Joel Plaskett Emergency and Two Hours Traffic
Joel Plaskett Emergency
The Horseshoe Tavern
Toronto, Ontario
PHEW! so. joel plaskett emergency. the longest concert ever. it was pretty incredible.
right so I got there around 8.50 and doors were supposed to be at 9, there wasn't much of a line. I saw dave/tracey/stephanie/al/allegra/adam/ruhee/ruhee's boyfriend/leah/andi (a big group of sloan fans, most of which I attend all the sloan gigs in southwestern ontario with) which was kinda cool. stephanie, leah and I chatted while we waited for two hours traffic to come on, that was nice cos leah's from arizona so the last time I saw her was at that sloan show at the gladstone last winter. there were postcards for people on the smb that we all signed and I'm guessing those got sent out, I signed a couple of em.
an aerial shot of most of the group
al brought a blow-up smiley thing that makes it to every show I've been to with smb peeps lol, so everyone signed it
two hours traffic came on around 10ish and played a good set, probably for like 45-50 minutes or so. it was mainly stuff off of little jabs, the highlights included "heroes of the sidewalk" and "jezebel" (I LOVE that song live). there were these awful girls behind me yelling for limelight, they were already drunk or on drugs and were irritating.
two hours traffic - jezebel (video)
then a bunch of people crowded up front and things got pushy. I was surrounded by the worst people I've ever met, like really rude/drunk/stupid people. I was so pissed off I was seriously considering leaving, it was that bad. there was a break between THT and plaskett, stuff got set up and all that. I don't know when joel and the guys got on stage but they played til after 2am! it was a really really long show, definitely got my $25 worth. they played a lot of stuff off of the older records, a few songs off of ashtray. this is an approximate list of songs they played, in no particular order:
down at the khyber
unconditional love
there's love in the air
waiting to be discovered
snowed in/cruisin'
please don't return
face of the earth
nothing more to say
chinatown/for the record
the instrumental
absentminded melody
love this town
happen now
nowhere with you
she made a wreck outta me
I'd rather be deadly than dead
work out fine
extraordinary
radio fly
lights down low
a new song which might be on a forthcoming record
on the shores of lake pontchartrain
all the pretty faces
SOS (an abba cover, that's right.)
maybe we should just go home
mr chill came on for harmonica a bunch of times which was fantastic, he and peter elkas had a show down in which elkas did an amazing/spot on rendition of low rider. he had the exact robo-voice and the harmonica, everyone in the place was cracking up. also there was joel's daddy, bill plaskett. he played guitar and sang on a bunch of songs, it was really touching to see him up there with his son, he looked so proud of joel, it was heartwarming, I couldn't wipe the smile off my face.
the joel and his daddy, bill on the left
mr chill and peter elkas in their harmonica showdown of doom (joel is crouching to get out of the way lol)
joel and the smiley balloon
the smiley sings work out fine in a really high-pitched voice
here are a couple videos from adam, ruhee's boyfriend. I was planning on taking some but I got beat up for it during two hours traffic so I didn't want to end up murdered.
joel plaskett emergency - work out fine
check out the mr smiley balloon! wooooo
joel plaskett emergency - there's love in the air
this is the great harmonica show-down with the peter elkas rendition of low rider
I think my favourites were cry together (it was so gorgeous live, made me want to cry a bit), nothing more to say, happen now, work out fine (joel got the smiley balloon and read some of the comments and asked who gave it to him and our group all put up our hands, I think he really liked it. he got the smiley to sing a bit of the song). I got drenched in beer (not nice.), the people behind me were kicking and punching my back and legs the whole night which kind of put a damper on things and I had a bunch of tall people standing in front of me but I tried not to let it ruin the night. joel came out for two encores (!) and the show ended a little after 2. I caught a queen streetcar, got stuck talking to guy then took the vomit comet/knight bus up yonge to sheppard and caught another bus. I was really lucky cos I didn't have to wait too long between transfers and got home around 3.30