Sean McCann entertained several hundred people in Virden’s Aud Theatre with an energetic acoustic solo performance Sunday evening, May 6.
McCann, a founding member of Great Big Sea and a 30-year veteran of the entertainment industry, engaged the audience immediately as he strode onto the stage, said, “Hello Virden”. He proceeded down the steps off center stage where, unaccompanied, he belted out a Celtic ballad – “Safe Upon the Shore” (Great Big Sea).
On his way through Manitoba on tour, McCann had dropped in to the Aud Theatre a number of days before his Sunday concert, only to find it alive with the (dead and living) members of The Addams Family in rehearsal. From that visit, he looked forward to performing on this stage.
Sunday night, the Newfoundlander commended Virden on this well-kept historic theatre, saying, “This doesn’t happen everywhere, so good on you.”
Throughout the performance where McCann had the audience chanting, clapping and singing, he thanked people for getting out of their homes and off their devices, saying, “You can’t do this on Facebook.”
McCann sang “Red Wine and Whiskey”. He explained that although he is in recovery now, seven years since he left a lifestyle of drinking and drugs, this particular song characterizes his past and is part of his story.
The singer/songwriter introduced his friend, the first acoustic guitar he bought for $800 when he didn’t even know how to play.
Old Brown, as he calls the guitar, has been a constant companion on his sober, stronger road of life. This came about after he almost broke his sobriety, having purchased a bottle of Scotch during a time of stress.
The guitar was hanging on the wall, in the background – the whiskey sat on the counter.
“As I stared at the bottle and I saw Old Brown come into focus, I started to see him… and I saw an option. I went over and picked him up instead of that bottle. And I poured my heart into this guitar and I wrote my first song as a sober person.”
The audience helped out with the refrain of that song – “Stronger”.
The Irish hand drum, the Bodhrán, served as exciting accompaniment for several of the Newfoundlander’s songs.
