Borders Books Review

We arrived around 11:45 or so, to find that the cafe area already was already filling up. Luckily, D and M had already secured nice spots up front and had some room we could squeeze into. We sat and watched Brian set up, and wondered what time the band would be arriving... on time or on Brother standard time? Soon after, Roel appeared out of nowhere, and started to finish setting up his kit. Hamish appeared next, followed by Rick, both taking a shortcut right through the crowd by us. Hamish tuned up his pipes, and Roel shouted out "It's way to early for that!" Angus was the last to arrive, and also took the shortcut. They were so nice, very polite, just saying excuse me, as they wove through all of us sitting on the ground.

Roel was wearing greyish shorts, and a black tank with said, "Choppers Rule!" with a picture of a motorcycle. Rick was wearing back pants, and a very cool shirt. It was light grey at the top, black at the bottom, and had some black and grey flame shaped designs on it. He also had a very cool pouch-type thing, which appeared to be leather with a face designed into it. It's not the best description, I know, but I do have pictures to post later and you'll see what I mean. Hamish wore the same style of tank that Rick wore in the Vegas pictures - the "I run with scissors" one. On the back, it has "A Robert Cromeans Salon" design. You can see the design at Robert Cromeans site - where the blue box is, is what the back of the shirt looked like - except that it was black and white. He also was wearing the ever-present green kilts/pants type thinger. More on that later... Angus was wearing a "hot!" shirt - more on that later too! It was a velvet shirt, bluish purple, depending on the light, and had black amoeba shaped mesh sections. He also had blue corduroys on and was barefoot.

The guys tuned up, and launched right into Will You Go. Amazing. No way at all were we expecting it. It was done with accompaniment, not accapella as on the CD. Excellent job. They then went right into Fragile. This song is also great - and many of us ended up with the song in our head all day. The Lehigh Valley crowd seems to know the words to this one pretty well now. After that song, Angus remarked "It's good to be on stage", to which Hamish replied "it's not really a stage", as they were playing on the floor at the side of the Border's cafe. So, Angus then said, "well, it's good to be in corner..." which cracked the crowd up. This was the beginning to the show, which was filled with funny banter. They then started 2 Weeks. Another new one that we have really grown to love. Great reception from the crowd. I believe that in between these two songs, when they stopped, the cafe was making someone a cappuccino or something that was making a high pitch whirring sound. Hamish said to the crowd "She's gonna blow everybody!" then "stay calm."

The boys remarked that since they were in the studio, they were not as well rehearsed on their older tracks, and asked "so, who wants to request 'In Your Name'?" Of course, we requested it. Hamish asked if anyone knew what the song meant. He joked that he wanted us to "clear that up" for them, as he is asked in interviews what the song is about. They began Name then, and it was superb. I'm really enjoying the new songs, they are definitely in Brother style, but also very different. After Name, Angus said, "I had no idea this shirt was so hot." Roel responded with "you wish..." which totally cracked up the crowd, and Angus. Hamish remarked "well, if you weren't wearing a carpet underneath", which again cracked up the crowd. Angus said, "it's my welcome mat". I think it went on from there, but we were laughing so hard.

The crowd then shouted for Java Jive - heck we were in the cafe, it was fitting... They looked surprised and Angus said that they hadn't done it in 6 years. We asked them to do it anyway, and they said they might do it somewhere where they knew it. Angus started snapping the beat, then said, "I know my part", cracking us up again. There was a bit of discussion, and then some loud feedback, which Hamish said was sign that they should not do Java Jive. Hamish or Angus said, "well, Rick wants to do it..." which led to asking if Rick even knew the song. There was more discussion, then Angus said, "it'll be our little secret", they found the pitch and off they went. They did about a verse and half, and it was just fabulous! The crowd was singing along, and it was so much fun. Hamish asked the crowd if they had any questions, and someone said, "Where are your parents, cause we want to thank them!" - funny response to this from Angus. Someone else asked if Hamish was wearing "a skirt, a kilt or what?" to which Angus replied "A what." There you go, mystery solved! Hamish said if any of us were missing the kilts, we should take it up with Alona, their clothing designer - as she was the one responsible for the leather. I've got no complaints - everything I've seen of Alona's has been just fabulous!

Angus picked up the green didg, and started playing. Hamish said they were sitting in a stairwell in Philadelphia, and had 2 didges, so 2 chords, and wondered what they could do with 2 chords. Roel said that Rick only knew two chords, but Hamish said that he had a K clip thinger, so Roel said he could play "hundreds of inversions". They then played the song with Hamish and Angus on didges, and Rick and Roel singing, I believe. Roel was silly this day, at one point he dropped his seat all the way down to the floor and was playing the kit like that. After the song Hamish remarked that he was "feeling really hot", and Angus replied "just imagine if he had a hot shirt on", which once again sent the crowd into laughter. Hamish asked the crowd for questions again, and someone asked if that was underwear on his bagpipes. He said "uh.... no..." and Angus said "it's no longer underwear, it's over there". They were asked if they were playing at Celtic Classic... that question remains unanswered at this time.

Someone else asked where they were from, and they said, the 3 hours west of Sydney, East Coast of Australia, from Bathurst. The question was raised about when the next CD would come out, and there were many answers, EP's, regular CD's, soon, later, but the most definite answer seems to be around Christmas. They then started up with So Familiar, which was just fabulous. I think this is a relatively new song, but it's quickly become a crowd favorite. After that, Hamish picked up his penny whistle, and used it for an introduction to One Touch. This is definitely a new one, probably the first or second time we have heard it, and was well received. They asked the crowd what else they wanted to hear, and there were many songs suggested. They settled on Hang On, which Angus was pleased with, because he said "good, cause I don't have to play the pipes." The crowd seemed to adore Hang On, and we were good and loud singing along. They ended with Clumsy, which brought everyone to their feet. They then commenced with the signing. I ended up getting out of the crowd (which was enormous, by the way, stretching from the cafe, through the magazines, and out onto the main floor).

Met a ton of nice fans, and noted how great the guys were being. People were passing cell phones down the signing line, and the boys took time to talk to each one for a few minutes. They signed anything presented to them, and were there for at least an hour and a half. Once again, an amazing show from Brother. Fabulous music, they seem very tight and together, and were fabulous with the fans. Ahh, I keep remembering more and more. Mostly funny things about Roel. Rick was playing his guitar before a song, and Roel, apparently getting (jokingly) impatient said, "Are you done yet, Bo Diddley?". Also at the beginning of Hang On, there is a lyric "one day I'll turn around and you won't be there". When Angus sang it at Borders, he turned around and looked at Roel, who had just before the song been making fun of him about something. Ahh, what fun that show was.

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