Category: Concert Reviews

This review is long overdue.  I’m writing this a month after we headed out to the concert.  Vero, Trish, Mike and I headed to the ScotiaBank place and met up with Luc and Steve (two guys that Vero works with).  Steve was from Alberta so this was a good night to be in town for a show!

We found out way up to the 300 Level where our seats were located.  Considering my lack of knowledge of the band, I didn’t feel like paying $250 to be close to the stage.  I remember doing the same thing when The Who came into town a few years back and never regretted it.

We managed to show up in time to miss the first song so when we were getting a beer I could hear the second song ‘The Chain’ being played.  We eventually got to our seats and settled in for the ride.  In classic stadium concert fashion, there were a couple of jumbotron screens to watch which allowed the guys up in the 300 level to see a little better.  I did realize that I really have to go get those eyeglasses one day to bring to a show.  Even the jumbotrons were a little fuzzy!

Honestly, I don’t have much to say about the concert.  Lindsay Buckingham was killer on the guitar.  He was surreal…he didn’t even play with a guitar pick, but I had read in Guitar World that he has some fake nails that he plays with.  Stevie Nicks was sounding pretty good that night as well…heck, the entire band was sounding great and for Fleetwood Mac fans, they put on a great show.  It helps that they had a good ten shows under their belt before heading to Ottawa.

Other than that, a lot of beer was consumed on our end as Steve wanted to have a few beer and so we didn’t want to make him feel out of place so we joined him.  So there were a few times in the slow parts of the concerts where we were down at the beer counter or checking out the merchandise.  I rarely do this at a concert, but considering my lack of knowledge of the ‘Mac, it didn’t bother too much.

It looks like their setlist is the same for their entire Unleashed tour so if you are a fan and can manage to see them, go for it!

Afterwards, we headed into downtown to the James Street Feed Diner and had some great all-you-can-eat chicken wings.  I had the cajun dusted and they were mint.  Yum!  It was a late night by the time we got home and the next morning was not pretty.  Actually, now that I think of it, I had it easy going…I was working from home the next morning, whereas Mike had to trudge into work!

Here’s some reviews and a setlist:
http://jam.canoe.ca/Music/Artists/F/Fleetwood_Mac/ConcertReviews/2009/03/24/8862991-sun.html
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/Entertainment/Photo+Gallery+Fleetwood/1423085/story.html
Photo courtesy of Ottawa Citizen

Monday Morning
The Chain
Dreams
I Know I’m Not Wrong
Gypsy
Go Insane (Full Band)
Rhiannon
Second Hand News
Tusk
Sara
Big Love
Landslide
Never Going Back Again
Storms
Say You Love Me
Gold Dust Woman
Oh Well
I’m So Afraid
Stand Back
Go Your Own Way

Encores:

World Turning
Don’t Stop
Silver Springs

After skiing, Vero and I went to The Bay to spy some discounted Vancouver 2010 Olympic clothing but I couldn’t find any toques I wanted.  We then headed my home for a bit to watch an episode of Coupling, a BBC series that Benoit introduced us to.  It’s quite a funny show and we recommend that you take a look at it.

We then picked up some St. Hubert and headed for Vero’s and scarfed it down before we headed out to the National Arts Center to watch the French play, Broue.

Broue is a play that started on March 21, 1979.  That’s thirty years ago for those non-mathematicians reading this!  It turns out that three guys from Quebec; Marc Messier, Marcel Gauthier and Michel Côté created a play which takes place in a tavern and consists of a revolving set of characters who enter the tavern.  They each play different characters in the play so it’s funny to see the caliber of acting in them all.

So after a month of the production, it turned out to be quite the hit so they continued onward but it got bigger, and bigger, and bigger!  So big that it holds the Guinness title of the longest running play (at least…according to Wikipedia).  I believe the show we were at was somewhere in the 2800’s.  That’s quite a few plays in thirty years!  This play is so popular that Vero mentioned that it is playing in Ottawa over the next three weekends and they are all sold out.  In fact, the three original actors have been doing this play from October – April every year for the past thirty years!  That’s quite an accomplishment!

We arrived at the NAC to find Simon and Vero waiting for us.  We chatted for a bit and found our excellent seats in the Orchestra and the play started up a little late (I commented that they were probably having a beer backstage!).  The stage setup was an old-school tavern and it looked like they had suds coming out of the top of it.  There was a clock on the top of the set which indicated the time passing between skits.  The play starts out with the bar owner opening up shop at 8AM and having to let a patron inside to have his first beer of the day!  This drunkard was quite funny…he asks for his gloves which are behind the bar and when the owner asks him why he doesn’t wear them outside he responds “Because people would try and steal them!”

The skit ends and you see the clock advance in time and new patrons come into the tavern and chat it up…a Fire Chief, 2 laborers talking with an English fellow, a father and 16 year old son…there’s a motley crew of characters entering the bar during the entire play.

During the intermission, we headed to the bar for a beer.  I picked up a beer for Vero and Simon who had run to the washroom but I didn’t realize they were going to pick up their own beer on the way back!  We had a good chuckle at the misfortune (I call it misfortune because the intermission was over by the time we finished one beer!).

When we headed back in, we saw our friend Marie-Claude (who is an usher at the NAC) and she motioned something to Vero and Vero told me that former Prime Minister Jean Chretien was a few rows behind us!  Sure enough, I nonchalantly turn around and he’s there chatting with some people in front of him.  I felt like I was part of high society this evening, which is a hilarious statement if you were at the NAC.  There was quite an assortment of patrons in the theater that night!

The rest of the play was enjoyable and all in all, I had a great time.  It was quite hard to hear the actors as they didn’t have their microphones turned up high enough.  I felt really bad for the people in the back of the theater.  I also had a hard time understanding half of the play because they used a lot of slang, or their characters were using methods of speaking that  I wasn’t used to (hyper fast speaking, stuttering, slurring, etc.)  I still got the gist of it and had a great time.

The play is well worth checking out!  I’m sure you can find a time to go see it in the next thirty years!

iplaying: Let Me Give the World To You – The Smashing Pumpkins (Machina Acoustic Demos)

Friday night, Mike dropped by Vero’s place to have a few beer before we headed out to see the Sam Roberts Band at the Bronson Center.

The Bronson Center is a venue that I’ve only seen a theatrical play in.  I had no idea if it would be a great venue for a rock concert but I noticed that it’s gaining popularity as a venue.  We arrived there a few minutes before The Stills took the stage and I was disappointed to see that the place was PACKED!  Argh!  General Admission inside a theater…no fun.  We found three seats together near the back and then I went to peruse the merchandise table.  I scored a vinyl copy of the new album for $20 and a tour poster for $5 which were each $5 less than what I would have paid on the website.  I’m glad I held out to see if I could snag the vinyl from the booth.

I went back to our seats and sure enough, when the Stills started up, no one was standing up.  I was groaning because I thought we had entered classic Ottawa rocking standards…I still remember going to Eric Clapton and we were the only people on the entire floor who were standing up during the concert.  Anyhow, the tables turned when The Stills said it was alright to go in front of the stage so a SURGE of people ran up to the stage.  We decided to follow suit but by the time we made our way up there, they were turning people away and asking them not to stand in the aisles.  We spied a few seats that were empty so we nabbed them and I must say I was much happier with our new found seats which were a few rows from the stage.

I really couldn’t understand why the Bronson Center was becoming a venue for a lot of rock acts considering they didn’t server any beer and they had theater seating.  Then Mike hit the nail on the head…he mentioned that it allows it to be an all-ages show.  My disdain for the venue and the band immediately disappeared as I realized that living in Ottawa, there must be a ton of underage people who miss out on seeing their favourite band for the sole reason that it’s held inside a bar somewhere.  The fact that I couldn’t get myself a beer disappeared and I appreciated the energy coming from the crowd during The Stills set.  This is the first time I’ve seen The Stills and they put on a good show.  I enjoy how they have two vocalists.

After a short break between bands, the Sam Roberts Band hit the stage and started out with their title track from their new album, Love at the End of the World.  I love this tune and it got the party started.  The band doesn’t look too different than the last time I saw them at Bluesfest.  The only new addition that I spied on the stage was an LED setup behind them.

Sam thanked the crowd from the onset and mentioned how it was nice to end their Canadian tour in the place where it all began…probably a shout-out that Ottawa radio first picked up his breakthrough single ‘Brother Down’ (I nabbed that factoid from the Ottawa Citizen review).

The show was great and I was surprised at how the time flew.  Mike mentioned that I wasn’t imagining it…they played an hour before heading off stage and returning for another 30 minutes of an encore (which included a member of The Stills on saxophone during Mind Flood and…Brother Down I believe?).  They probably played a shorter set due to the fact that they were returning the next night for another show.

There was a lot of energy throughout the entire show and I really enjoyed how the set list was heavy on the rock and interspersed with a few slow numbers…the ideal rock show set list!

The Sam Roberts Band have hit a point where they have a bunch of albums to pull material from.  If I were able to, I think I would have went to the next night as well to catch a variation on the show.  There are so many classics I missed this night…The Gate, No Sleep, Don’t Walk Away Eileen…I was also hoping to hear The Pilgrim or End of the Empire from the new album.  But I really can’t complain.  I stumbled upon a night of a stellar setlist.  Heck, I got to hear The Resistance AND An American Draft Dodger in Thunder Bay?  Beauty.

Set list (in order that I remember it…could be wrong)
Love at the End of the World
The Resistance
Fixed to Ruin
Hard Road
Up Sister
Stripmall Religion
Bridge to Nowhere
Where Have All the Good People Gone?
An American Draft Dodger In Thunder Bay
Lions of the Kalahari
Brother Down (w/ saxophone from The Stills?)
Them Kids
With a Bullet
—–
Detroit ’67
Words and Fire
Mind Flood (w/ saxophone from The Stills)

iplaying: I Might Be Wrong – Radiohead (Amnesiac)

IMG_7776, originally uploaded by Evdawg.

“If I were to notice my nose or ears bleeding at the concert, it wouldn’t have come to me as a surprise as I surely thought my brain had melted a little.” – my description of Night 2 to a colleague.

After another day of work, I headed downtown to an election party at some pub. Dawn (who I curled with a few nights prior) had organized a grand gala for the US elections and so Katie and I decided to show up (as well as take advantage of their cheap chicken wings!). I got to see Sarah, Dawn and Nathan one last time before heading out of Toronto but missed Paul as he was ordering some shoes online (brave sole!). I then trekked down to Massey Hall and got there around 7:50 with no free posters in sight. I headed downstairs to the bar (which was the first time I realized there was a bar in this place) and got a water as I wasn’t feeling too well. I figured some hydration may help out. I then found my trusty old Row R, Seat 42 chair and plopped down around different people. I noticed familiar faces in the hall…some had moved towards the stage, some backwards. Either way, I closed my eyes until the lights dimmed and the same introduction music came over the PA.

I shall go more in depth on the review this time around to capture all my thoughts of the two nights. I thought a neat addition to the stage was a sole lit-up pumpkin on one of the amplifiers. I also liked how the violinist had a spot next to Lisa on keys and that the horn section had a spot in behind Ginger (bass). It was a good setup of the small stage.

I make specific comments to songs below so I’ll sum up overall feelings of the night here. All in all, Night 2 BLEW my expectations away. When I bought tickets to the 20th Anniversary tour, it was in hopes of hearing some rare songs. I didn’t expect any new songs, I didn’t expect any ‘never before played’ songs, I didn’t expect some returns of old jam songs. I got all of this and more. It was quite a surprise and it perked me out of my feeling sick. It was amazing. There was not one moment that I didn’t enjoy. The new songs are rocking! I really can’t wait to hear the bootleg to this night! It’s on order. Who knows when it will show up. Night 2 was by far the better of the two nights but I’m glad I went to both.

Comments on the entire 20th Anniversary Tour – Black Sunshine and White Crosses. 48 different songs played over the span of two nights. 5 hours of Pumpkins music. White Crosses definitely not the ‘acoustic’ session that I thought it would become. I must admit that I almost enjoyed being alone at the concert as I didn’t have to think about anyone else who may not enjoy the Pumpkins as much as I do. I could exist in the moment of the heavy 20 minute jam sessions and love every moment of them. I could marvel in the fact that they are playing new songs for us tonight. I enjoyed Night 2 more than Night 1 and I can’t figure out if it’s because I already had heard Night 1 earlier in the summer via a bootleg. I think by looking at the song content, I would have preferred Night 2 anyhow…with its rarities and new songs being played. But the whole experience was the best Pumpkins experience I’ve had in my life. I’ve seen the Pumpkins in ’96, ’00 and ’07 and this is them at the top of their game. Twenty years in and they aren’t letting up!

Epilogue – In the encore, Billy came out and made reference to President Obama and how proud they were of their country right now. Everyone cheered. When I left Massey Hall I walked up Yonge Street and there were people dancing in the streets. There were bongos being drummed, there were songs being changed in Dundas Square. To confirm that Obama did in fact win, I asked the first person I met. “Who won?” I asked. He smiled and said “Obama.”

I don’t know if it was because Barack Obama seemed to be a popular candidate in Canadian eyes, or if it was because it was finally the end of an…interesting eight years with George W. Either way it felt like this great weight had been lifted off the shoulders of the world that evening.

I couldn’t have asked for a better ending of my stay in Toronto.

Special thanks go out to a few people in making this possible – Bruce, Louise and Maureen for those gift certificates to Ticketmaster from last Christmas. Most of the concerts in Ottawa are through another ticket chain so I was glad to put those gift cards to the ultimate use. Thank you very much! Thanks to my old manager Sue and the crew at the regional headquarters in Toronto for allowing me to work from Toronto for a few days. Last but not least, thanks to Katie for having me over for a few nights. I’m glad I had the opportunity to fix her computer, fix her iPod and make brownies during my way with her!

Love live the Pumpkins.

Setlist:
Ava Adore – Billy in black get up (on White Crosses night. Nice) carrying a jack-o-lantern and dumping the glittery contents on part of the audience during the song.
Cupid de Locke – !!! Hasn’t been played in a decade. Jimmy came out on the marching drum and Billy led him around the stage.
1979 – Fairly standard fare.
99 Floors – A new song which debuted at the Residencies last year. Acoustic/harmonica folk song.
Owata – New song. Pretty cool!
Sunkissed – I really enjoyed the addition of the horns on this one.
Soma – AS IF. SOMA is being played. At this point in the night, I realized that Night 2 would blow Night 1 one away from the sheer choice of songs they played.
Cherub Rock – I laughed after remembering last night’s comments about this tune.
Zero – Ah yes! Hasn’t been played in awhile. One of my faves from Mellon Collie. Jeff was pretty wild on the solo.
Bodies – Honestly, are they kidding me? This has surely not been played in over a decade and is constantly requested. It was visceral. It was amazing. Billy screaming “Love is Suicide!”. Beautiful. At this point, this is where I thought of the brain melting comment above.
Crestfallen – Always a favourite from Adore.
I of the Mourning – A welcome surprise and I love the end.
A Song for a Son – New song, quite rocking. I’m enjoying the direction of the new songs and look forward to their proper introduction.
Landslide – Jeff and Billy, solo on guitar. Beautiful! It was really great to hear him sing Landslide and he even had us sing at one point.
Disarm – Good violin/horn section.
Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness – Ok, so I really didn’t know what this was for awhile. For the longest time I just thought it was the horn/violin section playing an instrumental jam. Then I tuned into a melody I recognized. It really took me five good minutes to pinpoint it…it was the instrumental introduction to my favourite album! Very different and very amazing. Once I tuned it, it put a smile on my face.
Galapogos – Honestly, a dream come true. “Too late to turn back now, I’m running out of sound!”. At first I thought they were playing Porcelina.
Gossamer – At this point in the show, my brain truly must have been damaged somehow as I started to not be able to pinpoint what they were playing. The rolling bassline and the drums hearkened a memory in me and then I realized they were playing the ‘live-only’ song Gossamer which is one of my all time faves. This is quite the long song (some versions capping at 35 minutes). I believe this one stopped around the 20 minute mark and they had a new outro section which was great. It took the intro section and slowed it down.
As Rome Burns – New song which ROCKED. The haunting feel of the keys, the sense-searing guitar…ahhh, it’s going to be a fave!
The Sounds of Silence – I found out this is a Simon and Garfunkel cover. I didn’t know it until after the show. I think it’s at this point in the night where Billy tripped backwards and fell on his back and he waved off the guitar tech guy and got up himself. Must be hard enough when he’s dressed up in a dress!
The March Hare – New song. Honestly, these songs segueway into one another easily that I couldn’t really tell where one ended and where one began. I believe this one is where he started ranting about Little Red Riding Hood. It had a very calyspo beat and Billy was traipsing around the stage with a tambourine and genuinely having a great time.
Suffer – Segueway into Suffer which I didn’t recognize at first as it was a calypso version. Very cool!
Age of Innocence – Ending the show with a great ending tune from Machina!
Encore
That’s the Way (My Love Is) – Acoustic.
I Am One – Part 2 – For the longest time, this space jam seemed familiar (lyrically only) to me and I really couldn’t put my finger on it. When I searched through some old Gish tunes the next day, I still couldn’t place the lyrics. I then found out that this was a pre-Gish tune that they brought out of the vault! AWESOME! Never played before live! Beautiful! I think this was the ultimate nod to the hardcore fans like myself who may have recognized it from a simple 2 minute version we have in our collection somewhere. Musically, it’s definitely changed though.

Tonight Tonight, originally uploaded by pumpkinsmediamilitia.

Last night I met up with Sarah, Paul, Katie and we headed to a great Thai food restaurant which was close to Massey Hall. We chatted and ate for awhile and then I headed down the block in search for the legendary Hall. I had only been there once before with Vero at an Our Lady Peace concert and I remember it being quite the venue.

The crowds around the Hall were exhuding an electricity in the air. Tonight was the debut night of the ‘Black Sunshine’ show whereas tomorrow will hold the ‘White Crosses’ shows. There was excited voices talking about how great the concert will be. The excitement overtook me as I walked into the hall and found my seat (which was two rows shy of being right at the back of the hall (Row R), but you know what? It was still closer than I was when I saw them in Montreal in a big crowd of people. I guess there is really no bad spot in this venue.)

I then headed downstairs to the merchandise booth and picked up a 20th anniversary poster as well as a t-shirt which had a cool logo on it with the tour dates on the back. I wasn’t going to pick up the t-shirt but they had another poster with the cool logo and I figured I may as well just pick up the t-shirt and I will always have the logo no matter what.

When I got back to my seat I noticed a few guys holding oversized posters and I asked where they got them. Supposedly they were giving out free posters outside promoting the new DVD that is coming out next week. I headed out but couldn’t find any free posters.

8PM was the time listed on the ticket and the band eventually started around 8:20. The lights came down and they had some eerie intro music over the speakers (alas, it was no Mellon Collie theme!) and then Jimmy came out and rocked us with a drum solo. At the point I realized that I should not be putting off getting a mild prescription of eyeglasses for driving. This would be another good use of them as I couldn’t pick out fine details up on the stage from that far back.

The band then came out and Billy came out in this crazy getup which consisted of a wedding dress and some giant head-dress. It’s interesting to think that he is one of the only musicians out there that still dress up in theatre garb for the concert.

The setlist consisted of rock, acoutic, then more rock. The band was accompanied by flutes, horns and violins which was nice on such songs like Tonight, Tonight. The band seemed really into it at times and Billy gave it his all with his customary snarl.

The encore was quite fun as the band came out with kazoos and Billy had a giant commentary for us…”We rock more than 90% of the bands out there.”, “We will be here for awhile yet.” “To the guy yelling for Cherub Rock, Cherub Rock, Cherub Rock…God, it’s like a bad acid trip!”. He spoke for a good 15 minutes while interjecting with everyone singing “Everything is Beautiful”.

The night was amazing. The setlist mimicked the August tour they just had but I didn’t care. I was grateful to see them even though I had heard bootlegs. I am looking extremely forward to seeing the ‘White Crosses’ show tonight as I am thinking there will be quite a few surprises coming at us. Will they play my favourite tune, ‘Thru the Eyes of Ruby’? One can hope. I also wonder if they will provide us with any updates on the US election or if they even care really?

My only complaint is that yesterday I came down with something…my throat was killing me, my bones ached and I felt cold at all times. When I got back to Katie’s I wrapped myself up in blankets hoping that the moment would be pass by morning. I must admit that this morning I felt no better but I feel quite a bit better this afternoon after my third Vitamin C filled drink.

Setlist:
Roctopus (Jimmy Drum Solo)
Everybody Come Clap
Tarantula
G.L.O.W.
Siva
Mayonaise
Tonight, Tonight
Speed Kills
Transformer
Superchrist
United States

Once Upon A Time
The Crux
The Rose March

Today
Bullet with Butterfly Wings
The Beginning is the End is the Beginning
Heavy Metal Machine
Glass’ Theme
Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun (Pink Floyd)

We Only Come Out at Night
Everything is Beautiful

On the final day of Bluesfest, I ended up going there on my own as Mike was out of comission with his broken toe and Krista’s cellphone had lost battery power, hence I couldn’t get in touch with her.  She didn’t bother going anyhow.

Of course, I was excited to see tonight’s act as it was the Sam Roberts Band…only one of the more rocking bands out there.  They also had released their new album “Love at the End of the World” a few months’ beforehand so this would be the first time I could see how the songs translated into a live setting.

I arrived in the early evening in time to catch Canned Heat on the main stage.  It was pretty cool to see a music icon like them.  It was a sea of lawn chairs, but no matter.  I had a good spot to check them out.  I watched them for about an hour and decided to head back to the Rogers stage to get a decent spot.  I did end up seeing Danny and Kathy along the way and they said they saw me from afar on the first night of the festival.  They tend to go every year as do I and it’s nice to meet up with them once in awhile.

I grabbed a beer and found a decent spot which was on the cusp of the mayhem which looked like a sea of people ready to rock.  I was right behind a family so I figured there wouldn’t be too much mayhem going on there.  This made me think of how cool it would be to bring Mom and Dad to a concert someday and after the concert, I even found out the Eagles and John Fogerty were playing in Moncton the weekend we were going to Gaspe and I gave them a call trying to convince them to go to the show.

Let it also be noted that there were a few empty lawn chairs directly in front of the family.  This created a small gap in the crowd and is a major point in the story that unfolds.

The Sam Roberts Band came out in full force and blew me away once again.  The new songs translate well in a live setting and it’s nice to see a shakeup of the set list once a new album arrives.  Gone is ‘Don’t Walk Away Eileen’ but here comes ‘Fixed to Ruin’ and ‘Them Kids’.  It was during a slower song (I believe it was ‘Bridge To Nowhere’) that I spotted the first crowd surfer.  Now, if there’s any guarantee in life at a rock concert, this is one of them:

Guarantee #47 – If you see someone crowd surfing during an acoustic number at a concert, you know that it will result in quite the crazy crowd during the night.

Of course, this held true as the crowd became the transportation mechanism for bodies floating across the tops of hands everywhere.  There were tons of crowd surfers for the rest of the night.  At one point I think I counted seven merging into one nexus point and I cringed at the thought of them all hitting that point and trying to figure out what the heck to do.  The crowd was intense.  There were bodies everywhere.  The band was amped up.  There must have been a family contingent from Pembroke to see Dave Nugent as there was a sign being held up in his honour (in which he rocked out for a few times).  Everything was going crazy.

During their final song, Mind Flood (only the greatest modern age psychedelic rocker there ever was), it was hard to focus on them because there were just too many crowd surfers!  Where I was situated, not many came our way because it was near the back of the crowd but sure enough we had one guy come our way and he had nowhere to go so I kind of just pushed him backwards into an area with not enough people to catch him.  He caught onto this fact and quickly landed on his feet.

But then there was this other girl who was slowly creeping towards the area where the lawnchairs were…the gap in the crowd.  I cringed as I saw her inch closer and closer to this area.  She would have taken a header to the ground if it wasn’t for the quick thinking of some woman who grabbed her downwards.  This resulted in an argument and then the woman’s kids started crying and all hell broke loose and of course we enter the point of Mind Flood where everything erupts and it’s like a volcano of electric strings, light shows that would make epileptic kids have multiple seizures and just this force to be reckoned with!  It was quite awe-inspiring and I couldn’t really believe that no one was there to witness this with me (well no one that I knew, anyhow…).

The band left the stage and the crowd were crying for an encore.  Let’s point out that they are not the main act of the night.  But the crowd wanted more.  A few minutes passed and the band returned to the stage.  Sam took the mic and said “Thank you very much!  We didn’t expect an encore so half the band were in the washroom!”.  The broke out into ‘Up Sister’ from the new album which is one of my favourite rockers and all was good in the world.  They told us they weren’t expecting this great of a crowd and were pretty pumped up from it.  I agree that it was an amazing crowd considering a) it was a Sunday night (and the final night of the festival) and b) can an Ottawa crowd really rock?  They have proven to me that it is quite possible and I shouldn’t badmouth them any longer.

New songs that were played:
– Love at the End of the World: Rocked more than I thought it would!  The crowd ate it up.
– Lions of the Kalahari: Always a great slow tune.  Sam’s daughter was on the edge of the stage with giant pink ear protectors.
– Fixed to Ruin: Always a live favourite.
– Them Kids: This opened the set.  Sam broke a string on this one and had a guitar rushed in.  In fact, now that I remember a little more, the first few songs were fraught full of instrument mishaps.
– Detroit ’67: Another fun one that everyone gets into.
– Up Sister: Rockin’.

A great night with a great band.  I can’t get over the amount of energy that was at this show.  I was firing all cylinders hours after the concert.  It was definitely the highlight of Bluesfest for me.

After an afternoon of trying to stay awake, we headed out to Bluesfest again.  It was a whirlwind affair of heading back to Orleans, trying to catch some sleep, pack a bag for HOPE Volleyball, head back to Krista’s…it was a blur.

In the end, everything went fine (other than the fact that I forgot to pack my shorts into my HOPE Volleyball bag and then had to return home after the concert instead of spending the night at Vero’s) and we headed out from Krista’s on time for the Theory of a Deadman concert.

We all looked pretty tired and the way Krista felt manifested itself in the form of not even being able to finish her beer.  I felt bad for the soul, but I was sure a good night of sleep would help her out.

Theory of a Deadman were there promoting their new album “Scars and Souvenirs” which is a decent album, but more of the same really and they don’t shy away from that fact.  They do know how to rock though and we always enjoy their concerts.  We were very close to the stage but on the right hand side to the point where we couldn’t even see the drummer.

My favourite moment came not in the form of the band or their music but at this little kid on top of his Dad’s shoulders wearing a Spider-Man hat and giving the devil horn symbol with his hands all night long.  That kid was awesome.  He was rocking out so much and was probably 3 years old.  I had visions that this will one day be my kid…up front at a rock concert on top of my shoulders with a Spidey hat.

The band didn’t really hit into too many new songs and I have a feeling this is due to the fact that there are quite a few ballads on their new album and the festival isn’t made for too many ballads.  It’s made for decibel shattering rock!  Which they did.

I ended up leaving after their set and left Krista and Mike to watch Great Big Sea.  I just couldn’t bring myself to go to bed late again considering the gauntlet was upon us tomorrow…HOPE Volleyball.

photo from Ottawa Citizen

Thursday night was shaping up to be the quintessential night to see Bluesfest.  Not because of the bands, but because it would be an amazing night full of sunshine and beer.

Mike had already been staying over at Krista’s for the week as the smart man that he is so I managed to plan out to meet them both at Krista’s to have some supper before going to Bluesfest.  So far, they have had a good time with their all-festival pass but I haven’t heard any AMAZING stories yet.  I figured that would change.

I headed over to Krista’s around 4PM and didn’t get an answer at her door.  I figured Mike should be there by then so I was a little miffed when I thought he may be taking a nap and not answering the door!  I sat in front of her apartment building and finished reading Motley Crue’s “The Dirt” and then started at the sky for awhile.  I waited for 1.5 hours until Krista showed up wondering why the heck I was hanging out there.  Turns out that Mike was working until 5PM all week long as opposed to his normal 7-3 shift.  I groaned when I realized I had spent a few hours waiting for them on her front lawn.  It wasn’t a total waste as I could finish my book.

After a few beer and some spaghetti, we headed down to the festival grounds (dropping into the Royal Oak for some drink Krista called the Jagerbomb which is a shot of jagermeister and a red bull energy drink) and arrived just in time for Three Days Grace to take the stage.  We grabbed a beer, settled in, and the world was kind to us by delivering us a rip-roaring show.

Halfway through the set, Krista wanted to go find her friend Ben so we headed out in search for him.  We managed to find him in the sea of 30,000 people (bless the cellular phone technology!) and it was good meeting him.  He seemed out of it at first but once he saw we were in the good spirits, we quickly came up to our energy level and we enjoyed the rest of the concert by Three Days Grace.  Nothing much different in the set from the last time we saw them although instead of an acoustic version of Chris Isaak’s “Wicked Game”, they played Alice in Chains “Rooster” instead!

I must admit that the night descended into madness and when the Black Crowes came on, I recollect that the concert could have been a ghetto blaster blasting Black Crowes tunes to me across the field because we were so far back in the field that we weren’t paying attention to the stage, we were paying attention to having a good time amongst ourselves.  Ah well, that’s the beauty of Bluesfest.  The night ended quickly in our minds and we then headed homeward for a bite to eat (Johnny’s on Laurier make a decent schawarma, by the way) and Krista wanted to have another drink at her place but I knew that would be a recipe for disaster considering we were all working the next day so I grabbed my backpack, walked 30 minutes to Vero’s and crashed their for the night.  Luckily the Bluesfest Gods were looking after me and I emerged unscathed and felt pretty decent the next morning.  Krista wasn’t so lucky.

photo from the Ottawa Citizen

Alas, the bank account couldn’t afford an all access pass this year considering there were car brakes to fix, property tax to pay, tuition to front…but Vero’s sister was gracious enough to purchase a day pass to Day 1 of Bluesfest for the two of us.  This was a surprise to me as I only found out about it a few days before when she surprised us with them!

The morning wasn’t looking good.  It was raining.  It was awful.  I was dismayed.  But there was a spark of hope in the fact that the weather network said it would be clear that night.

In the end, the weather network was correct and Trish, Vero and I headed down to the grounds on an amazingly sunny evening!  The setup for Bluesfest has improved this year.  You can bring beer ANYWHERE on the grounds (not like last year where we got dinged going to the River Stage and had to wait and drink our beer before crossing the street.
Also, the Rogers stage is angled this year instead of being straight across from the main Bank of America stage.  I have not yet decided if this is a better set up as it creates a bottleneck of traffic at a main point in the area.

Either way, the setup has vastly improved and the only scorn I delivered was to the people with the lawn chairs.

We grabbed a beer and settled in front of the Rogers stage to see Matt Mays + El Torpedo.  I was excited to see them as they always deliver high decibels of rock riffs AND they had a new album out next week so I was hoping to hear a few new tunes.  They did not disappoint.  It was killer loud and I think my heart was pumping with the bass drum.  The new songs were AMAZING and I love how Matt Mays has excelled in his songwriting craft.  There was this one song which just had this great refrain which I’ll have to post when I get the album tomorrow and actually remember what they were saying.  We were all impressed with the show and it was a good kickoff to the Bluesfest.

While waiting for Matt Mays to get on stage, I answered a survey and one of the questions was to identify any corporate sponsors for the show.  Oddly enough, none of us remembered Cisco Systems and they are the main sponsors.  Actually, Bluesfest in Ottawa is actually called “Cisco Systems Bluesfest”.  I don’t know what that tells you about marketing but maybe they should look into how much effect their name is getting if we end up chopping it off anyhow!

By this point, we had Krista and Mike show up and we meandered to the food area for Mike to get some fish and chips and then we headed to the Roots stage where the Fiftymen were playing.  They were a good country time.  They seemed to be a bluegrass/country band from the sounds of it and they had a good banjo/fiddle player on stage with them.  May I also point out that we saw our old friend Roy who is an 80 year old gentlemen who frequents the Heart and Crown a lot.  We had a good laugh at the fact that we always see him at the same events and he’s still rocking out.  Tonight he had on his famous red shirt with the word “Lure” on it!  The Fiftymen were decent and I enjoyed the short time we had watching them.

We headed back to the Rogers stage to catch TV on the Radio which has been recommended to me by Tyler and Sara.  I had already heard their latest album and really couldn’t get into it all that much.  However, I thought maybe they would shine on their live show.  While they did put on an energetic show, I really wasn’t into the music all that much.  I guess I’m starting to get out of touch with some veins of new music?  No one else in our group really cared for it either.

Before the end of their set, we decided to head to the main stage to see The Tragically Hip.  We decided on our old meeting spot.  Stage left, on the path in line with the third tree.  This was a great spot to see the stage and not get crushed AND a good spot to direct people if we were meeting them later.  However, it failed us this time around as we ended up in line with the first tree and Krista, Julie and Ryan couldn’t find us but it turns out that they were ten feet our left for the entire concert.  Woops!

I was excited to see the Hip as I had started to really get into their music in the past year.  I have never been a uber-fan however, and I also remember seeing them at the Corel Center in 1999 and came out not feeling impressed.  However, this night changed it all for me and I was really into the show and the wild antics by singer Gord Downie who I swear has epilepsy sometimes for his frantic theatrical performance.  One moment he’s singing into the mic, the other he’s breaking the mic stand in half and giving it to the audience, or using the mic stand as a paddle and making it look like he’s canoeing across the stage.  He also had hand towels thrown to him every 20 seconds which he used to wipe his head with and then he would throw them out to the crowd.

Since the day I’ve seen them years ago, the show doesn’t really change.  Rhythm guitar on the left, bass and lead on the right, drums in the back.  They hold their own and do their own thing and really, you would think it wouldn’t be that exciting of a stage show.  But Gord is OVER THE TOP and makes the show entertaining to all who are mesmerized by this movements.  He’s spastic on stage.

They ended up playing a great set as I think it was more geared towards the festival crowd.  They had played a few weeks before in Belleville and it seemed to be a ‘new album’ heavy setlist but this time around, it was more of a greatest hits.  I really enjoyed the concert and it made me hope that one day I can also become a quintessential songwriter who writes stories about his great nation.

Bob Rock even came out for the encore with them!  I was excited to see him play guitar as I’ve only heard of the legend through his production of Motley Crue, Metallica, Tea Party and countless other band’s albums.  He had recently produced the Hip’s World Container album and is in Kingston helping them out in the studio at the moment.  I was witness to a moment of rockdom!

All in all, Bluesfest Day 1 was a great success and I thank Anne-Marie for giving me a ticket for the night.

01: In View
02: My Music At Work
03: Grace, Too
04: The Lonely End Of The Rink
05: It’s A Good Life If You Don’t Weaken
06: Ahead By A Century
07: Gift Shop
08: Courage
09: Wheat Kings
10: Poets
11: Springtime In Vienna
12: Bobcaygeon
13: Fireworks
14: Fully Completely
15: Family Band
16: New Orleans Is Sinking

Encore
17: Yer Not The Ocean (with Bob Rock on guitar)
18: COVER: Queen Bitch by David Bowie (with Bob Rock on guitar)

In following with Palmer’s style of blogging I figured I would write a little review of this weekends concert goings. According to OttawaFestivals.ca there are 17 festivals during the months of June and July. You can go see 2 to 3 live bands minimum every single weekend during festival season if your up for it. This weekend I attended two such festivals: Le Festival Franco Ontarien and WESTFEST. I also went and had a Beer at the Royal Canadian Legion on Richmond road for good measure.

Thursday night started off meeting some friends downtown for drinks and dinner at the Elephant Castle. A friend of ours used to tell us that the Elephant Castle was the only place that sold this particular brand of beer. However it seems like they have not carried this beer for quite some time as the waitress had never heard of it. After a few pitchers and a decent meal we headed off to the Festival Franco Ontarien to see “En Bref”. This was a great evening for us as “En Bref” had been on hiatus for the past decade and this was only their second show since they reunited. The show was amazing and we had great spots right at the front. At the end of the show we got to meet the band and chatted with them for a while. André even mentioned that he still had the original demo tape with the lead singers old phone number on it from Sudbury. Just before leaving André asked the Singer if he (and the band) would like to attend his wedding at the end of August. The singer seemed genuinely interested and gave us his contact information. Maybe if I am lucky they will be at the wedding and I will get to jam with them :). Fingers crossed.

Friday I had to decide between going to the Festival Franco Ontarien or WESTFEST. There were a few bands I wanted to see at both festivals but in the end WESTFEST won out. The first band we wanted to see was I See Rowboats. I see Rowboats is this great band from Halifax that are making all kinds of noise. They put on a great show despite the fact that the band before them ran into their time and had to shorten their show by quite a bit and also didn’t get a proper sound-check. I highly suggest you give them a listen if ever you have the chance, you wont be disappointed. We even got to hang out with the band for a bit at the end of the night as Rémi is good friends with Darcy the drummer. We had a couple hours to kill before Joel Plaskett’s sets so we decided to grab a beer and a bite to eat. I got a bison burger on fry bread which was most excellent. We then checked out the scenery and ended up in at the legion. What can I say about the Legion …. I love them. There were two guys playing music and singing along with some CD’s and they had 710ml bottles of beer for $6.50. That’s right folks, for less than the price of a pint of beer from the pub we got this huge bottle of beer. It was awesome. Should any of you ever end up in a Legion though, please remove any hats before entering. It is a sign of respect and also if you get caught you have to buy a round of drinks for everyone in the bar.

After we finished up our pints, we headed back to the park to catch Mathew Barber’s set which is always a good time and of course the main act of the evening, Joel Plaskett. If anyone hasn’t already seen Joel live your missing out. There is something about Joel the way that he act’s on stage that just adds so much more to the songs. He is this tall and lanky guy but he sure knows how to groove on stage. He is just so at ease with the crowd and talks a bit before the songs and in some cases even acts out the songs as he is playing them. I have seen him a few times now and each show just gets better and better.