“Big Country” live – #MusicMonday

One of the advantages of having an all-singing/all-dancing phone is the ability to store my favourite music on it.

I chose my music for the school runs (walks) depending a) on my mood and b) how fast I need to walk. An up-tempo tune always make me speedier.

I often wonder what other people are listening too as I pass them, my calm exterior hides the fact I’m normally listening to something a bit rocky! Yes, that woman pushing that special needs buggy along is rocking away inside and it’s normally to a bit of Big Country/Billy Idol/Ultravox.

When I was growing up, Big Country’s songs really resonated with me; there were songs to (really) sing along to and others that made me sad – "Chance" is a good example. The lyrics "from her father’s hand that always seemed like a fist, reaching out to make her pay" in particular.

I was looking on YouTube for official videos to add on here but discovered some live videos that sounded amazing and really captured the energy of the songs.

There are three below, two songs within the second clip as I couldn’t decide between them.

The first is "Fields of Fire", a sing-along and say "shah" type of song, one of my favourites:

The second contains "Chance" and "In A Big Country", this was recorded as a concert for peace, just before the Berlin Wall came down and the atmosphere is reflective but energetic.

Stuart Adamson (lead singer) died in 2001 and the band have continued playing with a new singer, mainly festivals. It will always be the original recordings for me though. I was too young to see them live so YouTube is (kind of) the next best thing.