Thursday, December 31, 2020

NYE With Big Country

Another New Year's Eve is upon us. As I always do at this time, I will spend the evening getting drunk on nostalgia and partying like it's 1983. Yes, it's time to pull out my DVD of Big Country's legendary New Year's Eve show at Barrowland.
I'll hit the play button at exactly 11:31PM, and the bells will toll at midnight right along with the show, about four minutes into "The Storm." Stuart and the lads will welcome the Dundonald & Dysart Pipe Band to the stage for the most Scottish moment you'll ever see at a rock concert. For a moment, I'll be filled with the same excitement I felt as a fresh-faced 14 year old watching the spectacle on MTV. Then I'll pop a cork, raise a toast to 2021 with Mrs. LTL and watch the rest of the songs from 'The Crossing.' We will no doubt reminisce about our own adventure to see a reformed Big Country at Barrowland in 2012. No, not quite the same as the show we will be watching from the sofa, but it's the closest we will ever get to this time-machine moment.
I imagine your plans will be a little bit different. No matter how you celebrate tonight, and I know this is a particularly tough one, just remember better times are ahead. Happy New Year! Take care. Stuart's words were never more apt: Stay alive!



The Storm
Dundonald & Dysart Pipe Band Sequence
In a Big Country/Auld Lang Syne
Interview with Stuart Adamson about NYE show

7 comments:

Walter said...

Enjoy this show and have a great one, Brian. All the best and stay safe.

C said...

Ah, sounds like the perfect way to ring in your New Year. Here's to a better one than this one. Happy New Year!

Charity Chic said...

Glad for the official confirmation that it is New Years Eve Brian!
Happy New Year to you and yours

drew said...

I wish you and yours the best health and happiness and I will raise a drink to hopefully meeting up in 2021.

That haircut by the way, very clean cut and respectable

Alyson said...

Best thing to do at the moment is "get drunk on nostalgia" as you say. Hope you enjoyed your Hogmanay - Enjoyed reading about your plans and the excitement you'll feel listening to the Pipe Band.

Happy New Year Brian and family.

jonder said...

In 1984 I saw Big Country at the Fox Theater in Atlanta... with my parents. They had little objection when their teenage son attended smaller shows at punk clubs (where drugs were used openly), but somehow thought that a proper Rock Concert was a den of depravity.

God rest Stuart Adamson's brave and troubled soul. Who would have guessed back then that he was trying to convince himself as much as his listeners to "stay alive"?

Best wishes for the New Year. The auld one was a bastard.

Brian said...

Thanks for the kind words, everyone. Much appreciated.

Jonder, I wish I could say I saw Stuart. Mike Peters did a fine job, but it was not quite the same. I was a huge fan through Steeltown. Kind of my first band I got obsessive about. Had to have everything, but my love only lasted a couple of years. Then on to other things, but I still have such a soft spot for those first two albums and Wonderland EP.

Drew, My hair is not as respectable as in this photo but more respectable than when you saw me last.