Category: Concert Reviews

photo courtesy of the Ottawa Sun

“I’m kind of disappointed that I can’t smell any dope being smoked.” – says Michael (the man who doesn’t smoke any dope.)

Tickets: Extremely pricey. Up in the $150+tax range.
The scene: Roger Waters (bass player and lyricist for Pink Floyd) at the ScotiaBank Place in Ottawa.

We hemmed and hawed at buying these expensive tickets but in the end we figured that the odds of us seeing Pink Floyd ever are slim, so we may as well get to see the next best thing – Roger Waters on tour with the Dark Side of the Moon.

We made it there with no real hassles (like brakes failing on the car!) but we made a detour to Vero’s place as we had forgotten our camera. Upon getting there I discovered she had no batteries! Argh. So we hopped back in the car because time was ticking.

We had some supreme seats. Nine rows from the stage. Can’t go wrong.

When we got to the floor we were blown away by the giant props on stage – a giant radio, a bottle of whisky…this was an excellent concert already! When we walked closer we realized that they weren’t props! It was part of a giant LED screen behind the stage. The LED screen came to life and had some cigarette smoke billowing through it and a hand popped into the picture and changed the radio dial to a better song. After listening to some good tunes, some ABBA came on and you see the hand quickly change the station. It was awesome.

Then it starts! They started with In The Flesh which was amazing. Man, I would love to see him play the entire Wall album, but whatever. It’s all good. He is in good shape for a man of 60+ years and his voice is amazing also. He can really hit the notes still. Very cool.

The visuals were equally amazing. The screen had some amazing psychadelic visuals happening all the time. Some good pyrotechnics also.

You know, I’m realizing that I can’t adequately describe the experience with meer words. It was the emotions that were importantit in hearing these songs. Songs I never thought I would hear live (other than a cover band). Shine On You Crazy Diamond was an amazing tribute to Syd Barett. The video changing the radio dial to tune into Wish You Were Here was called by Mike way before it happened. It was sweet. He played some solo stuff that I wasn’t familiar with but it was still so, so good.

He introduced a new song called Leaving Beirut which also had a comic running in the background depicting the inspiration for the song – when he was stuck in Lebanon and a family brought him in for the night. Such charity.

They also brought out a remote controlled inflated astronaut and the giant pig (if you do not know about the flying pig and Pink Floyd, go check out Wikipedia) which was hilarious. Everyone in the joint was having an amazing time! Each time I looked at Mike, he was just in awe.

During the intermission I was dismayed when I realized I had lost my concert ticket! While this would have posed an extreme problem if I left the floor (!!!), I would more disappointed when I realized I had lost a memento (we all know I like to keep my concert souvenirs!). Turns out that my new jacket has a hole in the inside pocket which I had not noticed. I walked back and found it next to the boards along the ice. NICE! The fates were aligned.

We got back to our seats for the most amazing 45 minutes ever. The entire Dark Side of the Moon played in one shot. BEAUTIFUL! The backup singers were amazing on the songs as well as everyone else. If you closed your eyes you would have sworn you heard the album playing. But you had to keep your eyes open for the amazing visuals. They even had a giant prism above our heads which had a rainbow lazer show coming out from one side and the focussed beam on the other. I think we would have had a better view of it if we were in the stands, but in no way am I complaining about being in the ninth row!

The crowd tore the place down during the encore break and they treated us to the classic Floyd tunes we all love including Another Brick In The Wall and the mind-blowing Comforably Numb. Egads!

All in all, it was money well spent. It was amazing to see Roger Waters strutting around the stage having a grand old time. He still has quite the voice in him and I have a feeling we’ll be seeing him around for the next decade (when Pink Floyd reunite!)

Set One

In the Flesh
Mother
Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun
Shine On You Crazy Diamond (Parts II – V) (abridged)
Have a Cigar
Wish You Were Here
Southampton Dock
The Fletcher Memorial Home
Perfect Sense, Parts 1 and 2
Leaving Beirut
Sheep

Set Two, (The Dark Side of the Moon)

Speak to Me
Breathe
On the Run
Time
Breathe (Reprise)
The Great Gig in the Sky
Money
Us and Them
Any Colour You Like
Brain Damage
Eclipse

Encore

The Happiest Days of Our Lives
Another Brick in the Wall, Part II
Vera
Bring the Boys Back Home
Comfortably Numb

Wow, I am really slow on playing catchup. I think it’s because I want these entries to be of a high caliber and catch the emotions, the fun times and the sheer insanity that can only be recreated in one of those cool machines from the movie Strange Days. You know, the ones where you can relive your old videotapes like YOU WERE ACTUALLY THERE. If you have not seen this movie, go nab it. I love it. Post-apocalyptic future and all of that jazz.

Sunday we awoke to clear heads all around and after hauling Philipp out of bed to get a bite to eat, we found a diner on the corner. I made the mistake of ordering the smoked meat sandwich with the free soup. Let me tell you, if you know there is a plate of fries and a sandwich coming your way anyhow, the soup is a little too much. That being said, I had to leave the entire plate of fries as the sandwich was the size of my head! Everyone was impressed at the sheer size of this monstrosity which I gazed at wondering if I could attempt such a feat. Heck, I was hitting the road home soon, so why not?

On our way back we said our goodbyes to Philipp and then popped into a geek store which had statues and action figures of your favourite comic book and movie heroes. Very cool, but very expensive. They even had a replica of the Terminator series robots for $9,000. That’s a pretty penny to spend, but it was life size!

Mike and I cruised home in the late afternoon…it was a beautiful drive through the countryside and it rejuvenated me after a hard weekend of late nights. I think I’m going to start taking alternate routes to places so I can admire the scenery.

I headed over to Vero’s place where she was unfortunately not there. She still doesn’t have a phone at her place so it’s a gamble whenever I head over there. Along the way, I picked up some form of tree at the Garden Center as a housewarming gift which I named Jacque Letrie. I left it on her porch and headed home. A few hours later she called from the mall and I headed back to see her and she had a good laugh when she saw Jacques sitting alone on the front porch! After hanging out in her pad for awhile (which hasn’t been organized yet due to the painters being late to paint the place (15 days late! Inexcusable!)) I then headed to the National Arts Center with tickets in hand to see the legendary B.B. King.

I arrived and checked out the merchandise booth which had some amazing deals! I especially like the limited edition lithograph of a painting of B.B. for $25. I passed on that purchase and picked up a sweet vintage tour poster for $10. When I say vintage, it had a vintage style to it but still listed the tour dates of the current tour. Very cool. Haven’t seen a $10 tour poster in a long time. Something tells me that the King of Blues doesn’t overcharge for merchandise like we see a lot of other bands do.

Benoit, Cinthia, Trish and Melissa found me and after waiting for Mike for awhile, we figured we should head into the auditorium as the show was starting in 5 minutes. Upon entering I told Trish how I really had to go to the washroom but she suggested I wait for the intermission or be locked out for the first half!

We found Mike already in his seat and we took our seats in the second row of the balcony area. While far away from the stage, I don’t know if I would like to have spent much more money to sit closer (they were expensive seats to begin with). The promoter of the show came out to tell us that we sold out the fastest on the entire tour and everyone was excited for the night! The backing band came out and did their thing for 15 minutes and then the King of Blues himself comes strutting out in a gold jacket! We gave him a standing ovation before he even got to his seat and you could see he was enjoying the attention.

At 81 years old, this man still has fun. I would say in the 2 hour concert, half of that time was spent telling us stories of his youth, or how ‘young’ his band members were (young being 60+ in age!) and how the world works in the eyes of the King.

Here’s some examples of some funny stories (for my memory bank of a blog) (all paraphrased of course!)
B.B. King: Now, this next song sometimes gets the men in trouble. I want the men to sing the chorus ‘(ain’t it) Just Like a Woman.’ Now sometimes I’ve had men come to me and say they had a great time at the concert but after singing that chorus, their lady friend just wasn’t impressed with them! Then you go home after a good night out with a lady and she don’t make no supper. I’m not talking about the food either. 😉

B.B. King: Now, years ago, a man could go out and gamble a little and bring home $10 – $15 to his lady and she would accept it without a question and give you a kiss and say “Thank you B.B.”. Nowadays, you bring home $200-$300 and the first thing she says is “Where were you all night long B.B.? How do you have all that money? Were you GAMBLING? Unbelievable!” but then they take it anyway and there’s no kiss for B.B.

He also talked about how it was Mother’s Day and how we should all love our mothers, but also love the men who will eventually make the women in the room mothers. I would like to say that B.B. King put a special shout out to my own mother, but that never happened even though I passed him a lot of cash to do so. (Really Mom, I did!). At this moment I’d like to wish Mom a Happy Mother’s Day 5 days after the fact. I live by the credo ‘better late than never’. I would also like to point out that when I ordered flowers on the Monday morning, the lady at the flower shop said to me “Now, I was going to put away the Mother’s Day decorations this morning but I KNEW there would be someone like you giving me a call today!”

In the last 30 minutes there was less talk and a lot more jamming. This is the high point of the night for me. To see the King of Blues in action. He was having a great time that night. I don’t know how long his concerts usually go for but I had a feeling that he was only scheduled for 90 minutes but he ended up playing for 2 hours. He was very reluctant to be leaving the stage. He thrives on his audience (which was an excellent audience by the way…very respectful). At the end of the night, he stood up (with the help of friends) and threw out guitar picks and what appeared to be gold chains of sorts. I mentioned how it was ‘Bling from the King!’.

Let’s not forget that they were in the middle of When Love Came to Town and no one shouted out the chorus line so he stopped the entire band and gave us a lecture of how unbelievable it was not to know this song as U2 wrote it and how they are just as famous as B.B. Something tells me this is part of the humour in the show and they just play off of it as they did this a few times in the night.

The concert brought revelations of how blues in the past (if not the present which I don’t know about) was played and there was a lot of interaction and storytelling involved. It also makes me realize that I have to start checking out local artists and not the big names in town all the time. Sure, they are great because of who they are, but I’m sure there are a ton of local artists out there (here’s a shout out to my fave band from Ottawa – For The Mathematics who coincidentally have an interview posted at Chartattack.com today!).

Too bad that there was no intermission as my bladder exploded and had to be put back together again.

If anyone can afford to and has the opportunity to go see B.B. King in concert, do it. He is amazing. Everyone had a great time and it wasn’t your average concert.

Waking up to a head full of cobwebs is not the best way to start your Saturday in Montreal! We were all feeling a little rough (except for Philipp who probably had the help of the two schwarmas before heading to bed) so we took our sweet time getting ready to hit the road.

We ended up at Schwartz’s for a smoked meat sandwich which amazed me as there was no lineup and there was a table available for us! I was ecstatic! It was a good sandwich and I love the pickle I had to order on the side. Philipp was not impressed with his frankfurter as it was a weiner.

Carrie, Mike and I walked around downtown for awhile, hitting up Simons along the way where I got two pairs of jeans. Can’t go wrong. I dig Simons. It’s a trendy store and I always find good deals there. We then headed for Old Montreal where at the point in the day after three hours of walking we all decided it was time to get to a pub and have a beer. We ended up in my favourite watering hole down in Old Montreal called Les Deux Pirouettes and had some soup and beer. We were also next to the water which was nice. I would like to go at night one day as I have been told that there are a few live bands during the night.

After heading home and having a glorious pasta dish by Philipp, Carrie showed me FaceBook which is a pretty neat piece of web-ware. Mike and I then headed out to the Arcade Fire concert at the Maurice Richard Arena.

After hopping off the subway we entered this massive lineup which I quickly found out was the lineup for people who had to pick up their tix. Lucky for us, I got them mailed to us and we skipped the line. My excitement was building as I had only seen the band open for U2 in 2005 so I was interested in seeing their entire show.

Unfortunately we hit a snag. Mike showed the ticket person our tickets and she told us they weren’t floor tickets! I was dumbfounded as we walked up the stairs to the arena sitting section as we were holding general admission tickets. How is this possible? How could general admission not be the floor section?

Our answer appeared before us as the entire arena was a free-for-all. That’s right…finding two seats together was like finding a needle in a haystack. It was awful. I was really discouraged. We finally found a couple of seats near the back of the arena. On the positive side, it wasn’t a huge arena like the ScotiaBank Place or the Bell Centre…it was a local hockey rink so in the grand scheme of things, we weren’t too far away from the stage. But it was a pain when one of us had to stay with our seats at all times. Plus, they hard seats. I had to manage carrying four beer back to our seat which wasn’t accomplished without spilling a few drops on myself.

St-Vincent opened the show…it is fronted by Annie Clark who is also a member of The Polyphonic Spree and Sufjan Steven‘s touring band (info taken from their myspace site). While I was super impressed with her guitar playing, the arrangements of the songs were erratic and could have flowed better. All in all, I give her and then band a thumb up performance.

After checking out the merchandise booth and scoffing at the $30 tour poster which listed all the Canadian dates (I would only buy a $30 poster if it would just list the Montreal dates I think) I returned to the seats and waited for the lights to fall.  (Edit: In the year 2021 when I re-read this post I had a good laugh because I just bought this poster from Ebay for $100 thinking “I wonder why I never bought that poster in the first place?  Now I know!  I was frugal.)

The concert started with five small round video screens showing us a woman going on a biblical tirade which fit into the whole Neon Bible theme of the album. The band (with ten members!) appeared on stage and got into Black Mirror which is a decent tune off of the new album. The crowd on the floor was pretty intense whereas the stands were pretty lackluster. No standing up whatsoever. Seeing that my state of mind was “I NEED SLEEP!!!” I didn’t bother standing up at all either.

The sound was pretty muddy throughout the arena and Mike commented that it wasn’t loud enough. This got me wondering if this is always the case when sitting so far away from the stage as it was the same when seeing The Who in Ottawa.

I was super impressed with the set list as they pretty well played most of both the Funeral and Neon Bible albums. This is a rarity on this tour as they tend to focus more on their new album. I also read that a few tunes made their first appearance on the tour at this show so we were in for a treat! I actually got a bootleg of the concert already so I am excited to take a listen to it.

While the two percussionists weren’t as wild as the first time around in Ottawa (with ski-doo helmets and drumsticks) the entire band was full of energy – always moving around the stage and rocking out hard.

We ended up standing up near the end once Power Out and Rebellion started playing. At this point, the night took the most amazing turn. The concert had ended and the crowd just cried for more as well as singing the last refrain of Rebellion until they came back out. I was amazed that it kept up but the Arcade Fire know how to create some memorable chants in their music catalogue. They ended with My Body Is A Cage and Keep the Car Running. They then left the stage again but were called back once more because the crowd demanded it (at this point I congratulate the Montreal crowd in giving them a warm welcome home. You could feel the magic in the air at this moment in the night!) and they ended with their anthematic tune Wake Up.

All in all, I give the show two thumbs up and would probably add a third thumb if we were on the floor and if they played Black Wave. 😉 But really, these are minor points and I’m glad that we experienced this grand event.

After the concert we hopped onto the subway which was hell as I messed up and when transferring we went the wrong direction! We then had to wait awhile in the muggy, humid, stinky subway station until we finally caught one back to Philipp’s place. After having a few drinks, Carrie managed to get us in the party spirit (it was 2 in the morning!) and we headed down the street to this amazing bar where the band was unfortunately done playing but they had these great tunes from the 50s-60s playing so Carrie and I danced the rest of the night away. I also spoke to the drummer of the band who thought B.B. King had passed away last year and was in awe that I was seeing him the next night in Ottawa. We also had a good laugh looking at the drunkest man alive – you know the guy – the one who at the end of the night is struggling to finish his last beer but can’t just put it down as he had paid good money for it. But then he stumbles out of there.

We also had another Quebec treat on the way home – a nice poutine from Rapido. Mmm boy it was great!

Setlist:

• Black Mirror
• No Cars Go
• Haiti
• Neighborhood #2 (Laika)
• In The Backseat
• Une Année Sans Lumière
• The Well and The Lighthouse
• Intervention
• Ocean of Noise
• Neighbourhood #1 (Tunnels)
• (Antichrist Television Blues)
• Neighbourhood #3 (Power Out) ->Rebellion (Lies)

Encore: My Body Is A Cage, Keep The Car Running, Wake Up

Last night was starting off well. Got home from work and cooked a little supper before heading out for the concert. Mike and I were getting pumped up for the weekend.

We then separated ways as he went to pick up Krista and I dropped my car off at the Mazda service depot for some servicing. I perused the used cars while waiting for Mike and Krista. My car is being sold for $15K. Not too shabby right about now. Actually, that is pretty slick considering I only have under $10K to pay off mine. Does that mean I could sell mine for $15K and pocket an extra $5K? Mike pointed out the money I’ve spent over the years may be up to the $5K difference. It would be interesting to calculate it out.

While driving down to the concert, Mike cuts through a yellow light which he should or should not have done, but no worries. But then a cop throws his cherries on behind us and Mike is freaking out.

Then when he pulls over, the cop blows by him. Success! He wasn’t after us! At this point I recall my story on how I thought I got pulled over in Quebec in a speed trap but it wasn’t the case so I spent a whole pile of cash in Montreal considering it was now considered bonus money. You know the sort…you don’t have to use it to pay a ticket, so it’s yours to splurge!

Later on in the trip…

Me: “Do you guys smell something?
Mike & Krista: “No, what?”
Me: “I don’t know…something burning?”

When we come to an intersection I notice wisps of smoke coming from the passenger side of the truck.

We start moving again…

Me: “Mike, I don’t know but I think your truck is smoking.”
Mike: “What? Really? What’s going on?”

So I manage to hang myself out the window to peruse but no smoke is to be found. Mind you, we are traveling at this point. As soon as we pull up to another intersection a cloud of smoke envelops the truck as we realize it is definitely coming from our vehicle. At this point, let’s point out that a fire truck was passing by and kind of looked at us and we wondered if they would have to hose the vehicle down.

I get out to quickly check it (as we are in traffic) and realize it’s the brake that is smoking. We pull over in a safe spot and sure enough, the brake is seized. As if! So we’re standing there and a random jogger drops by and asks if she can help. Considering I didn’t see a cellular phone on her, I really don’t know what she could have done to help, but it was nice of her to stop.

So we analyzed the situation and realized that we have no tools in the truck and even if we did, there’s not much we could do. There was fear of the tire exploding as the rim was super-hot from the friction being caused. We then hightailed it to Canadian Tire and they said they would take a look at it that night and give us a call in the morning.

With that, we looked at our options and realized that we would call a cab and enjoy the rest of the night! We had a great cabbie on our trip out to the concert. Not too talkative. Just the way I like ’em. We arrive and we can hear the final notes of ‘Welcome to the Black Parade’. No worries…we’ve missed about half of ‘The Black Parade’ album as the concert started at 8PM instead of the usual 9PM. Remind me to write a letter to the venue…

We head down to the floor with a beer amidst a sea of teenagers. This is a decent thing as they are all short. We had a great view of the stage. The stage was amazing. I had heard rave reviews about The Black Parade tour as it was more of a theatrical spectacle than anything. Very much in the vein of The Wall or Ziggy Stardust. Dressed in marching band uniforms they performed in character while playing the entire album. The lighting, the visuals, the sound…all was amazing! I would definitely recommend anyone to go see the show if they have a chance. It’s a grand spectacle.

Highlights of the Concert:

• The flames shooting out for a solid minute during the song Mama where they sing about going to Hell.
• The thousands of screaming teenagers. I do enjoy that they are an enthusiastic crowd!
• I enjoyed how the ended The Black Parade set but then came back out of performance outfits and ripped into their older hits. Very nice segueway. Although I was disappointed at how they are covering AC/DC’s For Those About To Rock but they ended it when it was getting good!
• There was an amazing, amazing dancer in front of us at one point. I could not believe my eyes. She was doing a cross between the two-step and the hokey pokey. It was a beautiful. It was definitely worth the price of admission alone. She was flailing around so much that she got Mike right in the stomach! She was also wearing a fanny pack. Beautiful.

All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed The Black Parade set, but I must admit that the other half of the concert reminded me of the last time we saw them and I wasn’t overly impressed. The singer has a very hard time of hitting the vocal high notes as on the album. Perhaps it was due to it being at the end of the concert, but still. Kind of disappointing. But the first half was stellar.

After the concert we hightail it outside to discover there are no buses! We assumed they were coming later as the concerts are usually done at 11PM but this one finished at 9:30PM. We then scoured the area for a cab and lo and behold, our same cabbie was there! Excellent! We reveled in this occurrence and got dropped off at the closest bus station so we wouldn’t be paying $60 to get a cab into downtown.

We then headed to Krista’s to watch some Grey’s Anatomy. We also picked up an amazing panzerotti from the Pavorazzi Pizza joint. I’ve never been there before but the panzo was pretty darn good.

Krista gets extra kudos as she not only helped me get some work done at work so we could leave at a decent hour, but she also drove Mike and I home as we were vehicle-less.

Wait, where does the canola oil come into the story?! Well, it turns out that a few weeks back Mike did some repairs on his brakes himself and didn’t have any grease in the house so he used canola oil (aka cooking oil) to grease the parts. I had a good laugh when hearing this and I tormented him with this fact all night as I believed the canola oil to be the culprint the brakes seizing.

This was not the case as we found out this morning after calling Canadian Tire. Alas, they just seized and messed up the other front brake and the ordeal will cost $700. Ouch. But will that destroy Mike’s wild weekend in Montreal?

Mike: “No man, let’s give’r.”

That’s my man!

Thankfully my last Media Ethics class wasn’t too long at all (although I was getting worried when they were going off on a tangent about the Internet as a public space. Yikes!) and I breezed out of the class around 8:30. PLENTY of time to get to the Civic Center for the show. I managed to score 27/30 on my last mid-term also. I love that class. Although, I think the exam may be killer. I must study a lot for that one.

Get to the Civic Center and they don’t even ask me for a student ID. I figured as much. It’s a free concert, what do the guards care?

Walked down to the floor (which took me awhile as I walked towards the exit accidentally, not the entrance) and settled in to catch the end of the Dears set. I don’t know the Dears but I have heard good things. Feedback was good at the end so I figured I would check them out some other time.

Lo and behold I find Vero’s friends in the crowd which was a welcome surprise as I wasn’t with anyone at the concert. Chantal and Pascal and I had a great time waiting for Sam Roberts to hit the stage and when he did, the excitement was in the air. There was also a lot of marijuana. Leave it to a gathering of Ottawa U and Carleton U students for the Pandamonium event (I’m assuming this is a play on the fabled Panda Games of yesteryear) to make us have to sit in an arena full of smoke. I would like to jump ahead in the story and note how Sam Roberts was having a laugh when he caught a whiff of the smoke while playing Hard Road and he was laughing when he hit the line “…there must be something in the air, in the air.”.

The band starts out with With a Bullet and it’s goodness all around. I haven’t seen these guys since Bluesfest last year so I am pumped. They are in full form. I can’t get a good view of the entire stage so I focus on Sam and Dave for the most part.

The setlist is rockin and they hit a valley of songs for a bit until they rev it back up.

Highlight of the night is definitely Mind Flood where I realize that I am listening in stereo. Am I insane? Have I never experienced stereo sound at a concert before? I must have. But the crazy effect that Dave had going on this guitar was amazing as it panned from left to right. The people around me where just taking it all in – knowing that a good jam would be coming along. Then out of nowhere Sam starts strumming some chords in amongst the sonic chaos. Beautiful. The song did not disappoint (as it never does). I remember listening to bootlegs of Paranoia and remembering how great of a jam it was but compared to this, it’s nothing.

The concert had all the goodness that the Sam Roberts Band can deliver. Clapping along to Brother Down, the crowd anthem likes of Where Have All The Good People Gone? – I always find myself jumping around when it builds up to the end part where they start singing “Come on! Come on! People come on!” I can never stop myself.

The tracks off of Chemical City are just as good. They had some good times during Bridge To Nowhere as someone’s bra was thrown and hit Sam right in the face! I unfortunately missed it as I was looking elsewhere but Chantal told me it was hilarious.

Highlight of the night (other than Mind Flood) was seeing Magic on My Mind live (I love the rockingness of the live version compared to the recorded one) and they debuted a new song! The song is listed on the setlist (thanks for the help in getting the setlist Chantal! I’m telling you, women ALWAYS have an easier time getting a setlist from the stage crew compared to a man.) as Fixed To Ruin. It was definitely a catchy tune and had us clapping from the beginning to the end. I don’t know how to describe it. Not a full out rocker but more of a Magic on My Mind/Beatles vibe to it. No doubt we’ll hear more of it as the summer approaches and more concerts appear.

My only wish is that someone made a recording of the concert. Ottawa is not well known for the taper scene (unless I am oblivious to it) so I’m satisfied in just filing this one away in my memory. I can’t express how much I enjoy a Sam Roberts Band concert. They know how to rock. That’s why I love them.

Setlist:

• With A Bullet
• The Resistance
• The Bootleg Saint
• Hard Road
• Taj Mahal
• Dead End
• Bridge To Nowhere
• Brother Down
• An American Draft Dodger in Thunder Bay
• Where Have All The Good People Gone?
• Uprising Down Under
• Mind Flood

• Magic on My Mind
• The Gate
• Fixed To Ruin

Boy, I’m behind in a lot of things I want to say, hence, this may become a shorter than usual review.

Vero, Mike and I hit up the Civic Centre this Monday for some concert action. After taking forever to find the way to the floor (jump the boards!), we settled in near the soundbooth because we had a beer in hand so didn’t want to get jostled around too much.

Mobile was awesome. I find they remind me of U2. The lead guitarist’s amp blew up halfway through so there were a few songs without lead while they fixed the situation. I’ve just realized that Mobile is very lead guitar riff heavy in that there was a LOT missing from the song when just the rhythm was being played. Shout out to the band for singing “She Loves You, Yeah Yeah Yeah” at the end. Singer even got into the crowd for the last song.

While waiting in line for a beer, Mike decided to go check for other beer aisles and when I get to the counter he isn’t there and they only serve one beer per person (which is insanely lame). I scour the area for Mike, but alas, he isn’t there, so I have to leave with one beer only. I then find him and we go back into another line. He was chatting with a slew of people he met along the way that he knew. While in line at the next stand, Mike kept having some people tap him on the shoulder to move out of the way because there were a troop of people walking through. Then the guy in front of us says “Hey, it’s Mobile!”. Sure enough, there’s Mobile passing us to go to the merchandise booth and Mike realizes that the band were the ones pushing him out of the way. “Dude, Mobile touched my shoulder!” he cries in schoolgirl glee. I know he won’t admit it here, but I saw him carefully hang up his shirt on his bedroom wall that night.

Theory of a Deadman were in top shape as always. This is the third time we’ve seen them on this tour so they are winding down at this point. Comments on their performance:

• Whoa, what’s up with the faux-hawk and black nail polish Tyler?
• Tyler was messing up two songs MAJORLY. Even the band were looking around saying “What the heck?”
• Props to a little cover of STP’s Sex Type Thing. Matt, I thought of you at that moment.
• I enjoyed their battle of the sexes. Clearly there were more women in the room.

They played a few oldies that I hadn’t heard on the current tour such as Last Song (which, incidentally they said used to be called Theory of a Deadman but then they decided to take that as their band’s name. Cool!)

Then Three Days Grace came on with this giant video screen behind them. I wasn’t overly impressed with the vid screen actually. Very lame. I’ve seen better. But the show they put on was intense. I believe the majority of the crowd was there to see this band (judging from the t-shirts). I enjoy their new album and I enjoyed it in a live element. There were a few songs that didn’t have a great live feel, but I dug on the album, but that’s what you get sometimes. I can see how some songs must have been written for the stage. Adam Gonthier pulled out a solo acoustic cover of Chris Isaak’s Wicked Game. He couldn’t really pull off the high notes so he let out the screamo version. His voice was getting pretty shot near the end of the show unfortunately. Can I also mention that they covered Hey Man, Nice Shot by Filter?! That’s amazing! There were cover tunes all over the place tonight! I find it interesting to see old school alternative being covered and wonder if the new age of kids (the teens) even know what’s being played?

Very impressed with the show. Too bad it’s probably the last one we’ll see for awhile in Ottawa. Nothing much else on the radar.

Random meetup afterwards happened when we stumbled upon Krista at McDonalds after the show. She, too was at the show but I never managed to locate her as she was sitting in the stands.

After the Trews concert, I wanted to check out one of my fave local bands – For the Mathematics.

Math rock baby. At its finest. Trish joined the crew to head over to Barrymore’s (which was Krista’s first time!) and we found out the set had just started. Excellent!

Picking up a beer, peering at the stage, I was impressed with the new songs and the old. However, one thing in the night really bothered me.

There were no CDs available at the CD Release party!

Man, that has to be a blow to the band. I felt bad for them. I would be livid. I don’t know who is responsible for that royal screwup, but whatever.

All in all, they put on a decent show, but I remember seeing them at Café Decuf a few years back and their show was more intense. It could have been the fact that we were all crammed into a small room together.

Pick up their new album ‘We Impend’ if you can find it around the area! For math rock fans only.

Setlist:
Every Inambition
Fleeting Trust
Hollis And Morris
Hopeless
When You Leave
You’re So Sober
Tired of Waiting
Makin’ Sunshine
Sweetness
I Can’t Say
So Shes Leaving
Yearning
Poor Ol Broken Hearted Me
Montebello Park
Travelling Kind
Travelling Down The Dark Highway (New Song)
Ishmael And Maggie
Not Ready To Go
Sympathy For The Devil Here’s another rip-roaring review of some rock n’ roll. However, this set was different. It was UNPLUGGED baby. Yes, that’s right. How the oldtimers did it, with a stompin’ boot and an acoustic guitar.

Krista, Mike and I headed over to ‘Mike’s Place’, a pub inside Carleton U for a few beers and when Joe showed up, we changed the night into a euchre match. Although Joe and I lost the first game, we upped the stakes, and I’m proud to say I was the owner of two free beers after 30 minutes of playing. Thanks Mike and Krista. You are great sports!

Now, the last time I was at a concert at Carleton U, it was at Porter Hall across from a Muslim Prayer room (sorry about the rock concert gents!). This was time it was in some room called Alumni Theatre. Envisioning some grandiose hall where we would get a great view of the stage, I was dismayed when Krista told me that this was one of her old classrooms.

A classroom you say? Say it ain’t so!

Sure enough, turned out to be an auditorium style classroom, which, in of itself is not a bad thing because even in the back row, you’re getting a good listen and a good view. We pulled up to the left of the stage, found us some seats and settled in for the ride.

The Trews came out in fine fashion and I felt like I was in someone’s kitchen with them banging away on their instruments. Very intimate. This is the stuff I live for. Sure, I dig the rock n roll, but I also dig the acoustic stuff also.

There was this older dude sitting in front of us who was having the time of his life which was awesome. You see, in a classroom setting, what are people used to? Sitting down! So most of the time, the crowd was sitting back enjoying the show (which is fine in this setting I have determined). But this guy wouldn’t have it. He was egging the crowd on and dancing up a storm. His wild antics convinced me to stand up and enjoy the show. Luckily I was near the wall so I wasn’t blocking anyone’s view if I hung around the wall area. My ONLY beef with this guy is that he would yell out randomness during a quiet part of the show and I was thinking it may be recorded so it irked me to think of always hearing this guy yell something like “It’s only rock n roll baby!”. I quickly got over this and realized “Hey, this is a rock show! Let the guy be!”

Got to hear Travelling Kind which is a fave of mine, and we can’t forget the great drinking song o’ Ishamel and Maggie. Sympathy for the Devil at the end of the set was also a crowd pleaser.

Excellent, EXCELLENT time at the concert and Mike managed to snap quite a few good pics with his new camera.

Mike, Joe, Trish and I went out to the Scotiabank Place last night to check out the greatest of all guitar players left on this Earth – Eric Clapton. Traffic was hell going there and back (curse you construction after midnight!) but otherwise, we managed to get there in time for a beer before going in to find Joe. I definitely didn’t want to be late this time considering I have heard through the grapevine that “I am always late.”. Hey, I don’t really care if I’m late once in awhile, but to be deemed ‘always late’…that’s just a low blow! 😉

After perusing the merchandise table and reminiscing the days of $20 t-shirts, we headed down to the floor to check out Robert Cray. This guy was great! I had never heard of him before and he put on a solid blues performance. I shall definitely pick up one of his albums. Trish and Joe said they had a few of his tunes and they dug him.

After a 30 minute set, we meandered around the complex and ended up back in our seats just as the house lights went down. Beauty timing on our part, eh? The touring band seemed like an army coming on stage. There were two guitarists besides Eric, a bass guitarist, two keyboardists, the drummer (who seemed gargantuan compared to this mini-me sized drumkit), and two backup vocalists/percussion shakers. What a crew!

They came out a-rocking. Very minimal stage setup – two vid screens for the closeups of some guitar solos. I must admit that I refrain from watching these screens as I feel that I paid good money to see the concert, not watch a screen that could be in my living room. However, it’s very tempting to watch them as you can see the amazing fingerwork over the fretboard!

They stuck to the classic tunes which was great for me – I enjoy the older Clapton; the newer, mellower stuff – not so much. It’s still good, but leave that for an intimate club setting, not a stadium tour! They had a three song accoustic session in the middle of the set which was excellent. Robert Cray came out for Old Love which was all around goodness. Everytime we looked at Mike, he looked like he had tunnel vision on the stage and stood there with his mouth open in awe. It was a truly awe-inspiring experience! Actually, I just read on Wikipedia that Robert co-wrote the song with Eric. Neato.

The set ended with some Layla, Cocaine and an encore of Crossroads with Robert Cray up on stage again. Four lead guitarists on a stage! Brilliant! My fave part of the show was what Trish deemed ‘the guitar-offs’ where one guitarist would go into 5 minute solo, then the other, and then Eric would nod to them with some telepathic message saying “Oh yeah? Watch and learn boys.” and then he rips into a solo only Clapton could pull off. Even the pianists had their time for extended solos. I think the last 30 minutes of the night were entirely solos. AWESOME.

All in all, two thumbs up for the performance. Boy, I hope someone bootlegged the concert.

And now, an open letter to the people sitting on the floor at the Eric Clapton concert:

The floor area is for one thing: to show the band how much you are appreciating the show. Also, to rock. The band don’t usually look up in the bowls of an arena to see the fans reaction. They can probably only see 20 feet in front of them.

Being in the 29th row last night, I was dismayed to see that everyone sat down for the concert. Blasphemy! This is Eric Clapton here!

I proceeded to stand up when Eric Clapton took the stage along with my cohorts in crime. A gentleman came to me and indicated to me that because I was standing up, some people could not see the stage. I shrugged my shoulders and he left but then I flashbacked to the time this guy was holding up an acoustic guitar at Bluesfest during Sam Roberts and we couldn’t see. Also, when we were at Tulip Festival and someone’s umbrella was blocking the way. Taking this to heart, I said “Let’s just stand in the aisle guys so we can allow everyone to be happy.” because there was no way I was sitting down at an Eric Clapton concert which I paid $130 to go see. The security detail kindly asked us to return to our seats and said that we are allowed to stand up if we want to at our seats and we should! When we returned to our seats, the gentleman who had come to me earlier went to the security guard and asked if we could sit down but she said that we have every right to stand up in our assigned area for the remainder of the concert.

So there we were…4 people out of 20 that I saw stand up for the entire show. Sure, they crowd all stood up for After Midnight, Layla, Cocaine and Crossroads, all appearing late in the set. In a sea of 1000s of people on the floor, it was pretty lame. Once again, the lame Ottawa crowds have risen from the dead and they stand predominantly in my mind. I will take Montreal over Ottawa any time, any place!

Do I feel bad for making people stand up to see the concert? A little. But the following options popped into my mind, some snarky, and some legitimate:

1) If someone wishes to ensure a great view of a concert, they should AUTOMATICALLY try and get concert bowl seats, and not the floor seats. They are structured so that even if someone in front of you is standing up, chances are, you’ll still see the show since the bowl is in the form of…a bowl. 😉 Floor area is a hit and miss. You may get a tall person in front of you, or you may not. He also may be a bastard and stand up all night and ruin your night which you paid $130 for. I just spoke with my colleague Kathleen who is a faithful concert goer and she agrees. She usually picks up bowl tickets because she is a little shorter so it’s her own problem if she gets floor seats and she can’t see well.

2) Perhaps the security detail could have been a little more lenient in their rules. Perhaps they should have allowed the four of us to stand in the aisle (which is…8 feet wide at least). That way, we would be happy, and everyone else would be happy.

In closing of my open letter, I suggest that every band take a little lesson from big bands who have general admission on the floor, such as Green Day and U2. With no seated area on the floor, you are free to move around wherever you wish to obtain the best view possible. There are no seats, but you automatically can judge for yourself when purchasing tickets if you feel like sitting or not, whereas when purchasing tickets to a seated floor, like I said – it’s a wild card.

Also, in further closing – live a little. It’s a rock concert. It’s Eric Clapton. Come on. The GOD of guitar. If you want to sit back and relax, go home and put on a compact disc, or even better, a little vinyl action.

PS – This post is dedicated to Mike from work who is against any man who wears a pink shirt. I just phoned him and he said he would STILL kick his ass for wearing a pink shirt, Clapton or not.

Setlist: I Can’t Explain, The Seeker, Anyway Anyhow Anywhere, Fragments, Who Are You, Behind Blue Eyes, Real Good Looking Boy, Sound Round, Pick Up The Peace, Endless Wire, We Got A Hit, They Made My Dream Come True, Mirror Door, Baba O’Riley, Eminence Front, Black Widow Eyes, You Better You Bet, My Generation, Won’t Get Fooled Again, Pinball Wizard, Amazing Journey, Sparks, See Me Feel Me, Tea And Theater

Hitting up the Scotiabank Place this time around was a lot easier then the time Joelle and I drove out to see U2. Leaving at 6:30 from Orleans is MUCH easier than at 4:30 from downtown.

Went inside and searched around for Joe who was actually outside. Hit up Marshies for a beer or two to wait for the opening band to end. Rumour on the street is that a beatboxer was the opening act. Bewildered we said no to that and waited it out. Then around 8:45 we split the crew up as Marc-Andre and Sam had seats down in the 100 Level whereas we had seats up in the 300 Level. Vero, Mike, Joe and I took our seats which were nice because we were right on the edge of the world (aka along the ramp) so we didn’t have anyone in front of us.

The stage was very minimalist, other than the gigantic screens that are the norm at any rock show these days. I find myself torn between watching the giant tv screens to see some closeup shots of the band, or to squint my eyes to see some figures on a stage dance around. I figure if I’m paying good money to see this band live, why would I just watch a screen all night long? That’s what a DVD is for.

Let’s back to the concert…first song started off and Pete and Roger were in fine form – windmill guitar and mics going all over the place. Very impressed. I don’t even think I could windmill my arm and hit my guitar strings so we all hail Pete Townshend.

I can’t comment too much on the actual songs as I have not been exposed to enough Who. I spent the summer listening to some tunes off and on, but I failed to download the actual hit singles, and just got their albums.

Here’s a history lesson for you young ones out there. Back in the day, hit singles appeared on a 45, not on the actual album, as singles do nowadays. This always throws me for a loop and I forget about it. So if you’re into an old band, it’s probably in your best interest to pick up a Greatest Hits album because their albums don’t really contain many hits.

So, all in all, the show rocked. It wasn’t bleeding ear rock as I had heard The Who is famous for (I also heard that they brought down the Great Garbage Wall in Springfield, but Mike thinks that was Spinal Tap.), but I enjoyed their tunes, along with their new tunes that they were trying out. Everyone had a great time and I give the show two thumbs up.

I take away half of thumb now for the lamest floor crowd in the world. I’m not pointing out anyone in particular but the OLDER generation who pays $265 per seat can’t rock out anymore. I think an ideal concert should be general admission on the floor, no seats, so then the rockers can rock out and create an atmosphere. Then you can start charging the crazy prices once you get into the seated areas. This would create a rock dynamic where the band can feed off of the frenzy standing right in front of them instead of squinting and realizing that the 300 Level was rocking more than those fogeys on the floor.