We went to the GBS show last night at Nassau Comm. College. I bought my friends Sandy & Evelyn, and we met up with Krysia from the chat. Bets & Fran E. were also there, and it was nice to meet them as well. This was my second time seeing GBS, so I don't have a lot of shows to compare it to, but I did see them at the Bottom Line in NYC in November (my first show!). The venue last night was a bit odd in my opinion. It was a recreation room at the school that seated maybe 200-250 people in folding chairs. The festival had some "different" types of acts from an African-Dominican dance/musical ensemble to a grandfatherly man named Oscar Brand from Winnipeg who was sweet, but really wasn't my cup of tea. Finally, out of 5 acts scheduled, GBS came on 4th. I didn't get to grab the set list, but from my memory (which isn't the best!!), they opened with Process Man, and in no specific order, did Mari-Mac, Jolly Butcher, Lukey, Excursion Around the Bay, some very lively jig I never heard (no words), Ordinary Day, and When I'm Up. That's all I can remember, but I don't think I'm missing too much. Anyway, a few people in the crowd other than the 6 of us seemed to know who GBS was, but the great majority didn't. That was until they went on the stage! The place had been pretty quiet, and politely clapped after the other performers, but when GBS did their thing, the crowd knew they were in for some fun, and they totally kicked the energy level in the place up a couple hundred notches! Although their set was short, it was great to see them. I had never heard Process Man (one of my favorites), and the Jolly Butcher before, nor Excursion around the Bay, either - so it was nice to hear those live. I can't quite gauge the boys reaction to the venue, although I can't imagine that they would be too jazzed by it. Quite honestly, they put on such a great show they could bring the house down in a pup tent. I agree with some of the chatters who commented that Sean looks like he lost weight, he also has some blonde thing going on with his hair (anyone else notice?) They were their usual cheery selves, and had the audience cracking up between each song. That's truly part of their attractiveness as I'm sure most would agree. Besides, awesome music, the banter between them is equally as entertaining!
--Susan

What more can I say... Susan said most of it. The guys did great considering the venue... and I think they really did get a number of new admirers out of it. The sound people at this event were horrible! they kept putting in too much reverb, and just screwing up in general.
I hope GBS considers coming back to LI at some point, even if not for this event. Add to Susan's set list The Night Pat Murphy Died and General Taylor.
Susan is right that there didn't seem to be an overwhelming number of GBS fans... you could tell those who had seen them live before, though, because they knew what to do for Excursion Around the Bay (the "hey" thing, ya know, with the fist).
And to paraphrase a cute sarcastic quote, alan was talking about how they didn't want us to think how they were just here to shamelessly plug their new CD... that we shouldn't feel obliged to buy it, considering how they were from a small fishing village, so you know how they wouldn't need the money... :)
--Jim C

To add to the quotes, Sean declared it St. Patty's Day week, and from some of the other comments I got the feeling they enjoyed celebrating the holiday in New York! (I'd quote them, but I don't remember it well enough).
Alan's personal ad for Sean was quite funny also... Alan was trying to kill time while tuning up (they had some extra time to do a few more songs, lucky us!). He asked Sean to do a little political commentary on the fisheries, and Sean responded that he didn't do well in geography and math in school... after a few more remarks, Alan commented - and "This is Sean, he's 24, enjoys long walks on the beach (or something like that)... and Sean piped up that he just wants someone to care for him. That got a definite reaction from some audience members sitting our left (some Rockapella fans who I think have become GBS fans.) Alan started to intro the song again, and Bob actually chimed in to comment that they probably didn't have enough time to do the song after all the chatter..
--Krysia