Big Big Train, Live at Sweetwater, Fort Wayne, IN, March 1, 2024
Band: Alberto Bravin (lead vocals, keyboards, guitar), Nick D’Virgilio (drums, vocals), Oskar Holldorff (keyboards, backing vocals), Clare Lindley (violin, vocals, keyboards, guitar), Rikard Sjöblom (guitars, keyboards, vocals) and Gregory Spawton (bass, bass pedals, acoustic guitar/12-string), and Cade Gotthardt (trumpet, keyboards)
Setlist: Folklore, The Connection Plan, The First Rebreather, The Florentine, Summoned By Bells, Mead Hall in Winter, Telling the Bees, East Coast Racer, A Boy in Darkness, Love is the Light, Apollo
Encore: Victorian Brickwork

I didn’t think I would ever see the day, but there I was Friday evening sitting sixth row center at Big Big Train’s first ever live show in America. It’s been a long time coming – 11 years for me. I discovered Big Big Train back in 2013 while in college in Hillsdale, MI, less than an hour and a half from Sweetwater in Fort Wayne, Indiana. But for this show I drove 5 hours from Bowling Green, Kentucky, where I just moved from Saint Louis, MO last Monday. A wild week, to be sure, but I wasn’t about to miss this show.

After a moderately expensive visit to Hyde Brothers books in Fort Wayne (a must visit for fans of used books), I made it to a local restaurant for a dinner meetup with folks from the Big Big Train Facebook group. Friend and fellow Progarchy editor Rick Krueger kindly invited me (as I’m not on bookface), and he even bought me dinner. Thanks Rick! After that, the group emigrated to the Sweetwater campus, a beautiful building with an intimate auditorium that seats around 260 people. At that size, there probably isn’t a bad seat in the place.

The show was general admission, but I found a fantastic seat about two seats left of center in the sixth row. My only complaint with my choice was Rikard ended up blocking my view of Greg most of the show, but Greg made his presence clearly known on the low end. Sonically speaking, it was a fantastic seat. Overall this may have been the best sounding rock concert I’ve attended. The volume was perfect, and distortion was minimal. At times some of the keyboards were a little low in the mix (not Oskar’s, but the keyboards Alberto periodically played). Other than that, it sounded great – a testament to Rob Aubrey’s important role in this band. I don’t remember the last show where I didn’t have to wear ear plugs.

The show got off to a rousing start with a more accessible number in “Folklore,” which was followed up by a more recent accessible track with “The Connection Plan” off 2022’s “Welcome to the Planet.” The prog came into the station with “The First Rebreather,” a welcome throwback to 2012’s “English Electric: Part One.” The energetic pieces were a great warmup to the slower, more contemplative classic. I think First Rebreather may have been the first BBT song I ever heard, making it extra special to hear it live.

New lead vocalist Alberto Bravin was a fiery storm of energy from the opening notes of the show, running onto the stage and firing up the crowd from the get-go on “Folklore.” He continued this energy throughout the night, with a particularly fun trip through the aisles of the venue with Nick D’Virgilio as they sang a vocal duet on “The Florentine.”

The setlist was replete with long tracks, including “A Mead Hall in Winter,” “East Coast Racer” and encore “Victorian Brickwork.” The instrumental passages highlighted the talent of this band, particularly the tightness of stalwarts Greg Spawton, Nick D’Virgilio, and Rikard Sjöblom. Nick didn’t miss a beat all night, with his intricate drumming a joy to witness on the audience’s right side of the stage. Greg’s Rickenbacker boomed, but his bass pedals shook the building. Rikard really shined for me in this show. His guitar solos were excellent, along with his work on the Hammond organ. He was clearly having a blast, as he always seems to be on the band’s live Blu-Rays. Considering he was playing parts for two guitarists, it was all the more impressive. Alberto picked up an electric (and acoustic) guitar at points, but Rikard took the lion’s share of the work, and he performed flawlessly.

Nick and Rikard had a touching tribute to David Longdon with their acoustic version of “Telling the Bees,” with Nick on lead vocals, demonstrating how versatile everyone in this band is. The duet gave the rest of the band a chance for a quick bathroom break before returning to steam their way through “East Coast Racer.” The highlight of the track had to be Alberto’s astonishing “She flies.” He carried the note far longer than I expected, and it was a very moving moment. Also moving was “A Boy in Darkness,” an unexpected choice from English Electric. Overall those albums were well represented at this show.

They only played one song from the new album – “Love is the Light” – but they really shined with it. It was great hearing Alberto sing at his most natural, and the song tastefully blends accessible lyrics with subtle complexity in the music. Alberto was truly in his element on this track, showing what a natural performer he is. Even if his interactions with the audience between songs were a little awkward (due to the slight language barrier, I think), once the music is playing, all of that falls away and he shines.

“Apollo” was a treat as an instrumental, and when Alberto wasn’t playing something, he was running around the auditorium with a tambourine (which I overheard someone in line say they saw him buy in the Sweetwater store earlier that day) stirring up the enraptured audience.

Instead of leaving the stage and coming back out for an encore, the band merely asked if we wanted a final song. They asked us what we thought they’d play, and people shouted out some requests. “The Underfall Yard” was heard clearly, and one enthusiastic fan wanted deep cut “The Wide Open Sea.” Neither request was granted, the band giving us “Victorian Brickwork” instead. I don’t think anyone complained about that choice. A fine way to end the show.

As the band’s first show of the tour, there were a couple expected hiccups. They weren’t playing at full strength, and thus everyone had to contribute in multiple ways. I only picked up on two noticeable mistakes, and I’m not even going to bother identifying them here because everyone was so professional and carried on so well that it isn’t worth pointing it out. For music this complicated, you’d be justified in expecting more mistakes, but instead they played incredibly well. I told Oskar when I met him after the show that he played really well, and he had big shoes to fill playing Danny Manners’ parts. He pointed out that he was essentially playing the parts of three people since the live band is normally much larger! So yeah, they played great.

As they’ve done at past shows, the band made themselves available to the fans out in the lobby after the show. After my long wait at the merch desk to pick up the new album on CD/BR as well as the reissue of David Longdon’s Wild River on CD, I was able to wait in shorter lines to meet and get photos with several of the band members. I was especially excited to meet Greg. His art and his support are a huge reason behind Progarchy’s existence, and his music and lyrics have been a major intellectual and artistic influence for me for over a decade now. It was an honor to meet him, as well as the other members of the band. It’s so cool that they are willing to meet people after the show. I’m sure it’s tedious for them, but it’s cool for us as fans. They were all so kind.

I’d say Big Big Train’s first show in the US was a rousing success. Hopefully this short tour will be enough of a financial success for the band to warrant them coming back to America in the future – hopefully on a longer tour. I know I’d go see them again in a heartbeat.