to do: CLEAN ROOM
Tuesday, September 27, 2005
Tuesday, September 20, 2005
Running down corridors/Through automatic doors
Concert gang and I went to see Athlete at the Opera House last night. Janice had class until 9pm so she was going to meet up with us after she was done. Wendy & I arrived around 6:30pm, parked, and ate our wonderful coronary-inducing fish & chips. When I was in the store, waiting for our order, Wendy called me from the car saying there were already 4 people in line. I told her to calm down, that it would be all right. We ate our fish & chips and at 7:00 the line was still only 4 people long. Then we noticed more people lining up - but on the opposite side the line is supposed to form (i.e. west side of the entrance). We got out of the car around 7:15 and saw there were about 12 people ahead of us - all lining up the wrong way. We wanted to start lining up the right way but Wendy suggested to wait for the security people to come out and tell everyone to line up the right way. It wasn't until about 7:25 that this happened. Up until this point, it just felt WRONG to be lining up the other way. haha. All was right after 7:25 pm. Another interesting thing about the line: there was a (Chinese) mom with her daughter & daughter's boyfriend just ahead of us - all 3 of them going to the concert! And the mom actually knew Athlete because the Jam Van started playing Athlete and the mom said, "Hey, they're playing them" to the daughter. We also spotted another Chinese mom further ahead in the line - but she was just keeping her daughter company until her friends arrived. This was a little bizarre but I thought Chinese mom #1 was pretty cool for knowing & going to see Athlete.
Behind me in line was this university boy and his Asian female friend. (Aside: there were a lot of chinese people at this concert... that was surprising, like Travis, except these kids were less fob). This boy was very annoying because he kept saying to his friend, "When we saw Stereophonics here, there were this many people in line, but they all went to the bar when we got in so we were able to rush the stage...I hope that happens again tonight." Note a very bad thing to say. Except he said it, or made some reference to the Stereophonics concert, at least 3 times. In a very loud, obnoxious voice. I don't know why, I tend to attract these loud-mouthed idiots at concert lineups. Anyway, that was extremely annoying but we finally managed to get inside.
UNFORTUNATELY, Wendy & I were not able to secure a front row spot! Everyone in line in front of us went to the stage. We couldn't believe it. After we each took our washroom breaks, we decided to be centre, 3rd row. That's when this blonde teacher bitch squeezed her way in front of me. She was by herself but she kept looking around so at first we couldn't tell. Then she struck up a conversation with short girl next to her (and in front of Wendy). Let me say, the only reason BTB started talking to SG is because BTB wanted to appear cool with her "esoteric" music knowledge. It was fucking annoying. She said many many many things to SG: how she can't believe how many people were at the Opera House beause they aren't that popular here but are "SOOO big in Europe"; how she doesn't listen to the radio here; how she thinks the radio here sucks; how she thinks kids these days only listen to music because it's "cool" not because they really like the music (WTF); how shows like The O.C. are perpetuating this kid-attitude (I have to agree with her on this, but it was the way BTB talked that pissed me off); how "no one here's heard of Aqualung... I'm going to their concert next month"; how she forces her kids at the private school at which she teaches to listen to "her" music; how she's had "many many" years of concert experience so she was able to tell SG that the opening band won't even come on till about 9pm; on and on and on. GRRRR. I was so annoyed. I was talking to Janice & Wendy, later in the car, about how we can't stand other people who "know" music. It's not that I dislike them; I guess it's the way they talk about it. Basically, I don't like loud, pretentious dilettantes. Really, who does.
Back to the concert itself. Apparently Working Title's equipment got stolen on the weekend so they had to cancel their tour with Athlete. The opening band was Raising the Fawn (or Pawn?). Who sucked. They were very boring and they didn't really have any stage presence. There were people in the crowd cheering really loud - I guess they were drunk or they were friends of the band.
During their entire performance, Wendy & I kept checking our phones to see where Janice was. At 9:20 she called Wendy and said she JUST got out of class because her prof wouldn't stop talking. Eeek! Good thing she made it about 10 minutes before Athlete got on stage. Another good thing was she missed the entire performance of the opening band.
Athlete kicked off their set with "Yesterday Threw Everything At Me." I think I was expecting a lot from this band because of their surprisingly good performance when they opened for Snow Patrol (a sing-along for opening band is so rare!). This time around, they were good but not as good as I remembered them at Kool Haus. Joel is definitely a charmer. He engages the audience very well. Pretty cute too. Married. Actually, I think half the band is married. Anyway, it was hilarious because at one point Wendy leaned over to me and said she could see this girl at the front trying to pass Joel a love note. LOL. Yes, we were among the kiddies. At one point, Joel was talking to some girl in the front and asked for a shot. She never got it for him but luckily some other girl, near the end of the set, made her way to the front with the shot Joel wanted. They ended the set before the encore with "Wires." During the encore, the were many shouts for them to play "Chances," including one from me, and several from "siren boy" (he kept doing the siren scream... I think he was pretty drunk but it was good he was really into the show). But Athlete did not play it :( Ah well. At the end of the encore, Joel "fell" off the stage into the crowd on the right, leaving his guitar there. That was pretty awesome but I thought out of character because he didn't really rock out that hard during the set. Maybe that's his schtick.
Overall, a good show. For some reason I can't say much about it. It was good to hear them live. Joel has a good voice but I still think the Kool Haus show better showcased his and the band's talent. Will I see them again? I don't know. I think the next time they come back to Canada, they will be as big as Keane are. I.e. the show will probably be at Kool Haus. One thing's for sure, if they do come back and the concert gang does decide to go, we are going to lounge. There was a consensus in the car. We are getting old. We must learn to lounge at concerts. With exceptions, of course.
I am glad my concert week is over. Four concerts in the span of one week is crazy! I've been really tired going to work on this concert/work/concert/work schedule. Back to a "normal" life.
Behind me in line was this university boy and his Asian female friend. (Aside: there were a lot of chinese people at this concert... that was surprising, like Travis, except these kids were less fob). This boy was very annoying because he kept saying to his friend, "When we saw Stereophonics here, there were this many people in line, but they all went to the bar when we got in so we were able to rush the stage...I hope that happens again tonight." Note a very bad thing to say. Except he said it, or made some reference to the Stereophonics concert, at least 3 times. In a very loud, obnoxious voice. I don't know why, I tend to attract these loud-mouthed idiots at concert lineups. Anyway, that was extremely annoying but we finally managed to get inside.
UNFORTUNATELY, Wendy & I were not able to secure a front row spot! Everyone in line in front of us went to the stage. We couldn't believe it. After we each took our washroom breaks, we decided to be centre, 3rd row. That's when this blonde teacher bitch squeezed her way in front of me. She was by herself but she kept looking around so at first we couldn't tell. Then she struck up a conversation with short girl next to her (and in front of Wendy). Let me say, the only reason BTB started talking to SG is because BTB wanted to appear cool with her "esoteric" music knowledge. It was fucking annoying. She said many many many things to SG: how she can't believe how many people were at the Opera House beause they aren't that popular here but are "SOOO big in Europe"; how she doesn't listen to the radio here; how she thinks the radio here sucks; how she thinks kids these days only listen to music because it's "cool" not because they really like the music (WTF); how shows like The O.C. are perpetuating this kid-attitude (I have to agree with her on this, but it was the way BTB talked that pissed me off); how "no one here's heard of Aqualung... I'm going to their concert next month"; how she forces her kids at the private school at which she teaches to listen to "her" music; how she's had "many many" years of concert experience so she was able to tell SG that the opening band won't even come on till about 9pm; on and on and on. GRRRR. I was so annoyed. I was talking to Janice & Wendy, later in the car, about how we can't stand other people who "know" music. It's not that I dislike them; I guess it's the way they talk about it. Basically, I don't like loud, pretentious dilettantes. Really, who does.
Back to the concert itself. Apparently Working Title's equipment got stolen on the weekend so they had to cancel their tour with Athlete. The opening band was Raising the Fawn (or Pawn?). Who sucked. They were very boring and they didn't really have any stage presence. There were people in the crowd cheering really loud - I guess they were drunk or they were friends of the band.
During their entire performance, Wendy & I kept checking our phones to see where Janice was. At 9:20 she called Wendy and said she JUST got out of class because her prof wouldn't stop talking. Eeek! Good thing she made it about 10 minutes before Athlete got on stage. Another good thing was she missed the entire performance of the opening band.
Athlete kicked off their set with "Yesterday Threw Everything At Me." I think I was expecting a lot from this band because of their surprisingly good performance when they opened for Snow Patrol (a sing-along for opening band is so rare!). This time around, they were good but not as good as I remembered them at Kool Haus. Joel is definitely a charmer. He engages the audience very well. Pretty cute too. Married. Actually, I think half the band is married. Anyway, it was hilarious because at one point Wendy leaned over to me and said she could see this girl at the front trying to pass Joel a love note. LOL. Yes, we were among the kiddies. At one point, Joel was talking to some girl in the front and asked for a shot. She never got it for him but luckily some other girl, near the end of the set, made her way to the front with the shot Joel wanted. They ended the set before the encore with "Wires." During the encore, the were many shouts for them to play "Chances," including one from me, and several from "siren boy" (he kept doing the siren scream... I think he was pretty drunk but it was good he was really into the show). But Athlete did not play it :( Ah well. At the end of the encore, Joel "fell" off the stage into the crowd on the right, leaving his guitar there. That was pretty awesome but I thought out of character because he didn't really rock out that hard during the set. Maybe that's his schtick.
Overall, a good show. For some reason I can't say much about it. It was good to hear them live. Joel has a good voice but I still think the Kool Haus show better showcased his and the band's talent. Will I see them again? I don't know. I think the next time they come back to Canada, they will be as big as Keane are. I.e. the show will probably be at Kool Haus. One thing's for sure, if they do come back and the concert gang does decide to go, we are going to lounge. There was a consensus in the car. We are getting old. We must learn to lounge at concerts. With exceptions, of course.
I am glad my concert week is over. Four concerts in the span of one week is crazy! I've been really tired going to work on this concert/work/concert/work schedule. Back to a "normal" life.
Monday, September 19, 2005
Thanks for the great love
Friday, September 16th
The Stills.
What can I say. I have a soft-spot for this band. The concert gang went to see them in 2004 - three times in three months, one of which was a show in Montreal. After many many many rumours and speculations in the past 6 months about Greg Paquet (one of my rockstar boyfriends) leaving the band, we got a confirmation last week that Greg had officially left the band. I'm sure you all heard my heart breaking. I didn't know what the concert in Hamilton would be like. No Greg, Dave on vocals/guitar, new drummer, new (well, now officially part of the band anyway) keyboardist. AHH. But we had to go see them. They are our band. Our first road-trip band.
Friday afternoon, I picked up Janice at her house about 4:15 pm and I recounted my jaw-dropping reaction to U2 walking on stage to Arcade Fire's "Wake Up." That's when she informed me that she knew for months but didn't tell me because she didn't want to spoil it for me! Don't I have the best concert gang ever?! Thanks for the surprise :)
Wendy got home from work around 5 pm and we were on the road (after a pit stop for gas and steeped teas and danishes from Tim Hortons) by 5:45 pm. Hamilton...hmmm takes maybe 1 hr, maybe 1.5 hrs since we were sort of driving in rush hour traffic. How long did it take us? OVER 2 HOURS!! We didn't get to the club until 8:05 pm. People don't know how to drive in the rain, and people like to stare at trucks pulled over by cops. Idiots. GRRRR. Anyways, we parked in the lot across the street from the Underground, and ventured to look for washrooms and food. Let me just say, Hamilton is seriously sketchy. At least 6 crazy people passed us. Who would want to live there voluntarily, I have no idea. Even temporarily living there is something I don't understand. After walking down the street for about 5 minutes and passing nothing but Chinese/Korean/Japanese/Chinese-Canadian/Korean-Japanese restaurants, we decided to turn back the way we came and headed further along. Thank goodness we found a Pizza Pizza.
We got back to the Underground at 8:35 pm, where we realized at 9pm we were in the wrong line :( We got in the right line for the people with phone reservations...and the doors finally opened at 9:20pm. No worries, we secured our front left spot. This club was tiny. Really really tiny. It was amazing - we were right up front, and only one foot away from the band.
Openers Alive & Living took the place of Wintersleep. They were all right. I can't even remember much of their music. At first I thought they'd be interesting because they had a violin player. But they were pretty bland and I now I think they just had a violin player because they thought it would look kind of cool but they didn't make much use of that instrument because they didn't add to their sound. And I didn't like the guy's voice much.
Finally at about 11:45 pm, The Stills came on. Oh, it was actually really cute because they had to set up their own equipment so in fact, they were kind of on stage a little earlier than 11:45. They started off with a new song, sung by Dave. Then they played "Lola" (woo-hoo) and then another new one, "Mountain." All's going well until some drunk idiot shouted out, "Why don't you play the drums" out to Dave. At first, it seemed Dave was going to take it well because he just stepped up to the mic and said, "You know what, FUCK you." But then, for the rest of the night, Dave wouldn't shut his own fucking mouth, going on and on about how he's "unfortunatley," singing the next song, why shouldn't he sing, and why the heckler should try to sing. At one point, Dave called the heckler up there to tell the audience why Dave shouldn't be singing. I think the kid was shocked. He went up there and sort of apologized and tried to hug Dave - he looked like he was sincere. To be honest, it looked like it was just a joke but the kid didn't know what to do so he just went up on stage. Oliver and Tim tried to calm Dave down, and Tim told the kid to get back into the crowd. WTF is wrong with Dave. When you have such a drastic lineup change, you have to expect people to throw around these kinds of remarks, whether they are meant as a joke or meant as an insult. Obviously Dave has some insecurity issues or he's just an asshole. He couldn't just brush it off. What a loser. His moodiness just ruined the concert for me. The entire time he was pouting. During the encore, he stood off in the corner and at the end, he basically walked off without a wave to the audience.
Back to the music itself, they played "Lola," "Gender Bombs," "Changes Are No Good," "Yesterday Never Tomorrows," "Still in Love," and "Love and Death" from Logic. Their new songs are all right. I can definitely say I like the new songs Tim sings better than the ones that Dave sings (I love "Halo the Harpoon" and "Helicopters"). Tim's voice is so much better. Dave can't sing very well, although it is an improvement from before, and he has absolutely no stage presence (or rather, poutiness is not an acceptable stage presence). And his guitar playing skills are not up to Greg's rocking performances. And he kept stepping in front of Tim, which sucked because Tim looked really hot. I normally don't like facial hair, but it works really well with Tim so for him, I'd make an exception. At one point in the concert, a bunch of girls right behind Wendy and Janice screamed for the band to play "Killer Bees" and Tim looked in our direction and said, "That's a possibility." I almost melted. That was hot. HAHA. I am crazy.
The concert ended and I was really close to getting the set list again. The guy beside me (who was with his gf - they were an extremely ANNOYING PDA couple) grabbed it first. BUT Tim had tossed his guitar pick on the ground, so I grabbed that right away. Score!
After the concert, we went to the bathroom and when we came back out, we saw Tim signing stuff for fans. We waited our turn and Janice broke out the Montreal silver marker. I was quite upset at myself for leaving the CD at home :( But Tim was so nice, we talked about how we saw the band at Club Soda in Montreal, how we're from Toronto... and then he signed Janice's CD, "To Janice (and friends) - Thanks for the great love." How awesome is that!! Because Greg is gone, Janice has graciously decided to share Tim as me & Wendy's rockstar boyfriend of the Stills. We also got the merchandise lady to take pictures for us. So after four shows, we finally met Tim. Nice!
Lessons learned: Dave is a jerk. Tim is really hot. Next Stills concert, we will be hanging around the front right in front of Tim and Oliver. Never go to Hamilton again unless absolutely necessary.
The Stills.
What can I say. I have a soft-spot for this band. The concert gang went to see them in 2004 - three times in three months, one of which was a show in Montreal. After many many many rumours and speculations in the past 6 months about Greg Paquet (one of my rockstar boyfriends) leaving the band, we got a confirmation last week that Greg had officially left the band. I'm sure you all heard my heart breaking. I didn't know what the concert in Hamilton would be like. No Greg, Dave on vocals/guitar, new drummer, new (well, now officially part of the band anyway) keyboardist. AHH. But we had to go see them. They are our band. Our first road-trip band.
Friday afternoon, I picked up Janice at her house about 4:15 pm and I recounted my jaw-dropping reaction to U2 walking on stage to Arcade Fire's "Wake Up." That's when she informed me that she knew for months but didn't tell me because she didn't want to spoil it for me! Don't I have the best concert gang ever?! Thanks for the surprise :)
Wendy got home from work around 5 pm and we were on the road (after a pit stop for gas and steeped teas and danishes from Tim Hortons) by 5:45 pm. Hamilton...hmmm takes maybe 1 hr, maybe 1.5 hrs since we were sort of driving in rush hour traffic. How long did it take us? OVER 2 HOURS!! We didn't get to the club until 8:05 pm. People don't know how to drive in the rain, and people like to stare at trucks pulled over by cops. Idiots. GRRRR. Anyways, we parked in the lot across the street from the Underground, and ventured to look for washrooms and food. Let me just say, Hamilton is seriously sketchy. At least 6 crazy people passed us. Who would want to live there voluntarily, I have no idea. Even temporarily living there is something I don't understand. After walking down the street for about 5 minutes and passing nothing but Chinese/Korean/Japanese/Chinese-Canadian/Korean-Japanese restaurants, we decided to turn back the way we came and headed further along. Thank goodness we found a Pizza Pizza.
We got back to the Underground at 8:35 pm, where we realized at 9pm we were in the wrong line :( We got in the right line for the people with phone reservations...and the doors finally opened at 9:20pm. No worries, we secured our front left spot. This club was tiny. Really really tiny. It was amazing - we were right up front, and only one foot away from the band.
Openers Alive & Living took the place of Wintersleep. They were all right. I can't even remember much of their music. At first I thought they'd be interesting because they had a violin player. But they were pretty bland and I now I think they just had a violin player because they thought it would look kind of cool but they didn't make much use of that instrument because they didn't add to their sound. And I didn't like the guy's voice much.
Finally at about 11:45 pm, The Stills came on. Oh, it was actually really cute because they had to set up their own equipment so in fact, they were kind of on stage a little earlier than 11:45. They started off with a new song, sung by Dave. Then they played "Lola" (woo-hoo) and then another new one, "Mountain." All's going well until some drunk idiot shouted out, "Why don't you play the drums" out to Dave. At first, it seemed Dave was going to take it well because he just stepped up to the mic and said, "You know what, FUCK you." But then, for the rest of the night, Dave wouldn't shut his own fucking mouth, going on and on about how he's "unfortunatley," singing the next song, why shouldn't he sing, and why the heckler should try to sing. At one point, Dave called the heckler up there to tell the audience why Dave shouldn't be singing. I think the kid was shocked. He went up there and sort of apologized and tried to hug Dave - he looked like he was sincere. To be honest, it looked like it was just a joke but the kid didn't know what to do so he just went up on stage. Oliver and Tim tried to calm Dave down, and Tim told the kid to get back into the crowd. WTF is wrong with Dave. When you have such a drastic lineup change, you have to expect people to throw around these kinds of remarks, whether they are meant as a joke or meant as an insult. Obviously Dave has some insecurity issues or he's just an asshole. He couldn't just brush it off. What a loser. His moodiness just ruined the concert for me. The entire time he was pouting. During the encore, he stood off in the corner and at the end, he basically walked off without a wave to the audience.
Back to the music itself, they played "Lola," "Gender Bombs," "Changes Are No Good," "Yesterday Never Tomorrows," "Still in Love," and "Love and Death" from Logic. Their new songs are all right. I can definitely say I like the new songs Tim sings better than the ones that Dave sings (I love "Halo the Harpoon" and "Helicopters"). Tim's voice is so much better. Dave can't sing very well, although it is an improvement from before, and he has absolutely no stage presence (or rather, poutiness is not an acceptable stage presence). And his guitar playing skills are not up to Greg's rocking performances. And he kept stepping in front of Tim, which sucked because Tim looked really hot. I normally don't like facial hair, but it works really well with Tim so for him, I'd make an exception. At one point in the concert, a bunch of girls right behind Wendy and Janice screamed for the band to play "Killer Bees" and Tim looked in our direction and said, "That's a possibility." I almost melted. That was hot. HAHA. I am crazy.
The concert ended and I was really close to getting the set list again. The guy beside me (who was with his gf - they were an extremely ANNOYING PDA couple) grabbed it first. BUT Tim had tossed his guitar pick on the ground, so I grabbed that right away. Score!
After the concert, we went to the bathroom and when we came back out, we saw Tim signing stuff for fans. We waited our turn and Janice broke out the Montreal silver marker. I was quite upset at myself for leaving the CD at home :( But Tim was so nice, we talked about how we saw the band at Club Soda in Montreal, how we're from Toronto... and then he signed Janice's CD, "To Janice (and friends) - Thanks for the great love." How awesome is that!! Because Greg is gone, Janice has graciously decided to share Tim as me & Wendy's rockstar boyfriend of the Stills. We also got the merchandise lady to take pictures for us. So after four shows, we finally met Tim. Nice!
Lessons learned: Dave is a jerk. Tim is really hot. Next Stills concert, we will be hanging around the front right in front of Tim and Oliver. Never go to Hamilton again unless absolutely necessary.
U2
...very very behind in my concert postings...
Wednesday, September 14th
U2 was exactly as I expected - they put on a great live performance and they deserve to be called the greatest rock band in the world. Bono really knows how to work the crowd and despite his preachiness, I really enjoyed the show. U2's music has that unique sound that fits very well in a large venue and they proved it on Wednesday night.
I had reservations about going since I was not going with my concert gang and, even worse, I was going with my "scalper friend" Galen, concert virgin Dinesh, and their friend who is odd and who I don't like very much. I was even more put-off and insulted when he found out my age and said, "You're not a fan," referring to the fact that I was very young when U2's first few albums came out. I wanted to say, "Fuck you," but I didn't want to make things too awkward so I just said, "You don't know me, or specifically, me and my obsession with music." THEN this guy says that he was a musician and he actually played in a band before. I had a lot of trouble believing him, so I looked at Dinesh to see if there was any truth to that, and Dinesh kind of nodded his head. Well, whoop-dee. It doesn't mean that you know more about music than me and it definitely does not mean you can brush me off - especially since we both paid the $175 for our lower bowl seats. I've spent too long on this. Moving on...
The good thing about large concerts is that they usually start on time. Dashboard Confessional came on at 7:35 pm and put on a lively 45-minute set. I am not the biggest Dashboard fan but I really enjoy a few of their songs. Unfortunately, in such a large venue, all their songs started to sound the same. No matter. They closed the set with "Vindicated" and many humble thank-yous to U2 for allowing them to be the opening act.
After their set, I was enjoying some pretty good background music. During Radiohead's "Idioteque", Galen said, "I think U2 come out during this song," but then it didn't. Another song came on, still no U2. Then, Arcade Fire's "Wake Up" came on and I started singing. And Galen said, "No, for sure it was this song," and I knew he was right because they were blasting this song louder than all the other songs. I was like, "WTF, Janice is gonna flip!!!!!!" I was very excited because it was the perfect walk-on song. The lights dimmed. And all of a sudden, Bono, The Edge, Adam, and Larry were on stage and playing "Vertigo."
Snazzy snazzy production. It is a $50 million tour so I guess I do expect all the fancy lights and projections. There were actually these curtain-like vertically-moving screens that were made up of individual light bulbs stringed together. That was pretty awesome. And the catwalk was cool too because it allowed Bono to walk further out. In fact, everyone in the band walked out at once point during the concert on the catwalk.
I don't like too many songs from How to Dismantle, but I really like "City of Blinding Lights," "Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own," "Miracle Drug," and "Yahweh." They played all these songs, "Yahweh" during one of the two encores, and of course he dedicated "Sometimes" to his father. The highlights of the evening for me, though, were "Sunday Bloody Sunday" and "One," my two favourite U2 songs. I think just before "One" (it was either before "one" or before some other song that I can't remember now), they had a video screen projection and a voice reading the Declaration of Human Rights that all the countries should follow. It was touching, and expected. After all, there were Amnesty International booths set up all around the ACC, and this was Bono, superstar ambassador of the world. I tend to get cynical whenever someone famous becomes the spokesperson for a charitable or human rights cause. But watching Bono and listening to him speak, it seems like he is honestly concerned and really passionate for his causes, and if people will listen to him (if only because he is a rock star), then let him preach a little during his concerts.
The double encore was great. They ended the show with a long rendition of "Bad," which kicked ass. That's also one of my favourites. I guess I like the oldies.
Would I go to a big stadium concert again (without complaining like I did for Coldplay)? Probably only for U2. Hopefully for the Montreal show...with AF as opening act. How mind-blowing would that be.
Wednesday, September 14th
U2 was exactly as I expected - they put on a great live performance and they deserve to be called the greatest rock band in the world. Bono really knows how to work the crowd and despite his preachiness, I really enjoyed the show. U2's music has that unique sound that fits very well in a large venue and they proved it on Wednesday night.
I had reservations about going since I was not going with my concert gang and, even worse, I was going with my "scalper friend" Galen, concert virgin Dinesh, and their friend who is odd and who I don't like very much. I was even more put-off and insulted when he found out my age and said, "You're not a fan," referring to the fact that I was very young when U2's first few albums came out. I wanted to say, "Fuck you," but I didn't want to make things too awkward so I just said, "You don't know me, or specifically, me and my obsession with music." THEN this guy says that he was a musician and he actually played in a band before. I had a lot of trouble believing him, so I looked at Dinesh to see if there was any truth to that, and Dinesh kind of nodded his head. Well, whoop-dee. It doesn't mean that you know more about music than me and it definitely does not mean you can brush me off - especially since we both paid the $175 for our lower bowl seats. I've spent too long on this. Moving on...
The good thing about large concerts is that they usually start on time. Dashboard Confessional came on at 7:35 pm and put on a lively 45-minute set. I am not the biggest Dashboard fan but I really enjoy a few of their songs. Unfortunately, in such a large venue, all their songs started to sound the same. No matter. They closed the set with "Vindicated" and many humble thank-yous to U2 for allowing them to be the opening act.
After their set, I was enjoying some pretty good background music. During Radiohead's "Idioteque", Galen said, "I think U2 come out during this song," but then it didn't. Another song came on, still no U2. Then, Arcade Fire's "Wake Up" came on and I started singing. And Galen said, "No, for sure it was this song," and I knew he was right because they were blasting this song louder than all the other songs. I was like, "WTF, Janice is gonna flip!!!!!!" I was very excited because it was the perfect walk-on song. The lights dimmed. And all of a sudden, Bono, The Edge, Adam, and Larry were on stage and playing "Vertigo."
Snazzy snazzy production. It is a $50 million tour so I guess I do expect all the fancy lights and projections. There were actually these curtain-like vertically-moving screens that were made up of individual light bulbs stringed together. That was pretty awesome. And the catwalk was cool too because it allowed Bono to walk further out. In fact, everyone in the band walked out at once point during the concert on the catwalk.
I don't like too many songs from How to Dismantle, but I really like "City of Blinding Lights," "Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own," "Miracle Drug," and "Yahweh." They played all these songs, "Yahweh" during one of the two encores, and of course he dedicated "Sometimes" to his father. The highlights of the evening for me, though, were "Sunday Bloody Sunday" and "One," my two favourite U2 songs. I think just before "One" (it was either before "one" or before some other song that I can't remember now), they had a video screen projection and a voice reading the Declaration of Human Rights that all the countries should follow. It was touching, and expected. After all, there were Amnesty International booths set up all around the ACC, and this was Bono, superstar ambassador of the world. I tend to get cynical whenever someone famous becomes the spokesperson for a charitable or human rights cause. But watching Bono and listening to him speak, it seems like he is honestly concerned and really passionate for his causes, and if people will listen to him (if only because he is a rock star), then let him preach a little during his concerts.
The double encore was great. They ended the show with a long rendition of "Bad," which kicked ass. That's also one of my favourites. I guess I like the oldies.
Would I go to a big stadium concert again (without complaining like I did for Coldplay)? Probably only for U2. Hopefully for the Montreal show...with AF as opening act. How mind-blowing would that be.
Wednesday, September 14, 2005
bloc party-ing it up!
It seems like I only blog when I've been to a concert. I don't mean to but I guess it just works out that way. I've also had some computer issues the past month and since I have no tolerance for slow computers, I haven't been spending that much time online. I've also been working a lot. I seem to have a lot of excuses. ANYWAYS I have to blog now because 1/3 of my concert gang wasn't able to make it to the Bloc Party concert on Monday night. School's important, yeah yeah...but in this case, Janice, you SO should have come because Bloc Party was fucking awesome!
We arrived at the Docks at about 6:40pm and there was already a lineup. I am glad Wendy decided to come with me because we could at least split the $15 parking cost. There were about 25 people ahead of us already in the lineup, and doors didn't even open for another 1 hr 20 minutes! While in line, Wendy & I got our over 19 years wristband. We looked at the line that was forming. There were barely any others wearing the yellow wristband. Damn. We also deduced that these kids were there so early because school ended for them at 3pm. That's right folks. We were among really really small kiddies. I saw this boy a few spots ahead of us - he looked 13 or 14. Damn all ages shows.
The wait in line was a killer. Other than these high school kids annoying us, there was also this group of 4 early-university students just before us. One guy was fucking LOUD. He was practically shouting at his friends right beside him - and he wasn't even drunk. I have no idea why he was talking so loud. Actually, I'm sure it's because he thought he was cool. Unfortunately he wasn't. How can you be if you use the word "gnarly" on a regular basis. Everything to this guy was "gnarly." Wendy was on the other side of me and didn't really hear much of the conversation but when I told her how this guy said "gnarly" she couldn't stop laughing. It was so annoying. The wait actually gave me a headache.
FINALLY at 8:05 pm people started moving in. And get this - a stupid teenage punk girl actually pushed me from behind. WTF. I was already annoyed with the loud dude, and this girl just made it for me. When we got in, I went to the ticket counter to confirm I had tickets (unfortunately since I got it through ticketpro last-minute, I don't have an actual tangible ticket as a momento). Then we started to walk in - and a whole bunch of girlies RAN, SCREAMING to the stage. At that point, Wendy & I decided to forget about securing our usual spot. We couldn't take these kids. Damn kids. We walked calmly to the merch table, where we each bought tees and I bought some pins for Janice.
We secured a spot on the right side, about 5 rows back, just behind this piece of equipment under the speakers. I'm not sure what it was but it allowed us to rest our elbows and provide some space so that we wouldn't be standing directly behind anyone. Anyway, we just stood there waiting and bitching about the young'uns till Noisettes appeared. We couldn't even get a drink because the Docks is retarded and cordones off a section for purchasing and consuming alcoholic drinks. WTF.
Noisettes were interesting. The lead singer had a lot of energy and her voice was unique. A lot of screaming. Some of their tunes were interesting but not enough to compel me to buy their EP. Actually, I didn't see any non-Bloc Party stuff at the merch table.
The Kills were SO boring. Who wants to see a female It jumping around on stage with the same synthesized beat for all their songs in the background? Unfortunately they were on for about 45 minutes.
At this point, during the setup for Bloc Party, I heard a girl beside me say to her friend, "I can't believe the audience is so old. I think there's 26 year-olds in here!" WTF. I turned and looked at her - this girl was AT MOST 19 years old. And all I can say is that this girl is fucking retarded and blind. Everyone surrounding us was younger. EVERYONE. Holy crap. As you can imagine I was in serious rage/annoyance mode by now.
At 10:30pm, Bloc Party got on stage. I was expecting Bloc Party to be a good live band - but I never thought they would be that good. Silent Alarm is a very high-energy album...Every song live was louder, built more tension, and had more energy than the album - if you can imagine that. I just wanted to dance the whole night!
They kicked it off with "Like Eating Glass," which is also the album starter. And despite my bitching about the crowd, they sang along right from the opening line "It's so cold in this house" so I knew the rest of the concert would be all right (in terms of band-love). Then they played "Positive Tension" (Janice, Wendy has a surprise for you)...and then "Banquet." This was a surprise because they played their biggest hit in North America 3rd song into the set. This was when these kiddies started moshing. Damn. It's funny because I felt like I was at a 1990's punk show. Anyways, I was really happy they played 3 of my favourite songs right away! At this point, Matt's shirt was already off and Kele had already stated how much they love being in Toronto. He also said they were thinking of moving to Canada - and this brought a lot of cheers from the crowd. But then he kind of ruined it by saying "well, to Vancouver." hahaha. It was nice anyway. Their set also had new songs, including "Hero" and "Two More Years," which rocks live. "Blue Light" and "This Modern Love" were also highlights for me...it's so great that the band can have such loud songs such as "Positive Tension" and "Luno" but also two of the
best love ballads of 2005. Hmm...I can't quite remember how they ended their set...
But it doesn't matter because they had TWO encores. The first one, they came back out and sang a new song but I couldn't quite get into it because this BITCH sat on that speaker-like thing Wendy & I were standing behind. Wendy asked her to get down, then a guy behind us asked her but she didn't move. There was a beer bottle beside her that still had some beer in it. You have no idea how tempted I was to take it and pour it on her. After the song she got down, I'm glad. I honestly would have poured that beer on her. I told Wendy that and she said she was thinking the exact same thing. Anyways, during encore #1, they also played one of my favs, "So Here We Are" which sounds so beautiful. Then someone threw a bra on stage...and Matt decided to wear it for one song! They closed encore #1 with "Pioneers."
Encore #2 was actually unexpected. People already started to leave but then the band got back on stage and everyone cheered. I can't express how energetic their show was. They are a great band to dance and go crazy to. The show ended at 12am and Wendy and I were debating whether to go to the drake hotel where they were rumoured to appear after the Docks show. But we both had to work the next day so we decided to head home.
Despite the terrible kiddie crowd (read this), I had an awesome time. I can't believe how great Bloc Party is when they play live. I will definitely see them when they come back to Toronto.
P.S. Sorry Janice, I don't know if Wendy uploaded the pics yet...I am using her computer but I can't find them so I figured I better stop snooping before she finds out I am using her computer. Haha. I don't think she reads my blog very often so I think I'll be ok.
We arrived at the Docks at about 6:40pm and there was already a lineup. I am glad Wendy decided to come with me because we could at least split the $15 parking cost. There were about 25 people ahead of us already in the lineup, and doors didn't even open for another 1 hr 20 minutes! While in line, Wendy & I got our over 19 years wristband. We looked at the line that was forming. There were barely any others wearing the yellow wristband. Damn. We also deduced that these kids were there so early because school ended for them at 3pm. That's right folks. We were among really really small kiddies. I saw this boy a few spots ahead of us - he looked 13 or 14. Damn all ages shows.
The wait in line was a killer. Other than these high school kids annoying us, there was also this group of 4 early-university students just before us. One guy was fucking LOUD. He was practically shouting at his friends right beside him - and he wasn't even drunk. I have no idea why he was talking so loud. Actually, I'm sure it's because he thought he was cool. Unfortunately he wasn't. How can you be if you use the word "gnarly" on a regular basis. Everything to this guy was "gnarly." Wendy was on the other side of me and didn't really hear much of the conversation but when I told her how this guy said "gnarly" she couldn't stop laughing. It was so annoying. The wait actually gave me a headache.
FINALLY at 8:05 pm people started moving in. And get this - a stupid teenage punk girl actually pushed me from behind. WTF. I was already annoyed with the loud dude, and this girl just made it for me. When we got in, I went to the ticket counter to confirm I had tickets (unfortunately since I got it through ticketpro last-minute, I don't have an actual tangible ticket as a momento). Then we started to walk in - and a whole bunch of girlies RAN, SCREAMING to the stage. At that point, Wendy & I decided to forget about securing our usual spot. We couldn't take these kids. Damn kids. We walked calmly to the merch table, where we each bought tees and I bought some pins for Janice.
We secured a spot on the right side, about 5 rows back, just behind this piece of equipment under the speakers. I'm not sure what it was but it allowed us to rest our elbows and provide some space so that we wouldn't be standing directly behind anyone. Anyway, we just stood there waiting and bitching about the young'uns till Noisettes appeared. We couldn't even get a drink because the Docks is retarded and cordones off a section for purchasing and consuming alcoholic drinks. WTF.
Noisettes were interesting. The lead singer had a lot of energy and her voice was unique. A lot of screaming. Some of their tunes were interesting but not enough to compel me to buy their EP. Actually, I didn't see any non-Bloc Party stuff at the merch table.
The Kills were SO boring. Who wants to see a female It jumping around on stage with the same synthesized beat for all their songs in the background? Unfortunately they were on for about 45 minutes.
At this point, during the setup for Bloc Party, I heard a girl beside me say to her friend, "I can't believe the audience is so old. I think there's 26 year-olds in here!" WTF. I turned and looked at her - this girl was AT MOST 19 years old. And all I can say is that this girl is fucking retarded and blind. Everyone surrounding us was younger. EVERYONE. Holy crap. As you can imagine I was in serious rage/annoyance mode by now.
At 10:30pm, Bloc Party got on stage. I was expecting Bloc Party to be a good live band - but I never thought they would be that good. Silent Alarm is a very high-energy album...Every song live was louder, built more tension, and had more energy than the album - if you can imagine that. I just wanted to dance the whole night!
They kicked it off with "Like Eating Glass," which is also the album starter. And despite my bitching about the crowd, they sang along right from the opening line "It's so cold in this house" so I knew the rest of the concert would be all right (in terms of band-love). Then they played "Positive Tension" (Janice, Wendy has a surprise for you)...and then "Banquet." This was a surprise because they played their biggest hit in North America 3rd song into the set. This was when these kiddies started moshing. Damn. It's funny because I felt like I was at a 1990's punk show. Anyways, I was really happy they played 3 of my favourite songs right away! At this point, Matt's shirt was already off and Kele had already stated how much they love being in Toronto. He also said they were thinking of moving to Canada - and this brought a lot of cheers from the crowd. But then he kind of ruined it by saying "well, to Vancouver." hahaha. It was nice anyway. Their set also had new songs, including "Hero" and "Two More Years," which rocks live. "Blue Light" and "This Modern Love" were also highlights for me...it's so great that the band can have such loud songs such as "Positive Tension" and "Luno" but also two of the
best love ballads of 2005. Hmm...I can't quite remember how they ended their set...
But it doesn't matter because they had TWO encores. The first one, they came back out and sang a new song but I couldn't quite get into it because this BITCH sat on that speaker-like thing Wendy & I were standing behind. Wendy asked her to get down, then a guy behind us asked her but she didn't move. There was a beer bottle beside her that still had some beer in it. You have no idea how tempted I was to take it and pour it on her. After the song she got down, I'm glad. I honestly would have poured that beer on her. I told Wendy that and she said she was thinking the exact same thing. Anyways, during encore #1, they also played one of my favs, "So Here We Are" which sounds so beautiful. Then someone threw a bra on stage...and Matt decided to wear it for one song! They closed encore #1 with "Pioneers."
Encore #2 was actually unexpected. People already started to leave but then the band got back on stage and everyone cheered. I can't express how energetic their show was. They are a great band to dance and go crazy to. The show ended at 12am and Wendy and I were debating whether to go to the drake hotel where they were rumoured to appear after the Docks show. But we both had to work the next day so we decided to head home.
Despite the terrible kiddie crowd (read this), I had an awesome time. I can't believe how great Bloc Party is when they play live. I will definitely see them when they come back to Toronto.
P.S. Sorry Janice, I don't know if Wendy uploaded the pics yet...I am using her computer but I can't find them so I figured I better stop snooping before she finds out I am using her computer. Haha. I don't think she reads my blog very often so I think I'll be ok.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
