Matt Goyer: Reviews

Come for the Hip stay for the fights

The Watchmen opened with a great set. Lots of new material which has encouraged me to go pick up their new album tomorrow. I look forward to seeing them again tomorrow night.

We got up fairly close during the Watchmen set and shortly after they ended things started to get a little close. Shortly before the lights dimmed for the Hip a *huge* train of assholes pushed their way to the front. No one was impressed. Fortunately the security was top notch and they were escorted to the back pronto. Of course their punk asses sure didn't stay back there and it wasn't long before they were pushing by once again. After a few songs one of them was sufficiently intoxicated and irritating that someone caught the eye of security and everyone pointed to him with their thumbs down. He tried to hide, he tried to run, but security came in and hunted him and his friend down and out they went. The security was impressive but yet still there were a lot of assholes and that's just something I don't get, because these kids were younger then us and if they have so much attitude then why aren't they being asses at an Eminem concert? It'd be a much more appropriate venue for their stupidity. ...I also think it'd be wise for security to actually plant a handful of guys right on the floor because it's hard for them to see the assholes unless they're at the very front and it's hard for us to tell them about these assholes because we're not at the front.

With assholes out of the way we were about 7-8 'rows' back with a handful of tall guys right in front of us (right before the first encore one of them passed out and so they all left which greatly improved the view) and we were able to enjoy the show in relative peace (but there was this guy who was whipping his shirt around like a helicopter or something.. )

Song highlights:

Poets: 'Don't tell me how the universe is altered, when you find out it's the writers who get paid, all right' and it had the 'bring out your dead' ad-lib with some ranting at the end about swimming across Lake Ontario..
Three Pistols & Little Bones because I'm old-school. At one point Gord was laying on the floor (on his back) with his feet in the air. V

Overall it was a great set. Lots of ranting, some of which we could actually hear.

Oh yeah, and I locked my keys in the car. First time ever.. I usually don't even lock the car on the assumption I'd rather have them rummage through the car then break a window but I had my iPod in the car and I didn't want to take it into the venue so I got everyone to lock their doors and [oops] the keys got locked in too. Now I didn't worry about this till after the show and I ended up finding some Ontario Place admin guy who called us a tow truck who showed up about 30 minutes later and charged me $50 to jimmy open the door. The irony being that last week I received a complimentary road side assistance pass from my credit card company but it hadn't yet made it to my wallet. And to top that off we almost got hit on the 401..

So at noon yesterday my favorite band The Tragically Hip announced that they would be playing a surprise benefit concert for Special Olympics at 8pm that day at Lee's Palace (capacity ~300) in Toronto. From noon to 1:15pm I franticly tried to get in touch with Natalie who it turns out went to lunch and didn't check her Blackberry once. Upon returning to the office and discovering 15 emails and 1 voice message she called and we made the call to risk getting fired and took off in the middle of the day for a made dash to Toronto because the only way to get in to this show was to line up. It was one ticket a person and either you were in-line and seeing the Hip or you weren't. It's was as simple as that.

We got to Toronto at 3pm, 3 hours after they had announced the concert and discovered quite the line at Lee's Palace. Did I mention it was pouring? So there we stood waiting. And waiting. And waiting. Fortunately we made friends with Steve who was standing behind us in line. Natalie who didn't have a rain coat ran off to Ed's, got lost, found an umbrella and as she was just about to pay for it got an email from Mark who I had called to email her telling her to get her ass back in line because they were giving out wrist bands. After a mad dash back to the line she just managed to make it and we were issued our wrist bands guaranteeing us entry. After securing Natalie went and bought a $30 umbrella at Home Hardware instead of getting lost in the maze at Ed's trying to find their $5 ones.

After a lot more waiting, we were finally admitted to Lee's at 6pm, paid our $25 and were ushered to the upstairs portion. After an hour we were ushered back down to the main floor for the show were again we waited and sang the national anthem once or twice. (Natalie told us earlier that often Canadian's sing the national anthem while waiting for the Hip at small venues which I didn't really get nor believe so it was surprise when everyone started singing).

At 7:30 Andy and Josh from the Skydiggers took to the stage for a half hour set. While I had heard a rumor on the way to the washroom (which ended up being 'closed' and resulted in guy's peeing in the corner of Lee's Palace) that they were plan it was by no means part of any official announcements and took many people by surprise. The common sentiment was that no one waited 5 hours in the rain to see the Skydiggers.

After tuning and re-tuning much to the audience's chagrin the Hip to the stage at 8:30. Here's the set list. There were three new songs and the rest were surprisingly all their big block buster songs. The most noticeably absent blockbuster is 50 Mission Cap (a song about hockey). While no one was complaining about the set list I think that the type of Hip fan who waits for hours in the rain would have preferred to hear a more eclectic set perhaps featuring some of their less played works off of albums such as Road Apples and their first self titled release. The three new songs all sounded great. The only question is, do we have to wait for a new album or will one of them be on the Men With Brooms Soundtrack?

Was seeing the Hip in a small venue everything that is cracked up to be? Yes. Will I ever go back to setting at the back of the ACC? Absolutely not. So it looks like I'll never be turning down $200 front row seats again. I'm hooked. Gord Downie up close and personal is not an experience to miss. His mannerisms, mumblings, and rants add just as much to the show as his music does and when you're seated at the back of an arena you miss all of it.

Canoe has a review of the show and you can look at my photos keeping in mind that my camera is not designed for low light settings such as a club. Also rumor has it a DAT recording of the show will soon make it's way to Furthurnet.com.

If you made it through all that text be sure to leave us a comment about your favorite show because this show was certainly mine!

So last night we went to see Melissa Ferrick, our new favorite artist, at the El Macombo. After sitting through an Edge 102 wanna be band named I Divide we waited and waited for Melissa to start setting up but the people setting up definitely did not look like Melissa. We sat there trying to play it cool but we were most definitely panicked. Where was she!? After sitting through a couple Spooky Reuben (who doesn't have a website!?) songs Natalie went and inquired and turns out she had cancelled because she's sick! So we got our money back and went over to Angie's for some tea to soothe our hurt feelings. There we sat sitting on her roof sipping away watching the metropolis.

Okay so about the new camera and photos. I spent yesterday fighting with this photo album software and it's now running so check out my new photo album. I'm going to have to spend some time editing the templates and moving my old photos over. The software even has a feature where you can order my photos from Shutterfly. They print em out and mail them to you. You can also leave comments. So go nuts. I guess there should be a disclaimer: I'm not a photographer, just like I'm not a writer.

I forgot to mention that the night we went to the BNL concert we made a wrong turn and believe or not we ended up on the track of the Molson Indy. Swear to god. There we were going, 'oh shit'. Instead of doing a lap we did a u-turn and busted it out of there. I had the camera but the whole thing happened too quick to snap a photo of John's first day as an Indy driver. Granted I don't think Jenn's Toyota would have been much of a contender.

I'm installing a photo album for the website... Where's Natalie? It's 7pm already.

Last night John, Jen, Natalie, and I went to see the Barenaked Ladies at the Molson Amphitheatre. Unfortunately I bought the tickets when I was unemployed and so I opted for 'lawn' tickets which are at the back of the amphitheater. NEVER AGAIN! I will now gladly bend over for Ticket Master and pay them whatever they demand. Really, concert ticket prices, like movie theater prices, are getting out of hand (group math for the night. $15 parking + ($40 a ticket * 4) + ($3 hot dog * 4) + ($5 beer * 4) + $35 late night snack).

But the show was great! The open acting was Sarah Harmer who we all enjoy and then it was the Ladies. The Ladies are a group that's completely out of control and puts on one excellent show. Though they're very much a family band the show was definitely not a family show. I think that the Ladies put on such an entertaining show that you don't even need to be a fan to enjoy it. There's lots of chatting, jokes, running around, and even these rap medleys made up of covers from other big artists. They made fun of our mayor Mel Lastman, talked about whether the guitar knob should be in or out, and the scary urban racoons of Toronto. The show was long, with lots of favorites and a double encore. They ended with 'Brian Wilson' (which is on the mp3 player now). I'm sure the show was doubly good since Toronto is their home town (I wondered if they all just drove to the concert with their families or did they board a tour bus just around the corner?).

Everyone who's going to see them in Winnipeg is in for a treat.

Afterwards we went to Zelda's for a bite to eat and just missed the hardbody contest.

Sorry for the point form post but otherwise I'd be blogging all night and we all know I'm not eloquent and interesting like some other bloggers we know (right Natalie?) so why bother with formalities.

The webcam is still out of commission but should be online tomorrow as I'm almost through ripping John's CD collection. I'll open up an FTP server up on the weekend so everyone can go nuts. If I can I'll find a tool that will convert my music library to HTML so you can all view it to see what awful taste I have in music.

Jonathan's weblog is killing me but I'm jealous that people leave him comments. Maybe it's time to switch blogging apps.. But then again, would people leave comments for me even if they could? I could see my mom leaving me comments telling me not to drink on weekdays and my sister would complain about me complaining about air conditioning or money and my dad would complain that I never told him about the weblog in the first place and Natalie would just say how everyone elses weblog is better than mine.

I'm going to buy a Canon S110 today or tomorrow. I'll be buying it in the States so that I can save about $150CDN. I called and there is no duty on digital cameras which is very nice. So you can all look forward to daily photos.

Its dangerous having a computer book store next door.. I went there twice today ready to buy. The first time they struck out on SQL in a Nutshell but the second time I left with a vi Pocket Reference. How nerdy is that!? (I forgot how to merge two lines..)

Last night Langeman and I went and saw Dido. The question on everyone's lips was how can Dido play at the Molson Amphitheatre when she's only released one CD. Well she did and it was really good. She had a full band and a DJ scratching away. Travis was the other act and they too were good (descriptive reviews I know). Very chatty. Very witty (but I'm sure they use the same jokes every time) and the girls went absolutely nuts for them. There was also an opening act but their name appeared nowhere online or at the venue and the singer never mentioned it. That's one way to ensure I won't be pirating your tracks.

And we have survived another day of Pride.

The parade was wicked cool but long and corporate. Rumor has it, it attracked 800,000 people!

Some of the 'highlights'.

The Dog Fight - Prior to the parade began three people who collectively had 6 pittbulls had a bit of a situation. Seems like some of the dogs didn't like each other and started attacking one another. They eventually were stuck together. Something like ones teeth was stuck in the others face. Lots of kicking and screaming separated the two. I think even a person got slightly attacked as a strecher was brought in. It was a very nasty scene. Note: We didn't actually see what was going on but it was literally just twenty feet away. One of the guys standing beside us (he was big and buff) got involved and helped hold one of the dogs while the owner tried to wrestle the other one away. Note to readers: Don't bring your pitt bulls to the local parade. And if you do, keep them away from the other pyscho pitt bull owners.
We were also in the 'i can't believe they make super soakers that size' water gun section (the Monster X was the weapon of choice). These things really do have more pressure then a thumb over a garden hose. Anyhow, there was a baby in a stroller right beside us. Surprise, surprise she got wet pretty quick. The grandmother got really upset and called everyone assholes but they just told her it was going to get a lot worse than better and that they should just leave. I think after the fire truck with Mel Lastman (mayor of Toronto known for his faux pas's) went by (he had some heavy duty water support/protection) they got the picture and left. Note to readers: Pride isn't for the whole family. If you can't hack it in the wet, noise, and naked-ness then catch the highlights on the evening news.
Did I mention how wet we were the whole time? Next Pride we're going to go all out too.
Not a lot of boobs, but a lot of wet t-shirts.
To make up for the lack of boobs there were a lot of pensises. There was even a whole section of just naked men. 'Totaly Naked Toronto' or something like that.
Lotsa leather.
It was long! We were standing out there for at least 3 hours
Lots of drag queens.
A few men with breasts that despite their size (remember they're naked) did not bounce at all. Marvels of modern day medicine!
There was also a lot of corporate branding. Sometimes it felt like one big commercial. Like there was an Hewlett Packard section and you're just like what are they doing here? So they have some gay employeees? So what? Or the Body Shop 'float' which was a pickup truck with a big bottle in the back. Nothing else. So the parade is really a deal for these big companies who want some good attention time and they get to litter the streets with their junk.
PFLAG. Parents, Families, and Friends of Lesbians and Gays got the most support and was the most emotional for the non-straight people in the crowd.

All in all a very interesting time. We tried to grab some snaps with the old fashioned kind of camera but it was VERY crowded making it very difficult to take pictures and it was very wet. The reader will just have to use their imagination or visit their local gay parade.

Still pumping here but Natalie says it's bed time. But I'm exhausted so that's fine. Jonathan is off to Europe tomorrow. I'll see him but Natalie and Maeve didn't get a proper goodbye. ..It'll be a long six months without him.

Ah! I was blogging and Internet Explorer crashed and I just lost everything! I HATE MICROSOFT.

So time to recreate what I was writing hmmmm.. This has happened to me before in a different context. Once when I was in Calcutta, India I had a bag stolen. It was a bag which had a journal that I filled with 4 months of writings. I was VERY upset and still am about that. I tried actually re-wrote most of it. The re-creation and the 2 months after it are sitting on a bookshelf back home. Hopefully safe and sound.

Well I started the 'lost entry' off with a reflection on Rafi's thoughts that he blogs for himself. I thought I did too then reflected and realized that I blog for not only myself, but also my family in Winnipeg, my friends in Waterloo like Langeman, my girlfriend and my 31 one other daily visitors. Feel free to drop me a line (matt@mattgoyer.com) and let me know who you are because my multi-national research firm is getting pretty costly for these small studies.

AH I'm still mad I lost what I had before.

So yesterday was Ani. Being the one in the apartment with a flexible schedule (people somehow assume that if you work from home then you don't really work) I was assigned the duty of lining up early so that we would have a prime position. Being the dutiful roommate that I am I lined up at 1:15 at Historic Fort York in the middle of an industrial wasteland. Upon arriving I was concerned I might be at the wrong spot since there was no line to be seen. There were some other people there and they re-assured me that they had just been instructed to start the line exactly where we were standing. Over the next half hour people emerge from cars and mini-vans to form the beginning of the line. I was 8th in line when everything shaked out.

In line I meet Jen, Jen, and Lindsay there with tickets that Jen's parents had given them for her birthday. They had skipped school to line up. I almost meet a couple hard core groupies. One girl who was seventeen had already seen Ani 9 times this year! These were the people who showed up at 7am or camped over in their mini-van ensuring they were there before the security detail arrived.

Not much to say about waiting in line. We talked, played cards, I read, and we even ordered pizza. Maeve arrived at 3pm, and Natalie somewhere around 4pm and John and Jen I think around 6pm. By the time the gates opened at 6pm what had once been seven people in front of me had ballooned to upwards of 20.

Random tid-bit. We were just standing around and I swear Tyler Stewart of the Barenaked Ladies (he's the one standing in the photo) biked out of 'the compound' and said hey to me as he passed. That makes him the second 'lady' we've spotted in TO.

Once in Natalie secured us a spot just off center in the front row. A prime position. Of course there was still two hours of waiting, which meant two more hours of brutal exposure to the unrelentless sun. Lots of water and an advil later I was doing okay.

The opening act was Sekou Sundiata whose guitar guy had a cell phone on his belt. What need is there for a cell phone when you're in the middle of a concert!?

At 9 was the moment we had all been waiting for (me of course waiting the longest). With our prime front row position Ani was truely amazing. Of course our complaint was that her setlist (warning: not yet posted at that link) was remarkably similar to her Guelph setlist. Even though it was a different tour it seemed to be the same as the last.

We all agree that we'd like her to play more of her old stuff but the theory is that since the addition of Julie the keyboardist she's unable to do as much 'girl and a guitar' material. Of course now she was two horn guys, a bass, a drummer, and Julie.

But we can't complain. We love Ani. She even had this great rant about the big Hyundai billboard that glowed in the background. Turns out she used to have a Hyundai and the reverse broke.

After the show we suffered through our post-Ani depression at 'The Green Room' an 'underground' bar.

Well we got to see Melissa Ferrick today at The Rex. She was there with Edie Carey and someone else whose name I can't remember but whose music I liked. The concert was great. It was very impromptu, no set list, requests from the crowd, and banter. It was the way 'concerts' should be. So I'll definitely be adding Melissa to my list of favorite artists after seeing her live. I might even add her blog to my list. How cool is that? Langeman will be pleased to her that she uses GreyMatter.

Would you like Melissa Ferrick? Well she's kind of like Ani but less political but more queer. See her blog entry about seperatist festivals. Kinda scary. I didn't even know that there was a seperatist movement!

As with all concerts there was some sketch. The sketch involved a very drunk fan who missed her seat on a few occasions and actually lay down on the floor of the bar. Note. The concert was at 7pm. This wasn't no late show :).

After Melissa+friends we went to The Colored Stone and saw someone who was billed as a Dar Williams but was really for an older crowd. I.e. 40 year olds. Then we saw this brit band who the girls dubbed as Radiohead grrls or something like that. Anyhow, they were too Radiohead for me. Next it was a time for a sushi break.

Nat then bailed and Maeve and I went to The Oasis to catch Marni Levitt.

Why all the concerts? Because it's North by North East.

Now I've been looking into syndication via RSS and think that it'd be really great if artists would adopt it so I could keep up with all the news and tour dates instead of signing up for a million different mailing lists..

A weekend in Toronto invariably costs $100 for food, entertainment, transport, and beverage.

Last night we went for dinner with Dan Webster a guy from FLIPR, a p2p music thing in Montreal. We were really supposed to go for Pho but it was all very last minute.

After a very long (service was slow) dinner at Cafe California we went to Cameron House to see Melissa Ferrick but much to our surprise the place was packed with a line! Maeve was extremely disappointed. Determined to get in we waited and waited and waited. Even though the line was only about 10 long and the place and enough standing room we were forced to miss her entire set. Afterwards though we got in for Shawn Mullins which I thought was the reason everyone was packing the room but I guess not. Maeve says to never underestimate the lesbian appeal thing. But we could take solace in the fact that Melissa would be playing somewhere else tonight at 7pm. So surprisingly though Shawn Mullins was pretty good. And contrary to Langeman's belief, live music is always better.