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| Concert Review |  |
by Ed Clark |
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| (As posted to the Big Country Mailing List):
[Pre-concert activities deleted for brevity's sake] At about 8 p.m. a blond chanteuse named Cary Evans takes the stage backed by two guitarists, a keyboardist, and a backup singer. Marcus performs third guitar on a couple of songs. Carrie sings tough and sexy; she's no Rusty Miller! (who is still singing "So free, so free, so free, so free, so free," somewhere). The song Marcus wrote for her is fantastic. It's lighthearted and made me laugh in parts, but then I had more nervous energy than I could handle in any socially appropriate manner. Carrie made some genuine, sweet comments about her friends in audience. She also spoke of her day job and struggles to make it. If she finds life a struggle with her looks and talent, I'm glad she doesn't wear my shoes! She leaves, and then the great wait begins. Marcus, the boys, and Andrea set up, but there are no Stuart sightings. So we wait. I see Ian Grant sitting at a table with his wife. It is clear that he has finished eating, so I approach him and tell him how happy we are with the official web site. He clearly doesn't know me from Adam, and asks, "Have I met you?" I tell him we met at the Douglas Corner Cafe, complement him again on the web site, and then scurry back to my seat. He was pleasant enough, once he saw me edging back to my seat. Ian probably is a nice chap with his old friends, but there's no denying that he's skeptical bear. Too bad he wasn't a little more skeptical about that accountant! The wait for Stuart continues as the natives grow restless. Finally, at about 9:30, I see a man in black making a brisk bee line towards us through the audience. Heads are turning. As Stuart brushes by our table towards the stage door he fumes, "no parking!" Foiled and flummoxed by Fan Fest! Now I'm really bouncing off the walls, but by the time they take the stage, it's clear I'm not the only one! Without comment, John Mach, John Gardner, Mark Prentice, and Andrea Zahn break into "Old Country, Country." The energy level is really high; maybe the wait did them good. Tonight it seems like we are watching a band and not just Stuart and Marcus with some back-up guys. Only bassist Mark Prentice seems out of place up there. The volume and sound of his bass are out of control for the first third of the concert. I sit near his speaker, so it probably bothers me more than others. Mark apparently has problems with his mike as well, and on several songs he wanders awkwardly across a crowded stage to sing back-up with Stuart. His style of play is also somewhat disconcerting. From the facial expressions he makes, you'd think he was picking a blister and not a guitar. Stuart, Marcus, someone...call Dr. Scholl's! I don't remember the exact order of the play list. I know that Marcus sang "Old Country, Country", "Supernatural", "Stand Up", "Blue Rose" and "One of these Days" as an encore. New to me at this concert was "Tojour Aimer" which he co-wrote with Stuart. This song is fluffier than cotton candy whipped with helium, but I fell for it completely. Tojour Aimer Stuart plays a groovy guitar lick that lifts Marcus' great voice. I can't believe the man behind Steeltown could play a song like this and pull it off, but I guess the muse doesn't always have to lead to dark corners. I hope they play it again in the future. Stuart played "Shattered Cross", "Simple Man", "Learn to Row", "The Travelers", "Too Many Ghosts" and "Private Battlefield." My friend Bill, who tends to be negative and critical, and who doesn't need a friend like that, said he had a good time and that "Private Battlefield" was a song that he found particularly deep. "Private Battlefield" addresses the damage that lovers inflict upon each other, and it's not pretty. On previous hearings, the instrumentation of the song softened the hard lyrics. This arrangement leaves the wounds bare. No trite conclusions, no deeper truths salvaged from the experience, just the thing itself, followed by a prayer for peace. When he finished, Stuart turned to Marcus and said in an audible aside, "It took a lot of life to write that one, Marcus." I was both awed and saddened. The high point of the evening for me, personally, occurred during "Learn to Row," when Stuart saw me singing along and didn't look away, but let me sing with him for a couple of lines. I felt like he was allowing me to enjoy the song as much as he does. If you knew how self-conscious I am, which I'm glad you don't, you would appreciate what a nice moment this was for me, leaving behind all that anxiety and finding some freedom in the music. The show ended with "In A Big Country." Wow. Before he started playing, I realized that there were people in the back and beside me who were even more psyched about this night than I was! Someone shouted "Stuart!" He yelled back, "What?" and then, "Who said my name?" And then a different voice yelled, "Play 'Wonderland'." Stuart, who is normally very quick, except at parking, seemed stumped to reply to this, so he started playing "In a Big Country." It must be awesome for the band to play this song behind Stuart. I'm sure they've never encountered an audience that responds to anything they have played so intensely, and to have it all in front of them must be a blast. I left after the show and didn't get to talk to Stuart. I also left the camera in the car. Being there with friends and absorbing the music was enough for me on this night. I hope there will be future shows, and that Marcus will play "American Lullaby", "Back to Me and You" and "Bless the Broken Road." I prefer them to "Life is a Church" and "One of these Days," although I guess he has to play it now that Tim McGraw took it to Number 1. I hope that Stuart will play "Come Back to Me" sometime. |
