The first night of my official birthday present was tonight; the two performances of The Blue Nile, one of my very favorite bands, at the Royal Concert Hall in Glasgow, Scotland.

Tonight was the first show, and it was truly far beyond my expectations. Having essentially grown up on their music, eagerly waiting with the other dedicated fans for the sparse but always solid releases (just four albums in their 24 years of releases, wow I’m getting old), I’ve been waiting to see them live for most of my life. Strange to think.

We had tickets to a performance last year in NYC, but it was cancelled just a couple of weeks before the show. We never found out what happened, but it was such a disappointment for me. Now all of that is gone and I’m just happy. Seriously. I’m still recovering from my bliss. The live performances were surprisingly well executed. For those of you who know the music, it’s simple and clean, but complex to consider performing, as the many different pieces and parts all come together into a cohesive whole and without a collection of versatile musicians and computers to trigger bits, it would be hard to pull off. They not only did a great job with the technical issues, but Paul Buchanan really pulled off an incredibly nuanced and emotive performance of the vocals that I doubted would be as moving as the recordings, but he did it. It was everything I had hoped. Thank you Lisa!!! Best birthday present ever!

The setlist follows… there was only two other songs I would like to have heard, and that’s saying a lot for any concert.

1. A Walk Across The Rooftops  (from A Walk Across The Rooftops)
2. Heatwave  (from A Walk Across The Rooftops)
3. Over The Hillside  (from Hats)
4. Saturday Night  (from Hats) 
   
5. She Saw The World  (from High)
6. Stay  (from A Walk Across The Rooftops) 
7. From A Late Night Train  (from Hats)
8. Easter Parade  (from Hats)
9. Happiness  (from Peace At Last)
10. The Downtown Lights  (from Hats)
11. I Would Never  (from High)
12. Runaround Girl  (NEW!?)
13. Family Life  (from Peace At Last)
14. Stay Close  (from High)
15. Sentimental Man  (from Peace At Last)
16. Tinseltown in The Rain  (from A Walk Across The Rooftops) 
17. Headlights On The Parade  (from Hats)
18. Strangers In The Night  (great cover of old classic)

Can’t wait to see it again tomorrow night!

My brother Grant will get to attend via telelphone tomorrow night, for the gift he gave of bringing The Blue Nile’s first album home one day when we were young. It took me one play of “Stay”, and then “Tinseltown”, to fall in everlasting love.