"Lily Allen?! I came here to see Woody Allen!" - some guy.
Montreal remains splendid, and alack! I'm home in Ottawa now. Slightly poorer, much more having-seen-Lily-Allen, and supposedly without the adapter for my Creative Zen. Shit. Lucky thing they sell them on the Creative website. Less lucky thing that the new adapter comes to $50 with the shipping. Just watch, I'll find it kicking around in some random place sometime between now & when the new one arrives.
(Random question: how do I not expect UPS shipments to cost so damn much? At least a quarter of my job is to ship things via UPS.)
But you don't care whether I can plug in my beloved MP3 player. (Or do you?) Let's get to the good stuff!
That, in this case, being Lily Allen. And no, let's not share our contrary opinions. I think Lily Allen is fabulous, and I see no reason why I shouldn't. She's so adorable, you guys!
We were running really late to the show, but! I did get a $90 necklace by Swatch, so it was alright. Until it was 7:45, and we were still in the store. "Come on, Mom."
Grabbed a cab to Club Soda. When we got to the venue, the marquee told me the show was actually at 8:30. Well, that was a freebie. Bought a t-shirt and a set of four buttons, and went to the moshpit to find somewhere to stand. Since we had been supposedly running late, I'd made amends(ish) with the fact that I wasn't going to be close to the stage at all.
As it turns out, I was the closest to the stage I've ever been. There wasn't a gate blocking the audience from the stage, and so all that was keeping me from it was one layer of other people. I could quite easily reach & touch the stage, and actually had to a bit later on, but we'll get to that.
Looks like I was trying to be ~*artsy*~. I wasn't. I just wanted a picture of some of the instruments.
I think it's some unspoken rule in Montreal that every show has to have a DJ. Scissor Sisters, and now Lily Allen. I liked Lily's DJ more. He nearly deafened me, but he was having fun with it, and played an obscenely varied mix of things. This included, near the end, Sweet Caroline (!), Build Me Up Buttercup, and, icing on the cake, Take Your Mama by Scissor Sisters. Possibly in that order.
Thanks, DJ!
We actually saw him later on, as we were leaving the venue. He was well-appreciated; various audience members were getting their pictures taken with him. Aww!
... my apologies.
The opening band was The Bird and the Bee. We ended up buying their album, because they were absolutely adorable, and so, so likeable. I'm digging it. Here, have their set (of course, I know the order because I stole their setlist after they'd left the stage. Score!):
La La La
Birds & the Bees
Again & Again
Preparedness
F*cking Boyfriend
My Fair Lady
Because
Camera
Most I've ever, ever enjoyed an opening act. They danced! And they were so adorable! Aww, a new band to love.
How much did I love her dress? A WHOLE LOT.
... lmfao.
DANCING THE ROBOT!
Once they'd gone offstage and the techies were out to set up for Lily, though, is when things started to go minorly to shit.
Of course, this was after the particularly spectacular moment when nearly the entire audience sung LDN loudly in Lily!anticipation. Best thing to happen at a concert ever.
But! some obnoxious fucks (read: horrible drunk girls) started trying to shove in front of those of us who'd been standing there patiently for the past two hours. They tried to kiss the guy standing closest to the stage, in an attempt to steal his spot! One of them shoved right in front of me, passing it off by saying, "GOD, IT'S A CONCERT", as if that makes it alright to piss off everyone in the general vicinity. Then she turns around and goes, "I'm not blocking your view, am I?". I just gave her a look. In an act of "charity", she tells Mom that she can go in front of her. And then we hear her whining to her friend, "I gave up my spooooooot".
That's not where it ends, either. Once they'd been shoved further back (when really, they deserved to be kicked out or punched out or something), they started yelling "LILY ALLEN FUCKING SUCKS" and such like things. Then, when she was onstage, they yelled, "WE LOVE YOU, LILY". Oh, and one suggested another should get up onstage. I wish she'd tried; that definitely would've gotten them in trouble with security.
I expect to find bruises on my back from their bumping & grinding into me while Lily was onstage. And, actually, they nearly knocked me over at one point. I grabbed hold of the stage (see?), turned to the worst of the bunch, and shouted, "FUCK. OFF."
Pre-Lily, a guy near me tried to break the tension by loudly exclaiming, "Lily Allen?! I came here to see Woody Allen!" I laughed. A lot.
Some of the other members of the audience.
So, Leslie, you might say, Lily Allen has to have been pretty fucking good for you to still have enjoyed the show as much as you did.
WHY, YES.
She is the cutest thing ever. Her dress had a hood! And pockets! And she's so tiny! And she has three little tattoos on her wrist! (... is this proving how close I was to the stage?) Also, I was the tallest person in that crowd, and I swear she & I made eyecontact once or twice. Which I find exciting, I don't know about you guys!
Hood!
Along with her setlist, the people setting up the stage for Lily had taped down her list of what to order for dinner.
Consider the above photo fully responsible for making me exclaim (jokingly, of course) several times today, "I am Andrew Kendall." Not that Andrew Kendall has taken photos of Lily Allen, but if he had! (In short, I'm going to get it developed at about 8x10 at Japan Camera, and then frame it. The best photo Leslie Erica Ewing-Burgesse will ever take. The beginning & end of Leslie's lucrative career as a music photographer. Etc, etc.)
Goodbye, Lily!
... I also loved her band. THERE SEVEN OF THEM!
I also took a couple of videos, and it's through posting these on YouTube that I got an appropriate segue into my next story:
There was a guy in the audience, right in front of the stage (the same one who the obnoxious slores had tried to kiss), and, nearing the end of the concert, he was reaching his hand up. And Lily touched it. And I just saw his facial expression change to some approximation of "!!!!!!!!!!!". Like, the most real reaction I've ever seen. It was perfect, and it made me sosososo happy. And that same fellow (named Dom) sent me a message on YouTube after I posted the following, and asked if I could email him the actual video files. And so that's really neat.
Dom, if you're reading this, hello!
Everybody's Changing by Keane!
Knock 'Em Out! I was planning on recording the whole song, but it became slightly unbearable to do so, with the obnoxious!girls around.
Okay, now the creepy part of my Lily Allen concert story!
Consider this a tribute to jiffy_spiffy, just to make it less creepy. I DID IT FOR YOU, MEAGAN!
... okay, so, after the show was done, a couple of guys took the setlist & whatever the other paper on stage was. I'd kind of wanted either, but I thought, oh well. And I noticed Lily's waterbottle was still there. So, I reached in, grabbed it.
... so now I have Lily Allen's waterbottle. JUST LIKE MEAGAN (WHO'S THE REASON I STARTED LISTENING TO LILY ALLEN IN THE FIRST PLACE!) HAS RUFUS WAINWRIGHT'S. (I'll always be jealous of that fact. BECAUSE I'M SCARY!)
See, here it is:
I'm not sure that I'll ever be able to comprehend my own level of creepiness. OH WELL, I HAVE LILY ALLEN'S WATERBOTTLE. LMFAO.
That done, it's time for Doctor Who. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
(Random question: how do I not expect UPS shipments to cost so damn much? At least a quarter of my job is to ship things via UPS.)
But you don't care whether I can plug in my beloved MP3 player. (Or do you?) Let's get to the good stuff!
That, in this case, being Lily Allen. And no, let's not share our contrary opinions. I think Lily Allen is fabulous, and I see no reason why I shouldn't. She's so adorable, you guys!
We were running really late to the show, but! I did get a $90 necklace by Swatch, so it was alright. Until it was 7:45, and we were still in the store. "Come on, Mom."
Grabbed a cab to Club Soda. When we got to the venue, the marquee told me the show was actually at 8:30. Well, that was a freebie. Bought a t-shirt and a set of four buttons, and went to the moshpit to find somewhere to stand. Since we had been supposedly running late, I'd made amends(ish) with the fact that I wasn't going to be close to the stage at all.
As it turns out, I was the closest to the stage I've ever been. There wasn't a gate blocking the audience from the stage, and so all that was keeping me from it was one layer of other people. I could quite easily reach & touch the stage, and actually had to a bit later on, but we'll get to that.
Looks like I was trying to be ~*artsy*~. I wasn't. I just wanted a picture of some of the instruments.
I think it's some unspoken rule in Montreal that every show has to have a DJ. Scissor Sisters, and now Lily Allen. I liked Lily's DJ more. He nearly deafened me, but he was having fun with it, and played an obscenely varied mix of things. This included, near the end, Sweet Caroline (!), Build Me Up Buttercup, and, icing on the cake, Take Your Mama by Scissor Sisters. Possibly in that order.
Thanks, DJ!
We actually saw him later on, as we were leaving the venue. He was well-appreciated; various audience members were getting their pictures taken with him. Aww!
... my apologies.
The opening band was The Bird and the Bee. We ended up buying their album, because they were absolutely adorable, and so, so likeable. I'm digging it. Here, have their set (of course, I know the order because I stole their setlist after they'd left the stage. Score!):
La La La
Birds & the Bees
Again & Again
Preparedness
F*cking Boyfriend
My Fair Lady
Because
Camera
Most I've ever, ever enjoyed an opening act. They danced! And they were so adorable! Aww, a new band to love.
How much did I love her dress? A WHOLE LOT.
... lmfao.
DANCING THE ROBOT!
Once they'd gone offstage and the techies were out to set up for Lily, though, is when things started to go minorly to shit.
Of course, this was after the particularly spectacular moment when nearly the entire audience sung LDN loudly in Lily!anticipation. Best thing to happen at a concert ever.
But! some obnoxious fucks (read: horrible drunk girls) started trying to shove in front of those of us who'd been standing there patiently for the past two hours. They tried to kiss the guy standing closest to the stage, in an attempt to steal his spot! One of them shoved right in front of me, passing it off by saying, "GOD, IT'S A CONCERT", as if that makes it alright to piss off everyone in the general vicinity. Then she turns around and goes, "I'm not blocking your view, am I?". I just gave her a look. In an act of "charity", she tells Mom that she can go in front of her. And then we hear her whining to her friend, "I gave up my spooooooot".
That's not where it ends, either. Once they'd been shoved further back (when really, they deserved to be kicked out or punched out or something), they started yelling "LILY ALLEN FUCKING SUCKS" and such like things. Then, when she was onstage, they yelled, "WE LOVE YOU, LILY". Oh, and one suggested another should get up onstage. I wish she'd tried; that definitely would've gotten them in trouble with security.
I expect to find bruises on my back from their bumping & grinding into me while Lily was onstage. And, actually, they nearly knocked me over at one point. I grabbed hold of the stage (see?), turned to the worst of the bunch, and shouted, "FUCK. OFF."
Pre-Lily, a guy near me tried to break the tension by loudly exclaiming, "Lily Allen?! I came here to see Woody Allen!" I laughed. A lot.
Some of the other members of the audience.
So, Leslie, you might say, Lily Allen has to have been pretty fucking good for you to still have enjoyed the show as much as you did.
WHY, YES.
She is the cutest thing ever. Her dress had a hood! And pockets! And she's so tiny! And she has three little tattoos on her wrist! (... is this proving how close I was to the stage?) Also, I was the tallest person in that crowd, and I swear she & I made eyecontact once or twice. Which I find exciting, I don't know about you guys!
Hood!
Along with her setlist, the people setting up the stage for Lily had taped down her list of what to order for dinner.
Consider the above photo fully responsible for making me exclaim (jokingly, of course) several times today, "I am Andrew Kendall." Not that Andrew Kendall has taken photos of Lily Allen, but if he had! (In short, I'm going to get it developed at about 8x10 at Japan Camera, and then frame it. The best photo Leslie Erica Ewing-Burgesse will ever take. The beginning & end of Leslie's lucrative career as a music photographer. Etc, etc.)
Goodbye, Lily!
... I also loved her band. THERE SEVEN OF THEM!
I also took a couple of videos, and it's through posting these on YouTube that I got an appropriate segue into my next story:
There was a guy in the audience, right in front of the stage (the same one who the obnoxious slores had tried to kiss), and, nearing the end of the concert, he was reaching his hand up. And Lily touched it. And I just saw his facial expression change to some approximation of "!!!!!!!!!!!". Like, the most real reaction I've ever seen. It was perfect, and it made me sosososo happy. And that same fellow (named Dom) sent me a message on YouTube after I posted the following, and asked if I could email him the actual video files. And so that's really neat.
Dom, if you're reading this, hello!
Everybody's Changing by Keane!
Knock 'Em Out! I was planning on recording the whole song, but it became slightly unbearable to do so, with the obnoxious!girls around.
Okay, now the creepy part of my Lily Allen concert story!
Consider this a tribute to jiffy_spiffy, just to make it less creepy. I DID IT FOR YOU, MEAGAN!
... okay, so, after the show was done, a couple of guys took the setlist & whatever the other paper on stage was. I'd kind of wanted either, but I thought, oh well. And I noticed Lily's waterbottle was still there. So, I reached in, grabbed it.
... so now I have Lily Allen's waterbottle. JUST LIKE MEAGAN (WHO'S THE REASON I STARTED LISTENING TO LILY ALLEN IN THE FIRST PLACE!) HAS RUFUS WAINWRIGHT'S. (I'll always be jealous of that fact. BECAUSE I'M SCARY!)
See, here it is:
I'm not sure that I'll ever be able to comprehend my own level of creepiness. OH WELL, I HAVE LILY ALLEN'S WATERBOTTLE. LMFAO.
That done, it's time for Doctor Who. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!