– Etienne, Mina, Chanelle and I went out to this show as part of our Magical Musical Mystery Event; an auction item we offer up from time to time at work. Its premise is this: Etienne, Mina and myself are going to a concert somewhere in the world. The highest bidder gets to come for the ride. Unfortunately Eliane had to bail at the last minute but we still had a great night.
– Chez Lucien may be home to a tasty burger but Saturday night was not the night to try one. We waited (knowingly) for a few hours to get something to eat. We missed the first few songs from Royal Canoe because of that!
– Royal Canoe were on fire from the minute we stepped in until the moment we left. The crowd loves these guys.
We ended up at the Highlander Pub to watch our friend Dana kill it on the fiddle.
Setlist (partial)
Somersault
Peep This
What’s Left in the River
Exodus of the Year
Bathtubs
Rayz
77-76
Living a Lie
Can my nose actually start bleeding from this far up?
Opening band: Randy Bachman
Thoughts of the show:
Trish and I went to this show with the thought of grabbing the 300 level since a) tickets were pricey and b) we aren’t the hugest fans of Skynyrd.
I don’t know if this was due to Skynyrd or not, but security was having a field day with busting people for smoking up. My favourite moment was a guy being escorted out of the washroom and him saying “Someone told me it was legal as long as I smoked in the bathroom man!”
While I don’t follow much Randy Bachman, I was blown away by their set as he played his greatest hits and I then realized that I know quite a few of his tunes from BTO and the Guess Who. They even had his son Tal Bachman play his 90s hit ‘She’s So High’!
We had a killer spot in the 300 level since there were so many empty seats. We just found a couple of seats that weren’t squished between other people.
Skynyrd did not disappoint. Let’s be honest, we all are there for Free Bird and they delivered. My face melted a little
Setlist
Workin’ for MCA
Skynyrd Nation
What’s Your Name
That Smell
You Got That Right
I Know a Little
The Needle and the Spoon
Saturday Night Special
The Ballad of Curtis Loew
Tuesday’s Gone
Don’t Ask Me No Questions
Simple Man
Gimme Three Steps
Call Me the Breeze [J.J. Cale]
Sweet Home Alabama
We brought Vero’s parents to see Damien Robitaille at the Shenkman Arts Centre. He always puts on a great show and is a very funny person. My favourite part of the night “So, I have a few slow tunes that I’m going to play for you and I’ll follow it up with a bunch of other faster tunes.” Then after he played a slow tune he says “So, I have a few faster tunes that I’m going to play for you and I’ll follow it up with a bunch of other slower tunes.” I always loved how much Vero was laughing at all his jokes.
Setlist
Signe de vie
On est né nu
Porc-épic
Mot de passe
Plein d’amour
Ta biographie
Univers Parallèles
Le fleuve
Astronaute
Casse-tête
Ennemi imaginaire
Ta maman m’amadoue
Tout feu tout flamme
Quelles sont les chances ?
Le touriste du temps
Mètres de mon être
S.O.S.
Homme autonome
Oasis
Francofun
Jésus nous a dit
I saw Matt Holubowski open up for Dan Mangan at Algonquin College. I had never heard about him but I quite enjoyed him. I feel he was channelling Bon Iver with his songs. When I walked in I had this wave of “I want to support whoever is on stage tonight” so I bought his CD before even seeing him on stage. While I waited for him I thought “That was quite silly. What if I hate this guy?” Turns out that my fears were unfounded.
Here’s the deal with Dan Mangan. I’ve always loved his live shows and his older albums but I have to say his last couple of albums were not hitting the mark for me. No matter, when you follow a songwriter through their career, there are bound to be a few times where you enjoy the ride with them when they try out different things.
Regardless of how I felt, it doesn’t matter. Seeing him and his band brings these new songs to life brings a new appreciation along with it. Dan Mangan concerts are always an intimate affair. I really enjoyed something he said (paraphrased) : “The best part of a show is when I trip on a guitar cable or my voice cracks in a song. That’s when the show becomes real.” Something to that effect but it’s completely true. As soon as something like that happens, there’s nothing to worry about during the show any longer and you just ride the wave.
At the end of the show they brought out the ‘Hammer’, a 360 degree camera to film us singing the last song. It would be neat to figure out how to save that video from Facebook.
Update! At the show Dan mentioned how if we messaged him on Facebook he would send us a recording of the show. I said “Why not? Let’s give this a try!” As you all know, I’m a sucker for live recordings.
After a few months of chatting with him I wake up one morning in May and find that he has sent a soundboard recording of the show to me! Dan, you and your band rock!
Setlist:
Lynchpin
Cold in the Summer
Can’t Not
Road Regrets
Pine for Cedars
Lay Low
Which Is It
Race to the Bottom
Just Fear
Hang With Me [Robyn] @Info[solo, twitter request]
Basket @Info[solo]
The Indie Queens Are Waiting @Info[Duet]
Fool for Waiting @Info[solo]
Troubled Mind
Mouthpiece
Peaks & Valleys
Sold
First off, can I just say that every time I go to the National Arts Center it’s a magical experience? It helped that they had recently renovated the building and it was really great to roam around for a half hour taking it all in. I don’t ever dismiss that I am within the capital of Canada and am a lucky individual.
Now, onto the music! Months ago Jean-Francois tipped me off on a presale code for Patrick Watson along with the NAC Orchestra coming into town. I jumped on the ticket and secretly purchased one right next to Jean-Francois and Marie-Claude but told them that the thing was sold out and I wasn’t able to get tickets. Heh heh heh. Circumstances arose and I did tip them off a few days before of my secret plan so the surprise was kind of lost, but it was great to see them there nonetheless!
I can’t recall ever seeing a band play with an orchestra before so I was in for a treat. Plus Patrick Watson’s music lends itself well to an orchestra compare to…let’s say…Metallica S&M? (great album by the way, but it’s not like a lot of their music was a good fit!)
We had some excellent seats up in the Mezannine level…dead center and two rows from the ledge. You couldn’t ask for a better view.
They opened with a piece that was written by a Canadian composer for the 2010 Winter Olympics. Then the band came out and started with Lighthouse. Now, if I would have just heard that and left the building, I would have been satisfied. It’s amazing what the power of a orchestra has over your soul and your ears. It’s quite forceful. Marie-Claude remarked that they had changed all the acoustics within the Southam Hall and the orchestra sounded better than ever.
Close your eyes to any piece of music that night and you would see visuals dancing through your head. Their music is very cinematic and couple with the orchestra makes it doubly so. There were great moments within the show like when the orchestra had some fun with early 40s/50s sound effects for animation like Looney Tunes. At one point they had balloons deflating and then you saw all the balloons flying around the stage! The crowd immediately ate that up and gave a great cheer.
While not an exact setlist match, if you are curious to what I witnessed, you can watch a Youtube video of a previous symphonic concert collaboration filmed in Toronto here.
The show lasted around 90 minutes and then the band came back for an encore without the orchestra. It was very gracious of them after an amazing night. Unfortunately for me, every time I see Patrick Watson I leave feeling inspired, yet frustrated that I do not yet have the abilities to mimic the amazing sonic landscapes that this band can accomplish. One day!
The NAC announced no pictures were to be taken. I snuck this one in as everyone was giving a standing ovation and it was the end of the set anyhow.
Setlist (not in order…can’t recall a lot of the order)
Lighthouse
Good Morning Mr. Wolf
Wooden Arms
Slip Into Your Skin
Melody Noir
Where the Wild Things Are
Adventures In Your Own Backyard (I’m pretty sure he made mention of it being about a hot tub in your backyard)
Into Giants
Traveling Salesman
Beijing
To Build a Home [The Cinematic Orchestra]
Encore:
Big Bird in a Small Cage (He had the audience sing along with him near the end)
“I came for Breaking Benjamin, I left being a fan of Avenged Sevenfold.”
Decent view of everything going on!
A few months back I see that Breaking Benjamin is coming to town along with Bullet for My Valentine and Avenged Sevenfold. I was a huge Breaking Benjamin fan ever since we saw them open up for Evanescence back in 2004. So it didn’t even matter who was touring with them this time around…I was going to see them again.
Tyler and his brother Ryan graced us with some burgers and beers for the show and along with Eric and Mike in tow, we headed out to the Canadian Tire Center for 6PM. Quite the early start but that’s what you get with three bands on the bill.
While I thought our seats would have been quite good, they put us directly perpendicular with the screen so there was no way we would have been able to see anything going on. Luckily, our section had tons of extra room so we just meandered to the other end of the row and sat down there with a decent view.
Ottawa isn’t generally known for being the best crowd I have ever witnessed but I have to admit that when you bring in bands that haven’t generally hit the area, the arena gets filled with rabid fans who have been waiting years to see their favourite band.
Case in point…the floor was PACKED for Bullet for My Valentine and the crowd was on fire. In fact, there were two distinct mosh pits going on for the entire night. It was quite awesome to behold. I believe Mike summed it up best (well, with my paraphrasing) by stating “I want to be on the floor and in all that energy, but my body is quite comfortable sitting here sipping on a beer.” I couldn’t agree more. It’s exciting to be in a crowd with all that energy…but you couldn’t even have alcohol on the floor which is a very lame new rule at the Canadian Tire Center. Is that happening all over Canada in other venues?
Bullet for My Valentine was awesome. They brought the energy up instantly and we were all amped up for the rest of the show. Mike is a huge fan and was happy with their set. I can’t say I know many tunes, nor do I know many tunes of Avenged Sevenfold. They were icing on the Breaking Benjamin cake.
After going to get another beer, Eric stumbled upon a fifty dollar bill! We feel bad for that kid who lost his Uber-ride home money, but hey, it ramped up our night!
Here’s where a confession has to come out. I really was excited to see Breaking Benjamin. They are in my top hard rock acts of all time list. But you know what? I came out of that show severely underwhelmed for the first half of their set and they managed to bring me back up a little with their rendition of the Imperial March and a few covers of Tool, Nirvana and Pantera. But…man, it kind of sucked. Musically, they sounded great! But there was no energy to their music and I swear if I ever see the frontman take the catwalk again, I will leave the room. Every chance he got, he was out there strutting his stuff, no guitar in hand. I also was quite peeved that between every song there was some weird atmospheric musical intermission. Dudes…you’re a band with 8 songs to play. Don’t have a minute long PA speaker song happening between songs. Keep the energy up and power through those things.
Well, that’s that. Eric and I were severely underwhelmed with what we saw. Not sure what to think anymore of that band…I think it’s a mix of 1) the logistics of their stage show 2) coming after Bullet for my Valentine who had so much more energy 3) maybe I’ve just grown out of their style of music 4) seriously dude, stop strutting on the catwalk so much! I honestly don’t know if I would even bother going to see them in concert if they stumbled back into Ottawa.
With that bad taste in our mouth, I had high hopes for Avenged Sevenfold, a band that Vero’s cousins introduced me to and at the time, I thought they were a band that blatantly stole riffs from Metallica, Megadeth, Iron Maiden. I gave them a chance and they had some good tunes but I hadn’t fallen in love with what they had to offer. I did start to enjoy their latest album The Stage which they were currently touring.
WELL.
If it didn’t end up being one of the better concerts I’ve seen in a long time!
Avenged Sevenfold blowing our minds.
Seriously, I am officially a huge fan now. The crowd took everything the band threw at them and threw it back at them. So many mosh pits, so many hands pumping in the air. It was an awesome show. I have been thinking that we are witnessing the end of an era of bands who can take control of an entire arena…Metallica, Guns N Roses, Bon Jovi…they are getting up their in age. There’s not many bands that can take an arena and transform it to an experience….well Avenged Sevenfold is one of them. Zacky Vengeance and Synyster Gates are insane on the guitar. I feel Gates is like Kirk Hammett on steroids. I also laughed at how he looks like a mannequin most of the time up on screen but I can understand why…he needs to focus so much on playing these face melting riffs!
The mark of a great band is that you don’t even have to know half their songs but you are still entertained by their show. Entertained we were. Eric said it best: “How have I not known about this band all these years?!”
Incredible night had by all.
Twenty years of rocking and still going strong. Strong being the 200 level with comfy seats.
Bullet for My Valentine setlist
Your Betrayal
No Way Out
The Last Fight
4 Words (To Choke Upon)
Worthless
Tears Don’t Fall
Waking the Demon
Don’t Need You
Breaking Benjamin Setlist
So Cold
Angels Fall
Sooner or Later
Blow Me Away
Never Again
Failure
Breath
The Imperial March / Schism / Smells Like Teen Spirit / Walk
Until the End
I Will Not Bow
Intro
The Diary of Jane
Avenged Sevenfold Setlist
The Stage
Afterlife
Hail to the King
Paradigm
Beast and the Harlot
Buried Alive
So Far Away
Nightmare
God Damn
Chapter Four
Exist @Info[abridged]
Higher
Wish You Were Here [Pink Floyd]
Bat Country
Welcome to the Family
A Little Piece of Heaven
Unholy Confessions
Set 1
Speak to Me
Breathe
One of These Days
Time
Breathe (Reprise)
The Great Gig in the Sky
Welcome to the Machine
Déjà Vu
The Last Refugee
Picture That
Wish You Were Here
The Happiest Days of Our Lives
Another Brick in the Wall Part 2
Another Brick in the Wall Part 3
Set 2
Dogs
Pigs (Three Different Ones)
Money
Us and Them
Smell the Roses
Brain Damage
Eclipse
If the crowd at U2 in Detroit ruined my concert going spirits, Arcade Fire brought them back from the brink!
Etienne, his Dad and I headed down to check out Arcade Fire on their Infinite Content tour. Disclaimer: Upon the first few listens of their new album Everything Now, I really didn’t care for it. But like most great albums that I don’t like at first, they creep into your psyche and become one of your favourites. Man, there are some catchy melodies there!
The show was severely lacking in terms of the size of crowd…we even heard some friends who were up in the 300 level were put down into the 100 level as an upgrade to make the place feel more packed. They closed off the entire 300 level. That’s a bummer. Arcade Fire on the Reflektor tour definitely brought a big crowd but maybe with the lacklustre appeal of the new album, lots of people bailed on seeing them.
Oh well, their loss. This was Arcade Fire at their best. They had a 360 degree boxing ring style stage and within that stage the center piece would rotate. Also, with this particular floor layout, it allowed me to go to any side to check out what I wanted to see. If I wanted to keep an eye on the lead guitarist, I could. Am I hearing a wild percussion piece going on? Let’s go check it out. I really love these types of stages because the viewer a better view.
Check out this stage setup!
The lighting rigs around the arena were insane and resulted in great effects like this.
Who doesn’t like a disco ball?
Drinks weren’t allowed on the floor and I’m not sure why, unless it was to entice us to dance. Dance we did!
Not sure why the audio crapped out for this video of Reflektor, but at least it gives you a visual of what was going on.
Win giving the crowd at the back some love.
I quite like how this photo turned out. It encapsulates a little of everything that was going on that night.
My favourite part of the night was when Etienne said “I think they will come out on the floor. I’m going to get my camera ready.” Meanwhile, Win does indeed come out on the floor directly behind Etienne. So while he is busy filming the stage, he completely misses the fact that he waltzes behind him. It was neat to see him sing a song within the crowd before tearing it up for the last couple of songs back on stage.
If you have the chance to catch the band on their Infinite Content tour, do it!
Labour Day weekend was upon us and it was time to hit the road! After hearing how amazing the Joshua Tree show in Toronto was in June, I decided to get some tickets to see U2 in Detroit as they had added a few additional tour dates. Was it foolish to not go to the Toronto show with Claude? Perhaps! But that foolishness was soon rectified as we hit the road for Detroit rock city!
Vero, Sierra and I hit the road to head to Ajax on Friday. We had traveled with Sierra the year before so we thought it was due time to return to see some family. We’re still trying to see how Sierra is as a traveler. She pretty much slept all the way to Kingston which was great and we decided to pick up some food and head to a park so she could get out and stretch her legs. I loved how we met this other family who told us that this park wasn’t exactly in the greatest part of Kingston and that they needed to sweep the area for needles before their kid could crawl around. Yikes! Good to know for next time!
But Dad, I don’t want to go back in the car for another couple of hours!
We arrived in Ajax early afternoon and hung out with the Palmer clan. It was good to see them all without guitar in tow as I find that while I thoroughly enjoy a night of music, I don’t get a lot of one-on-one time with everyone while doing that.
Troy and Connie picked up Sierra’s new favourite toys for the bathtub!
Sierra showing Wendy how to eat corn on the cob….raw!
I didn’t realize what bag I gave Nanny at the time to entertain Sierra!
Of course out of 20 takes of a photo of the three of us, I had to be the one who messed up the best take.
Nanny has her eye on you at all times!
Nanny and Sierra heading out for a stroll.
The next day we headed out to Barrie to see Mackenize, Carson, Ryan and Emilie. I hadn’t seen all of them for a few years and they have moved to a new house I wanted to check out.
Best friend forever and still having a great time even if it’s dealing with three kids in a tub.
Sierra checking out what school is all about.
Sierra discovered Madame Emilie’s box of ‘now it’s time to be quiet kids’
Having fun! It was great hanging out with these munchkins. They have a lot of energy and it made me realize I need to mentally prepare myself for kids who just want to horse around all the time!
Arriving in the big city!
The next day was the main event…U2 in Detroit! Claude and I decided to meet at the Yorkdale shopping center which was convenient for him coming off the 401 and convenient for me taking the GO Train from Barrie. It was the perfect road trip other than a bout of construction on the 401. But other than that, the four hour trip to Windsor flew by…mostly because we can chatter about every topic like a bunch of ladies knitting for hours on end.
We arrived in Windsor, threw our stuff into the hotel and got the bus over to Detroit. I find it interesting that you can’t walk over to Detroit considering it’s 2 km from our hotel. This proved to be quite horrible when we had to get the bus back and it took us nearly 2 hours in traffic after the show. Ridiculous!
Arriving at the Ford Field, we didn’t check out the downtown core because we didn’t want to miss Beck opening up for U2. It was pretty smooth sailing throughout the entire night…no lineups for beer, food, or getting down to the floor. I don’t think I’ve ever been in a US football stadium before and it’s quite amazing how it can fit upwards of 70,000 people. Most of the people are in the first level.
That second beer was a bad idea considering we knew we would be stuck on the floor all night with no hope of getting back to our spot. One time in Toronto Claude had to go to the bathroom and I didn’t see him for two hours as he just couldn’t get back to us.
We had a great spot on the floor for a view standpoint. I really like how Ford Field feels like you are in a warehouse.
The stage for the Joshua Tree tour is quite awesome considering that yellow thing you see in the photo is a screen!
Overall, I have to say that the concert was fantastic. I really enjoyed how they structured the setlist with a few older tunes, the entire Joshua Tree album and then tunes from later in their catalogue. It was incredible seeing some songs played live for the first time compared to others that I’ve seen 5-6 times. However, there is one gripe that really affected me during the show.
Man, the Detroit crowd kind of sucks.
Sure, I’m in the extreme for liking to rock out at a concert as my friends can attest, but when the people around you don’t even chant on Pride (In the Name of Love) you know there’s something wrong. I have this sneaking suspicion that we were sandwiched between what I like to call the hardcore fans…the ones that travel the country to catch every show. Well, the thing is, if you go see a band 20 times and they play virtually the same setlist every night, I don’t think you’re going to be excited. I felt like we were surrounded by these people. There was no excitement around us. As Claude put it “I think we were the only two people singing along and clapping.” Let’s just say the religious experience of hearing Streets and having the entire stadium shake beneath your feet did not happen and it left a bad taste in my mouth.
Days later I managed to gain a little perspective and realized that it was still probably the best U2 show I have ever seen.
We were just to the right of the small tree stage on the floor. I quite liked the stage design of the Joshua tree casting a shadow stage on the floor. Or is it the other way around?
Witness the most powerful stage experience I have ever witnessed….when the black screen sprung to life with this incredible red. It really hit me.
You know it’s going to get good when this happens!
Our spot on the floor gave us a really cool perspective as the screen would have films that would sway and it made it look like the band was moving across the stage while standing perfectly still. It’s hard to describe. I need to find a video to show you.
Always a moving experience when the entire crowd lights up their cellphones at a show.
Other than Patti Smith and absolutely destroying a song, there weren’t many hiccups for a band that was on vacation for a few months. We left the show immediately feeling upset from the lacklustre crowd and headed back to our hotel which took us 2 hours…then a ride home for 8 hours the next day….but in the end, I feel that it was the greatest U2 show I had witnessed but the best experience still is from the U2 360 tour as the show and the crowd merged into an amazing experience.
