It’s been a pretty great two years for Lisa and me. The loose plan is to try for a few more, see how it goes. But seriously folks, it’s been a great thing. I’m so happy to be married to her and look forward to a very long and exciting life with her by my side.
Real quick as there’s not a lot to tell… the second night was just as nice as the first. Excellent! The setlist was the same (see previous post), and I did call Grant so he could attend via phone for the performances of “Stay”, “Tinseltown In The Rain”, and “Headlights On The Parade”. Best birthday present Lisa’s gotten me yet. Can’t wait to see what I get next year!
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.
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.
We are now at the end of day 6 of our grand whirlwind tour of Scotland and we have probably covered more of the country than many native Scots. We figured we’ve put well over 1,300 miles on the rental car so far. Tonight finds us in Glasgow, in a beautiful castle hotel. We just attended the first of two concerts of The Blue Nile, the primary reason for our trip to Scotland in the first place. I’m happy to report that the concert was fantastic. I’ll let Larry provide the full report on that one. We’ve done so much it’s hard to detail it all. We had a beautiful, sunny, dry day yesterday. Not a drop of rain. Yea! We saw the Eilean Donan castle – you Highlander fans out there will recognize that one. This morning we hiked up to the Glenfinnan Viaduct – you Harry Potter fans will recognize that (the bridge that the Hogwarts Express takes) and then went on to search for Nessie. Larry had a sighting – we have his account on video.
We finally got some pictures of the Scottish Highland cow – or as I like to call them, the hairy cows – thanks to Larry hiking back a ways, across a ditch, and up to a fence. There were even baby ones. They are so cute. And kind of funny looking. Cows with bangs, essentially. Actually it’s more like a cross between a cow and a maltese. I love them!
We are constantly amazed at how beautiful this country is. Each area we visit seems more beautiful and dramatic than the last. I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves. We’re heading into our last few days already, but we still have much to do. More to come!
So it doesn’t rain EVERY day in Scotland, just a lot of the days. We awoke in Isle of Skye to a beautiful, clear, sunny day. Unfortunately we slept through breakfast because we stayed up too late posting pictures to this blog! We spent a little time in the little town square area before heading on to Dunvegan Castle (a Highlander filming location, and also recently used in the film Made of Honor with Patrick Dempsey) http://www.dunvegancastle.com/content/default.asp. Dunvegan has been home to the Clan MacLeod for over 700 years. It was beautiful. The castle is also unique because it has a lock of hair belonging to the famous Bonnie Prince Charlie and proudly displays (behind protected glass) the Fairy Flag, a famed heirloom of the Clan purported to have mystical properties.
After leaving Dunvegan, we wound our way back down through Skye, stopping to visit more hairy cows and sheep and admire beautiful scenery along the way, before bidding goodbye to the beautiful isle and stopping at another castle, also a Highlander filming location, the famed Eilean Donan Castle (http://www.eileandonancastle.com/). Wow, what a setting.
After leaving there, we wound our way through some beautiful mountains before stopping in Ft. William for some dinner. We actually did find a restaurant that served dinner past 9:00, amazing! Tonight we’re staying at the Glenfinnan House Hotel, right on the shores of Loch Shiel and about 10 minutes away from the Glenfinnan Viaduct (of Harry Potter fame). We’ll be hiking up there tomorrow. It’s just gorgeous here! A total postcard.
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