Category: Concert Reviews

Last night Karilee was trying to find us and I texted back that we were at Twin Peaks.  Granted, I don’t think she got the text message until after the show, but I thought I would explain what our meeting area for the past two nights has been.

Essentially, the easiest way to find a spot in the crowd is use landmarks to guide your way.  For example, years ago in the Kapuskasing Arena, Mike and I would meet under a certain ceiling fan from the stage (let’s say the third ceiling fan from the stage).  So that way, you can look up and realize if you are off the mark or not.  With 30,000 people at an event, you can be trying to figure out where your friends are all the time simply by meandering around the crowd!

So in years past, we had an excellent system.  “Left speaker of the main stage, and then back by three trees (the trees were lined up all along the fairgrounds in equal distance)” but now we have a new stage layout.

In the end, I have deemed our meeting area the Twin Peaks.  It is “Left screen (or maybe speaker now…last night I was at the speaker and Vero was looking for me at the screen.  That’s a difference of 15 feet.  15 feet can mean a lot in a crowd of 30,000 people!) at the front, and to your right is the Twin Peaks; the spot between the merchandise tent and the beer tent.  I have included a diagram for those interested!

Showed up at Trish’s place with a 12-pack under my arm and spent some time on her front porch until she got home.  Then I met her neighbour who turns out to be a uber-Pearl Jam like myself (maybe more so!) so it was great to geek out with a fan of that caliber.

Vero, Trish and I then headed down to the fairgrounds.  The front gate seemed a little cramped as well as the North gate so we decided to try out the gate on the other side of the War Museum.  Perfect, perfect choice and it led us straight to the Hard Rock stage where there were approximately six people there waiting for Whale Tooth.  I picked up a few beers (which I haven’t even mentioned yet…Mill Street is once again at the event and I’m a happy camper.  Plus, they have a Ginger Beer which is pretty darn good.) and met up with Andre and Karilee who brought me to the front rail in front of the stage.  I think that may have been the first time I have ever been that close to the stage which was cool!  We were there to see Whale Tooth…a band from Toronto whose members share Andre as one of their friends.

Seriously, right when the first song started up, I knew I would love this band.  Energetic rhythm, kick-ass female lead vocals, some harmonies once in awhile, sharply dressed…this was indie rock at its best.  I love something that gets you moving and they got me moving.  My ultimate litmus test is whether or not Vero liked the band (she is quite harsh on bands sometimes!) and she loved them.  Mission accomplished!  They even nailed a cover of a Blondie tune whose name escapes me at the moment.  I believe they impressed everyone.  I couldn’t even buy their CD at the end of the night!  Sold out!  What the heck?!  This will definitely not be the last time I see this band and I highly encourage everyone to check out Whale Tooth if they have a chance.

I received a text message from Maren saying she was over at the Roots stage and it turns out that the cell towers were wonky again tonight (text messages not being sent, received, delayed, etc.) so she never got my text asking where she was until three hours later!  Doh!  Oh well.  I headed over there and listened to the Roots for awhile.  I am definitely not one with the hip-hop, but Dave had told me I would enjoy their live show.  They were energy on stage and I enjoyed what I heard, but I’m a solid rock and roll guy through and through.

Unfortunately for me, when I had run off to get a beer with Steve, I ended up returning to our ‘other’ spot which is closer to the main stage and not where my friends were waiting.  I had thought I had told them to meet me at the main stage but they were waiting for me for 30 minutes.  I felt pretty bad but that still is no excuse for Andre and Mike drinking the beer I left with Trish!  Bastards!  I was counting on that beer since I was buying another beer for birthday boy Mark!

Ben Harper and the Relentless7 took the stage and it was like I was at Bluesfest a year ago…last year I didn’t know much Ben Harper.  Since then, I picked up a few killer albums and enjoyed every moment of the night.  I can’t begin to describe how great this act is.  This is an excellent blues/folk act to follow.  I felt that Ben’s voice wasn’t up to par this night…I think he was struggling with the higher notes.  But that man can play some sweet, sweet slide guitar.

It was a good collection of songs.  A lot from their “White Lies for Dark Times” album and a few which must be from his new solo album.  The piece de resistance was ending the night with Zeppelin’s ‘No Quarter’ and CSNY ‘Ohio’.  Fantastic!

I can’t say I had too many complaints last night.  I am starting to enjoy the new stage layout.  I find I can stroll in and out of the crowd easily (and more easier than years past) which is a great thing.  I didn’t think it was possible but it looks like this may actually be a decent stage layout for Lebreton Flats.

I want to put a special shout out to Mark Monahan and crew for making some logistical adjustments on the fly (adding more gates, etc.).  Bluesfest is a hard beast to keep running and the crew makes the effort to make sure people are having a good time.

Now, where the heck can I get a Whale Tooth album?!

Setlist:

Faded
Number With No Name
Burn to Shine
Lay There & Hate Me
Diamonds On The Inside
Dirty Little Lover
Burn One Down
Walk Away
Don’t Give Up On Me Now
Ground On Down
Rock ‘n’ Roll Is Free
Fly One Time
No Quarter (Led Zeppelin cover)
Ohio (Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young cover)

This year introduced the element of the unknown in a different layout at Bluesfest.  Who knows if we would have a rocking good time on the first night out which is usually fraught with logistical issues?

Vero and I headed down to Bluesfest and ended up at the main gate in the lineup from Hell…I would say we would need to wait another 30 minutes before getting in.  Luckily Vero discovered a few other entry points that had opened up on the North side so we managed to get in without too much fuss (although it took a few minutes for their scanners to scan my ticket).

I’m going to speak of some logistical issues later, but I figure I should tell you a little bit about the bands.

The Flaming Lips are a band that I really don’t know all that well.  I know they’ve been around for quite some time and have quite the fan following as well as a solid live show.  The live show did not disappoint in terms of theatrics…Wayne coming out into the crowd in a giant bubble while confetti is thrown everywhere and girls dressed as Dorothy (Oz) dance on the sidelines.  I also thoroughly enjoyed the camera which was attached to the microphone which gave us an interesting view of the singer while he was speaking!  Overall, I thought their show was energetic, but I didn’t really click with the music and the logistics of Bluesfest were a little daunting to me.

As for Soundgarden, I’m going to have my friend Andre add his review as he is a uber-fan, but I will say this…excellent, excellent concert and it threw Bluesfest into overdrive on the first night.  The band is in top shape considering they haven’t been around for 14 years.  Chris Cornell can still wail and Matt Cameron is always one of my fave drummers.  I will leave Andre to speak about the rest.

Some logistics:

First up, the lineups were ridonculous when coming into the event around 6:45PM.  People have told us that there were two lineups in the front…one for ticket holders and one for those who have to pick up. We were still in the ticket holder lineup and it easily would have been 30 minutes if we didn’t move.
The lack of water stations is crap in my opinion especially after having some for the past few years. Water is a necessity, is it not?  I bet you’ll save a lot of people from heat exhaustion.  I have a feeling that Government funding for the festival was a big addition in the past few years (water stations, Byward Market concerts) but I am going to assume that funding (some or all?) was cut and that’s why we don’t get the perks. To have to seek out the sole water fountain on the premises was a large strike iour eyes. Even if I drink the beer!

I didn’t mind the sound bleed between stages but have heard it was mainly in the rear stages (Subway and Hard Rock). The only time I noticed it was when Soundgarden were between songs. It would be totally different if the sound bleed was DURING the set and affecting my viewing of it…I remember Rush overpowering the Swell Season. That was ridiculous. But in my personal opinion, the sound bleed did not affect me.

The layout…I’m undecided at this point…I was really upset with it when coming in for the first while but when Soundgarden started up I felt that I was still the same distance that I usually am in past years; at the ‘left speaker, third three from the stage’ AND I had a lot more room to maneuver AND it wasn’t that hard for me to hop out and get a drink. If I had the choice, I would choose the old layout, but for the time being, I need a few extra days of rocking to come to a decision. I know for a fact that Andre was quite smart in going to the right side of the stage for Soundgarden, whereas I was trying to figure out a spot that would be to be at each night. Not sure if I want to always sway from one extreme (left of Claridge) to the other (right of MBNA) each night.

So all in all, the first hour was crap but Soundgarden and my excellent spot and some beers made me get over alot of the growing pains.

Setlist:

Black Rain
Searching With My Good Eye Closed
Let Me Drown
Spoonman
Jesus Christ Pose
My Wave
The Day I Tried to Live
Blow Up the Outside World
Hunted Down
Ugly Truth
Fell on Black Days
Burden in My Hand
Black Hole Sun
Rusty Cage
Outshined
Beyond the Wheel
Encore:
Loud Love
Superunknown
Slaves & Bulldozers

Mike, Vero and I went to the Capital Music Hall to check out one of our favourite bands, The Trews pull out an acoustic show. I believe the last time I’ve seen them was also an acoustic show…I love the rock, but they deliver the acoustic just as well.

The Capital Music Hall is not a fan favourite of Mike and mine…it’s like herding sheep into a valley…but we managed to find a decent spot once we got through the fence of people.

Honestly, the first set lacked something. It was like they were going through the motions. Colin had the 1000-yard stare going on and while they were throwing out some amazing tunes (including the as-of-yet Power of Positive Drinking), there was no life.

This completely changed when they took the stage for their second set along with a few other musicians (including Tim Chiasson). The energy was electric and the band loosened up a little. THIS was the band I know and love! Can’t knock them too much considering the life of a wearied band of musicians is a life I don’t know about myself.

Highlights for me: Power of Positive Drinking, Highway of Heroes and Ishmael & Maggie (of course!).

If you’ve never seen The Trews, do yourself a favour. You will never be disappointed by this group.

Check out some photos from the show here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/paguma/sets/72157625301570133/with/5190726382/

Setlist (taken from their Facebook page)

Sing Your Heart Out
So She’s Leaving
Every Inambition
Den of Thieves
Paranoid Freak
Power of Positive drinking
Poor Ol’ Broken Hearted Me
Fleeting Trust
One by One
Tired

Set 2
When You leave
Yearning
Traveling Kind
Highway of Heroes
Luv is the real thing
Can’t stop Laughing
Man of Two Minds
Bad Luck Blues
Not ready to go (Mandy)
Ishmael & Magggie

Encore
You gotta let me in
Come on baby let’s go downtown
Served my time

The night started out at Chez Lucien which a bunch of us crowded into a small booth for what can arguably be the best burger in Ottawa. Seriously. The Works has nothing on this slice of heaven.

Afterwards, Mike, Mike S and his buddy..Steve (can’t remember his name now!) ended up in a Russian bar where we had the local delicacy…vodka, beer and pickles. It was quite exciting to enter into another realm of drinking other than a typical pub!

We got to the Music Hall in time to catch the Besnard Lakes. I had never heard of the band but Mike S and Steve were raving about them.

And rave they should have. This band was amazing. My entire being was mesmorized and I couldn’t escape what was coming from their amplifiers. I can only compare them to Godspeed! You Black Emperor or My Bloody Valentine. After checking out Wikipedia, I suppose you can call this type of music ‘shoegazing’. Figure that one out for yourself. Mike doesn’t care for this type of drone-rock but I thoroughly enjoy when I can lose myself in the music.

At the end of the night I went to the merchandise booth to pick up an album and the band was there. I thanked them for the show and asked them which album I should pick up if I was new to them. The singer joked that I should actually pick up all three of them for $45…in the end I picked up the latest one…The Besnard Lakes are the Roaring Night and I have not put it down since. What an excellent album that all of you should check out!

Wintersleep did not disappoint…I was quite excited to see them as I had missed them at Bluesfest a few years ago. I fell in love with their “Welcome to the Night Sky” album and the “New Inheritors” album was different but has grown on me.

I enjoyed the fact that I don’t have their first two albums (well, I purchased them at the merch booth that night) because they would play a few tracks off of them and I would think it’s a new song (which wasn’t the case considering half the crowd was singing along!). They are masters of the psychadelicly-charged live show and I was blown away by their performance. Who would have thought Halifax could have produced something so massive in sound (Haligonians, I jest!)

Do yourself and see both of these bands if they show up in your town!

Setlist:
Drunk on Aluminum
Encyclopedia
Astronaut
Dead Letter & The Infinite Yes
Weighty Ghost
Black Camera
Experience the Jewel
Mausoleum
Insomnia
Archaeologists
Preservation
Baltic
Laser Beams
Miasmal Smoke and the Yellow Bellied Freaks

Encore
Trace Decay
Orca
Nerves Normal, Breath Normal

*Thanks to Flickr user julep67, Miss Emily and my friend Trish for these photos.

The last few weeks have had me surrounded by The Wall. Listening to the live album, watching the film for the first time and to cap it all off…seeing Roger Waters perform The Wall at the Scotiabank Place.

The Wall is Pink Floyd’s opus from 1980 which outlines the story of a rock star gone mad…building up an alienating wall only to tear it down again. It’s hard to convey a story through music only as there is not a lot of room for dialogue…hence (probably) the reasons of making a film and an epic tour to accompany the album.

The tour originally only lasted 29 dates as it was so freaking expensive to tour around with. The sheer theatrics were unheard of back in the day…building an actual wall on stage in between the band and the audience. There is no footage available (or if there is, I have not seen it) so I can only go by the tales of it’s epicness.

Sunday night, we headed out to the Scotiabank Place to catch the show. I was curious as to whether or not it would updated 30 years later…as in solely relying on video screens. I was pleasantly surprised to see an actual wall half set up on stage when we took our seats! This was the real deal!

There was a big crew of us…Jean-Francois, Marie-Claude, Vero, Mike, Benoit, Michael and Alvaro were with us back in Section 228. While I usually hate sitting so far away, I was content with it this time around as it allowed us to see the entire stadium. We stared in awe at the majestic set that awaited us.

The show started in with In The Flesh? And started off strong. Fireworks, planes crashing into the wall, crazy spotlights going everywhere…what a great entrance! From our vantage point, all we could see is Roger Waters dressed all in black other than his white sneakers which I had a good laugh at. They were brighter than the spotlights!

The entire concert was like nothing I’ve seen before. I was truly amazed at some of the visual effects they used and I loved, loved, LOVED the building of the Wall during the first half of the show. They would have stagehands placing bricks into the wall while the band played on. I can only imagine the choreography of this entire concert. It was like they never missed a beat.

Some highlights:
– There were rumours that David Gilmour would show up on one date of the tour. Of course, ours was not the one he would show up at. However, during Comfortably Numb, the guitarist playing the solo could not be seen by us as there was a giant spotlight DIRECTLY IN OUR EYES! I had a giggle fit imaging David Gilmour actually showing up in Ottawa and us unable to see it because of a spotlight!
– Videos were being projected onto the wall. When an additional brick was placed in, video appeared onto the new brick. It was quite interesting to see this happen.
– My favourite part of the night was near the end of the first set when they were placing the final bricks into the wall. They started playing with video projection and making it look like there were holes in the wall (black projected onto some bricks) which allowed the stagehands to put in the final bricks without the audience really noticing (unless they were paying close attention). In the end, at the end of the song, BAM! The entire wall sans one was built and then the final brick placed in after Goodbye Cruel World played.
– The band was quite excellent. Benoit mentioned how he didn’t think the co-singer next to Roger didn’t cut it, but I felt differently. I thought the band did a stellar job of playing The Wall for us.
– It was interesting to have the band play behind the wall for us for awhile in the second half. Thankfully they only did it for one song!
– The Wall exploding at the end was definitely a plus!

There is so much to talk about…the giant inflatable puppets, the projections of fallen loved ones over time, the kids from Manotick singing Another Brick in a Wall (which Vero didn’t believe they were singing. Come on!)…all in all, it was an amazing night. I also managed to score a poster on my way out but had to wait quite a bit to get it. Luckily they were not sold out on the bottom level as they were on the upper when I went to get one.

I got the chance to go to Edmonton for a conference and I figured I should see if there were any good shows in town. Lo and behold, I find out that 30 Seconds to Mars is going to be in town! This was epic news for me…I have been a big fan since their first album almost a decade ago and have yet to see them live. I had no idea what to expect, but I knew I couldn’t pass the opportunity up. I purchased my ticket and after the first day of the workshop, I hopped on a bus to the West Edmonton Mall with the rest of the group and then said goodbye as I headed to meander around the mall until showtime.

The Edmonton Event Center is an interesting spot to have a concert…I would say it reminds me most of the Capital Music Hall (the old one on Rideau) which isn’t a bad thing. It was an all-ages show with the under-19 year olds herded off to one small side of the stage and the rest of us to the remaining bar area.

I must say, going to a concert on my own is not something I do often, but I don’t mind it all that much. The only thing that bugs me is the time I have to kill simply standing there! It was definitely an hour or so waiting for an opening band to take the stage.

I have no idea what the name of the opening band was but I must admit they got everyone primed up. They were over the top punk/pop/whatever…the drummer was killer and the guy was quite the showman in his leather pants and mohawk.

Time passes and the place is packed…I’m dead center stage and the crowd around me is fierce. I ask myself if I want to bother moving to a less restrictive spot but I figure I’ll see how the crowd turns out.

The band hits the stage and no more than a verse into the first song, Jared Leto (with his pleather jacket and crazy shades) stops the show demanding that audience go crazy. He rants on for a few minutes about how quiet we are and this is not what to expect from a 30 Seconds to Mars show. He then asks everyone to rush the stage and they start up again. I was caught up in the crowd and I haven’t been that way for many years…and I was loving it! This was a rock show! The crowd ebbed and flowed, crowdsurfers everywhere, beer being spilled…ahhh….definitely not a show to bring the parents to!

Vince pointed out that the drummer of the band was amazing and so for the most part I was checking his playing out. His drumset was insane. I swear it had 75 pieces! Someone told me that you can tune your drums to a certain key…hence the need for more drums if you really wanted to go all out.

Jared Leto was quite the showman. I really enjoyed how he played with the lighting of the backdrop and spun around with his coat-tails spinning as well. He played his guitar a few times and was primarly focussed on making it the best possible show it could have been…which pretty well involved ranting to us at all times to get moving.

The first half of the set was killer energy…then they stop everything and Jared comes back out with his acoustic, plays a few tunes (just verses, maybe a chorus) which allows the crowd to get a breather for a good 25 minutes. Then they ended the set off with The Kill and Kings & Queens where the band invites as many fans onto the stage as they possibly can! I can’t deny that the band wants to make their fans have a great time.

Some thoughts:
– While I can say I didn’t mind the fact that I got through into a crowd of frenzy, I have to admit that his ranting got a little old after awhile. It’s one thing to try and get the crowd into the spirit of things, but he started berated certain fans for not moving around enough. This pulls into the question the whole ‘do what you want to do at a concert’…in the end, I think they went a little overboard on ranting…I know if Mike were there, he would been vehmently opposed to what was going on. I’ve read on the Forums that is a very typical thing that happens at the concert and his fans are divided on this front…they are either with him or against him. I can say that it definitely made me feel like I was at Barrymore’s again though. Fun!
– The concert was short. 1.5 hours and that’s it. That’s not an unusual time for a concert, but 25 minutes of that was Jared Leto with acoustic in hand, chatting with the crowd, asking for requests, playing half a song and then asking if he should play another. I wouldn’t have minded it if he played full songs but I felt like I was just watching some open mic night weirdness. Granted, 15 years ago, if you asked me how I enjoyed this part, I’m sure I would have said something like “It was so amazing that a singer would ask for requests at his own show and even though he only played a verse, it was epic!”
– Jared Leto sings high, very high on his albums so I was wondering how that would translate into a live show. I would say it’s kind of a win-lose scenario on that front. Essentially, he didn’t sing his choruses all that much, but depended on the crowds to sing it for them. Hearing a crowd sing the chorus is pretty cool, but for every song? Meh.

All in all, I was happy to see 30 Seconds to Mars but I can’t help but say that I was left a little unsatisfied. If that’s what a typical show is like, I’m not sure if I would go again, especially for the fact that we hear so little music. But hey, maybe they want to be like the Beatles. 🙂

Setlist nabbed from the Forums:
Escape
NOTH
Attack
Search & Destroy
ABL
CTTE
This Is War
100 Suns
L490
(acoustic set some partial)
From Yesterday
Hurricane
Alibi
The Kill
Kings & Queens