Scotty12 wrote:Suggestions for where I could find a decently priced decent single?
3 hour drive ahead of me once I can secure it!
Fingers crossed for the lottery in two hours.
For starters, I made the 3 hour drive without a ticket based soley on the fact that Juan was willing to use my camera to film from the second row. Posted "wanted" ads on Kijiji and hipbase, received zero email or text responses from either. Understandable. Reached out to several friends that were attending the show and they all had a similar message - scalpers were looking to buy more than they were advertising to sell. Good luck!
paintedbynumbers wrote:We ending w Bob tonight or 50 MC?
50 MC was my prediction all night too but I was happy to "settle" for that beast of a Grace.
Arrival at the ACC was JUST in time to meet Juan and lend him my cameras before he entered. Perhaps slightly late. What a generous legend he is to this community, such a pleasure to meet and thank him. I did my best to keep from panicking as honks rained down upon my car parked illegally in Maple Leaf square while Juan stood beside my car to receive a crash course on my camera. It felt like it took 15 minutes to navigate out of that chaos and another hour to get into my friends condo to park and walk back to the venue, and it was a zoo down there. Add to the fact that a ticket trade I had lined up for a rare pearl jam poster fell through (he claimed to have scalped his 300s for $600!) and I was starting to feel nervous about getting in the building.
The first ticket seller I approached was a scalper posing as a fan (a pretty common practice at the ACC) and he wanted me to "buy his single for $300" so "he and his buddy" can buy a pair from another scalper for $600." His single was in row 29 of the lonley end of the rink, and it was a crumpled up paper ticket. That wasn't happening.
At this point it was probably about 8 pm and some people had already lucked out waiting in the will call line, so I took my place. Approximately 50 people ahead of me, which could mean as many as 100 tickets, some of which were surely getting scalped. Every 5-10 minutes I would have the guy behind me hold my place while I sprinted outside to see if there was anything reasonable available. The blue jays game ending before the hip concert certainly increased demand as it seemed the majority of people looking for seats were wearing jerseys/ballcaps. Scalpers were bullish with their asking prices, and if I was going to spend hundreds above face on this tour, it was going to be for a premium seat or Kingston. No exceptions. Back to the line I went.
Shortly after 8, my miracle occurred. A middle age woman walked past our line, unfolded a pair of tickets and gazed around the atrium. Could this be my chance? "Do you have an extra ticket ma'am?" I asked. "An extra ticket? Why of course I do! How did you know?" she smiled. It honestly seemed too good to be true. Was this lady playing a joke on this stranger in line with dozens of others waiting to buy tickets?
"You'll need to come with me right now and say you are my husband. Is that ok? He is stuck in traffic."
"Yes, of course that is ok! I drove from Kingston to see this show, thank you so much" I stammered, tripping on the ropes as I lept out of the will call line. This was an overwhelmingly happy moment, full of elation and relief. Some of the people waiting beside me in line for tickets were cheering. "WAY TO GO BUDDY!" one guy yelled, hitting the air with several uppercuts in my direction as I walked into the venue on cloud 9, not yet knowing how perfect my sidestage seats would be to film.
"Before the show starts, can I get you anything?" I asked my ticket fairy godmother. "No no, Im fine" she replied. Moments later "perhaps a water" .... I would have siphoned it directly from Lake Ontario if thats what she wanted!
The opening notes of blow sent chills down my spine. After soaking every note in I decided to focus and seize the opportunity to record as much of the show as I could for posterity. Since my teens I have been enjoying the contributions of tapers and I was very content to put myself in their shoes for an evening.
Up to here and MMP sets felt pretty standard. Was happy to hear Opiated even though I knew it was coming. If I had been on the first show of the tour and not expecting that it would have been a highlight.
Now for Plan A...would have preferred any album in its place (especially WATS), but the band seemed very into their performance and I enjoyed that. If memory serves me correctly Gord dedicated one of the songs to someone (Pete?) so maybe NFPA was requested by friend/family. He also made a reference "she said it to him" to intro We want to be it, which reminded me of the Massey Hall 09 show when he said WATS was a conversation between a man and a woman. God I wish I we heard WATS instead, can you tell?
The Henhouse set was solid. Crowd ate gift shop right up after the lull that was MMP/NFPA set and springtime carries extra meaning on this tour. Ahead by a century has also been transformed from a hit song you hear every show to an emotional song with heightened meaning. At least for me.
Road apples was stellar. Gems felt like it exists in the set to give Gord a rest/wardrobe change and in context the intro was an even slower build than normal while you await his return. Three pistols blew the roof off the place and as a fan of Twist it was great to hear. As far as hip songs go I'll always prefer a gritty live version of the luxury to long time running, but that was another beautiful moment in the concert and I wouldn't have swapped them given the choice.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=onEFGRMNilk
Loved little bones as a closer :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PAWgrbx_UoU
Now, onto the encore(s)
Phantom power. Such a powerhouse album. I would have loved anything they played off it, and was happy to see it appearing in most shows. Cutting it down to three would be a tough task, especially considering the crowd must be pleased. Felt fortunate to hear escape before the hits that an encore requires. May have to make the last minute zip to Ham or Ottawa to chase membership, something on, and fireworks in a main set.
Escape:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0H9_G27zpnc
Poets:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3O1aquWZ2M
Bobcaygeon:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6iJjIios5kI
Daredevil set the table perfectly, serving as a fantastic appetizer for that incredible Grace, Too:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RYib_LI6oVQ
Have never been to a concert with so much emotion both on and off the stage. Probably will never, with the exception of Kingston on Saturday.
Do I love lastnights Grace so much because I was there and associate what I felt, similar to the way so many parents think their kid is the cutest ever? Or was it as good as I thought it was and Im not crazy in thinking this version of Grace deserves a "name?"
As someone that had been critical of Gord yelling & the bands lack of inspired setlists in recent years (you knew shows were opening with grace/at transformation in 2013 and could predict most sets with reasonable accuracy) this tour has been incredible. Lastnight was filled with fantastic and inspiring performances and closing a 3 night run with their "opener" was perfect in my mind.
Many more thoughts / video to follow. Need to go do some work for now!