The Big Dish’s Steven Lindsay – Live at Celtic Connections 2012
Tickets for the show can be obtained from:
Airdrie band The Big Dish split up in 1991 shortly after the release of their third album.
The band members thereafter ploughed separate furrows until this January, when they re-formed to perform to a sell-out crowd at Glasgow’s Celtic Connections festival.
The band clearly hadn’t been idle after their appearance at Celtic Connections.
Alterations to the set list – the deletion of one song (‘Burn’) and the addition of two others (‘Faith Healer’ and the set closing ’25 Years’) – and changes to both set order and the arrangement of some songs amounted to more than the sum of their parts. The result was a set that, a few technical gremlins notwithstanding, sounded fresh and was every bit as good as the band’s emotional return at Celtic Connections. No easy feat.
In front of another sell-out crowd the band performed six songs from each of their three albums augmented, as at Celtic Connections, by the gorgeous ‘Breakdown’ from vocalist Steven Lindsay’s first solo album and a vibrant cover of ‘All the Young Dudes.’
Steven Lindsay’s dry wit and strong vocals, Allan Dumbreck’s dancing feet and fingers, Brian McFie’s deft guitar licks, Ross McFarlane’s energetic drumming and Raymond Docherty’s effortless bass playing joined forces with the band’s repertoire of melodic pop songs to ensure that a good night was had by all who attended.
In Ayrshire, praise is handed out in rather less gushing terms than in other parts of the world: describing something as “no bad” is as near as someone from these parts will get to using a superlative. Take it from this Ayrshireman, The Big Dish are “no bad.”
David Milloy.
More: http://www.fabricationshq.com/the-darvel-music-festival.html
Last night’s gig at Darvel Music Festival was fantastic. The band would like to thank Darvel Music Group and all the fans at the show.
Supporting last night, were Red Sky July. Huge thanks to them, too. Superb vocal harmonies.
Remember: You can converse with the band on Twitter and Facebook.
Looking back… Video of ‘Big Town’ by The Big Dish.
Tickets for Darvel Music Festival here.
Not long until Darvel. Tickets here.
Remember this? Prospect Street…
Song Title: Jealous (Live at the ABC in Glasgow).
Song Title: Miss America (Live at the ABC in Glasgow).
Many thanks to ‘minesaflatwhite’ for posting the videos.
The Big Dish live in Glasgow for Celtic Connections. Photo: Karen Miller, BBC.
Last year we saw Scottish band Love and Money reform for, at the time, a one-off Celtic Connections show (they’ve since done a tour and are releasing a new CD later this year). This year, again courtesy of Celtic Connections, Airdrie band The Big Dish played their first gig in twenty years to a capacity audience at the O2 ABC.
I’m always slightly trepidatious about seeing reformed bands – can they be as good as they were all those years ago? But, in this case, I had absolutely nothing to worry about. From the first bars of Prospect Street to the excellent cover of All the Young Dudes that ended the evening, it was a class performance and you’d never have known it had been so long since they last played together.
The Big Dish were formed in 1983 by Steven Lindsay, they released three albums in the late eighties/early nineties – Swimmer, Creeping Up on Jesus and Satellites before the band broke up and Steven embarked on a solo career, which he noted in the gig garnered him 5 star reviews for his two albums, but no sales! The Big Dish were one of a group of Scottish bands (Hipsway, the aforementioned Love and Money, Deacon Blue, The Blue Nile… to name but a few) who produced classy, soulful pop music, it was a sound driven by strong melodies, soulful vocals and lyrics that paid homage to everyday events.
Through out the 90 minutes the band were on stage we were treated to many of the songs from the three albums – personal favourites were Prospect Street, Miss America, European Rain, Waiting for the Parade, and the slowed down, acoustic version of Christina’s World. Special mention should be given to Allan Drumbreck on keyboards – they, along with Steven’s vocals (as good now as they were twenty years ago) and Brian McFie’s guitar licks – created a fantastic, slick sound which didn’t come across as at all dated.
There wasn’t a lot of chat or interaction between band members, but Steven did reminisce about an interview in France where he was asked why all Scottish bands were obsessed with songs about water – “was it because you all live at the seaside?” – cue jokes about Airdrie being landlocked.
As I stood and looked out over the audience all I could see were smiling faces and people singing along to the songs, the smiles were echoed on stage by a band obviously enjoying performing together again. I’m sure I’m not the only one hoping that, as with James Grant deciding to revive Love and Money, Steven Lindsay makes the same decision for The Big Dish. All that remains to be asked is which eighties band would you like to see Celtic Connections bring back next year? Personally I’d love to see the return of Hipsway (or Del Amitri) please!
The Big Dish played to a sold-out Celtic Connections venue on Saturday 21st January 2012.
Stuart Morrison (The Herald, 23rd January)
Twenty five years after the release of their debut album, Swimmer, and umpteen years since they were last on stage together, Airdrie’s finest launched themselves carefully at a sold-out crowd for this one-off reunion.
And while the age group of the throng was fairly uniform, they had gathered from far and wide. “I love these guys,” said Timothy Swiat, who, with wife Karen, had flown from Denver, Colorado, just for this show.
The Big Dish belong to a golden generation of Scottish bands who appeared in the 1980s. Some, like Simple Minds and Deacon Blue, are still going and haul themselves out for the odd highly lucrative tour, while others, like Love and Money and now The Big Dish, are testing the water with reunion shows. What all of them seem to find is that the people who loved their music then, still love it now. From the first note of opener, Prospect Street, to the dying chords of Slide, everyone knew every word.
The band took a little while to warm up, understandably after such a lengthy lay-off, but when they hit their stride they were highly impressive. It helped to have one of the great Scottish vocalists in Steven Lindsay, but the others were no slouches. Guitarist Brian McFie was on top form, giving it big licks as required, but able to pull back and let the songs breathe.
Ironically, for a band who refused to record covers, they finished with Mott the Hoople’s All the Young Dudes. It was a happy horde of middle-aged dudes who trotted off into Sauchiehall Street.
O2 ABC Glasgow – SOLD OUT
The Big Dish reunite to perform at Celtic Connections at Glasgow's ABC1 on Saturday 21st January 2012.
Two decades after they split, Airdrie’s finest The Big Dish still hold a cherished place in many Scottish music-lovers’ hearts, with memories of frontman Steven Lindsay’s consummate popcraft and gorgeous vocals latterly prodded by his two acclaimed solo albums. This one-off reunion, convened simply because “the time just seemed right”, also features Lindsay guitarist Brian McFie, bassist Raymond Docherty, Allan Dumbreck on keyboards and drummer Ross McFarlane. They’ll be playing their pick from the band’s three albums, Swimmer, Creeping up on Jesus and Satellites, plus at least one surprise cover.
A 2011 Danny Kyle Award winner, rising nu-folk star Iona Marshall fuses melodic songcraft with experimental synth parts, delicate harmonies, found samples and acoustic guitar hooks.
(Sourced from Celtic Connections website)
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