The support band, Savannah were decent enough and got a good response.
The crowd were mostly 'old rockers', though it was good to see some brought offspring, introducing a new generation to the band. Big Country were on top form and good humour
as I hope you will see from the video - a half-hour overview of the Bilston gig (not a clip of every song and no complete songs but it will give you a really good feel for the gig as a whole).
Big Country - Bilston, 22nd October 2014, uploaded by Oliver Hunter
The "Steelmen":
Apart from the pleasure of seeing the band again and seeing them play the "Steeltown" album in its entirety,
some notable moments from the night are:
Rocking near Keith Johnson and posting a running commentary on Facebook with him.
Bruce commenting on the Derby gig being postponed, saying how ironic it was that the venue are "waiting for the Steelmen to come in"!
Waiting with a small group of die-hard fans, for over an hour, for the band to emerge, Bruce first, very chatty, then Jamie, Mark, Derek & finally Simon.
Mark signing my new anniversary vinyl edition of Steeltown and saying he wished he'd listened to the album before they'd started rehearsing for the tour to remind him of how he played some of the songs!
Derek gave me the plectrum that he'd used for the gig.
Meeting Jim & his wife, celebrating her birthday -"Happy Birthday!"
Listening to Paul's epic tale of following the band around the country.
I'm now looking forward to seeing them on the last date on the tour in Milton Keynes!
The Stables, Milton Keynes, 15th December 2014
Oliver Hunter writes:
OK, here's my review of last night's gig, the final date on the Steeltown 30th Anniversary Tour. BC's Support was a talented singer/songwriter/guitarist called Elliot Morris, who played a good set,
(clip already posted) including a brilliant cover of "Billie Jean". During the interval - one of the life-size 'Steelmen' was for sale, with a price tag of £50, which I seriously considered, though
my wife would have had serious words with me if I'd come home with him! After the gig the price had gone up to £200 (the original price was a mistake apparently). After the gig, Bruce told me that
someone had bought one of the others (there were four) for £75, so I offered him the £20 in my pocket for one. Luckily for my marriage, he declined.
So, onto Big Country. The bad points of all-seated venues have been discussed at length on here before, so I won't dwell on them but they really don't make for the best experience at a great BC gig
and I much prefer being down the front of the mosh pit. The lighting technician is a guy I used to work with and he apologised to me before the show for the "poor lighting". Due to the band arriving
very late (stuck in traffic) there was little time for sound check and the lighting had already been rigged when they discovered an issue with the sound and had to move their position on the stage
back 3 metres, with no time to adjust the lighting. However, apart from the band's heads going into (just a) shadow (sorry!) when they stepped back from the mics, it hopefully wasn't too noticeable!
Side one:Flame Of The West, East Of Eden, Steeltown, Where The Rose Is Sown, Come Back To Me
Personally, I thought the sound during side one of Steeltown was a little muddy and treble-heavy but I'm assuming that the sound guy tweaked things by the end of the side. Either that or their loud
playing beat my hearing into shape! Now, I don't know if it was because it was the last night of the tour or whether recent gigs have been the same (I don't recall it particularly at Bilston) but,
apart from "Come Back To Me" I felt that the band were rushing though the tracks, just a little. The volume and energy from the band were never in doubt, it was just the audience who staunchly
remained seated, apart from the odd die-hard fan on the balconies. Plenty of banter from Bruce and the band between the 'sides' and with the audience - a discussion about Dundee pronunciations and
all-night bakeries - luckily Jamie 'speaks Dundee'.
Side two:Tall Ships Go, Girl With Grey Eyes, Rain Dance, The Great Divide, Just A Shadow
With a call from Bruce to the roadie: "pick the fluff off the needle and put side 2 on!" the band launched (sounding much clearer to my ears) into the second half of the album. "Tall Ships Go" was
brilliant but "Girl With Grey Eyes" was absolutely outstanding - a slow, emotional melodic intro from Bruce led to an incredible performance and Mark's militaristic drums were simply fantastic, I
wish I'd been able to film it and I'd say that, for me, that one song was worth the ticket price alone.
Once the album was done I think the band emotionally and maybe physically breathed a sigh of relief and relaxed a bit. There was more banter with the audience and the classic "Derek's-one-note-song"
routine before they launched into the greatest hits section.
'2nd half':Harvest Home, River of Hope, Look Away, Chance, In a Big Country, Wonderland, Fields of Fire
Due to the very strict "no photos" policy at the venue, I only sneaked one quick pic, near the end of the gig in case I got caught and kicked out, lol!
From a scan round the audience I'd say it was predominantly an 'older' crowd (even for BC!) but it took "In A Big Country" to get many to jump to their feet but by "Fields of Fire" everyone was up.
Shame that it took until the last song to achieve that but great that they did and the atmosphere was by then more like a standing gig.
The band didn't keep us waiting too long before they came back on and Bruce had a play-spar around the expanse at the front of the stage with Derek before launching into:
Encore:Inwards
This was everything you would have hoped from BC and was thoroughly enjoyable.
Big Country - Inwards (Intro), uploaded by Oliver Hunter
Sadly, that was it. The set list I got signed says there should have been "Lost Patrol" & "Restless Natives" but I guess with the band being late, they had to be dropped.
After the gig I got 'spotted' by Alan Gibson in the toilets, where we briefly discussed our lack of facial hair (after our Movember efforts!). I went back to my car, moved it round to the staff car
park and parked opposite the stage door. Getting my bag of things to be signed, I stood by the stage door, surprised to be on my own in the cold. However, I was soon chatting to Jamie & Bruce and
after a short wait, Derek, who were all very friendly and accommodating.
There was a bit of a longer wait (30 mins or so) for Mark & Simon, so Jamie kindly invited me into the Green room to keep warm, for which I was doubly grateful. Mark was entertaining Johannes &
Helle Baagoe-Nielsen but was very friendly, happy to chat and signed everything.
There was much hilarity when Bruce did a good-natured but scarily accurate impression of Svein reviewing BC's albums over the years and being: "the only Big Country fan who is 'disappointed' by
everything they release", just before I recorded the clip below of Jamie playing a quick jam for Svein & Tom.
Jamie Watson - post-gig improv, uploaded by Oliver Hunter
I mentioned 2016 being the 30th anniversary of "The Seer", to which they looked a bit horrified when they thought about having to practice playing all the songs on that album...
I finally found Simon in the auditorium and got him to sign the set list and Steeltown 30th Anniversary CD, thanked the band and bade them a Merry Christmas and good night.
Back at home I drank a quick whisky in Stuart's memory.
Bring on 2015 and the next tour!!
The Stables, Milton Keynes, 15th December 2014
Dave Onions writes:
I posted earlier that I was sorry not to have met up and I couldn't stay after the gig due to getting back to the station in time for the 11.29 back to Brum. I was up on the Balcony wearing
a white Wonderland Tee-shirt anybody who has read my previous posts knows I have problems standing still, never mind sitting still at a gig. I tried but by the time the Great Divide was played
I decided I had had enough of the straight jacket and just started having a bounce.. no one was behind ..the few in front thought they had got the Looney .... and they had...
From my position Oliver I actually thought the sound was great, possibly the best I have heard on this tour ..... but I am normally as close to the front as possible ..... The audience was quite
an old one I loved the fact that they were bringing cups of coffee into the auditorium and GLASSES of beer .... I can only imagine what would happen with glasses at Bilston LOL ..... I thought
the performance was brilliant and Simon just keeps growing more and more into the role of lead singer. Like Oliver said the audience remained quite still until the (I was going to say classics
but .... they are all classics to me) most well known songs were played, but they were very appreciative with each song getting rapturous applause quite a deal of cheering ....... I also
have to agree by the end of the gig the sound engineer had definitely turned them up to 11 ... I am so glad to have been able to see this tour I have heard songs live that I have not been played
before. I got home from the gig at 1.15 and also raised a glass in Stuarts memory ..... I am going to finish by stealing some of Bruce Watson's words ...... some faces have grown older, some new
faces have appeared but the song remains the same..... They are still BIG COUNTRY!
Oliver replied - I saw you too then Dave, you were clearly visible in your white T shirt and clearly having fun!! I maybe didn't make enough of how well the band played
and sang, Simon has completely settled in and does Stuart proud, Derek is killer on the bass and, along with Mark, provides superb backing vocals. Jamie is brilliant and is basically Bruce 30
years ago, whilst Bruce is the same old Bruce, apart from no smoking during the gigs these days...
