WARNING: This show may contain nuts... and puppets!

Welcome to the show that Amanda and I put together after 70 weeks of various lockdowns (and all the weeks in between them). I was pretty adamant that it was always going to take more than a global pandemic to stop Team Doonican from reaching people. The virus just put us, as a perpetually touring band, out of action temporarily, (after decimating our 2020-2021 gig schedule and forcing everyone indoors).

My initial idea of a 'one-off' solo YouTube livestream show soon became a weekly thing and gained a small 'cult' following amongst Doonifans. It wasn't for everybody, and in some cases, some fans walked away from us until the band returned 18 months later. BIG NEET IN/OUT was always going to be a very different beast to the Doonicans' live show and even my solo shows, but we were very humbled when a number of like-minded people believed in it.
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Very quickly BIG NEET IN developed into something of an old-school Saturday night TV variety show, complete with a host of regular puppet characters, who increased in number and all evolved over time. You could certainly tell that the show was being run by two former primary school teachers, both of which were just trying to make the other laugh. It was our 'release' from being cooped-up at home, but also seemed to give people a little hope in the darkness.
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Over the initial run of 67 weekly shows, Amanda and I had no idea that that first 'one-off' Scott Doonican's BIG NEET IN would run for a year and half, let alone that we would eventually write and perform a complete 150 minute stage show, complete with all the puppet characters that so valiantly stepped into two of the biggest pairs of shoes in comedy-folk-parody music, in the absence of my much missed and talented bandmates.
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BIG NEET IN became a force for good, bringing together a small-but-perfectly-formed online community and giving people a 'safe place' to go every Saturday night. It was extremely tiring to put together, what in essence, was a weekly 3 hour TV show, complete with all our wonderful special guests, the regular music videos, and even occasional appearances from Bjorn and Alan, when they had the time to be able to join the party, but it was worth every second we devoted to it.
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We certainly didn't expect that the idea of a BIG NEET OUT live show would be so popular, nor that it would sell out on the day the tickets were released. Although the show was sadly postponed for a month, due to circumstances beyond anyone's control, and several people couldn't make the rescheduled 6th November date, we decided it would be nice to try and capture some of the magic, by multi-track recording the sound directly from the mixing desk (along with a few audience mics too) and filming the show via a Go Pro Hero 9 camera (Scott Cam), a Zoom Q2n camera (Puppet Cam) and our friend Dave Hewitt's iPhone camera from the front row of the theatre (Dave Cam). This way, we were able to ensure that anyone who had originally got tickets but now couldn't make it to the show, was still able to see it at a later date, and also for anyone who was unable to trek to Sheffield to join us on the night.

This download includes the live 'soundtrack' album, as well as a PDF with instructions about how to stream the video too.

A special thanks to Dave and Catherine for filming their footage, as it has been integral to this 'BNO Movie', to Kevin Jackson and all of the volunteer staff at The Lantern Theatre in Sheffield for their attention to safety and their wonderful hospitality, to all of our amazing audience on the night, who sang along with all the words and laughed in all of the right places (particularly when we cocked-up!). Finally a massive thanks to Amanda, who was very much hurled in at the deep-end when the pandemic broke, having to be the person that I could 'bounce-off' in the same way as I do when on stage with the lads. As someone who has never performed on a stage, prior to this show, you continue to amaze me, and I love you.
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So here it is, the product of over a year and a half in the wilderness,
we give you Scott Doonican's BIG NEET OUT... enjoy the show!