Big Country: L-R: Ken Nicol, Simon Hough, Mark Brzezicki, Gil Allen[/caption]

The penultimate band in the lineup were the resounding Rock of Big Country. I’ll admit that I could not get into the band in the 80 owing to the tendency for singer guitarist Stuart Adamson to strain his vocals in his delivery. Though I was a Skids fan, I could not follow him to Big Country due to that factor. I got parasympathetic discomfort listening to him sing. But that would not be a problem this evening. They opened with the debut single “Harvest Home,” and I marveled at how closely singer Simon Hough came to Adamson’s vocal tone with one crucial difference; he was not trying to vault out of his range.

And of course the rhythm section was massive here with founding drummer and session monster Mark Brzezicki having a thrilling dialogue with bass player Gil Allen who was seriously on fire this evening! I don’t remember Tony Butler playing with such verve. Meanwhile the distinctive leads of Adamson were being served by Ken [Steeleye Span, Al Stewart] Nicol this evening.

The band moved to third album, “The Seer” for the anthemic “Look Away” and then pivoted to the pair of hits from the successful debut album that made such a big splash in 1983 with “Fields Of Fire” and the airplay classic “In A Big Country.” All of it was full on and maybe I’m an outlier here, but I’d never heard Big Country that I was able to enjoy like I had this evening.