The Pad Presents
Sunday 18th May, 7.30pm, Bedford Corn Exchange. Doors open at 7.30pm. Tickets cost £20 and are on sale now from the venue, Seetickets and the Luscious Juice Bar in Bedford (no ticket fee).
ig Country was originally formed in 1981 Bby guitar-playing founding members
Stuart Adamson and Bruce Watson ,
both natives of the band's hometown Dunfermline in Scotland.
Initially driven by a shared vision of widescreen guitar melody, harmony and lyrics, the classic Big Country sound was further enhanced later that summer by the arrival of drummer Mark Brzezicki and bass player Tony Butler. This is the Big Country that (with producer Steve Lillywhite), recorded the classic debut album 'The Crossing' in 1983.
The band broke worldwide with the release of the album's classic singles 'Fields Of Fire', 'Chance' and signature song 'In A Big Country', which went on to become huge worldwide hits, selling over two million copies and driving 'The Crossing ' to three prestigious Grammy nominations in the USA.
The run of success continued throughout the 1980s with the release of the anthemic single 'Wonderland ' and the second album 'Steeltown ' (1984) , which debuted at number one in the UK and contained the hit singles 'East of Eden', 'Just a Shadow' and 'Where the Rose is Sown'. In 1985, Big Country appeared at Live Aid in London, and this was followed with successful album releases 'The Seer' in 1986, which included the bands biggest UK hit 'Look Away', and 'Peace In Our Time' in 1988.
At the start of the 90s 'Through a Big Country ', featuring all the bands classic hits was released , followed by the fifth studio album 'No Place Like Home' (1991) taking the band's total record sales to well over five million copies. Big Country achieved 17 Top 30 UK singles, with five gold and platinum statuses along the way.
Following the tragic death of lead singer Stuart Adamson, the band went on permanent hiatus. It wasn 't until 2007 that they began to play for fun and to celebrate the band's 25th anniversary.
Their comeback gig was at Glasgow Barrowlands on New Year's Eve in 2010, and since then the band has performed at many of the UK and Europe's most famous festivals , including Isle of Wight (twice) , V Festival, T in the Park, Oxegen, Pink Pop and Cropredy.
Big Country is creating a new generation of fans and renewing the passion for diehards by introducing new songs such as 'Another Country' and 'The Journey ', encapsulating the sound , the heart and the soul of Big Country - past, present and future .
Competition
Answer the following question and send your entry back to Phonebox Magazine for the chance to win two pairs of tickets for this event.
What was the name of Big Country's debut album?
Answebrsacktousbythe13thMaypleasbey ematilocompetitions@phoneboxmagazine.com
34 Phonebox Magazine
Crawley Cruise to Victory to Dent Dons'
K Dons suffered their M5th successive home defeat on 12th April when
Crawley Town travelled to Stadium:MK. The away side came out the unlikely 2-0 victors , courtesy of two first half counter-attacking goals from
Andy Durey and Mike Jones.
Less than 10 minutes into the game, Dons were stunned as relegation battling Crawley took the lead . From an offensive MK Dons move , the ball broke loose and it became a full blown Crawley counter-attack. After jostling and twisting his way around the Dons mid-field , Jamie Pratcher split the Dons' defence with a simple through ball to Andy Durey. Andy kept his composure and calmly slotted the ball past the hesitant David Martin and into the back of the net, throwing an early spanner into Karl Robinson 's game plan.
The home team and fans were truly shocked by Crawley 's opener and Karl Robinson 's men already looked like a beaten team . They could not respond when Crawley was completely dominating the game.
Dons had a big chance when lzale McLeod was played through by a brilliant chip ball over the Crawley back line by ex-Manchester United man Alan Smith. But the all-time Dons top scorer could only lob the ball hopelessly over the goal into the frustrated fans filling the cowshed behind.
That golden opportunity cost the home team dearly in first half stoppage time, when Crawley added a second to their tally. Dons centre back Jordan Spence miss-controlled a long ball , which allowed Jamie Pratcher in at goal. He showed his brilliant experience by waiting for support from Mike Jones ,