'It's officially gone tinfoil in Petty Harbour'



“It’s officially gone tinfoil in Petty Harbour.”
— A tongue-in-cheek Alan Doyle of his solo album, Boy on Bridge.
•••
Doyle performed this week at Hope Live, an annual gala event held in Ottawa to raise money for Fertile Future, a national charitable foundation that provides fertility preservation for cancer patients.

The event — one of the most popular of the year in the nation’s capital, attended by dozens of MPs and cabinet ministers — has a distinct NL flavour, featuring the talents of Rick Mercer and Seamus O’Regan.

Heidi Bonnell, the event chair and one-time right hand to former Premier Brian Tobin, also hails from NL.

Tobin, in fact, was in the audience, sitting alongside former Liberal PM Jean Chretien.

At one point, Mercer joked that he was planning to run for leadership of the Liberal Party of Canada, which brought Tobin and Chretien to their feet in apparent support.

Singing alongside Jann Arden and Dan Mangan, Doyle, the face of Great Big Sea, stole the show with an acappella version of Where I belong.

I told Mom I’d stay closer to the cousins
Who beat the path from our front door
One right after the other and they won’t
Be back no more
But the thing I fear the most
She whispered in my ear
Is being the last flower in the garden
With no one left to care

The song was followed by an extended standing ovation.

Indeed, it was one of the most powerful performances I’ve ever had the pleasure to witness. 

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