Music Waste festival poster...
Music Waste venue, the Adonai Pub...
Manning the door with Michelle...
These guys had never rehearsed or played together before...
Friday, May 20, 2005
Music Waste festival - pics only
Music Waste festival poster...
Music Waste venue, the Adonai Pub...
Manning the door with Michelle...
These guys had never rehearsed or played together before...
Monday, May 16, 2005
Mad Aussie House Parties/Grouse Grind weekend
G'day,
Last weekend was busy. To put it mildly. Well, okay, Sunday I was busy being a couch potato, but everything leading up that point was busy...
Friday night was the Snow Patrol gig - I've already written about that. But I was far from ready to call it a night, I was truly buzzing from the post-gig adrenaline that you get when you just experienced something amazing.
I'd been invited to 2 different parties that night, one really close to me in East Van, and one in Kitsilano, thrown by an Aussie workmate, Michelle, which wasn't quite so close. But not being very sensible sometimes, I chose the Kits party first, with an idea that i'd try to get to the East Van one later on.
So I jumped on a bus and got 1/2 way there before i realised that I had no booze with me. So what, you say - just go to a bottle shop or corner store and get some.... Uh-Uh, not here in Vancouver, B.C. If there is one thing that bugs me about this town, its that the liquor stores are all Government run, and they all close at 11pm. End of Story. Thats it....In a word, Bummer.
When I got to the party, a smallish 2 bedroom apartment, it was jumping, crammed in with 20 or 30 odd people there. A quick scan of the room and I knew about 5 or 6 of them, all Aussie, and listening to the chatter, it was all that I could hear. There was one sole Candian, an Irish girl, a smattering of Kiwis I guess, and then alllll Aussie. There were a few more late arrivals along with me, also without booze. Someone drunkenly piped up and said she knew of one bottle shop that was open til Midnight, on Commercial Drive - about 4 blocks from my home. Without thinking too much into, 4 of us made the decision to check it out.
"Jump in my car, I'll drive" says one guy. He was sober, he said, so we all hopped in. This was no ordinary drive tho. His mate had just arrived off the plane from Oz and so he wanted to pick him up form the airport in style, and had hired a Mustang convertible for the day. Red, too, coz red goes faster!! I somehow landed the passenger seat, and then we were off speeding thru the Vancouver streets at close to Midnight to try and find this bottle shop. We seemed to be taking the long way 'round, coz it took forever...
Then all of a sudden, the driver pipes up to his mate "How are them mushrooms kickin' in??" Sure, he was sober, but he was also tripping!! I thought he was a little erratic behind the wheel! No wonder. Anyway, we get to the bottle shop....and of course it was closed. I could've cut my losses here and walked home, but not being very sensible again, I chose not to.
Okay, so lets get back to the party then, resigning ourselves to a sober night (well some of us anyway!). It was no biggy anyway. It was a great night out for a drive, top down, spinning around the Vancouver suburbs close by the marina with a view of the city skyline all lit up in lights. Back at the party, we were taken pity upon and given a cuppla beers by a cuppla guys who looked like they didn't need anymore anyways. Most people were pretty well trolleyed by this stage, evidenced most clearly by Michelle and Paul singing along to a song, using a RUBBER DUCKIE as a microphone!
Paul and Michelle sing karaoke into the Rubber Duckie Microphone...
Not long after that, I got a taxi home, completely forgetting about the 2nd party.
Next day, Saturday, I'd devoted to getting up the Grouse Grind. Grose Mountain is one of three mountains that provide the awesome backdrop to Vancouver. Merely a stones throw across the Burrard Inlet, its a very short bus ride away to the snowfields in winter, and awesome hiking and mountain-biking terrain the rest of the year.
Grouse Mountain...The Grouse Grind begins. Otherwise known as "Mother Nature's Stairmaster From Hell"...
I concede its pretty terrible of me to have this amazing resource at my fingertips and not use it once until now - especially as I had missed the Whistler season.
A word of Warning...
There is one walk in particular that you can do - the Grouse Grind - which is reputedly the most popular day hike in North America. The grind in the title stems from the fact that it is a 933 metre elevation gain squashed into a mere 2.9 Kilometres of trail. Its popular nickname - Mother Nature's Stairmaster from Hell. It is literally like walking stairs - uneven, crooked stairs, for 3 kilometres. It is said that completing it in between 1 and 2 hours is a good effort - altho there are professional sporting events here where the record is some 24 minutes to the top.
Too easy really...48 minutes for me...
My housemate Ceri was up for it too, but after faffing about for ages, we didn't leave the house till after 1pm for the train downtown. Getting there also involved taking the Seabus across the inlet to Lonsdale Quay. Of course, here we decided to stop for lunch, and I wanted some pics of the amazing views, before we hopped on the bus to the mountain base. Another coffee break for me before we started meant that it wasn't until 4pm that we finally took off. Procrastinating? Putting off the inevitable? Fear of the unknown? Who knows, actually?
it's only 2.9 Km long, with an ascent of 933 metres...
I'm in pretty decent shape at the moment - all these 10-20 Kilometre day hikes I've been doing, and cycling everywhere has done me the world of good, so I shouldn't have been too concerned about this piddly little 3 kilometre jobby beforehand. And indeed I really shouldn't have - I nailed it in 53 minutes! Ceri came in at 72 minutes. I still felt pretty fresh at the end too, like i could have done it again.
See how happy I look!...
Getting back home needed to done a little more hastily than getting out - we had another party to get to tonight in Kits. An Aussie Barbeque. Haven't been to one of those since.....well, since i threw one in my house for my birthday last year in Dublin!
Me and my harem, Eryn, Ginny and Jenny (also known as Bruce and Trev...)
This house was decidedly larger than Friday nights party. In fact the house was huge. It was an old style weatherboard - 3 stories, witha front patio and an attic, with a massive backyard thrown in for good measure. The rear verandah was decked out in eucalyptus branches and leaves as well - I could have been back at home! I fell in love with it straight away. Kits is full of these types of houses - its amazing to walk around this suburb just checking out the architecture. There were even more Aussie folk here than last night as well, with once again maybe a couple of locals thrown in for novelty value. The barbie was great, and we even managed to get a little drunk tonight, having remembered to bring the booze. I wasn't gonna go thirsty 2 nights running!!
Aussie House Party in Kitsilano...
Eventually tho, the days events caught up with me, the Grind grinding me down, and weariness setting in, and it was "Home James" by Midnight.
P.S. Was invited to do the Grind again yesterday by my pal Travis and his girlfriend Michelle, so Ceri and I joined them again. Happy to say that I knocked 5 minutes off my time, coming in at 48 minutes (Ceri posting 67mins). We're talking about making this a semi-regular event. Its a great cardio workout - i'm wondering if i can bring my time down to 45 or even 40 minutes!
Tony
Last weekend was busy. To put it mildly. Well, okay, Sunday I was busy being a couch potato, but everything leading up that point was busy...
Friday night was the Snow Patrol gig - I've already written about that. But I was far from ready to call it a night, I was truly buzzing from the post-gig adrenaline that you get when you just experienced something amazing.
I'd been invited to 2 different parties that night, one really close to me in East Van, and one in Kitsilano, thrown by an Aussie workmate, Michelle, which wasn't quite so close. But not being very sensible sometimes, I chose the Kits party first, with an idea that i'd try to get to the East Van one later on.
So I jumped on a bus and got 1/2 way there before i realised that I had no booze with me. So what, you say - just go to a bottle shop or corner store and get some.... Uh-Uh, not here in Vancouver, B.C. If there is one thing that bugs me about this town, its that the liquor stores are all Government run, and they all close at 11pm. End of Story. Thats it....In a word, Bummer.
When I got to the party, a smallish 2 bedroom apartment, it was jumping, crammed in with 20 or 30 odd people there. A quick scan of the room and I knew about 5 or 6 of them, all Aussie, and listening to the chatter, it was all that I could hear. There was one sole Candian, an Irish girl, a smattering of Kiwis I guess, and then alllll Aussie. There were a few more late arrivals along with me, also without booze. Someone drunkenly piped up and said she knew of one bottle shop that was open til Midnight, on Commercial Drive - about 4 blocks from my home. Without thinking too much into, 4 of us made the decision to check it out.
"Jump in my car, I'll drive" says one guy. He was sober, he said, so we all hopped in. This was no ordinary drive tho. His mate had just arrived off the plane from Oz and so he wanted to pick him up form the airport in style, and had hired a Mustang convertible for the day. Red, too, coz red goes faster!! I somehow landed the passenger seat, and then we were off speeding thru the Vancouver streets at close to Midnight to try and find this bottle shop. We seemed to be taking the long way 'round, coz it took forever...
Then all of a sudden, the driver pipes up to his mate "How are them mushrooms kickin' in??" Sure, he was sober, but he was also tripping!! I thought he was a little erratic behind the wheel! No wonder. Anyway, we get to the bottle shop....and of course it was closed. I could've cut my losses here and walked home, but not being very sensible again, I chose not to.
Okay, so lets get back to the party then, resigning ourselves to a sober night (well some of us anyway!). It was no biggy anyway. It was a great night out for a drive, top down, spinning around the Vancouver suburbs close by the marina with a view of the city skyline all lit up in lights. Back at the party, we were taken pity upon and given a cuppla beers by a cuppla guys who looked like they didn't need anymore anyways. Most people were pretty well trolleyed by this stage, evidenced most clearly by Michelle and Paul singing along to a song, using a RUBBER DUCKIE as a microphone!
Paul and Michelle sing karaoke into the Rubber Duckie Microphone...
Not long after that, I got a taxi home, completely forgetting about the 2nd party.
Next day, Saturday, I'd devoted to getting up the Grouse Grind. Grose Mountain is one of three mountains that provide the awesome backdrop to Vancouver. Merely a stones throw across the Burrard Inlet, its a very short bus ride away to the snowfields in winter, and awesome hiking and mountain-biking terrain the rest of the year.
Grouse Mountain...The Grouse Grind begins. Otherwise known as "Mother Nature's Stairmaster From Hell"...
I concede its pretty terrible of me to have this amazing resource at my fingertips and not use it once until now - especially as I had missed the Whistler season.
A word of Warning...
There is one walk in particular that you can do - the Grouse Grind - which is reputedly the most popular day hike in North America. The grind in the title stems from the fact that it is a 933 metre elevation gain squashed into a mere 2.9 Kilometres of trail. Its popular nickname - Mother Nature's Stairmaster from Hell. It is literally like walking stairs - uneven, crooked stairs, for 3 kilometres. It is said that completing it in between 1 and 2 hours is a good effort - altho there are professional sporting events here where the record is some 24 minutes to the top.
Too easy really...48 minutes for me...
My housemate Ceri was up for it too, but after faffing about for ages, we didn't leave the house till after 1pm for the train downtown. Getting there also involved taking the Seabus across the inlet to Lonsdale Quay. Of course, here we decided to stop for lunch, and I wanted some pics of the amazing views, before we hopped on the bus to the mountain base. Another coffee break for me before we started meant that it wasn't until 4pm that we finally took off. Procrastinating? Putting off the inevitable? Fear of the unknown? Who knows, actually?
it's only 2.9 Km long, with an ascent of 933 metres...
I'm in pretty decent shape at the moment - all these 10-20 Kilometre day hikes I've been doing, and cycling everywhere has done me the world of good, so I shouldn't have been too concerned about this piddly little 3 kilometre jobby beforehand. And indeed I really shouldn't have - I nailed it in 53 minutes! Ceri came in at 72 minutes. I still felt pretty fresh at the end too, like i could have done it again.
See how happy I look!...
Getting back home needed to done a little more hastily than getting out - we had another party to get to tonight in Kits. An Aussie Barbeque. Haven't been to one of those since.....well, since i threw one in my house for my birthday last year in Dublin!
Me and my harem, Eryn, Ginny and Jenny (also known as Bruce and Trev...)
This house was decidedly larger than Friday nights party. In fact the house was huge. It was an old style weatherboard - 3 stories, witha front patio and an attic, with a massive backyard thrown in for good measure. The rear verandah was decked out in eucalyptus branches and leaves as well - I could have been back at home! I fell in love with it straight away. Kits is full of these types of houses - its amazing to walk around this suburb just checking out the architecture. There were even more Aussie folk here than last night as well, with once again maybe a couple of locals thrown in for novelty value. The barbie was great, and we even managed to get a little drunk tonight, having remembered to bring the booze. I wasn't gonna go thirsty 2 nights running!!
Aussie House Party in Kitsilano...
Eventually tho, the days events caught up with me, the Grind grinding me down, and weariness setting in, and it was "Home James" by Midnight.
P.S. Was invited to do the Grind again yesterday by my pal Travis and his girlfriend Michelle, so Ceri and I joined them again. Happy to say that I knocked 5 minutes off my time, coming in at 48 minutes (Ceri posting 67mins). We're talking about making this a semi-regular event. Its a great cardio workout - i'm wondering if i can bring my time down to 45 or even 40 minutes!
Tony
Vancouver street activism & community spirit
Hey,
One of the best things i love about living in Vancouver is the vitality, vibrancy, and strong community feeling of it's activist scene. Actually, along with the music scene i mentioned in my last emails, the whole Pacific Northwest region is chock full of alternative-community-activist type groups, right down to Portland, Oregon.
Since i've been here i've become involved in, or attended quite a number of events organised for various reasons. Living in East Vancouver, right by Commercial Drive, I am totally in amongst the thick of the action. This area is a hot-bed for radical thinkers, artists, bohemians, students and is a generally open-minded community.
Just a few weeks ago, there was an event called "Roads Are For Hockey". This is basically a "Reclaim the Streets" styled event, highlighting the need for more public space, generally how the automobile industry has taken over what used to be public space, and more specifically a protest at a proposed highway expansion plan that is set to decimate the area.
A coalition of community groups were co-ordinating this event, namely the Cross Pedestrians (http://www.dotank.org/crosspedestrians), the Work Less Party (www.worklessparty.org) - slogan "Work Less, Consume Less, Live More!!!", with the Adbusters spin-off, Vancouver Culture Jammers (www.adbusters.org) also helping to promote the event.
This oh-so-much-fun event had a one block stretch of Commercial Drive blocked off to all forms of traffic, except buses, and an open public game of field hockey took place. The local police were on hand to direct and maintain traffic around the event, and media of all forms were there to report on this crazy little gathering.
It was on for young and old, literally, as kids as young as 3 or 4 were in there mixing it up with older kids, adults, and pensioners, both men and women. The skill level didn't seem particularly high, but the enrgey and enthusiasm levels certainly were. This particular stretch of road is bordered one side by a public park, and the other side has a range of cafe's, bars and retaurants, and there must have been at least 300 hundred people either taking part in the game or watching from the sidelines. A small number of community and activist groups had stalls open selling wares and promoting causes, a small P.A. system was blasting out fun, up-tempo hockey related songs.
A provincial election is coming up soon, and so the local political hopefuls were in there, from the Greens (not surprising given the nature of the event) to the liberal NDP party and the Conservatives, stating their environmental credentials. It was really quite funny when a bus approached as the chorus "BUS, Game Off!" was shouted out, goals moved to the side of the street, and the bus allowed to pass. Then it was "Game On!!", and normal service resumed.
After the designated hour was up, everything was packed up, and normal traffic was resumed, with the participants all either filling up the cafe's and milling about the park, or heading home.
roads are for hockey.
I've also attended a couple of more bike-activist events in recent times, hooking up with the pseudo-anarchist Maragret Charles Chopper Collective - MC3 (www.mcthree.ca), art-bike collective for another ride around town, and also the monthly Critical Mass (http://www.bikesexual.org/cm/links.htm) ride around the city, held on the last Friday of every month. These rides get madder and crazier every month - this month it was tall-bike jousting - a kind of modern day version of the King Arthurs Knights of the Round Table medieval jousting of centuries past.
Apparently there was a tall-bike jousting festival in Portland earlier this month!
The Critical Mass event is now a worldwide phenomenon, starting back in 1992 in San Francisco. This is both a celebration of bikes and bike culture, promoting cycling as a serious alternative to motorised vehicles as a form of transport. It's better for the environment, healthier for you, and quite often, in peak traffic in big cities, faster. The word quickly spread, and I attended my first Mass in Melbourne in 1994. It comes as no surprise to me that they are here in Vancouver, and regularly well attended. It is billed as a global, simultaneous gathering of like-minded people, celebrating the culture of cycling.
As mentioned, it occurs on the last Friday of every month. So in dozens of cities around the world, there is this huge gathering which then takes off in a mass of two-wheelers for a group ride around the city, typically lasting anywhere from an hour to 3 or 4 hours in length, at a leisurely pace, with a celebratory, festival, carnivale type atmospehere. In Vancouver, There are often 100-200 and more bikers that gather together.
At the last ride, it was the night of the U2 concert, and as thier is usually some kind of theme, for people to get inspired and dressed up in costume, last month it "U 2 can be a rock n roll star". There was the most amazing array of people dressed as their fave rocker, and more than one Bono rubber face mask!
As a foreigner, being a part of these groups and attending events like the Hockey game really makes me feel like a part of a scene, especially now that i've been a few times and people recognise me by name. It's so much fun. I love it.
Talk Soon,
Tony
One of the best things i love about living in Vancouver is the vitality, vibrancy, and strong community feeling of it's activist scene. Actually, along with the music scene i mentioned in my last emails, the whole Pacific Northwest region is chock full of alternative-community-activist type groups, right down to Portland, Oregon.
Since i've been here i've become involved in, or attended quite a number of events organised for various reasons. Living in East Vancouver, right by Commercial Drive, I am totally in amongst the thick of the action. This area is a hot-bed for radical thinkers, artists, bohemians, students and is a generally open-minded community.
Just a few weeks ago, there was an event called "Roads Are For Hockey". This is basically a "Reclaim the Streets" styled event, highlighting the need for more public space, generally how the automobile industry has taken over what used to be public space, and more specifically a protest at a proposed highway expansion plan that is set to decimate the area.
A coalition of community groups were co-ordinating this event, namely the Cross Pedestrians (http://www.dotank.org/crosspedestrians), the Work Less Party (www.worklessparty.org) - slogan "Work Less, Consume Less, Live More!!!", with the Adbusters spin-off, Vancouver Culture Jammers (www.adbusters.org) also helping to promote the event.
This oh-so-much-fun event had a one block stretch of Commercial Drive blocked off to all forms of traffic, except buses, and an open public game of field hockey took place. The local police were on hand to direct and maintain traffic around the event, and media of all forms were there to report on this crazy little gathering.
It was on for young and old, literally, as kids as young as 3 or 4 were in there mixing it up with older kids, adults, and pensioners, both men and women. The skill level didn't seem particularly high, but the enrgey and enthusiasm levels certainly were. This particular stretch of road is bordered one side by a public park, and the other side has a range of cafe's, bars and retaurants, and there must have been at least 300 hundred people either taking part in the game or watching from the sidelines. A small number of community and activist groups had stalls open selling wares and promoting causes, a small P.A. system was blasting out fun, up-tempo hockey related songs.
A provincial election is coming up soon, and so the local political hopefuls were in there, from the Greens (not surprising given the nature of the event) to the liberal NDP party and the Conservatives, stating their environmental credentials. It was really quite funny when a bus approached as the chorus "BUS, Game Off!" was shouted out, goals moved to the side of the street, and the bus allowed to pass. Then it was "Game On!!", and normal service resumed.
After the designated hour was up, everything was packed up, and normal traffic was resumed, with the participants all either filling up the cafe's and milling about the park, or heading home.
roads are for hockey.
I've also attended a couple of more bike-activist events in recent times, hooking up with the pseudo-anarchist Maragret Charles Chopper Collective - MC3 (www.mcthree.ca), art-bike collective for another ride around town, and also the monthly Critical Mass (http://www.bikesexual.org/cm/links.htm) ride around the city, held on the last Friday of every month. These rides get madder and crazier every month - this month it was tall-bike jousting - a kind of modern day version of the King Arthurs Knights of the Round Table medieval jousting of centuries past.
Apparently there was a tall-bike jousting festival in Portland earlier this month!
The Critical Mass event is now a worldwide phenomenon, starting back in 1992 in San Francisco. This is both a celebration of bikes and bike culture, promoting cycling as a serious alternative to motorised vehicles as a form of transport. It's better for the environment, healthier for you, and quite often, in peak traffic in big cities, faster. The word quickly spread, and I attended my first Mass in Melbourne in 1994. It comes as no surprise to me that they are here in Vancouver, and regularly well attended. It is billed as a global, simultaneous gathering of like-minded people, celebrating the culture of cycling.
As mentioned, it occurs on the last Friday of every month. So in dozens of cities around the world, there is this huge gathering which then takes off in a mass of two-wheelers for a group ride around the city, typically lasting anywhere from an hour to 3 or 4 hours in length, at a leisurely pace, with a celebratory, festival, carnivale type atmospehere. In Vancouver, There are often 100-200 and more bikers that gather together.
At the last ride, it was the night of the U2 concert, and as thier is usually some kind of theme, for people to get inspired and dressed up in costume, last month it "U 2 can be a rock n roll star". There was the most amazing array of people dressed as their fave rocker, and more than one Bono rubber face mask!
As a foreigner, being a part of these groups and attending events like the Hockey game really makes me feel like a part of a scene, especially now that i've been a few times and people recognise me by name. It's so much fun. I love it.
Talk Soon,
Tony
gigs gigs gigs! - part 2
'Ight!,
The following Thursday was the Sloan gig, at reputedly vancouver's best live music venue, The Commodore Ballroom on Granville Street. This one of a number of venues on the 'entertainment strip' that has survived and evolved from the hey-day of vaudeville theatre and 50's rock-n-roll dance nights, and reinvented itself as a premiere live music venue.
Sloan hail from Halifax in far eastern Canada, an area once pegged as the next Seattle for all the grunge-pop music coming from the area, and have been around since before Kurt Cobain loaded up his shotgun. They are one of Canada's most enduring and beloved acts. And for good reason - they do, indeed, rock! I was way up the front, and with my camera (of course) got some cool pics of the band strutting thier stuff. Their most famous song "if it feels good, do it" (my personal mantra?) was left til last, and while getting some video of the song, i got a tap on the shoulder from a security guy and summoned to the stage office. The band manager seemed none-too-pleased that I was video-ing the song, apparently thinking that I was a professional photographer out to make a few bob from the pics and video. Sometimes it doesn't pay to have such a high-end camera.
Sloan at The Commodore Ballroom...
In the end he let me go, footage in tact, when i convinced him that i was just a backpacker and a keen amateur, but i'd missed most of my fave song because of it.
That same night, The Sadies were playing at another venue just a few blocks away, and i was told by a local girl, Mel, that I was not to miss this show. And that she would also be there.So i hot-footed over to The Red Room only to find that they'd been on for more than an hour and were just about to start the encore. I convinced the door-staff to let me in for free. And the band then treated us to a 45 minute encore!
The local weekly free street press gig-bible, the Georgia Straight, had also done a write up of this band, which also had me intrigued. Here's an excerpt:
"It's hard to say what we love most about The Sadies. The fact that singer-guitarist and chain-smoking all-round bad-ass Dallas Good looks like he buys his suits from the late Hank Williams is a good start...the Toronto quartet mixes and mashes genres with vicious abandon, spiking its rebel-yell alt-country with shots of Dick Dale surf, post-80's hardcore, and paisley splattered underground folk...The Sadies spend 50 weeks or so of the year stinking and sweating in a claustrophobic van, meaning they are willing to truly suffer for their art. Smell the magic..." Need I say more! They leaned more to the country rockabilly this night, and were entertaining as hell!
Next, on the Friday was Snow Patrol, from Dublin/Belfast/Glasgow - a bit of a Celtic supergroup in their homeland, and a band I came to love while in Dublin, seeing them live in my final weeks there in a sweaty theatre, mixing with the locals way down the front. I wasn't going to miss them again, and went with my pal Ginny, who unfortunately was suffering with flu. Hence, we took seats in the upper balcony, right down the front, a blessing in disguise really.
Snow Patrol at the Vogue Theatre...
This vantage point gave us a an awesome view over the crowd and the band down below, and the incredible lighting show they put on accompanying the sounds, helped make for an exhilarting atmosphere - and great photos! I also nervously video-ed one song (Spitting Games) at the beginning of the set, altho there was no security to hamper my efforts this time.
When the entire audience sang along to the final strains of mega-single "Run", it was superb. Lead singer Gary Lightbody was clearly overwhelmed by this, his cheeky smile beaming from ear to ear.
What a great couple of nights.
Tony
The following Thursday was the Sloan gig, at reputedly vancouver's best live music venue, The Commodore Ballroom on Granville Street. This one of a number of venues on the 'entertainment strip' that has survived and evolved from the hey-day of vaudeville theatre and 50's rock-n-roll dance nights, and reinvented itself as a premiere live music venue.
Sloan hail from Halifax in far eastern Canada, an area once pegged as the next Seattle for all the grunge-pop music coming from the area, and have been around since before Kurt Cobain loaded up his shotgun. They are one of Canada's most enduring and beloved acts. And for good reason - they do, indeed, rock! I was way up the front, and with my camera (of course) got some cool pics of the band strutting thier stuff. Their most famous song "if it feels good, do it" (my personal mantra?) was left til last, and while getting some video of the song, i got a tap on the shoulder from a security guy and summoned to the stage office. The band manager seemed none-too-pleased that I was video-ing the song, apparently thinking that I was a professional photographer out to make a few bob from the pics and video. Sometimes it doesn't pay to have such a high-end camera.
Sloan at The Commodore Ballroom...
In the end he let me go, footage in tact, when i convinced him that i was just a backpacker and a keen amateur, but i'd missed most of my fave song because of it.
That same night, The Sadies were playing at another venue just a few blocks away, and i was told by a local girl, Mel, that I was not to miss this show. And that she would also be there.So i hot-footed over to The Red Room only to find that they'd been on for more than an hour and were just about to start the encore. I convinced the door-staff to let me in for free. And the band then treated us to a 45 minute encore!
The local weekly free street press gig-bible, the Georgia Straight, had also done a write up of this band, which also had me intrigued. Here's an excerpt:
"It's hard to say what we love most about The Sadies. The fact that singer-guitarist and chain-smoking all-round bad-ass Dallas Good looks like he buys his suits from the late Hank Williams is a good start...the Toronto quartet mixes and mashes genres with vicious abandon, spiking its rebel-yell alt-country with shots of Dick Dale surf, post-80's hardcore, and paisley splattered underground folk...The Sadies spend 50 weeks or so of the year stinking and sweating in a claustrophobic van, meaning they are willing to truly suffer for their art. Smell the magic..." Need I say more! They leaned more to the country rockabilly this night, and were entertaining as hell!
Next, on the Friday was Snow Patrol, from Dublin/Belfast/Glasgow - a bit of a Celtic supergroup in their homeland, and a band I came to love while in Dublin, seeing them live in my final weeks there in a sweaty theatre, mixing with the locals way down the front. I wasn't going to miss them again, and went with my pal Ginny, who unfortunately was suffering with flu. Hence, we took seats in the upper balcony, right down the front, a blessing in disguise really.
Snow Patrol at the Vogue Theatre...
This vantage point gave us a an awesome view over the crowd and the band down below, and the incredible lighting show they put on accompanying the sounds, helped make for an exhilarting atmosphere - and great photos! I also nervously video-ed one song (Spitting Games) at the beginning of the set, altho there was no security to hamper my efforts this time.
When the entire audience sang along to the final strains of mega-single "Run", it was superb. Lead singer Gary Lightbody was clearly overwhelmed by this, his cheeky smile beaming from ear to ear.
What a great couple of nights.
Tony
gigs gigs gigs! - part 1
hey-o,
Picture this. A small room with cluster of chairs set up in a circle formation with a group of bedraggled, strung out looking folks of varying ages, sexes, nationalities, and race. At the entrance to this room is an A4 sized sheet of paper with the words "M A ANON meeting here, 7pm".
One of those people is a shaven headed, skinny, 30 year old from Melbourne, and he gets to speak...
"Hi, My name is Tony, and I'm a music addict"
Well, this scenario didn't actually happen, but it may well have, because I have seriously been investing a lot of time, energy and money in the music scene recently, probably too much, and possibly at the expense of my health (well, the health of my credit cards at least). Typical signs of an addict.
In the past two weeks, I have seen live - a seminal indie-pop Candian band in Sloan (www.sloanmusic.com), an up-and-coming and looming to be super-group huge Irish rock band, Snow Patrol (www.snowpatrol.net), an already super-group irish band, U2 (yay!), a rockabilly, country-hick outfit, The Sadies (self descirbed as "not your average surf, garage, country, rock band " - www.thesadies.net ) - (funny as hell, in a slap-yer-thigh, take-yer-partner-by-the-hand kinda way), and a bunch of local small time acts (Maplewood Lane (http://www.maplewoodlane.com), Radiogram (http://www.radiogram.org), and Joel R L Phelps (http://www.joelrlphelps.com) ) at the cool-as-feck bar The Railway Club (http://www.therailwayclub.com). On top of this, I have invested money in tickets for upcoming shows by Built To Spill (www.builttospill.com), The Waifs (www.thewaifs.com), from Perth, Oz - yay! again), and Architecture In Helsinki (www.architectureinhelsinki.com) from Melbourne, Oz). Oh, and not forgetting to mention the investment in cdee's by bands Death Cab For Cutie (www.deathcabforcutie.com), The Mountain Goats (www.themountaingoats.net), and The Eels (www.eelstheband.com) and a Barsuk records (www.barsuk.com) sampler cdee.
This obsession-addiction with bands and live music has been with me for a dozen years now, and has followed me around the globe. Not helping in any way, shape or form, is the fact that i'm am living practically in the epicentre of one of the coolest music and band producing regions on the planet, The Pacific-Northwest of North America. Also not helping is my discovery of possibly the coolest radio station on the planet, KEXP FM, from the University of Washington in Seattle. That I can listen to this via internet streaming 24 hours a day is certainly is also of no help. That this station continually churns out awesome song after awesome song, and introduces me to a new band almost every hour, and that this new band will typically be touring in town very shortly - no helping me there.
But the biggest obstacle of all, is the fact that there is no way on Gods earth do I want to give up this obsession-addiction, its waaaaaayy too much fun!
Any wonder i'm coming home early...but my thinking is that I want to maximise the fun factor while i'm here in the limited time I have left.
Another common occurrence in my life recently is the 'bizarre coincedence'. The Lisa/Before Sunset was one - here is another, altho with not quite the same level of cosmic significance.
When I was at the U2 video shoot, I was seated next to a couple from Winnipeg, Manitoba, who were here for the U2 gig, but also to visit pals who were doing a gig that Saturday night. I was invited along, and as I had nothng else on that night, decided to go. It was the "Radiogram" Railway Club gig.
Anyway, one of the supports I thought sounded like the singer from The Posies. This reminded me that i have their 1996 album 'Amazing Disgrace' cdee at home in Australia, and it so happens my housemate also has it here. I hadn't thought about the band in ages - I actually thought they'd split. As far as I knew, they'd done not a whole lot in recent years.
So, when i got home I listened to the cdee, and checked out their website, which announced they'd be doing an in-studio live performance on KEXP FM on my new fave DJ, Cheryl Waters' show the following morning.
As I said, not hugely life changing, but the chain of events was kinda eery.
(in hindsight tho, I had the voice completely misplaced at the time - Joel actually sounds more like Adam Duritz from Counting Crows than The Posies fella).
more in a mo.
Picture this. A small room with cluster of chairs set up in a circle formation with a group of bedraggled, strung out looking folks of varying ages, sexes, nationalities, and race. At the entrance to this room is an A4 sized sheet of paper with the words "M A ANON meeting here, 7pm".
One of those people is a shaven headed, skinny, 30 year old from Melbourne, and he gets to speak...
"Hi, My name is Tony, and I'm a music addict"
Well, this scenario didn't actually happen, but it may well have, because I have seriously been investing a lot of time, energy and money in the music scene recently, probably too much, and possibly at the expense of my health (well, the health of my credit cards at least). Typical signs of an addict.
In the past two weeks, I have seen live - a seminal indie-pop Candian band in Sloan (www.sloanmusic.com), an up-and-coming and looming to be super-group huge Irish rock band, Snow Patrol (www.snowpatrol.net), an already super-group irish band, U2 (yay!), a rockabilly, country-hick outfit, The Sadies (self descirbed as "not your average surf, garage, country, rock band " - www.thesadies.net ) - (funny as hell, in a slap-yer-thigh, take-yer-partner-by-the-hand kinda way), and a bunch of local small time acts (Maplewood Lane (http://www.maplewoodlane.com), Radiogram (http://www.radiogram.org), and Joel R L Phelps (http://www.joelrlphelps.com) ) at the cool-as-feck bar The Railway Club (http://www.therailwayclub.com). On top of this, I have invested money in tickets for upcoming shows by Built To Spill (www.builttospill.com), The Waifs (www.thewaifs.com), from Perth, Oz - yay! again), and Architecture In Helsinki (www.architectureinhelsinki.com) from Melbourne, Oz). Oh, and not forgetting to mention the investment in cdee's by bands Death Cab For Cutie (www.deathcabforcutie.com), The Mountain Goats (www.themountaingoats.net), and The Eels (www.eelstheband.com) and a Barsuk records (www.barsuk.com) sampler cdee.
This obsession-addiction with bands and live music has been with me for a dozen years now, and has followed me around the globe. Not helping in any way, shape or form, is the fact that i'm am living practically in the epicentre of one of the coolest music and band producing regions on the planet, The Pacific-Northwest of North America. Also not helping is my discovery of possibly the coolest radio station on the planet, KEXP FM, from the University of Washington in Seattle. That I can listen to this via internet streaming 24 hours a day is certainly is also of no help. That this station continually churns out awesome song after awesome song, and introduces me to a new band almost every hour, and that this new band will typically be touring in town very shortly - no helping me there.
But the biggest obstacle of all, is the fact that there is no way on Gods earth do I want to give up this obsession-addiction, its waaaaaayy too much fun!
Any wonder i'm coming home early...but my thinking is that I want to maximise the fun factor while i'm here in the limited time I have left.
Another common occurrence in my life recently is the 'bizarre coincedence'. The Lisa/Before Sunset was one - here is another, altho with not quite the same level of cosmic significance.
When I was at the U2 video shoot, I was seated next to a couple from Winnipeg, Manitoba, who were here for the U2 gig, but also to visit pals who were doing a gig that Saturday night. I was invited along, and as I had nothng else on that night, decided to go. It was the "Radiogram" Railway Club gig.
Anyway, one of the supports I thought sounded like the singer from The Posies. This reminded me that i have their 1996 album 'Amazing Disgrace' cdee at home in Australia, and it so happens my housemate also has it here. I hadn't thought about the band in ages - I actually thought they'd split. As far as I knew, they'd done not a whole lot in recent years.
So, when i got home I listened to the cdee, and checked out their website, which announced they'd be doing an in-studio live performance on KEXP FM on my new fave DJ, Cheryl Waters' show the following morning.
As I said, not hugely life changing, but the chain of events was kinda eery.
(in hindsight tho, I had the voice completely misplaced at the time - Joel actually sounds more like Adam Duritz from Counting Crows than The Posies fella).
more in a mo.
Saturday, May 14, 2005
Friday, May 13, 2005
Monday, May 09, 2005
U2 up close and personal
hey,
it's a busy day for emails!....it'd been a few weeks since i last wrote, and i've been a busy boy in more ways than one in that time.
U2 came to town a week or so ago. For those of you who don't know, when i was a teenager, i was THE BIGGEST U2 geek-obsessive around. My bedroom was a living, breathing shrine to Bono and the boys. And then, when I was living in Dublin and my house was around the corner from the High School where they all met, and just a stones throw from their childhood neighbourhood, my 15-year old U2 geek came back out in me again.
Now, in Vancouver, just a month into thier gargantuan world-tour, U2 reappear in my life. When tickets were announced back in Feb, and they were only C$50, I was ecstatic. Of course they sold out 2 shows of the 25000 capacity GM Place arena in 15 mnutes, and I missed out. Enter stage right into my life the world of e-bay, something I was aware of but never paid much attention to. U2 ticket auctions were wildfire, some going into the stratosphere price wise. Several hundred dollars U.S. and more. Nevertheless, I wanted a ticket.....bad. So, I put down bids on no less than 40 auctions, but put a personal limit of C$100 down. I wasn't going to pay too much over the odds, and I figure $100 is roughly the cost if they toured Melbourne. And, to be honest, my fan-dom had diminished quite a great deal over the years, and I wouldn't have been totally crushed if I missed out.
Anyways, I got lucky....very, very lucky. I got my ticket for C$62! Upper bowl, to the left and slightly behind the stage tho, but reasonably close to the stage in the general scheme of things. At least I wasn't way, way, way back at the rear of the arena. So, that was 2 months ago...2months of waiting before my beloved U2 came to town.
As it got closer, the vibe around town got increasingly excited. The band had set up shop for 3 weeks to rehearse the show before the tour officially started, and U2-spotting became a mini-sport amongst the cities citizens in that time. The city as a result fell in love with the band. So when, the day before the first gig, U2 publicly announced that they would be shooting a live concert video of their next single, City of Blinding Lights, and needed 4000 extras to make up the audience, there was palpable pandemonium. Be at GM Place, Gate 7, at 4pm was the word, spreading like wildfire.
I am ever so grateful for the email i recieved from a buddy as I would never have known otherwise. I knock off work at 3.30pm every day, and so I was out the door, in a flash, got the train up to Stadium station, ran up the stairs and sprinted around to make sure i got a coveted wristband that would garner me entry. In reality, there was no need for quite such a rush.....I spent the next 3 hours standing in the queue, in the blinding sun (with my newly shaved head copping a beating), before we were eventually let in at 7pm.
What happened next was truly quite awesome (for the 15-year old U2 fan in me anyways). We were seated to the right of stage in the section neaest the stage, virtually within touching distance. The band came out, and ran thru 4 versions of the new single, with us 4000 U2-freaks cheering and clapping and making sure the live vibe was as realistic as possible while the numerous cameras captured the moment. As you'd expect, there was a sizeable Irish contingent in the audience and several tri-colour flags adding to the colur and the spectacle. Next we were all moved down into the centre floor section and U2 performed 2 more renditions of the song. As a thank you to us, they then did a mini-concert, playing another 3 songs from the latest album. Heaven. On a stick. Truly. Without realising it, it was 11pm before we got out of their. 4 hours. where the hell did the time go!!??! time flies when yer having fun!
The gig the following night was pretty good, too, with the band putting in their usual professional performance, playing a LOT of really old tunes from the first 2 or 3 albums, which was really cool actually, and had the crowd in the palm of thier hand for 2 and a bit hours. But, to be honest, I think I had way more fun at the video shoot. Something out of the ordinary, unusual, a one-off, never to be repeated experience. this is what we live and travel for right? Damn right!
talk soon,
tony
p.s. below is a brief local paper article on the video shoot gig...i couldn't sum it up any better!
http://www.thetyee.ca/Entertainment/2005/04/28/UCU22/
TheTyee.ca
"This is like a club gig," says Bono during the shooting of the video for U2's upcoming single.
In many ways it did feel like a small show -- there weren't even 4,000 of us at GM Place last night. After a surprise lunchtime announcement that you could be in a U2 video just by lining up at the Garage, I jumped at the opportunity.
By turning Vancouver into a city of blinding lights, U2 treated their fans to an up close and personal show, and treated the band to thousands of unpaid extras.
Aside from my ancestors, I think U2 is the greatest thing to come out of Ireland. I didn't get tickets to any of their shows, but I did hear the announcement about being in their video.
So at one o'clock I headed to GM Place where some 60 people were already in line. Some came on bikes, others on skateboards, by car or on foot. We leaned against the building and talked about what could possibly happen at a music video shoot.
Hot show. Really hot.
Ontario native Carlene McGowan was on her way to Mount Seymour when she and her cousins heard the announcement on the radio.
"They turned to me and asked 'what would you rather do?'" says the 24-year-old.
Before even entering the building, the elementary school teacher had already declared the experience the highlight of her trip.
It wasn't the lure of being on camera that drew McGowan to the video shoot, she just wanted to see the quartet perform.
"I'm so impressed they're doing this," she says. "I can't believe you don't have to have a ticket."
Tour guide Kelsey Torok had never seen U2 perform, though he's been a fan for as long as he can remember.
"When my friend called to tell me about this, I dropped everything, threw on a change of clothes, hopped on the seabus and got over here," he says.
"I've never been a part of anything like this before," says the 26-year-old. "I like U2, I like their music -- I'm hoping this will be a good experience."
Several hours later people were not in as high spirits. The sun had turned many pink. I was dehydrated and hungry.
Play it again! And again?
It seemed we were stuck in a moment we couldn't get out of. We didn't know when we would be let inside -- we were being told three o'clock, then possibly four o'clock, then definitely five.
By six I still hadn't found what I was looking for -- a golden wristband that would earn me a spot on the floor.
It was nearly seven before my hours in the sun paid off. I clamoured over people trying to clamour over me and got a wristband.
Inside the Garage the atmosphere was very different from any other concert I'd seen there. The place felt nearly empty. Very calm. There were no food vendors, no music, no rush to get to your seats.
Once in our assigned sections, there was more waiting. Had I not been hungry and tired and thirsty and cranky, I would have been really excited.
I didn't realize how unique the situation was until guitarist The Edge, bassist Adam Clayton and drummer Larry Mullen Jr. came onstage.
Then I noticed Bono had snuck onto the ring-shaped outer stage.
U2 broke into the first of six renditions of "City of Blinding Lights." I won't be able to listen to that song for a very long time.
Beautiful day
Though he was wearing his shades and I couldn't quite tell where he was looking, I swear Bono flashed a peace sign right at me. It was the sweetest thing.
I was right up against the barricade as Bono began to sing "City of Blinding Lights" for the last time, while the audience was showered with confetti.
People seemed to forget about the cameras in their face as they stretched their hands out to the frontman.
As a thank you set, U2 broke into "Vertigo," followed by "All Because of You," and finished with "Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own," which Bono dedicated to his father.
Afterwards a few people were chatting, but the rest of us seemed a little stunned. Or maybe just tired. At 11 o'clock, I was ready to go home.
"That was awesome," Torok says. And it really was.
Huge band. Huge venue. Small show feel.
I doubt I'll be in any shots, but when the video is released, rest assured I'll pause every single frame and play Where's Kelso?
Sure it was a mock concert, but it just might have been even better than the real thing.
And here's some more links to check out...
http://atu2.blogspot.com/2005_04_01_atu2_archive.html
http://www.u2tours.com/detail.src?ID=20050427
http://www.u2tours.com/detail.src?ID=20050428
http://www.u2tours.com/detail.src?ID=20050428
April 27, 2005posted by: m2
@U2 staff were on hand tonight for the "City of Blinding Lights" video shoot at General Motors Place and will soon file a report about a long and difficult day to the @U2 Blog.
For now, here's the setlist as we've posted it on U2tours.com:
City of Blinding Lights
City of Blinding Lights
Hokey Pokey
City of Blinding Lights
City of Blinding Lights
City of Blinding Lights
City of Blinding Lights
Vertigo
All Because of You
Sometimes You Can't Make It on Your Own (encore)
it's a busy day for emails!....it'd been a few weeks since i last wrote, and i've been a busy boy in more ways than one in that time.
U2 came to town a week or so ago. For those of you who don't know, when i was a teenager, i was THE BIGGEST U2 geek-obsessive around. My bedroom was a living, breathing shrine to Bono and the boys. And then, when I was living in Dublin and my house was around the corner from the High School where they all met, and just a stones throw from their childhood neighbourhood, my 15-year old U2 geek came back out in me again.
Now, in Vancouver, just a month into thier gargantuan world-tour, U2 reappear in my life. When tickets were announced back in Feb, and they were only C$50, I was ecstatic. Of course they sold out 2 shows of the 25000 capacity GM Place arena in 15 mnutes, and I missed out. Enter stage right into my life the world of e-bay, something I was aware of but never paid much attention to. U2 ticket auctions were wildfire, some going into the stratosphere price wise. Several hundred dollars U.S. and more. Nevertheless, I wanted a ticket.....bad. So, I put down bids on no less than 40 auctions, but put a personal limit of C$100 down. I wasn't going to pay too much over the odds, and I figure $100 is roughly the cost if they toured Melbourne. And, to be honest, my fan-dom had diminished quite a great deal over the years, and I wouldn't have been totally crushed if I missed out.
Anyways, I got lucky....very, very lucky. I got my ticket for C$62! Upper bowl, to the left and slightly behind the stage tho, but reasonably close to the stage in the general scheme of things. At least I wasn't way, way, way back at the rear of the arena. So, that was 2 months ago...2months of waiting before my beloved U2 came to town.
As it got closer, the vibe around town got increasingly excited. The band had set up shop for 3 weeks to rehearse the show before the tour officially started, and U2-spotting became a mini-sport amongst the cities citizens in that time. The city as a result fell in love with the band. So when, the day before the first gig, U2 publicly announced that they would be shooting a live concert video of their next single, City of Blinding Lights, and needed 4000 extras to make up the audience, there was palpable pandemonium. Be at GM Place, Gate 7, at 4pm was the word, spreading like wildfire.
I am ever so grateful for the email i recieved from a buddy as I would never have known otherwise. I knock off work at 3.30pm every day, and so I was out the door, in a flash, got the train up to Stadium station, ran up the stairs and sprinted around to make sure i got a coveted wristband that would garner me entry. In reality, there was no need for quite such a rush.....I spent the next 3 hours standing in the queue, in the blinding sun (with my newly shaved head copping a beating), before we were eventually let in at 7pm.
What happened next was truly quite awesome (for the 15-year old U2 fan in me anyways). We were seated to the right of stage in the section neaest the stage, virtually within touching distance. The band came out, and ran thru 4 versions of the new single, with us 4000 U2-freaks cheering and clapping and making sure the live vibe was as realistic as possible while the numerous cameras captured the moment. As you'd expect, there was a sizeable Irish contingent in the audience and several tri-colour flags adding to the colur and the spectacle. Next we were all moved down into the centre floor section and U2 performed 2 more renditions of the song. As a thank you to us, they then did a mini-concert, playing another 3 songs from the latest album. Heaven. On a stick. Truly. Without realising it, it was 11pm before we got out of their. 4 hours. where the hell did the time go!!??! time flies when yer having fun!
The gig the following night was pretty good, too, with the band putting in their usual professional performance, playing a LOT of really old tunes from the first 2 or 3 albums, which was really cool actually, and had the crowd in the palm of thier hand for 2 and a bit hours. But, to be honest, I think I had way more fun at the video shoot. Something out of the ordinary, unusual, a one-off, never to be repeated experience. this is what we live and travel for right? Damn right!
talk soon,
tony
p.s. below is a brief local paper article on the video shoot gig...i couldn't sum it up any better!
http://www.thetyee.ca/Entertainment/2005/04/28/UCU22/
TheTyee.ca
"This is like a club gig," says Bono during the shooting of the video for U2's upcoming single.
In many ways it did feel like a small show -- there weren't even 4,000 of us at GM Place last night. After a surprise lunchtime announcement that you could be in a U2 video just by lining up at the Garage, I jumped at the opportunity.
By turning Vancouver into a city of blinding lights, U2 treated their fans to an up close and personal show, and treated the band to thousands of unpaid extras.
Aside from my ancestors, I think U2 is the greatest thing to come out of Ireland. I didn't get tickets to any of their shows, but I did hear the announcement about being in their video.
So at one o'clock I headed to GM Place where some 60 people were already in line. Some came on bikes, others on skateboards, by car or on foot. We leaned against the building and talked about what could possibly happen at a music video shoot.
Hot show. Really hot.
Ontario native Carlene McGowan was on her way to Mount Seymour when she and her cousins heard the announcement on the radio.
"They turned to me and asked 'what would you rather do?'" says the 24-year-old.
Before even entering the building, the elementary school teacher had already declared the experience the highlight of her trip.
It wasn't the lure of being on camera that drew McGowan to the video shoot, she just wanted to see the quartet perform.
"I'm so impressed they're doing this," she says. "I can't believe you don't have to have a ticket."
Tour guide Kelsey Torok had never seen U2 perform, though he's been a fan for as long as he can remember.
"When my friend called to tell me about this, I dropped everything, threw on a change of clothes, hopped on the seabus and got over here," he says.
"I've never been a part of anything like this before," says the 26-year-old. "I like U2, I like their music -- I'm hoping this will be a good experience."
Several hours later people were not in as high spirits. The sun had turned many pink. I was dehydrated and hungry.
Play it again! And again?
It seemed we were stuck in a moment we couldn't get out of. We didn't know when we would be let inside -- we were being told three o'clock, then possibly four o'clock, then definitely five.
By six I still hadn't found what I was looking for -- a golden wristband that would earn me a spot on the floor.
It was nearly seven before my hours in the sun paid off. I clamoured over people trying to clamour over me and got a wristband.
Inside the Garage the atmosphere was very different from any other concert I'd seen there. The place felt nearly empty. Very calm. There were no food vendors, no music, no rush to get to your seats.
Once in our assigned sections, there was more waiting. Had I not been hungry and tired and thirsty and cranky, I would have been really excited.
I didn't realize how unique the situation was until guitarist The Edge, bassist Adam Clayton and drummer Larry Mullen Jr. came onstage.
Then I noticed Bono had snuck onto the ring-shaped outer stage.
U2 broke into the first of six renditions of "City of Blinding Lights." I won't be able to listen to that song for a very long time.
Beautiful day
Though he was wearing his shades and I couldn't quite tell where he was looking, I swear Bono flashed a peace sign right at me. It was the sweetest thing.
I was right up against the barricade as Bono began to sing "City of Blinding Lights" for the last time, while the audience was showered with confetti.
People seemed to forget about the cameras in their face as they stretched their hands out to the frontman.
As a thank you set, U2 broke into "Vertigo," followed by "All Because of You," and finished with "Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own," which Bono dedicated to his father.
Afterwards a few people were chatting, but the rest of us seemed a little stunned. Or maybe just tired. At 11 o'clock, I was ready to go home.
"That was awesome," Torok says. And it really was.
Huge band. Huge venue. Small show feel.
I doubt I'll be in any shots, but when the video is released, rest assured I'll pause every single frame and play Where's Kelso?
Sure it was a mock concert, but it just might have been even better than the real thing.
And here's some more links to check out...
http://atu2.blogspot.com/2005_04_01_atu2_archive.html
http://www.u2tours.com/detail.src?ID=20050427
http://www.u2tours.com/detail.src?ID=20050428
http://www.u2tours.com/detail.src?ID=20050428
April 27, 2005posted by: m2
@U2 staff were on hand tonight for the "City of Blinding Lights" video shoot at General Motors Place and will soon file a report about a long and difficult day to the @U2 Blog.
For now, here's the setlist as we've posted it on U2tours.com:
City of Blinding Lights
City of Blinding Lights
Hokey Pokey
City of Blinding Lights
City of Blinding Lights
City of Blinding Lights
City of Blinding Lights
Vertigo
All Because of You
Sometimes You Can't Make It on Your Own (encore)
Big News!
Hi all,
well, some of you know this already via one-on-one emails, but for the rest of you......
I'M GOING HOME!
For a combination of reasons, but money (and lack thereof - or more to the point, a rapidly diminishing available credit on my 3 credit cards!...) being the main one.
It's not a decision that i'm entirely happy with. In fact, to be totally honest, i'm not sure at all how I feel about it....happy, sad, disappointed, excited, angry, nervous - a little bit of each emotion all in the same breath. But mostly nervous to be honest....so much has changed in my friends and families lives since i left. how will i fit in.
I guess you would have read my last batch of 3 emails, and i suppose that gives some kind of indication of what emotional point i was at.
In truth, i think i booked the ticket in a moment of weakness. After the troublesome period with little decent work, the idea of going home entered my head - all was not nice in paradise at the time - and even tho I have since secured a decent work contract and things are on the up again, the seed of the thought was planted, and I really couldn't shake it. The clincher was when i was in a Flight Centre office making general enquiries and a deal that honestly couldn't be refused was on offer.
The thought process was that I wanted to make sure I had a flight home in the event that my funds totally dried up, and so i booked it.
There is one small problem with this tho - and i hope it doesn't come back and bite me on the bum.......given that its such a sweet deal, it has very restrictive conditions placed on it.....NON-TRANSFERABLE, NO REFUND POSSIBLE, NO DATE CHANGES ACCEPTED (NOT EVEN WITH ADDITIONAL FEES).
Why is this a problem? Well, because the dates I have chosen are quite a ways away, and the plans for the duration of my last few months are quite busy.
So the details?
28th August: Fly to San Francisco.
30th August - September 5th: backpacker company "Green Tortoise" trip out to the Nevada desert for a 5-day arts & music camp & wierdness festival called 'Burning Man" (http://www.burningman.com) .....I'll write more about this another time, but its gonna be nuts!!
September 6th - October 4th - travelling around California and Arizona, taking in visits to friends in Oakland, Carmel/Monterey on the So Cal coast, Los Angeles and Phoenix, as well as seeing San Diego, a quick jaunt over the border to Mexico for a few days (possibly on my birthday, Sept 22nd), and of course Las Vegas.
October 5th: Fly home to Melbourne.
Pretty mad huh? I'm looking forward to it, but i'm also crossing my fingers that the money will be there (i'm estimating $3000 for the trip)
Anyways, arriving home on October 7th (i lose a day....i want my day back!!), i would have been away from home 2 years, 3 months and 2 days. SO, thats 823 days..... (okay Mabs, i concede...mate, you win!! 1100-odd days on the road was always gonna be a huge total to overhaul ;-) )
In the meantime, I've got a 6-day trip out to Banff in the Rocky Mountains, encompassing a quick visit to Calgary to catch up with a good buddy Tricia from my Edinburgh bar-tending days, and hopefully a week or a long-weekend over on Vancouver Island.
What will I miss out on from my plans?....a lot. In America, I was gonna swing down to Yellowstone National Park (another Asia-travelling buddy, Alison, down there in Cody, Wyoming, yee-haw!), I was gonna drop right on down to New Orleans to suss out the jazz and blues and general crazy-ass music scene they got goin' on down there, and the real biggy that i'm majorly sad to miss out on - New York. Damn.
My Canada misisons to Montreal and Toronto, and up to Whitehorse in the Yukon are scrapped (sorry Matt. maybe another time) - and Alaska was only a hop-skip-and a jump from there too...
But, as people keep telling me, I can always come back. I've had a good run.
Anyways, thats the latest.
Talk soon,
Tony
well, some of you know this already via one-on-one emails, but for the rest of you......
I'M GOING HOME!
For a combination of reasons, but money (and lack thereof - or more to the point, a rapidly diminishing available credit on my 3 credit cards!...) being the main one.
It's not a decision that i'm entirely happy with. In fact, to be totally honest, i'm not sure at all how I feel about it....happy, sad, disappointed, excited, angry, nervous - a little bit of each emotion all in the same breath. But mostly nervous to be honest....so much has changed in my friends and families lives since i left. how will i fit in.
I guess you would have read my last batch of 3 emails, and i suppose that gives some kind of indication of what emotional point i was at.
In truth, i think i booked the ticket in a moment of weakness. After the troublesome period with little decent work, the idea of going home entered my head - all was not nice in paradise at the time - and even tho I have since secured a decent work contract and things are on the up again, the seed of the thought was planted, and I really couldn't shake it. The clincher was when i was in a Flight Centre office making general enquiries and a deal that honestly couldn't be refused was on offer.
The thought process was that I wanted to make sure I had a flight home in the event that my funds totally dried up, and so i booked it.
There is one small problem with this tho - and i hope it doesn't come back and bite me on the bum.......given that its such a sweet deal, it has very restrictive conditions placed on it.....NON-TRANSFERABLE, NO REFUND POSSIBLE, NO DATE CHANGES ACCEPTED (NOT EVEN WITH ADDITIONAL FEES).
Why is this a problem? Well, because the dates I have chosen are quite a ways away, and the plans for the duration of my last few months are quite busy.
So the details?
28th August: Fly to San Francisco.
30th August - September 5th: backpacker company "Green Tortoise" trip out to the Nevada desert for a 5-day arts & music camp & wierdness festival called 'Burning Man" (http://www.burningman.com) .....I'll write more about this another time, but its gonna be nuts!!
September 6th - October 4th - travelling around California and Arizona, taking in visits to friends in Oakland, Carmel/Monterey on the So Cal coast, Los Angeles and Phoenix, as well as seeing San Diego, a quick jaunt over the border to Mexico for a few days (possibly on my birthday, Sept 22nd), and of course Las Vegas.
October 5th: Fly home to Melbourne.
Pretty mad huh? I'm looking forward to it, but i'm also crossing my fingers that the money will be there (i'm estimating $3000 for the trip)
Anyways, arriving home on October 7th (i lose a day....i want my day back!!), i would have been away from home 2 years, 3 months and 2 days. SO, thats 823 days..... (okay Mabs, i concede...mate, you win!! 1100-odd days on the road was always gonna be a huge total to overhaul ;-) )
In the meantime, I've got a 6-day trip out to Banff in the Rocky Mountains, encompassing a quick visit to Calgary to catch up with a good buddy Tricia from my Edinburgh bar-tending days, and hopefully a week or a long-weekend over on Vancouver Island.
What will I miss out on from my plans?....a lot. In America, I was gonna swing down to Yellowstone National Park (another Asia-travelling buddy, Alison, down there in Cody, Wyoming, yee-haw!), I was gonna drop right on down to New Orleans to suss out the jazz and blues and general crazy-ass music scene they got goin' on down there, and the real biggy that i'm majorly sad to miss out on - New York. Damn.
My Canada misisons to Montreal and Toronto, and up to Whitehorse in the Yukon are scrapped (sorry Matt. maybe another time) - and Alaska was only a hop-skip-and a jump from there too...
But, as people keep telling me, I can always come back. I've had a good run.
Anyways, thats the latest.
Talk soon,
Tony
life's ups and downs - metaphorical and literal, part 3
G'day again,
So the weekend exertions over and done with, come Monday morning I was to front up for the first day of my new contract job. I'm now with a company called CDS - Canadian Depository for Securities, a kind of holding company or middle man for stockbrokers trading shares, and thus far it has been pretty dull, loads of excel spreadsheets and data entry, and a rather steep learning curve. As I write i'm in my 3rd week and still pretty much have no idea what I or the company do.
Going out for dinner during the week for a friends' friend's birthday,
I met some lads who were heading to Whistler the following weekend, and I cheekily asked if there was room for an tag-along. "sure, the more the merrier!" I still hadn't been up to the legendary mountain in 2 months of living here, and this was a great opportunity to do so. Altho, I still didn't see any ski or boarding action. I soon learned that this was going to be purely a clubbing-pubbing-drinking weekend! British DJ Josh Winks (????) was headlining a club night up there and was the main focal point of the trip for these lads, and therefore me.
heading off straight after work on friday, there was fellow aussies Mick and Ricky, and Brits John and Andy. Mick had struck it lucky and bought a Toyota Corolla for $500 and so the only transport cost was fuel. nice!
2 and a 1/2 hours later, and we were in Whistler village. We quickly checked in to the Shoestring Lodge and hit the hostel bar, The Boot Pub. Unbeknown to us (honestly), Friday nights are stripper nights, with a temporary walkway-stage and fireman's pole installed. Never one to turn down such an opportunity, we parked ourselves at a table and began the long night ahead of us in style. Venturing into the village proper, it was teeming with people, bars and pubs chock full of revellers, and spilling out into the street - a real carnivale party atmospehere. Apparently its like this every night of the week in the peak of the season - if you live here, whether as a local or a random Aussie backpacking ski-bunny, its pure madness. Needless to say we lads took to it like a duck to water, cruising a few bars and ending up at some Cuban cantina styled basement bar.
when we left at closing it was snowing!....it was funny, but it was so nice to be standing about outside the bar chatting away to strangers with huge snowflakes falling about our feet and on our clothes and hair. back at the hostel i got some great pics from the open window of our dorm, and then the next morning a thin blanket of white covered everything outside. as i knew i wouldn't be getting up the slopes, it was nice to see at least a little bit of snow.
the Saturday morning saw my first real glimpse of Whistler village, and its pretty much as i was told it would be - a kind of plastic, synthetic, homogenised ski resort - everything about the architecture reminded me of a giant play-lego set, or a hyper-real Hollywood-ised version of what a European ski resort is supposed to look like. Needless to say, its totally set up for maximum fun levels, with everything a ski-bunny could possibly want at his/her disposal. After checking all this out, having a huge fry-up brekky and going for a little drive around the area, we decided to see out the afternoon from the patio of one of the copious numbers of bars in the village, and slowly drink away our hangovers.
Finally,mid-evening, the event of the weekend was upon us, Whistler's huge convention centre converted into a club of epic proportions for the guest DJ Josh Winks from England (who, to be honest i am not at all familiar with). We were already suitably alcohol fuelled from the afternoon, and all that was left was to find some further chemical stimulus, which to no suprise at all, materialised within about 20minutes of being inside. Disco biscuits all round! The beverage of choice for the rest of the night then? - water.
DJ Josh Winks has some talent. He played a good long set of funky hard house, a little bit of euphoric electro thrown in for god measure. well, again to be honest, i don't really know - i just remember dancing hard aalllllll night, and again got some good pics of us getting particularly well-melted! (more 'up' of the email's title).......and then it was over! as usually happens in this scenario, the night flew by before our very dilated pupils.
Come Sunday, we weren't well at all, and the general consensus was to skip the Sunday and just head back to Van. 11am check out, and we were on the road by 11.15, and i was home and in my bed by 2pm, to sleep the rest of the day away. I guess i'm not as young as i used to be!
well, i guess this pretty much concludes this epic....another mad emotional roller-coaster period in my travelling life.
take care,
tony
So the weekend exertions over and done with, come Monday morning I was to front up for the first day of my new contract job. I'm now with a company called CDS - Canadian Depository for Securities, a kind of holding company or middle man for stockbrokers trading shares, and thus far it has been pretty dull, loads of excel spreadsheets and data entry, and a rather steep learning curve. As I write i'm in my 3rd week and still pretty much have no idea what I or the company do.
Going out for dinner during the week for a friends' friend's birthday,
I met some lads who were heading to Whistler the following weekend, and I cheekily asked if there was room for an tag-along. "sure, the more the merrier!" I still hadn't been up to the legendary mountain in 2 months of living here, and this was a great opportunity to do so. Altho, I still didn't see any ski or boarding action. I soon learned that this was going to be purely a clubbing-pubbing-drinking weekend! British DJ Josh Winks (????) was headlining a club night up there and was the main focal point of the trip for these lads, and therefore me.
heading off straight after work on friday, there was fellow aussies Mick and Ricky, and Brits John and Andy. Mick had struck it lucky and bought a Toyota Corolla for $500 and so the only transport cost was fuel. nice!
2 and a 1/2 hours later, and we were in Whistler village. We quickly checked in to the Shoestring Lodge and hit the hostel bar, The Boot Pub. Unbeknown to us (honestly), Friday nights are stripper nights, with a temporary walkway-stage and fireman's pole installed. Never one to turn down such an opportunity, we parked ourselves at a table and began the long night ahead of us in style. Venturing into the village proper, it was teeming with people, bars and pubs chock full of revellers, and spilling out into the street - a real carnivale party atmospehere. Apparently its like this every night of the week in the peak of the season - if you live here, whether as a local or a random Aussie backpacking ski-bunny, its pure madness. Needless to say we lads took to it like a duck to water, cruising a few bars and ending up at some Cuban cantina styled basement bar.
when we left at closing it was snowing!....it was funny, but it was so nice to be standing about outside the bar chatting away to strangers with huge snowflakes falling about our feet and on our clothes and hair. back at the hostel i got some great pics from the open window of our dorm, and then the next morning a thin blanket of white covered everything outside. as i knew i wouldn't be getting up the slopes, it was nice to see at least a little bit of snow.
the Saturday morning saw my first real glimpse of Whistler village, and its pretty much as i was told it would be - a kind of plastic, synthetic, homogenised ski resort - everything about the architecture reminded me of a giant play-lego set, or a hyper-real Hollywood-ised version of what a European ski resort is supposed to look like. Needless to say, its totally set up for maximum fun levels, with everything a ski-bunny could possibly want at his/her disposal. After checking all this out, having a huge fry-up brekky and going for a little drive around the area, we decided to see out the afternoon from the patio of one of the copious numbers of bars in the village, and slowly drink away our hangovers.
Finally,mid-evening, the event of the weekend was upon us, Whistler's huge convention centre converted into a club of epic proportions for the guest DJ Josh Winks from England (who, to be honest i am not at all familiar with). We were already suitably alcohol fuelled from the afternoon, and all that was left was to find some further chemical stimulus, which to no suprise at all, materialised within about 20minutes of being inside. Disco biscuits all round! The beverage of choice for the rest of the night then? - water.
DJ Josh Winks has some talent. He played a good long set of funky hard house, a little bit of euphoric electro thrown in for god measure. well, again to be honest, i don't really know - i just remember dancing hard aalllllll night, and again got some good pics of us getting particularly well-melted! (more 'up' of the email's title).......and then it was over! as usually happens in this scenario, the night flew by before our very dilated pupils.
Come Sunday, we weren't well at all, and the general consensus was to skip the Sunday and just head back to Van. 11am check out, and we were on the road by 11.15, and i was home and in my bed by 2pm, to sleep the rest of the day away. I guess i'm not as young as i used to be!
well, i guess this pretty much concludes this epic....another mad emotional roller-coaster period in my travelling life.
take care,
tony
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