to tell v a difference based on the sound of his voice with the live band. When they ended with their big hit, the song I recognised, nothing about the singers voice tipped me off that it might not be the same guy. The crowd, not huge. Maybe 300 people but it was a very small theater, so a decent crowd for the venue, was extremely receptive to the band tge whole night, so much so, that after the show, the band came out to take their bow and ended up standing on stage for ten minutes passing the mic around to each other so they could each tell the audience how much they appreciated the great response on the tour, especially that nights audience. They claimed to be blown awsy by the response and from the things they said, and the way tgey said them and their reluctance to put the mic down and stop gushing, I believed tgem. They almost had to be pulled off the stage. It was really sweet to see. So my point is, yeah, it might not seem right to you, or some otger fans whi have the other singer seared into your memory, but from a person that had nothing invested, This singer they have with them now did suvh a great job and fit the band so wrll, they turned me from someone that knew nothing or cared nothing about the band including who was in it, into a fan of the band. So much so that they left me wondering how I ever missed them. I doubt not having the original singer is going to affect them very adversely. This kind of music isn't lighting the world on fire so its not like not having some original dude is going to keep them from blowing up huge because the masses will reject them with this singer. The masses are gone. They are never going to be what they were regardless of who is with them. So you may as well go enjoy a good show, a great sounding band with a front man that did a great job and have some fun. The songs or the music or the show didn't suffer asa result. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Danhedonia Posted September 5, 2013 Members Share Posted September 5, 2013 Politely disagree; having worked eons in promotion, I can't tell you how many faxes (remember fax machines? sigh ...) we got for bands billing themselves as "the New Bestial Babies" or "the Original Six Dorks" or etc. -- it's quite easy to do a slight name change to leverage the brand, and at the same time tip the hat to the dearly departed. I'm not so hardcore that things like that bug me in the slightest.Stuart Adamson was not "the original singer," but the songwriter, singer, and reason for the band's existence. He put it together; it was his child. Hell, a Skids reunion would be less tasteless.In Skynyrd, there were several contributing members to the overall "bandness" - I brought up NIN purposefully because Big Country were always Stuart's band in much the same way that NIN is Trent's. This isn't a Yardbirds type of deal, or War, or ....No critique that you were never a big fan, but that you, as someone newly encountering the music (and a fairly sharp individual) thinks it's "no big deal" is exactly what pisses me off at whomever has put this together (and can we all agree - I'm ABSOLUTELY SURE it's management/ booking agent).I'm not alone in this - I spoke to someone at a good size venue (+/- 800 cap) this morning, exactly the kind of place they'd like to play, and they said they were kind of nauseated when they saw the tour routing (they were offered the show).My objection is NOT on general principle, but much more specific to this band.OTOH, I am delighted that you have discovered their music and enjoyed, and Mike Sharp has always had a lot of musical ability to offer, IMO. Hope he doesn't mind that I will be touring this summer as The Alarm, doing all the hits (I'll be singing and playing a beat up acoustic electric, with spiky hair).Sorry, but at some point, there is such a thing as tackiness, even when it comes to van tours. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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