Big Country Just a Shadow NYC 1986

[soyghost1]

it's kind of hard to choose a favorite when a band has at least twenty 'greatest songs ever'-- wish i could find a live video of 'the sailor' on you tube here...got one to post?

[Sunburst75]

If you're ever feeling low, put this on at full volume have a few beers and then put Porrohman on..........you will be transported to a different plain! Never forgotten Stu.

[Teganiss]

That Telecaster is so awesome. Not as awesome as this song though.

[sakka0]

Thank you for the upload!!!

[tomiettinen]

I wish I had a chance to see play live! Miss you Stuart!

[dirkbogarde44]

I wonder how many people could say these lyrics apply to them ? More than you 'd imagine I reckon.

[JollyJimmyJohnston]

Two words !!!! SHIT HOT  !!!!!!!!!

[JollyJimmyJohnston]

Two words !!!!  SHIT HOT 111111

[Mr3wbc]

Brilliant song from a brilliant band. Is it me or is this video out if sync ?? Anyway still a good video. R I P Stuart - you'll never know what a following you have since your passing

[1981TURBOTRANSAM1]

Great Band...I saw them Live in Glasgow Barrowlands 1991 superb!!

[SixDayWar67]

I've watched every live version of this beautiful song and this version is by far the best. The tempo and timing was beyond perfect and not too fast and much better than the studio version.

This is one of the most underated songs and watched videos on You-Tube with only 8,741 views. What a shame.

[SixDayWar67]

How did I miss this one ??????????? How ?

[TheRowley09]

This is monumental. i saw them in birmingham 3 weeks ago with mike peters on vocals. it was a great night, i wish i could have seen them back in the day.

[lotusmaglite]

This song may perhaps be their greatest. Maybe I'm overstating the case, but the slow and haunting beginning only gives way at the end, when the band tips their hand at the inner turmoil that brings about the subject matter, and Stuart gives vent to the tragedy the song describes.

It was Big Country, not U2 or any of their contemporaries who should have shot through the stratosphere, and this is coming from someone to whom The Joshua Tree is a take-with-you-on-a-deserted-is­land kind of album.

[gsm1881]

@lotusmaglite Great comment. Totally agree. I saw/heard this live for the first time, sadly without Stuart, last month. I was blown away by this song even though I have heard it hundreds of times over the years on Steeltown. I have been to many concerts and seen big names and have also an interest in classical music. The only comparable feeling I had when listening to this song live was not at any rock concert but opera, it has the same passion and emotion (esp around the 2.00 mark).

[hogarth07]

@lotusmaglite It is funny but i get the feeling that if they had gone huge it may have been too much for Stuart and infact the great man may have cut out sooner than he did. He was never in it for the fame, rather a love for the melodey and the word...and for that he will ALWAYS be the best around. I have many happy memories of seeing them live and they will always be the ones in my head saying "stay alive" :)

[Oggmasta]

@lotusmaglite for me all you say holds true cept it isn't just there best song imo its the best song ever )

[Nigelxman]

@lotusmaglite Agreed. It's one of the bst songs ever that no one has heard. At least here in this crazy, poltitically fucked up place called America. :-(

[tomeeeee1]

I love my race! I love the Scotts, the Irish, the English, French, Germans! I will never kill a white man. We are too few! Please. Dont you agree? WW1, WW2, what a waste of brain power and beauty....who know where we would be today but for the slaugher?

[kowabayashi]

@tomeeeee1 I think we should love all humans and it's not a matter of the race. The Problem is driven by individuals and a ideologies.

btt. a great gig btw. Stuart did a amazing job!

[sfumato1002]

This band is comparable to simple minds and u2..Big country should have been much more popular...or maybe my taste in music is just weird. I am starting to think my taste in music is weird because although now days billions like shakira and lady gaga...i find them mediocre at best. i feel so alone. But its good to see some views in this video even if there is only 49 comments...at least i am not completely alone in saying Big Country is one of the best bands ever.

[BC1000stars]

@sfumato1002 you are not alone, mate :-) Big Country weren't as commercially popular because they didn't sell out, they didn't write commercial crap. They made the music their way. Big Country IS one of the best bands ever, don't be ashamed to say it! Stay Alive :-)

[theholyfather1]

The most underrated band ever. Their music sounds better 25 years later.

[Guitarfinder]

Man, gone way too soon

[FranBro]

Like many others, some of the lyrics in the first few albums were lifelines for me. I had the pleasure of meeting Bruce in SF a few years back. What a gent. Wanted to ask him about Stuart but couldn't. When he and his band played some BC songs that nite, (FOURGOODMEN) the ghost of Stuart was there.

[FranBro]

BC was a criminally underappreciated band. While U2, (and I do love them too) went through the stratosphere, stuart and BC, inmho, the better and more talented band, didn't chase fame and just made music.

RIP, Stuart. I wish you knew how much you meant to me and countless others. I miss you constantly.



[FranBro]

I had the amazing luck and privilege of seeing Stuart and the boys in 83 at Roseland. I was a loyal fan for the next few albums but admit that I lost touch after Peace in our time. Hated the production and the Peter Wolf influence. (Although now I do like some of the tunes)

Got back in touch many years later when I saw they went really uncommercial, underground and put out some great records like Buffalo skinners. I was devastated when I heard of Stuart's passing.

[lhart99]

I wish you were still here Stuart. I was much too young to meet you back in the 80's. Much too young know you and understand the things you went through. But, I know that if you really knew how much your music helped to save my life I think you might still be around. You are missed by so many world around the world. You are loved and never lost, gone but never forgotten. Cheers my dear friend. We'll meet someday :-). Thanks 4 all the beautiful music from a beautiful soul :-).

[inkpink]

Im 37 now but I loved Stuart Adamson. May he rest in peace.

[shavepate]

wow - it's even better live...

never got to see them :(

[ipykipyk]

@shavepate Awesome. Like the slower tempo. This and "Look Away" seem to take on a whole new life and energy live!

[decotjoo]

1986. first time i saw them (in holland). and quit a few times after that. stuart is be missed. cheers, mate.

[indeerock]

Excellent post of a brilliant band. Still can't believe Stuart Adamson is no longer with us. What a loss!

[mongo88now88]

I have to pick up on the 'metal head' comment. Good stuff. And I totally concur. I listen to a very wide variety of music, but mostly reall hard stuff (metal, but less constraining than that label) and BC totally blew my world away in 1984 when I first heard them. I had no benchmark. Inwards and Porrohman knocked me over.

[mongo88now88]

This song saved me from ruin in grade 12. Steeltown is, simply, the most significant album I've ever heard (among thousands) and today, more than 20 years later, I weep uncontrollably at this sad song and remembering Stuart's magic that I had the fortune to witness many times. Stuart, I wish I could have told you.

[oldiesforever51]

....what a wonderful tune- Stu you are hardly missed now and ever...

[Banddroid]

As a metal head I officially give my expert seal of approval to Big Country. Tragic about Stuart, saddens me daily. The guys are amazing.

[tomeeeee1]

UNION. YES.  Stand UP for yourselves and your families. WE have all the power!

[kevsul47]

deeply moving.

[remoganda]

Best song of all time. Simple as that.

[BC1000stars]

Can any song better this? The Steeltown album's final track and did these boys know how to finish an album...

It all seemed fine for you, till the struggle of ambition turned in violence upon you...

Stuart Adamson: the definition of class.

[SAMLG71]

PURE PERFECTION!

[Deadeye55]

i am 42 years old today (saturday) this song has took me back to my first kiss, thank you uploader , great fucking music. Rip stuart.

[bwm5150]

great performance......i love stuarts vocals at the ends...he just hits them with such emotion.....great upload

[graffhed]

Just awesome........love them!, thanks!

[markyp1965]

Brings back memories of a brilliant gig at Bristol Hippodrome. Big Country were superb live and the late, great Stuart Adamson, was and still is one of my all-time musical heroes.

God Bless You Stuart

[gordondeprest]

thank you for sharing this song and video...well done

[stayalive378]

Beautiful song... Bless ya for posting!