Rock Shows Rock!
(Sorry, all, but this post is really long!)
Okay, so I haven't been to very many rock shows, but I think this was the best one I've ever been to. (For those of you that don't know, Jay and I went to see Nickelback last night at the Corel Centre.)
Anyway, I was working yesterday, but got to leave early when Jay came and picked me up. The drive there was a little annoying, because there was a huge traffic jam on the highway that was caused by an accident that was blocking two of the three lanes (just a minor one, I think, but very spread out), and all the people heading to the Corel Centre. Or possibly home from work. ;)
So we finally got there, and turned into the parking lot, and even though I told Jason to turn left, to the bigger section of the parking lot, he turned right, only to discover that I was right, and it was all filled up (well, if people knew how to park, there might have been space - as it was, there were several "almost" spaces, where people had crowded the lines, not leaving enough room to park between them). We did finally find a spot, and then went and stood in the line that was trailing out through the doors of the Corel Centre. Turns out that this logjam was caused by the fact that they only had a half-dozen people frisking and checking tickets, and that everyone was being funneled through one narrow entrance, instead of splitting people off into "Floor", "100 Level", and "200-300 Level", which would have made more sense, I think.
Having finally made it through the checkpoint, we paused for hotdogs, since neither of us had eaten, and eventually made it down to the floor just in time for Three Days Grace to play their last two songs. I would have liked to see their whole set, but alas, it was not to be. They were good, though obviously unused to playing on such a large stage - they stood all clumped together in the center, and didn't wander at all.
The floor "seats" turned out to be standing room, which was fine, except that, being 5'1", I could see very little. Jason had a great view, but I had to resort to trying to peer around peoples' heads. ;) I think next time I go to a concert at the Corel Centre (whenever that might be), I'll try to get tickets in the 100 Level.
After Three Days Grace left the stage, the house lights came back up so they could set up for Staind, who also played very well. The only complaint I had was with their lead singer, who has very little stage presence. It's almost like he's trying for the "brooding" look that he usually has in their videos, but it really doesn't work on stage. It just makes him look bored.
But as we were standing there watching (right at center ice, directly under the scoreboard), a guy walked past us and into the fenced-off area beside us, where all the sound equipment was, and I did a double-take as I realized that it was the guitarist from Three Days Grace - the guy with the big mohawk. That was pretty cool.
It took them a long time to set up for Nickelback, and Jay and I were looking at the stage going, "Where the heck is their drum set?", because all that was visible on stage was a pair of microphones in front of an elevated platform, and then a big black curtain. Even when the lights went down, there was still no drum set, and we were somewhat confused.
I'll say this: Nickelback certainly knows how to make an entrance! The place went dark, and then we could hear a sound like an approaching train, which melded into a helicopter noise as the lights on the stage flashed and strobed and the stage was hidden behind curtains of smoke so thick that the band could have been standing there and we wouldn't have seen them. Just as it was starting to get excessively loud, the black backdrop curtain dropped to the ground, and a big explosion of fireworks showed that the band (and the drumset) had been hidden behind it, and they kicked right into "Flat on the Floor".
So they played several songs, to the occasional accompaniement of jets of flame and fireworks and such, and the screaming approval of the crowd (and the occasional pothead lighting up), and they certainly put on a good show. Very high energy. They must be exhausted afterwards.
At one point, they darkened the arena and piped a voiceover from Spiderman over the sound system as they set up stools for the band to sit on while they played "Hero". The lead singer from Staind came out as well, to provide the second voice for the song. I recognized the voiceover instantly (yes, I'm a geek), while Jay didn't even realize that it was Tobey Maguire. ;)
They followed that up with "Should've Listened" (from The Long Road), and then the lights went down again and they played a bit of audio from The Shawshank Redemption while they cleared the setup, then they kicked right into "Where Do I Hide".
A couple of songs later, the lead singer threw (literally - about fifteen feet across the stage) his guitar to one of the stagehands, who tossed him a little video camera in return. Apparently this is a tradition with them, taking home movies of the crowd at their shows. So he wandered off the stage (accompanied by a security guard) and around the edge of the arena, in the space between the boards and the barricade that had probably been set up for that purpose, taking video of the crowd while the rest of his band jammed onstage. He eventually made it back to the stage, threw the camera back to the stagehand, and finished the song.
Grand finale was, of course, "How You Remind Me", and accompanied by a fairly spectacular fireworks display and more jets of fire. Lots of fun.
Of course there was a huge crush on the way out, and an immense traffic jam in the parking lot, but Jay and I used the time (while sitting in the car, still in our parking spot, not moving an inch) to exchange Valentine's Day gifts, since I'm not going to get to see him today (being at work and all). I gave him a hardcover copy of Tad Williams' newest book, The War of the Flowers (I think that's what it's called), and a watch that clips to a belt loop (or whatever) with the Sens logo on the part that flips open. I don't know if he'll actually wear it, but he promised to try it out and let me know, so I can return it for something he might actually use if he decides it's not his thing. From him, I got Laura Secord chocolates (always a good thing!), and a cute little figurine of a teddy bear wearing a Sens jersey. It's absolutely adorable! :)
When the parking lot jam cleared up a bit, we finally managed to get out of our parking spot, and eventually made it to the highway. It ended up being a late night, even though the concert was well-choreographed, and ran exactly on time. It was scheduled to go from 7-11pm, and when we got out to the car, it was shortly after 11pm.
So here I am now at work, having taken the bus in when my ride called this morning to say he was sick and wasn't going in (I was only twenty minutes late, which was quite impressive, especially with the buses running on weekend schedule). We're supposed to be leaving at 5pm, depending on how many we get done, and then I'm supposed to go grocery shopping with my mom. Jay is going out to a show at Tuscon's with people, but I think I'll just go home, watch the hockey game, and go to bed. I'd rather get into bed early, since I have to be up at 6:30 tomorrow morning. Hopefully my ride will be feeling better, so I don't have to bus again, cause it's so much quicker in a car!
So happy Valentine's Day, everyone, and hopefully I'll see you all sometime soon! :)
Okay, so I haven't been to very many rock shows, but I think this was the best one I've ever been to. (For those of you that don't know, Jay and I went to see Nickelback last night at the Corel Centre.)
Anyway, I was working yesterday, but got to leave early when Jay came and picked me up. The drive there was a little annoying, because there was a huge traffic jam on the highway that was caused by an accident that was blocking two of the three lanes (just a minor one, I think, but very spread out), and all the people heading to the Corel Centre. Or possibly home from work. ;)
So we finally got there, and turned into the parking lot, and even though I told Jason to turn left, to the bigger section of the parking lot, he turned right, only to discover that I was right, and it was all filled up (well, if people knew how to park, there might have been space - as it was, there were several "almost" spaces, where people had crowded the lines, not leaving enough room to park between them). We did finally find a spot, and then went and stood in the line that was trailing out through the doors of the Corel Centre. Turns out that this logjam was caused by the fact that they only had a half-dozen people frisking and checking tickets, and that everyone was being funneled through one narrow entrance, instead of splitting people off into "Floor", "100 Level", and "200-300 Level", which would have made more sense, I think.
Having finally made it through the checkpoint, we paused for hotdogs, since neither of us had eaten, and eventually made it down to the floor just in time for Three Days Grace to play their last two songs. I would have liked to see their whole set, but alas, it was not to be. They were good, though obviously unused to playing on such a large stage - they stood all clumped together in the center, and didn't wander at all.
The floor "seats" turned out to be standing room, which was fine, except that, being 5'1", I could see very little. Jason had a great view, but I had to resort to trying to peer around peoples' heads. ;) I think next time I go to a concert at the Corel Centre (whenever that might be), I'll try to get tickets in the 100 Level.
After Three Days Grace left the stage, the house lights came back up so they could set up for Staind, who also played very well. The only complaint I had was with their lead singer, who has very little stage presence. It's almost like he's trying for the "brooding" look that he usually has in their videos, but it really doesn't work on stage. It just makes him look bored.
But as we were standing there watching (right at center ice, directly under the scoreboard), a guy walked past us and into the fenced-off area beside us, where all the sound equipment was, and I did a double-take as I realized that it was the guitarist from Three Days Grace - the guy with the big mohawk. That was pretty cool.
It took them a long time to set up for Nickelback, and Jay and I were looking at the stage going, "Where the heck is their drum set?", because all that was visible on stage was a pair of microphones in front of an elevated platform, and then a big black curtain. Even when the lights went down, there was still no drum set, and we were somewhat confused.
I'll say this: Nickelback certainly knows how to make an entrance! The place went dark, and then we could hear a sound like an approaching train, which melded into a helicopter noise as the lights on the stage flashed and strobed and the stage was hidden behind curtains of smoke so thick that the band could have been standing there and we wouldn't have seen them. Just as it was starting to get excessively loud, the black backdrop curtain dropped to the ground, and a big explosion of fireworks showed that the band (and the drumset) had been hidden behind it, and they kicked right into "Flat on the Floor".
So they played several songs, to the occasional accompaniement of jets of flame and fireworks and such, and the screaming approval of the crowd (and the occasional pothead lighting up), and they certainly put on a good show. Very high energy. They must be exhausted afterwards.
At one point, they darkened the arena and piped a voiceover from Spiderman over the sound system as they set up stools for the band to sit on while they played "Hero". The lead singer from Staind came out as well, to provide the second voice for the song. I recognized the voiceover instantly (yes, I'm a geek), while Jay didn't even realize that it was Tobey Maguire. ;)
They followed that up with "Should've Listened" (from The Long Road), and then the lights went down again and they played a bit of audio from The Shawshank Redemption while they cleared the setup, then they kicked right into "Where Do I Hide".
A couple of songs later, the lead singer threw (literally - about fifteen feet across the stage) his guitar to one of the stagehands, who tossed him a little video camera in return. Apparently this is a tradition with them, taking home movies of the crowd at their shows. So he wandered off the stage (accompanied by a security guard) and around the edge of the arena, in the space between the boards and the barricade that had probably been set up for that purpose, taking video of the crowd while the rest of his band jammed onstage. He eventually made it back to the stage, threw the camera back to the stagehand, and finished the song.
Grand finale was, of course, "How You Remind Me", and accompanied by a fairly spectacular fireworks display and more jets of fire. Lots of fun.
Of course there was a huge crush on the way out, and an immense traffic jam in the parking lot, but Jay and I used the time (while sitting in the car, still in our parking spot, not moving an inch) to exchange Valentine's Day gifts, since I'm not going to get to see him today (being at work and all). I gave him a hardcover copy of Tad Williams' newest book, The War of the Flowers (I think that's what it's called), and a watch that clips to a belt loop (or whatever) with the Sens logo on the part that flips open. I don't know if he'll actually wear it, but he promised to try it out and let me know, so I can return it for something he might actually use if he decides it's not his thing. From him, I got Laura Secord chocolates (always a good thing!), and a cute little figurine of a teddy bear wearing a Sens jersey. It's absolutely adorable! :)
When the parking lot jam cleared up a bit, we finally managed to get out of our parking spot, and eventually made it to the highway. It ended up being a late night, even though the concert was well-choreographed, and ran exactly on time. It was scheduled to go from 7-11pm, and when we got out to the car, it was shortly after 11pm.
So here I am now at work, having taken the bus in when my ride called this morning to say he was sick and wasn't going in (I was only twenty minutes late, which was quite impressive, especially with the buses running on weekend schedule). We're supposed to be leaving at 5pm, depending on how many we get done, and then I'm supposed to go grocery shopping with my mom. Jay is going out to a show at Tuscon's with people, but I think I'll just go home, watch the hockey game, and go to bed. I'd rather get into bed early, since I have to be up at 6:30 tomorrow morning. Hopefully my ride will be feeling better, so I don't have to bus again, cause it's so much quicker in a car!
So happy Valentine's Day, everyone, and hopefully I'll see you all sometime soon! :)