sloan
Sloan
Gladstone Hotel
Toronto, Ontario
so 19 is turning out to be the best year of my life so far, and doris is my best friend ever. who else can I call at 6pm and say "hey, whacha doing tonight? wanna go see sloan at the gladstone hotel?" and that's just what we did.
so basically I think it was thursday or friday that I heard that sloan was doing this small show at the gladstone hotel (which, by the way, is the coolest place to stay, so recommend it to your friends travelling to toronto) and I had kinda already told colin I'd go to his hockey game at varsity stadium AND that I might make an appearance at two cmw shows. but I called doris and she said she'd see the guys with me so I txt'd colin and it turns out his game was cancelled anyways so it worked out perfectly.
we drove down to the gladstone (like queen and dufferin, pretty much next door to the drake hotel) and it was like 8:45 and the doors were at 9 (or so said the flyer!). but no one was there yet lol, however they did have a really cool antique elevator...
then we went for a walk through parkdale and there were all these really cool boutiques and decided that we'll come back during the day sometime. we got back to the hotel around 10 I'd say, and there were a *few* people in there so we got in and got some seats, the bartender brought us free drinks (vodka+cranberry) and I was like "I'm really sorry, but I'm straightedge, I don't drink" and I felt like a total horrible person but he was like "ah that's no problem! cheers" and he clinked with doris and had it himself. he asked if I wanted anything and I was like "noooo, it's ok!" but he ended up bringing me what I think was orangina (OJ with fizz) and he was like "here you are, 100% straightedge" and it was really so nice of him, I felt horrible lol.
while sitting, I saw mike nelson so I went over to say hi and he was talking with chris murphy, which was cool. I introduced myself, mike seemed like he had a faint idea of who I was and chris lol, chris just shook my hand and I said "hi, I'm laura, we've met before but I'm sure you don't remember." so mike went to go get his wife I think and I ended up talking to chris for a while, I told him I was going to buffalo to see their show on tuesday, he said it'd be "different" (what he means by that I don't know, we'll have to wait and see), we chatted about the hockey league and the juno cup for a bit (chris is like "I can't skate!" and I mentioned that I used to figure skate but now I can like barely stand ahahah) and then chuck (the guy who organized the evening) came up and asked chris if he'd read this script for the hockey jersey fashion show and he tried to get out of it, but to no avail cos he ended up doing the reading lol. I can't remember what else we were on about but it was really cool that it was totally casual and not super fangirl or anything and everyone there was like chill and they all knew each other so it was a really cool vibe. I think we shook hands like three times lol (he has rough hands for those who care...and for that matter so does andrew) then soon after I saw greg! yayy! he gave me a big hug and we chatted for a bit, he's been back in town since like thursday and is getting all ready to do the sloan usa tour. I got to introduce him to doris and it was good times all around, he's such a nice guy.
yay! chris and I have matching dimples lol and doris was like "I look like I've been blinded by the light"
then we waited some more and then sean cullen (a canadian comedian) started things, he did a cover of "come sail away" which had some funny parts and then they did a cover of the beatles' "if I fell", which is recorded and up for your viewing pleasure:
sean cullen (and band) - if I fell
then they had this fashion show thing of all these hockey jerseys and poor chris got stuck reading the script (he did a pretty good job, aside from the fact that he is "the worst reader in grade 4"), that was cool and mildly comical.
then there was this HUGE long intermission, and a ton of smb kids showed up! yayyy! there was marty and dan, eric, dave, leah and ruhee tried to get in, but she got stuck with the whole not-19-yet card so she couldn't get in. BUT, knight in shining armour jay ferguson valiently tried to get her through. jay and mike both tried to figure out how to sneak her in, but they weren't able to. but it's the thought that counts! having jay from sloan trying to get you in? the best. but yeah, whilst waiting for the show to start, I got to say hi to both andrew and patrick which was neat, I got a hug and a handshake from teh mandrew and patrick, I dunno..things were mildly awkward so I basically said hi chatted for like a second then scampered off.
when the show finally started (maybe around midnight? I think?), I went right up to the front (the gladstone is tiny, the stage was like up to my knees and the size of my living room, it was super intimate), I stood with marty and she was like "I hope you're dancing." and I replied "I hope you're dancing!". the rest of the smb kids were next to us and we had an amazing time. at one point chris counted all of us lol. as I am absolutely rubbish at remembering songs played and in what order, I got a photo of the set list:
*note I think right after hfxnshc they added delivering maybes, which I've never heard live so it was awesomeness
I got to dance and sing the whole time, it was outta hand. I had such an amazing time, easily one of the best sloan shows I've ever seen just cos of how small and low-key it was
chris and those dang reflective shoes!
mandrew...aka "the beast"
greg was SO hard to photograph/video. he was like obscured in darkness the whole time. booooo.
seeing jay up close - he is so tiny! he's such a compact little guy with more skill in his pinky finger than all of me haha
they played a lot of new stuff, a good amount of older tunes as well. I got a ton of videos, and I am aware that the visual quality isn't that great, but the lights were really low..however the audio sounds fine:
VIDEOS
sloan - something's wrong
sloan - hfxnshc
sloan - delivering maybes
sloan - the rest of my life (yes, I am aware that I have about 13 copies of this song recorded. I know.)
sloan - money city maniacs
they ended on money city and then came out for an encore with sean cullen and other members of the good times hockey league for the arts (the whole reason this benefit was on lol, for the league). they did a "hat-trick" of abba songs which was so much fun! they played SOS,
sloan + the good times hockey league for the arts- sos
after their main set, you can see rebecca's little face in the bottom right corner (she's actually quite stunning in person, she's a pretty girl)
chris, the "sons and daughters of abba" (lol), and sean cullen
after that doris and I called it a night (it was like 2:30 daylight savings time) and so we started driving home but since the street we came up to queen on from the gardiner expressway was a one way street we took queen across to bathurst and then south to the lake. BUT I ended up in a streetcar lane lol but it was dead and no one was around so it was ok lol. a little scary cos there was no signage and it was really dark but no worries. next up: sloan in buffalo on tuesday. I'm off to look for my passport.