The Shore Club

At the top of the month, I had the absolute pleasure of making the trek down to The Shore Club once again to take in a room-rattling kitchen party led by Alan Doyle and his Beautiful Beautiful Band. After playing the fabled room for the first time in 2024, he made a triumphant return in 2025 with a three-night sold-out stand.

I was lucky enough to be in the room for the first show of

Johanna So

the three. When the crowd started to file in and fill the room, it was immediately apparent that this wasn’t just a crowd of folks who grew up with Great Big Sea; instead, the demographic was clearly a mix of folks who know of Alan’s solo work as well as those folks whose lives were soundtracked by the GBS catalogue. The folks in the crowd who have attended Alan’s shows in the past noted the absence of longtime band member (and fiddler) Kendel Carson, and in her stead was fellow fiddler Johanna So, who was joining the band for the first time.

Alan Doyle

Seeing an artist of Alan Doyle’s stature on the Shore Club stage is always a great time; no fun was had at all.  Alan Doyle and his bandmates Cory Tetford, Todd Lumley, Kris MacFarlane, Shehab Illyas and Johanna So all appeared to be having the time of their lives on the Hubbards stage. It was a night filled with Alan Doyle gems —  “Come Out With Me”, “We Don’t Wanna Go Home”, “1,2,3,4” —  while traditional tunes like “Lukey” and an obligatory Great Big Sea medley were peppered in to round out the festivities.

As many times as I have been able to catch Alan, it’s always a blast, and the first night of the 2025 Shore Club stand was no different. The magnetic and gregarious frontman continues to have that mischievous glint in his eye and sounds as great as ever. You can be assured that the next time he announces a Halifax show, this writer will be back in the room for another hit of those feel-good tunes.

Alan Doyle