Big Country @ The Gov, Adelaide 15/10/2025
It was a relaxed affair at The Gov for the return of one of Scotland’s finest Big Country. The venue was set up in cabaret mode so refreshingly it was great to sit down with a beverage and enjoy a solid night of music. The heart and soul of this band is Bruce Watson and even after touring relentlessly for years and years he still looks as if he is having the time of his life with plenty of fire in the belly to keep rocking.
The addition of Tommie Paxton, who coincidentally is the singer and guitarist for Big Country tribute band Restless Natives, gives the line up even more muscle and given he knows the material inside out and backwards who else would be better placed to front this much loved band? I really did think he made this band walk ten foot taller more than honouring these timeless classics that mean so much to so many. Fans were in their element as the band took them on a journey through their back catalogue including hits from albums such as The Crossing, Steeltown and The Seer.
Big Country are a finely tuned machine looking and sounding great with an armoury of hits to choose from made this one show not to miss. Acknowledging that they would have been here eighteen months ago if it weren’t for that thing called the pandemic that did share with the faithful that they would be back in eighteen months’ time. The crowd were fiercely loyal and it was a hero like welcome as Big Country took to the stage opening with Driving To Damascus bringing out one of their big guns next with Look Away. There is some very classy musicianship with Bruce’s son Jamie on guitar, Chris Stones on bass, Reece Dobbin on drums and the formidable Tommie Paxton on lead vocals and guitar.
For the die hard fan there was plenty to like covering their entire career with the likes of Lost Patrol, Porroham and The Seer impressing. It didn’t end there either with tunes like Where The Rose Is Sown and Eastworld. Bringing it down a notch on Ships as Tommie suggested if they keep going at this pace they would need to be “stretchered off for medical attention”. Steeltown is one of those all time classic album with Tommie talking about flipping side two on the LP, blowing the dust off needle wondering what will come next with that pleasant surprise being Tall Ships Go sounding even better live.
The crowd found plenty of voice to sing-a-long to Chance then it was the big one we had all been waiting for In A Big Country to close their main set. That got the crowd to their feet singing in unison, the intro was a big and bombastic and I really liked what they did with that and Tommie’s influence can’t be understated either. Definitely a tough one to follow but they did return for an encore “since you asked!” The encore was a tribute to original singer Stuart Adamson starting with Wonderland topped off magnificently with Fields Of Fire (400 Miles) and the bold segue into Metallica’s Whiskey In The Jar added plenty of wow factor. Great night out, let’s do it again in eighteen months!
Live Review By Rob Lyon