Day 8 – London

Peace In Our Time….

This weekend’s news headlines in the UK are all about the peace making gesture of the handshake or lack thereof.

No such problems here in the Big Country camp, we are all able to talk through the off stage circumstances that have dominated our own headlines from the ‘Crossing The Country Tour 2012’, and settle our differences and move on.

These are the moments that give us insight into each others modus operandi and allow us to create deeper understandings of what makes the individual tick.

What’s done is now done, and I’m sure that the insights gained from having to at first go public, make and accept apologies (thank you Ian Grant / Big Country Management), talk and then settle what misunderstandings gave rise to this unfortunate circumstance, will not only make us stronger but bring together a ‘family’ that we all know has had to deal with far worse.

It is over a year now, since I was invited into the BC fold, and everyone concerned has had to make a journey back to something that almost all thought was impossible. To see Big Country play live again without Stuart Adamson.

The journey has obviously been easier for some as it has been difficult and / or still impossible for others. Grief can be overcome in moments or in years. I know and understand also, that there are some people who will never be able to get over a loss as great as that suffered by Big Country.

Every time I walk on stage with Big Country and at every show we play collectively on this tour, I appreciate the journey (the crossing…), that is being made over that imaginary line that separates ‘the two divides’.

As we all struggle with the huge emotions stirred by the music that is Stuart Adamson’s legacy what, I ask myself, defines a legacy and what are the people left behind to do with it?

This is the literal version that defines ‘legacy’ in the thesaurus.

legacy

noun

1 a legacy from a great aunt:

bequest, inheritance, heritage, endowment, gift, patrimony, settlement, birthright;

formal benefaction.

2 a legacy of the wars:

consequence, effect, upshot, spin-off, repercussion, aftermath, by-product, result.

It makes for very interesting reading. Personally, I see it as a ‘gift’ and cherish it as such, others may choose ‘endowment’ or ‘benefaction’, but there are also the words ‘repercussion’ and ‘consequence’. I appreciate that the two go hand in hand and so every night, every moment I get to spend in the company of this great band (who have supported me 100%), I have to remember as such that they must be cherished and nurtured as part of the ‘inheritance’ that is now ‘our’ responsibility.

By learning to recognise we are living in the ‘aftermath’, we can hopefully put an end to the ‘legacy of wars’ and enjoy  the ‘heritage’ that is Big Country’s ‘birthright’.