Category: Concert Reviews

*Photos come from the PJ forum user sharptoe*

The next morning, Carrie and I wake up, chat with Nanny, Aunt Dinah and Uncle Richard and figure out things that will happen for the rest of the day. Aunt Dinah and Uncle Richard are gracious enough to lend me both their GPS unit as well as their cell phone for my trip downtown Toronto. I have realized that I am going to look into getting a pay as you go cell phone. It’s quite handy in the circumstances like this where I am heading downtown Toronto and need to meet up with some friends but they have no way in getting in touch with me.

We headed off around 11AM so that I could drop Carrie off at her cousin Jon’s place as they were heading out to a wedding. Fast fact: Did you know that Carrie has lived with 43 different people in her life? We figured that out on the way down. I know you are all intrigued by that fact. How many people have YOU lived with in your life?

I then headed down to Queen’s Quay street (which is pronounced Queens’ Key which posed a problem when I was inputting it into the GPS Unit and did not know that fact. Where the heck did that pronunciation ever come from?) where I was parking my car near Dana’s place. Dana was the lucky winner of joining me for the Pearl Jam concert as both Vero and Mike were unable to come along! I had never been down to Queen’s Quay before but it is quite the nice spot to live as it is right next to the Rogers Center as well as the lake.

After parking the car (for $30 for two days), I walked around downtown in search of a CIBC machine as I had zero cash. I did manage to leave Samantha’s phone number back in the car so I had to hoof it back there in search of it. I did phone Samantha who was up with her friend Kelly to see the concert as well. It’s nice to see that Kapuskasing had a good turn out at the concert!

After meandering around downtown (and stumbling into an excellent CBC Museum which had Mr. Dress-up and Friendly Giant artifacts), I took a nap in Union Station waiting for Sam and Kelly. When I woke up, they phoned and said they were at the station and we decided to head to Jack Astor’s for a little food and drink. We had quite the exuberant waitress!

We then hoofed it down Queens Quay but gave up that mission soon enough and hopped onto a streetcar whose name is probably not Desire, but Awesome as Luke the driver let us get on and pay whatever we wanted as well as let us know where to get off to get to Ontario Place. What a swell guy. Please note that it always helps to be the only guy amongst two beautiful ladies and let them get on first. I’m pretty sure the ‘pay whatever you want’ did not apply to me.

We showed up to Ontario Place and I had visions of winning some sweet seats in Row 1 (as the Ten Club (Pearl Jam’s fan club) has a random lottery for those who purchase tickets via the Ten Club. Alas, it was not meant to be but I got some excellent seats in Section 203 along with a gazillion other fans.

We walked around Ontario Place for a bit, munching on some ice cream and then getting a beer. I had to go back outside to give Dana her ticket but it turns out that she was not outside Ontario Place but at the entrance of the CNE (which was celebrating it’s 175th birthday and was a zoo) so I went back in to the beer garden while waiting for her to show up. I finally found her and we celebrated the fact that Kapuskasing had a few Pearl Jam fans anxious to see the show.

When we hit up the merchandise booth, I must say I was disappointed by most of the choices. I did end up getting a ‘Toronto’ themed tour shirt but I have heard that there is another special one with a vintage Toronto Maple Leafs look to it that I would have rather have. I will scour Ebay for it in the future. I also noticed that the poster I ordered for $42 was selling for $30. I had heard through the years that these posters sell out fast so I decided to order it from the site (another Ten Club perk) but peace of mind came at a price of twelve extra dollars!

An amazing event happened after Sam and Kelly were playing Guitar Hero at the Xbox 360 booth. The guy working there mentioned that we can text a number to see if we win upgraded seats. Dana didn’t win, Kelly didn’t win, but Samantha DID WIN! Incredible! They ran off into the night with the Xbox guy and we figured we would see them later. A great part of this story is the fact that Samantha didn’t have a proper ticket stub (she printed the tickets off) as a memento but now she did!

After snagging a beer and some pizza, Dana and I found our seats in Section 203 and settled in for Ted Leo and the Pharmacists. I was quite excited to see them as I am a big fan. I was also hoping to catch Eddie Vedder play an acoustic number or two before the opening act as he usually does.

Sure enough, around 7:30PM he hits the stage! People go wild. However, there was a little special something planned for the night. He explained that The Pharmacists were backstage ready to come up, but Ted Leo was unfortunately stuck in the States due to some border crossing issues. Eddie then proceeded to play two Neil Young covers…Sugar Mountain and The Needle and the Damage Done! He then invited Mike McCready up to play a few more tunes…one song was about his daughter and another one I didn’t recognize. Stone Gossard did come out and play a Johnny Thunders tune, which I knew from Duff McKagan’s version on The Spaghetti Incident?! Then Jeff Ament and Eddie came out for some Bee Girl. The Pharmacists then took the stage and played a few tracks and had Eddie and Mike come back out to play Search and Destroy. Excellent! Mike was shredding away during that song. It was blistering.

Halfway through the opening set we managed to find Samantha and Kelly. They were sitting more in the center of the amphitheater and a few rows behind us. We joined them in the Xbox area and manged to get a waitress! Excellent! Dana and I then decided to scoot over to the seats in the Ottawa Sun area as there was no one there as the Xbox one filled up quickly. In the end, this paid off in spades as we got a better view of the stage and a waitress for the rest of the night! People did up in the box but just assumed we were invited there was well so they all stood around with us rocking out! I especially enjoyed this one woman’s (Anne) company as she knew all the words to the songs as well so we rocked out together for the most part. That’s what I love about Pearl Jam fans….they are just there to have a good time.

After the opening set, the band came back out around 9PM and tore apart all known boundaries of awesomeness and opened with ‘Of The Girl’ which is a rare one indeed. The setlist for the night was Yield Album heavy which is fine by me. Off that album we got Brain of J, Given to Fly, Faithful and Do The Evolution.

Some highlights:
– The Fixer and Got Some (from the upcoming album) were excellent. I also think the fans really enjoy The Fixer.
– The fans in Toronto are rabid and they didn’t let up for a moment. The band were really enjoying themselves.
– Off He Goes was a real treat!
– Mike McCready was on fire that night…1/2 Full, Black, Alive, Porch…come on….it was incredible. Sometimes I would look at the video screens and they would be on Mike and we would be lost in his own world rocking out.
– Lukin/Not For You was the highlight of the night. THIS IS NOT FOR YOU!
– Porch followed by Rocking in the Free World left us in awe. I wasn’t disappointed at all to not hear Yellow Ledbetter ending off the night. Although I heard that it was on the setlist.
– Eddie going out into the crowd!
– Eddie falling on his ass during Even Flow

I am hoping that I may see some video footage of Dana and I rocking out during the last song as the guy in front of us was taking an extended video of the entire crowd. I did give him my email address so you never know. However, I am going to bank on him NOT sending me the footage as I also noticed that at one point he asked his girlfriend to flash him and I was behind her at the time so I didn’t get a look at what happened but she did do something that put a smile on his face! So the odds of me getting that footage are slim to none!

All in all, seeing Pearl Jam from 7:30PM – 11:30PM with a little break in between was more than I could ask for and it was a grand night indeed. I can’t even begin to say how many thumbs up this concert deserved. In the future I know I am going to follow Pearl jam to each concert for an entire tour. They put on the best show on the planet. I’m glad that we got to have a taste of it on Friday night.

Thanks to Samantha and Kelly for hanging out with me on Friday as well as Dana coming along for the ride during the evening and hosting me for the night after the concert!

Setlist:
1. EV – Sugar Mountain
2. EV – Needle and the Damage Done
3. MM – acoustic song
4. MM – acoustic song
5. SG – You Can’t Put Your Arms Around a Memory (Johnny Thunder cover)
6. EV and JA – Bee Girl
7. Pharmacists – Hybrid Moments
8. Pharmacists – Lions Den (French Toast)
9. Pharmacists – Treble In Trouble
10. Pharmacists – Blitzkrieg Bop
11. Pharmacists – Search And Destroy (Iggy Pop) (w/Ed Ved and Mike McCready)

Set List: Of The Girl, Corduroy, Severed Hand, Why Go, Brain Of J, I Am Mine, The Fixer, Given To Fly, Off He Goes, Even Flow, Unemployable, Faithful, Down, Got Some, 1/2 Full, Lukin, Not For You/(Modern Girl – Sleater Kinney), Do The Evolution

1st encore: Inside Job, Wishlist, Black, Alive

2nd encore: Small Town, Wasted Reprise, Better Man/(Save It For Later), Porch, Rockin’ In The Free World

Opening band: Tim Hus (his band was also Stompin’ Tom’s backing band)

 

I’m sitting here in Montreal typing away in what I must call a modern snapshot. I’m surrounded by items that may or may not have come from Ikea, but it all works together and it’s pretty darn cool sitting here while watching a swivel HD TV in front of me. Granted, it’s on the Country Music Network and I’m not sure why I haven’t turned it off.

For my birthday, Vero got us tickets to see Randy Bachman and Burton Cummings, otherwise known as the geniuses behind The Guess Who as well as Bachman-Turner Overdrive. I would consider them to be the Canadian equivalent to Lennon-McCartney, Jagger-Richards and Palmer-Palmer.

Our friend Benoit tipped us off to a Bed and Breakfast that he and Cinthia frequent in downtown Montreal. It is called Les Bon Matins and is located directly across from the Bell Center. We called and arranged to stay at a satellite bed and breakfast as they were all booked. Because it was a Wednesday night that we were heading up and they hadn’t booked it already, they gave us the apartment style accommodations for $150! It had a bar, a fridge, a living room, a jacuzzi tub and all the other things you need to have when hitting up Montreal for a night.

We arrived around 7PM in what appeared to be an interesting area of town (Papineau and Rue Ontario) but then discovered that you should never judge a book from its cover. As soon as we walked inside we were amazed by the place. Thanks to Benoit and Cinthia for recommending this place. It definitely beat out a hotel room in downtown Montreal which I’m sure we would get for the same price.

We walked up to Theatre St-Denis and headed in to the sounds of Booker T playing. The usher brought us to Row E which was 10 rows from the stage! It was a great view and the seats were super comfortable. Booker T is not known to either of us but from his comments, he has been around for awhile considering he recorded some songs with Otis Redding back in the sixties. After hearing a few songs from the end of the set, we sat back and waited for the main attraction to hit the stage.

When the show started, they had a montage of video and photos from Bachman-Cummings lives together. They were quite young when they started out! They then hit the stage along with their backing band who were quite entertaining, especially the bass player.

What a show! A little context for you…I don’t own any albums from these prolific songwriters but that’s something I shall rectify. They pulled out all the stops…they started off with some well known tunes like Clap for the Wolfman and You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet. They chatted a lot between songs about their travels together and apart and how they respected each other as songwriters. Burton Cummings played a solo track from his new album and then he left the stage to allow Randy Bachman to play a jazzy number from his new jazz album. They both took the stage again and played all the hits…American Woman, These Eyes, No Sugar Tonight, Let it Ride, Hey You…I’m sure I’ll think of more later on. I really enjoyed the showmanship of Cummings as he would play the piano like he was born to do and then get up and rock a little bit while showing off his skills. Bachman soloed as well as any other guitarist out there and he looked like a rocker with his leather pants and t-shirt. I really enjoyed the intimate feeling of the concert as they chatted about how they wrote some songs (No Sugar Tonight/New Mother Nature being two separate songs written in the same key and joined together). They encored with Share the Land and Taking Care of Business which got the crowd going. I really enjoyed the crowd tonight. The majority of the show was spent sitting down but Vero and I felt comfortable getting up to rock out for a few choice tracks that we loved.

This was the last show of the tour and we feel privileged to see them. I would definitely check them out in the future although I’m not sure if the setlist would ever change all that much. It was packed with the hits and even though I don’t own an album, there were only 5-6 tunes that I wasn’t familiar with and even if I wasn’t, it didn’t matter. They were professional musicians who played amazing music. I’m happy that Vero surprised me with tickets to this show. I love you!

We then headed back to the room where we enjoyed the pleasures within…namely a bridge with some cold Boreale beer!

So I hit here the morning after thinking about how different my life would be if I lived in downtown Montreal in a place like this. It would be amazing. Oh, there’s Vero. Must run. We’re off to see Philipp for lunch and then bring him to Ottawa. He’s leaving Canada soon and he needs to visit the embassy as the Montreal-German embassy has closed down for some reason.

Setlist

 

Rock ‘n’ Roll Train
Hell Ain’t a Bad Place to Be
Back in Black
Big Jack
Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap
Shot Down in Flames
Thunderstruck
Black Ice
The Jack
Hells Bells
Shoot to Thrill
War Machine
Dog Eat Dog
Anything Goes
You Shook Me All Night Long
T.N.T.
Whole Lotta Rosie
Let There Be Rock

Highway to Hell
For Those About to Rock (We Salute You)

 

It was a long ride through the Gauntlet but I must admit, it was a fun ride this year.

For some reason, there weren’t too many bands that I was dying to see, but there were enough that made me want to check them out. A good litmus test would be to say “Who would spend $60 to see?” vs. “Who would be good to see for $20?”.

Logistically, I thought Bluesfest had everything going for them this year. I thoroughly enjoyed the no-wristband policy for the entrance as it allowed me to sell of tickets I would not have used anyhow. The beer wristband policy was a pain some days as the lineups to get a wristband were as long as the beer lineups. I understand completely why they wanted to do this but I am not sure if it sped up matters. In the time it takes to check my ID and take my cash at the beer counter, the person getting the beer has returned from the back. So it’s not like they are wasting TOO much time. Either way, this is a minor, minor issue.

The selection of food is great, the stages are set up nicely, the sound bleed isn’t TOO bad. This year was the year of ‘abide by the by-law and don’t crank music over 90 decibels!’ I thought that some concerts were lacking in their oomph of volume (Sam Roberts) which took away from the otherwise perfect show. I wonder if there is a way to get an exemption to a by-law or how much the fine is?

Once again, the lawn chair war was waged. I can’t say I encountered too many lawn chairs as we had a good system of avoiding them by hanging out near the walking path. The KISS concert incident where Vero got pinched and shoved by lawn chair people made me realize once again, that it wouldn’t be a bad thing if they had a separate section for the lawn chairs. I am not entirely sure why they don’t bother trying that again.

I also enjoyed that Vero had a pass and came out every night with us. It’s nice to share these moments with your girlfriend.

My favourite night would have to be Thursday when Metric and Ben Harper with Relentless7 played. What a night, what a couple of shows! Incredible!
Standout Acts:
Metric
Ben Harper and Relentless 7
Stone Temple Pilots
KISS

Acts that I Knew Nothing About But Turned out to be Amazing:
BEAST
Paolo Nutini
Yeah Yeah Yeahs

Acts that I thought I would think were amazing but really just dragged on:
Jeff Beck

Two thumbs up to the organizers of Bluesfest this year. They have outdone themselves with the amount of great acts they managed to bring to our fair city! Cheers!

On Sunday, we headed over to Duncan’s (my) old place in Bayshore to help him move. He was moving out at the end of the month and there was a lot of work to be done. Luckily, they managed to rent a truck which was the best idea ever. We would have been there for days if he didn’t have that truck with him.

Unfortunately, Duncan had not really packed anything beforehand so it was a little awkward to always ask him where certain things went. Mike and I dealt with the heavy stuff…getting that couch out of the basement was ridiculous and even more so after we realized we had to throw it into the trash! Bayshore House had accumulated approximately 20 roommate’s worth of junk since 1998 when I first rented the place. A lot of good memories were had there and I will miss the place. It has now become nothing of its former self…Duncan lives with two roommates which he doesn’t really talk to as they are not friends with us. He decided to finally bite the bullet and move out with his girlfriend.

So there we were, throwing out BBQs, patio furniture, furniture that had been there for years and no one would use…packing the moving truck. It wasn’t a hard move, but it wasn’t fast moving either! No matter, it was a decent day to do some moving.

The greatest part of the day was when I started hauling stuff from under the stairs to discover that it was primarily some stuff I had left there for the past decade! I found an old pair of skis, a dumbbell and the Holy Grail, my old record player! Beauty! Too bad that the left speaker input seems to be blown. I’ll have to see if I can re-solder it one day.

We then packed everything up, headed to a storage area where he’ll keep his stuff while the basement gets renovated in Kristen’s house and voila, the day was done by 6PM which was great timing as I was heading back out to the final day of Bluesfest.

I was in no shape to go to Bluefest and it wouldn’t have bothered me not to go. I was tired from moving, tired from Bluesfest, tired from the night out…I was tired! But Vero and I decided to go for the final night and I was pleased with the decision.

First stop was the food tents…I picked up some excellent fish and chips while Vero picked up some random pad thai dish which tasted like an Italian pasta dish. Vero was not pleased, threw it out and then bought a poutine instead. We sat down to watch The Dead Weather, which seems to be on everyone’s mind solely from the power of Jack White (of White Stripes/Raconteur fame) being in the band (on drums nonetheless!). Perhaps it was the fact that I was dead tired and hungry, but I didn’t really appreciate anything coming from the stage so we headed over to see Dave Alvin and the Guilty Women which was some country/blues band who were entertaining as Dave played guitar with an backing band of women. I had a nap over there and when I awoke, we headed over to catch the final act of the night, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs.

Benoit had told me he thought this band was excellent and I had heard this from a few other people as well. We positioned ourselves center stage and when the band finally hit the stage, it was…interesting. The music was quite catchy in an indie/punk/dance kind of vibe. It took awhile to get used to the singer who would basically sing and then scream into the mic. Vero didn’t really care for the vocals at all but I must admit that we both thought the band was decent musically and I’m sure I will enjoy studio versions of their songs.

Oh, I forgot that they released this giant inflatable eyeball into the crowd which stayed there for the better part of the night. At one point one guy actually ran away with it which was hilarious as this eyeball was quite large. I didn’t think one guy could handle it.

They definitely have convinced me to pick up an album of theirs and give a listen which is probably the best thing a band could ask for!

For the life of me, I can’t recall what I did on Saturday afternoon…I’m assuming we relaxed around the house for awhile. But at night, we headed back out to what had to be a great show…Lynyrd Skynyrd! We arrived while Ludacris was playing the Rogers Stage, grabbed a beer and headed to ‘the spot’. We couldn’t get close to ‘the spot’, so we just planted ourselves where we would be comfortable as well as convenient to nab a beer. We did end up right in front of Joe’s brother Ivo and his wife so that was fun.

Lynyrd Skynyrd did not disappoint whatsoever. Only this band would call their tour the ‘God and Guns’ tour and they had a backdrop to show it! I don’t know MANY songs from the band, but Mike was loving every moment of it. We did manage to make it closer up front near the end of the set and at that point, there was a guy chatting to Mike who was PLASTERED drunk but was amusing. He even saw me and say “Hey, do you know this guy (pointing to Mike)? I work with him!” where Mike just shakes his head meaning “I have no idea who this dude is!”. We managed to convince him that his friends were ahead of us so he shuffled off closer to the stage.

Of course, the highlight of the night was witnessing Free Bird in the live format. Mike and I were ecstatic! This was THE song which has infiltrated rock and roll pop culture…I’m sure if Beethoven were alive, someone would ask him to cover that song! It was great and definitely one of the better 10 minutes in rock history for us. Awesome!

Mike, Matt and I then headed down to the Market to meet up with (another) Mike’s bachelor party which was in full swing. Thank the Lord for cellular phones as we would have had no idea where to meet them. We stood in line at the Heart and Crown before deciding to hit up the gentleman’s club which was going to be their next stop. Then it turned out that they decided to go elsewhere and that we should meet them at the Heart and Crown. There was Mike in all his glory and I had a good laugh seeing him in a blissful state. It was good to see a bunch of the guys I haven’t seen in awhile. Shannon made it down for the event which was great!

We ended up deciding to head out to another gentleman’s club so we piled into the truck and by the time we got to the club, we had lost half the entourage as they had gone home for the night! What the heck?

In the end, the night was decent…there was another bachelor at the club who was beyond repair and was amusing to see. I also noticed everyone in the bar wearing Corono straw hats and I found out later that there was a promotion that night if you bought a bucket of beer.

The night ended as it always does…too soon…but it was a good time all around.

Mike, Vero and I went to Bluesfest on Friday night to catch some old faves, some new ones, and one that we skipped altogether. Cake was playing the Rogers stage and they were entertaining. Karilee was upset that they didn’t play The Distance but I didn’t notice whatsoever as the band had a good rapport with the crowd and played a few tunes that I recognized as well as some tunes that I thought were simply outright funny. It was sprinkling on us a little from the clouds overhead but we didn’t let that deter us.

Onwards and upwards…we decided to skip out on Blue Rodeo to check out a supposed sensation..Paolo Nutini…some Scottish lad with an Italian name. My colleague Visar was heading out to see him so I figured he must be a decent act if people who don’t generally frequent Bluesfest are now coming out.

He had quite the band up on stage…rockers and horn section and everything. Ben had described him as a crooner but he definitely was not. His music did resemble the classic 50s style bands where their music had one goal…to make people dance! I swear I was part of the Enchantment Under The Sea dance from Back to the Future at one point! Paolo was definitely a fun act to watch and I believe I shall pick up his album. He had so much energy and the band was great as well. Vero couldn’t get over the fact that he seemed to be hunched over like a Hunchback while singing. I didn’t really mind it…I suppose it was his ‘thing’.

Most of the set was quite energetic and then they hit a slower song spot before getting back into the energy. Every band has this going for them but I thought his slow set was quite long. 4-5 songs from what I remember. It is a shame that they never came back out for an encore as the crowd was demanding it. This also happened with Metric earlier in the week. I guess there’s a strict ‘no encore’ for non-main stage bands?

I give as many thumbs up as I can for this act. It was fun, the crowd was loving him, and he was slugging beer like a true Scotsman. Good show!

On our way out, we headed towards the main stage to catch the end of Blue Rodeo’s set. We heard “Hasn’t Hit Me Yet” as well as “Try”. Actually, we heard these songs while walking back to the car. I was just too tired to stick around for another few songs and then have to push through 30,000 people to our car. We called it a night and headed home once again.

Now, after a rocking night of KISS, it is possible to keep the rock alive?  Thursday night looked to be a semi-bleak night.  We had the amazing band Live but then it was followed by Styx.  (I know Trish is out there seething at me right now).

I headed over to Krista’s place where Mike was staying for the week.  We ended up picking up a nice cooked chicken meal at the grocery store for the night.  We drove by some Cordon Bleu restaurant and we had a good chuckle at the fact that we prefer the ‘take home chicken’ from Loblaws!

After a nap and a few beer and some general chatter, Vero picked us up and we headed to the concert.  Have I mentioned that I feel that the Bluesfest Gauntlet is getting to me?  I can’t do it any longer!  Rocking until 11, get home around 12…get up at six….it’s getting to me!

When we get there, we are surprised to see that Busta Rhymes has not arrived to his stage yet and it is nearly 8PM.  This poses a problem as Live is supposed to take the opposite stage at 8PM.  They can’t have two bands going on at once as the sound bleed would be horrendous (or so we think.  It turns out that it’s not that big of a problem when it happens later on.)  So there you have it.  The Beer Identification Bracelet lineups are insane for some reason, crowds are cheering for Busta Rhymes, other crowds are cheering for Live to come on the other stage…it’s pandemonium.  In the end Busta Rhymes comes onto the stage around 8PM, an entire hour later than he should be, sings for 25 minutes, cuts into Live’s stage time and is ridiculous sounding.  What the heck?

Live promptly gets to the other stage as soon as Busta Rhymes leaves.  They make a comment later by thanking him for finally leaving the stage!  Live opened up with a few tunes off of Throwing Copper, as well as playing my all time fave song off of Secret Samadhi…Gas Hed.  Ah, good times.  Krista, Mike, Vero, Trish and I were on the left hand side of the stage near the VIP fence.  Turns out that Karilee gets a great view from this spot.

The rest of the night had them play a couple of new tunes…Forever and the one from the film Zack and Miri (which was a Throwing Copper leftover).  I feel that the crowd is a lot less rocking than they used to be.  Perhaps everyone else is hitting the wall as I am?  I really didn’t feel the crowd got into it until much later into the set when the sun went down.  The band were giving it their all but to no avail.  They even sang MJ’s ‘Don’t Stop Till you Get Enough” during I Alone!

The band left the stage by the time Styx was already playing at the other stage.  Dang Busta Rhymes taking away from Live’s set!  Argh.  But the band came back and played a couple more tunes, including Lightning Crashes and They Stood up For Love.  All was well in the world.

Setlist:
Top
All Over You
Selling the Drama
Forever
Gas Hed
I Alone
The Distance
Turn My Head
Hold Me Up
Dolphin’s Cry
Lakini’s Juice
Heaven
They Stood up For Love
Sophia
Lightning Crashes

As for Styx, I will let my friend Trish, write about them as she is a big fan of them and singer Gowan.  All I can say is that I enjoyed hearing the classic tunes I recognized (Come Sail Away) and the band was quite entertaining.  In fact, they had a lot of energy that I thought was needed after a night of KISS.

—–
Dish is flattered that she would be selected to provide a Bluesfest review for Palmer’s World. It takes her back to the good old days of the guest rant. Contrary to popular belief, Dish is not actually a huge Styx fan. She is familiar with only some of their musical repertoire and basically started listening to them because her beloved Gowan joined the band as the lead singer in 1999.

Let’s just say that, even as a member of Styx, Gowan did not disappoint. His energy and enthusiasm are contagious. And the man is talented. Dish last saw him on his final solo tour before he joined Styx. At that time, he was playing small venues. He shouted out to the crowd to name a song, any song, and then he would proceed to play it, no matter what it was. The man could sit down and play Spice Girls on his keyboard on the spot and you know that is not something he secretly practiced for hours at home. That is a sign of incredible skill.

As further evidence of his talent, during the Styx concert, he was seen to play his keyboard the wrong way around – right hand where the left hand should be and black notes where white notes should be). Completely amazing!

All in all, this was money well spent. Although the set list consisted of all Styx songs, except for “Criminal Mind,” which was the best part of the show, Dish was thoroughly impressed. The music was upbeat and the crowd was enthusiastic.

One slight disappointment is that apparently the band no longer plays “Mr. Roboto” or “Babe” live because of some legal troubles with Dennis DeYoung, Styx’s former lead singer. This is too bad given that these are two of Styx’s cheesiest hits. “Babe” is definitely a great “get out your lighter” song and, as for “Mr. Roboto,” the song speaks for itself: “Secret, secret. I’ve got a secret.”

Regardless, Dish was still happy listening to some of Styx’s other greatest hits, including “Too Much Time on my Hands,” “The Grand Illusion,” “Fooling Yourself (The Angry Young Man),” “Blue Collar Man” and, of course, “Come Sail Away,” which involved a sad amount of confetti being launched out into the crowd. This made Dish laugh, but she felt that what would have been more effective than confetti is if the crowd had been given paper sailor hats like they were when the cast sang “Sailing” at the end of Tonight’s the Night, the Rod Stewart Musical.

Final verdict: Styx should be given a pat on the back for their smarts in recognizing that Gowan would make a great addition to their band and another one for bringing the masses a special kind of cheesy rock. Dish gives this concert two thumbs up.

Does anyone not know that KISS was coming to Ottawa?  Word of KISS hitting town was in the air for the month before…with talks of Shannon Tweed planning to tour around with partner Gene Simmons, the fear of KISS breaking the decibel by-law, and the sheer onslaught of rock that was about to descend onto the capital…it was a great time for everyone.

It was also going to prove to be a little too crazy for us.

Garbed in full KISS makeup, Vero and I started out the night by going to see BEAST on the main stage as per Matt and Karilee’s suggestion.  BEAST is supposedly the only band that Matt has purchased an album from in the past decade, because he just likes to sample music by ways of downloading it.  Clearly this must have been an AMAZING band from Montreal if he chose to support them!

We had a great, great, GREAT spot to see them…third tree and in the center.  Excellent view for the industrial/electro/whatever band.  The band even had a keytar!  I really enjoyed them although Vero couldn’t get over the girl’s singing…Vero is a fan of understanding words when people sing and you couldn’t really capture many words (unless you knew them by heart).

Before I digress, can I say that Vero’s KISS outfit was amazing, whereas my makeup was quite lacking.  So, severely lacking that we bumped into Mike’s friend Remi who was taking photos of KISS fans for a magazine and then he ran off to take a picture of someone else other than ourselves.  I am sure that he still wants Vero’s picture so I will send it to him one day!  I personally looked like a zombie.

After they were done, there was a moment where Vero had to decide whether to stay or whether to come along with us to see The National.  She decided to follow me to what I thought would be the main event of the entire Bluesfest.  I really, really, really love The National, a band out of New York and was honoured to be able to see them live.

The National were amazing.  They really were.  They aren’t straight out rocking, but they have this air to them with the baritone vocals, the churning guitars and the horn section…it’s really something to listen to and I’m glad I got to see them.  They played quite a few tunes from their Boxer album which is amongst my favourite of the past years.  Do yourself a favour and check out their music.

We decided to leave The National once Fake Empire was playing and I was dismayed to realize that we couldn’t listen to the band once we neared the main stage as the radio was blaring their own music near the stage!  We realized that the crowd was a little bigger tonight than we had planned on and we had an extremely hard time to get close to the stage.  In the end, Matt and Karilee decided to stick back so Vero, myself and Mike tried to get a little closer to the stage.  We were behind the soundbooth at this point and it wasn’t looking pretty.  It was chaos, to put it mildy.

Vero decided to lead the pack, and we had a straggler in the form of some stoner dude who was saying “I’m going wherever you guys are going!”.  No problems buddy!  We lost Mike along the way.  KISS was Vero’s main event and we didn’t want to hinder any plans for her to rock out the most that she could!

Unfortunately, she ended up in a pit of vipers, otherwise known as ‘the lawnchair gang’.

You see, there’s a tradition at Bluesfest, and that tradition is that there are two factions.  These two factions are the Greasers and the Socs.  Ha ha, I jest (hello S.E. Hinton!).  The real factions are those with lawn chairs, and those without.  Those with lawnchairs like to take up real estate.  I can understand if they want to simply sit in their lawnchair and watch the show.  But if they do that, they give extremely mad if there is someone in front of them (with just reason!).  But then there are the lawnchair people who simply put their lawnchair down and stand up in front of it during the concert, rocking out in their own little three square foot space, while the rest of the world is jammed up against their closest neighbour.

This poses a problem on many a front, and a particular one is the fact that it restricts crowd-flow movement during a concert.  Let me describe to you what it feels like when you are in a crowd of 30,000 people.  You don’t move yourself, the crowd moves you.  Many concert-goers have experienced this and it can only be described as ‘going with the flow’.  Now, if that flow is interrupted by…let’s say…a bunch of lawnchairs, it makes for extremely bad news.

Into the pit of vipers we went.  We ended up in between a group of people who had been hanging out together.  Women yelling at us “We’ve been here for an hour!”.  Someone’s husband, blue in the face screaming at me “WE’VE BEEN WAITING HERE FOR AN HOUR!  HOW COULD YOU DARE STAND IN FRONT OF US?”  Can I point out that at this point, we are nowhere near the stage.  We have managed to be in line with the lighting rig in behind the sound booth.  The stoner dude and I look at each other and he says “Dang.  I guess they haven’t been to many rock concerts.”

You see, as concert goers, we really try and make everyone feel welcome around us, but sometimes it just doesn’t happen.  If I notice a short person behind me, I offer them my spot. Why should I be the backside that someone stares at all night long?  That’s the credo of the concert goer.  Try and have a little fun while you let others have fun also.  But when you get into the lawnchair crowd, unfortunately some of them think that the area ‘they’ve laid claim to’ is rightfully theirs and nothing should come in from of it.  Ever.

That being said, as soon as the band started, I did manage to move myself to the right of the group.  Vero was not as lucky as she was in front of them.  After a few songs, she realized I had moved back and she could sense the daggers in her skull so she came back with me.  Unfortunately (and I didn’t find this out until after the show), when she said “Sorry” and proceed to get out of their way, one older woman pushed her and pinched her.  Vero was livid.  We’re at a rock concert people!  Have a little heart.  We’re at a freaking KISS concert here.  In the end, she ruined the entire night for Vero and I must say I was glad when a spot opened up for us away from the seething viper pit.  We then found true rockers who were having a grand old time.  The stoner dude also approved.  Although Vero is pretty sure he never opened his eyes once during the entire night as he was rocking in his own little world.

Enough of my ranting, let’s talk rock!

KISS came out in full force.  If this was to be the greatest rock and roll show on Earth, by jove, they started out great.  A KISS backdrop exploded down to the stage amongst pyro, fireworks and them descending on what I can only describe as a spaceship (scissorlift) from the heavens.  This was rock and roll from a space like time, where men dress up in crazy garb and makeup on their faces!  Awesome!

What can I say about the show?  I thought the AC/DC show in 2000 was the greatest rock and roll spectacle I have ever seen, but the new winners are definitely KISS.  They had everything a quintessential rock show has, and more.  I wouldn’t be surprised if they actually created half of the rock and roll cliches.  Let me talk about some of the amazing highlights:

– Guys in Makeup!  Come on.  Rock and Roll right there!
– Gene Simmons Breathed Fire!  That was incredible!  He had some sword/torch thing on fire and then he spewed out (what I can only describe as dragon’s breath) something and it burst into flame.  Awesome!
– Gene Simmons Flew Through the Air! No word of a lie.  The guy literally flew upwards into the lighting grid where there was a microphone for him to sing into above the crowd!  Amazing!
– Gene Simmons Bled!  Out of his mouth came blood and a lot of it.  He looked like he was chewing on some tasty demon.
– Paul Stanley rode a Pulley Across the Crowd!  My favourite event of the night, Paul Stanley puts his foot high platform boot through a metal ring which swings him across the crowd and lands him up near the lighting rig where a microphone awaited!
– KISS has a freaking large TV screen!  They know there’s a lot of people at the concert.  So they bring in this screen (LED strings) the size of the stage which has high-def video feeds of all the members.  What a great way to see the show up close and personal!  Much better than the regular Bluesfest screens!
– KISS has seven minutes of confetti!  No word of a lie…when “I Wanna Rock and Roll All Night” played, the confetti machines kept working for the ENTIRE SONG!  The sky was snowy white!
– KISS has a guitar that shoots fireworks!  What the heck?  Solo here, oh wait, let’s shoot a firework.  Solo there, oh heck, here’s another firework.  I NEED THIS GUITAR!!!
– KISS brings out topless lady!  Well, we only saw one for a second on the TV screen.  Mike says he was standing next to a mom and her ten year old kid and the kids eyes went wide as saucers and he said “Whoa.  This is what a KISS concert is all about.  Well done KISS, well done.  You now have a fan for life in the KISS Army.”  True story.
– KISS has fireworks and pyro!  A lot of them.  It was incredible.
– Gene Simmons has a crazy long tongue!  He let us see it a lot.
– Paul Stanley calling out moshers!  Paul Stanley says “Hey, you morons in the front starting a mosh pit.  Stop.  You’re at a KISS concert.  Go find some death metal band if you’re into moshing.  Respect the people around you.”  Then he gives them the finger.
– Paul Stanley talking after every song!  What a great frontman for the band.  I always assumed Gene Simmons was the frontman, but it seems like he is more the media frontman, whereas Paul talks to the crowd all the time.  He had some good cliché rock comments to make “We are the capital of Canada.  Let’s make you the capital of Rock and Roll!”, as well as trying to tell us that Sarnia was a better crowd.  Yeah right!

I can’t even get over how crazy this concert was.  It was a dreary night with it raining sporadically on us.  But the rock was brought and I ate up every moment of it.  I still can’t believe Gene Simmons flew!

Setlist wise, I don’t know many KISS songs, but they were all rockers.  My favourite moment was when the crew behind us kept yelling for ‘Lick it Up”.  Then after they played it, they KEPT yelling for it.  I thought this was hilarious.  So hilarious that I now find myself telling Mike the following things during the week:

Me: Mike, you know what I do with an ice cream cone in the summer?
Mike: What?
Me: Lick it up!  Lick it up!  Ahhhhahhhhhhaahhhhh!

Me: Mike, you know that Stompin’ Tom now has a postage stamp?
Mike: Really?
Me: Yeah!  You better Lick it up!  Lick it up!  Ahhhhahhhhhhaahhhhh!

KISS now takes the cake for the greatest rock spectacle these eyes (or any eyes?) have ever seen.  No lie.  Go see these guys before they finally retire.  They do indeed put on the greatest rock and roll show on Earth.

The National Setlist

Runaway
Start a War
Mistaken for Strangers
Brainy
Secret Meeting
Slow Show
Vanderlyle Crybaby Geeks
Squalor Victoria
Abel
Bloodbuzz Ohio
Apartment Story
Fake Empire
Mr. November

KISS Setlist

Deuce
Strutter
Got to Choose
Hotter Than Hell
Nothin’ to Lose
C’mon and Love Me
Parasite
She
Guitar Solo
Watchin’ You
100,000 Years
Drum Solo
Cold Gin
Let Me Go, Rock ‘N’ Roll
Black Diamond
Rock and Roll All Nite

 

Shout It Out Loud
Lick It Up
Bass Solo
I Love It Loud
I Was Made for Lovin’ You
Love Gun
Detroit Rock City

@Info[Kiss achieved a sound pressure level of 136 dB measured during this concert, breaking the world record of the loudest live performance (which excludes soundchecks or in-studio takes). After noise complaints from neighbours in the area, the band was forced to turn the volume down.]