IN A BIG COUNTRY, 1983
As Big Country were completing their début album, The Crossing, in the summer of 1983, they embarked on a tour that would help to seal their reputation as one of the decade’s most formidable live acts.
With Entec onboard as the live sound supplier, the Crossing The Country tour kicked off at the University of East Anglia in Norwich on June 16th with support from The Lotus Eaters. Seamlessly followed by Crossing The Fall, this exhausting schedule was comprised of more than 50 dates across the UK, punctuated by trips to Europe and North America.
Spearheading Big Country’s rise to glory was Ian Grant who, with partner Alan Edwards, managed the band after successfully handling The Skids, the Scots punk outfit that had given frontman Stuart Adamson his first taste of the big time.
PROVIDER
Throughout ’83, the crew included tour manager Charlie Herbert, FOH engineer Paul ‘Sheds’ Jackson, monitor mixer ‘Little John’ [a.k.a. John Callis], backline techs Bob Lopez and Les King, and lighting designer Pete ‘Swoop’ Barnes.
Entec’s involvement as the provider of Midas consoles, Martin Audio stage monitors and The Sweet’s custom PA system (stored and maintained by Entec under a long-term agreement ) came as a result of the company’s previous touring work with another Grant-Edwards act, The Stranglers, although the company had already made an impression by working with the band when they had first appeared on ‘The Tube’ in March ’83.
Ian: “As The Stranglers’ engineer, Sheds had gained experience of touring with Entec and they’d obviously impressed him because he was upfront about using them with Big Country. I also believe ‘Little John’ came to us directly through Entec so it was a good alliance.”
Fittingly, Big Country’s breakout year ended at Glasgow’s Barrowland Ballroom played a pair of breathtaking Hogmanay shows, the second of which was captured for a popular video release, directed by Aubrey Powell. Recording the sound that night was the band’s producer Steve Lillywhite who, at the stroke of midnight, proposed to his girlfriend Kirsty MacColl.
Ian continues: “There are many favourite gigs but that night at Barrowlands would be right up there. It’s a very special venue anyway and on this night in particular it was packed to the rafters with 3,000 fans for the band’s emotional homecoming after they’d taken momentous strides in the UK, America and Europe.
“Condensation was dripping off the ceiling and the sprung floor was bouncing like a trampoline. All the families were there so it became a joyous celebration, with the [Dundonald & Dysart] pipe band thrown in for good measure!”
