concert count

#42: Jason Mraz (27-Apr-08) - Kool Haus

ah jason mraz, what a long hiatus he seems to have taken. i saw him at kool haus about two and a half years ago, so it definitely has been a long time. he hadn't released an album with new material since then, but has had a bunch of things released on the net.

he had a bunch of opening acts, which i skipped out on the first two. one of them was a magician! i've never heard of or seen a show where there was a non-musical opening act. and his name was justin kredible! what a perfect stage name for a magician! he also served as an MC for the show and introduced the other acts.

the second opening act was the makepeace brothers. i'm not sure if they were actually blood brothers. i don't know anything about them, but they came out for a song with the 3rd opening act, bushwalla. i swear bushwalla had a song released at least 5 years ago because that name sounds so familiar, but i can't put my finger on it. he was good too, very energetic and random (ie. stripping down to a unitard for the last song).

then justin kredible came back on stage to do a magic trick, and put a tent up on stage and jason mraz magically appeared out of it. what an entrance!

jason played a mix of new and old songs, which was good and expected. talking to a friend who went to 2 different shows in california, it turns out that he has 2 different set lists and rotates them. which makes sense, just to mix things up a bit. the only thing i wish he did was play more of his upbeat, fast songs. at times i thought there were too many slow songs, which slows the tone of the show down. i really can't wait for his new album to come out, it will be long overdue.

one of my favourite things that people do at shows is invite everyone on stage (opening acts and other people who are on tour with them) and do this massive song together. matt costa did it, and so did jason mraz. it was actually a song that bushwalla sang, and all the opening acts and support people came on stage to play the tambourine, jump around, dance, and generally have a good time. i love when they do this because everyone looks like they're having so much fun. so they did this, and then they abruptly stopped the song and froze in position. then justin kredible introduced every single person and took a polaroid of them and threw it into the crowd. they were frozen in place for a very long time, it was quite impressive. by the time he got to jason, he whispered to justin to hurry up b/c everyone was probably getting tired.

i thought that was the last song before the encore. but it wasn't, jason came out to do an acoustic song. and then he left and came back for the encore. i forget how good his songs are from both his first 2 albums. and his voice is absolutely amazing. great show all around.

next up: kanye west's glow in the dark tour at my favourite venue, the molson amphitheatre!

concert count

#41: Matt Costa (27-Feb-08) - The Phoenix

what a long concert drought!!!!! i blame it on the winter, everyone seems to go into hibernation.

i bought tickets to this show months ago, mainly because i've always wanted to check out a matt costa show, and partially because i was just itching to go to a concert (and the tickets were cheap).

even though i didn't know much of his music, i've heard good things about his show, and his connection to jack johnson automatically earns points in my books.

but poor matt costa got all his gear stolen after his show in winnipeg, and then after that, they got into an accident and their van did a few flips on the road. the keyboard player was hurt, i think. but like a true dedicated artist, the show must go on. and i'm glad it did. his music and his live show is so entertaining. he just has happy music, something you can tap your foot to, and leave it on in the background for any occassion.

apparently he was either drunk or high at the calgary show, but he seemed sober in toronto. for the last song before the encore, all these people, whom i assume is part of his crew and their significant others, came out to help sing, clap, and play the tambourine. i liked that because it seemed like they were having so much fun. i actually recognized more songs than i thought i would, which is always a plus at a show.

once again, the phoenix is an awesome venue for shows. love the small club show. great show to end the drought.

next on deck: kanye west and the glow in the dark tour with rihanna, lupe fiasco, and N.E.R.D.! just got tickets today for the show in may at the molson amphitheatre. solid line up. solid venue.

when in rome....

...do as the romans do.

i was in montreal last week, and i had:

- steak tartar (for the first time - yum!)

- crepes

- rack of lamb

- french toast

- montreal smoked meat sandwich

good city. great food. what more can you ask for?

concert count

#40: Matthew Good (26-oct-07) - Massey Hall

the day before, raine maida was busking on toronto streets for 12 hrs to raise money to build a school in the congo with war child. then i had tickets to the matt good show the next day. it's like i'm back in university going to see our lady peace and matthew good band, but both have gone solo now. (although i don't know if OLP have broken up or if raine is just doing his own thing for a bit).

i really like matt good's newest CD, even though his other solo efforts have been ok, but not to the MGB calibre, in my opinion. it seemed like he had taken a long time between records, and in the meantime, he blogged about his battle with being bipolar.

so we ended up being late to the show b/c when i pulled out my tickets, it turned out that i brought one ticket and the receipt instead of the other ticket. i usually rip off the receipt (which is printed on a ticket and it's all connected when they mail the tickets), and pin the tickets to my bulletin board. but i guess i ripped it in the wrong place at the start and didn't notice until we were about to walk in. good thing i live downtown and the venue was downtown, so we just took a cab back to my place, and i found the other ticket in my file of receipts, and went back to massey hall. we missed 3-5 songs (depending on which usher you ask).

he had a glass of wine with him on stage, which was constantly refilled, and he was definitely slurring his words when he talked. the performance was great, but you could tell he was drunk when he talked, which was pretty funny. he was filming the performance (coincidently it was being filmed by duncan from our lady peace!), but he kept saying that he messed up so many times they probably won't use any of the footage.

i was hoping he would sing some old MGB songs, and he didn't disappoint. he sang apparitions and suburbia, my all time favourite MGB song from beautiful midnight. and the whole show was acoustic, which was really amazing.

between every song, he would talk. and lots too. at one point, there was someone with a laser pointer, so matt proceeded to make fun of the person. he's like "laser pointers are so 1997. i don't get the mentality of 'oh i'm going to bring a laser pointer to the matt good show. i'm going to point it at the guitar and no one's going to know it's me.'" and then another time he talked about how he wanted to do a record about the homoerotic tendencies of the lord of the rings.

he played for an extra long time too. he played for a little over 2 hrs in total, which is pretty amazing these days. he seemed to be alot more mellow than the usual ranting matt good, i think it was the booze.

so overall a good show. now if i went to the david usher show a few weeks ago, that would have rounded out my favourite-university-era-bands'-lead-singers-gone-solo tour.

i have no upcoming shows lined up either. maybe a little bit of a concert drought for awhile.

concert count

#39: Maroon 5 (04-Oct-07) - ACC

ahhhhhh. i was so excited to see this show. both maroon 5 CDs are amazing, and i was so angry i didn't get tickets to their club tour a few months ago b/c i thought that would have been a million times better than seeing them at the ACC. but that wasn't completely true, the show was still really good.

it was at the ACC. so think of a hockey arena and how the stage is always at one end of the rink. there are floor seats and then the regular seats. we had the first row of the seats on the side, so we were pretty close.

the opening act was the hives. i was looking forward to seeing them b/c they were always one of those bands i've wanted to check out b/c they're the type of band and music i would like.

i enjoyed their set. i think mainly b/c the lead singer was such a performer. he was hilarious and would keep talking to the crowd. at one point, he even said something about how he's meant to be on stage b/c he's so entertaining or something like that. their music was good, i can't say i was overly into their music based on their performance though. it wasn't like when i saw muse at virgin fest for the first time ever, and was so impressed with their show that i became a fan.

then the main act. oh adam levine. so cute. he kinda reminds me of a young sting. this is a picture i took without zoom to show how close we actually were sitting.

i hadn't really listened to their old CD in awhile, and i really forgot how good it actually is. and they sang so many songs from their first album, which was great. one of my favourites is still 'this love' and i took a long video of it (check it on my facebook profile to watch it). i made a conscious effort not to sing while taking the video b/c it's always hilarious when i watch youtube videos of live concert footage and either the person taking the video or someone beside them is singing so loud you can't hear the musician.

i was actually really impressed with their stage set up. i wasn't really expecting much. but they had two runways that went into the audience, and the light show behind them was good too. there was also a wide range of people in the audience. from the dad with his two kids under 12 years old sitting beside me, to the near 40 cougars in ed hardy tshirts, there pretty much was everyone at this show.i don't really remember much more about the show, except that i was super impressed by it and ended up having a even bigger crush on adam levine. i don't care if he's a manwhore, it's purely a celebrity crush.

i literally gasped when i saw that there's going to be an M&M meat shop opening right by my house. there's none downtown, and they're all out in the suburbs. so besides the one time i bought some stuff at the store near my office in the suburbs, i've never had any M&M stuff since moving out to TO.

i'm very excited about this one opening up. it looks like it'll be ready soon! i've never really had any of their stuff in edmonton before because i was lucky enough to get homecooking. but now that i'm living on my own, i'll be stocking my freezer!

concert counts

#34: i.an.eye (07-Sep-07) - The Rivoli

a friend of mine went to school with one of the guys in this band, and my old roommate had mentioned before that she thought i would enjoy their music based on knowing my music taste. they're kind of a reggae folk band. in general, i'm not a huge fan of reggae, which is one reason i didn't like bedouin soundclash very much. obviously, i know these bands aren't the prototypical reggae band, but you get the point.

so i.an.eye is basically comprised of 2 guys, and they have a supporting band behind them. apparently one of their first shows, all they did was play jack johnson covers. but now they have their own material. it was pretty good. not too reggae, it was pretty relaxed.

apparently they're going to try and do a tour in europe, so that's pretty cool.

#35a: Virgin Festival (08-Sep-07) - Toronto Island

i won tickets to the festival from a local radio station, so i was pretty excited about that. i wanted to go, but didn't necessarily want to shell out money for it, and didn't know who would do the same. but i won two tickets, so a friend of mine came with me.

first up was paolo nutini. we only really caught a song and a half of his set, which is really disappointing b/c i relaly wanted to see him perform. but the ferry was hard to predict, and ended up taking longer to get over to the island. the only full song we heard was pretty good.

then it was k-os. i've never seen him perform, and it was pretty good. i don't know any of his stuff except for his singles, but it was enjoyable.

next up was m.i.a. i was interested to see her set b/c i've heard lots about her, but never really know any of her songs. she was actually really good. i liked her show and performance, but i dunno if her music is something i would listen to all the time.

then we went to the other stage and checked out parts of matt costa's set. we couldn't see the whole thing, b/c we had to go back to the main stage and see the arctic monkeys. even though i've seen them perform before, i still wanted to see them again. they have such a distinctive british sound, i love it.

2nd last act was interpol. i was really looking forward to their set b/c i've never seen them before and their music is so good. and they didn't disappoint. their live show was great and it made their songs sound even better. definitely my favourite act of the day.

the day 1 closing act was bjork. i've never heard any of her stuff before and only know her as being weird, so i was intrigued at what kind of show she would put on. it was definitely weird too! i honestly couldn't even understand the words she was singing, and it was just all around weird. so after 2 songs or so, we decided to leave. we'd seen enough to make judgement!

#35b: Virgin Festival (09-Sep-07) - Toronto Island

day 2 started with tokyo police club. i've already seen them perform as well, so it wasn't a new show in that sense. i wonder when they're going to release another album b/c all their songs are so short and they only have one album.

then we missed the stars set, mainly b/c we were standing in line waiting to buy funnel cake.

metric took the stage next, and like the first time i saw them in whistler, it was good, but i wouldn't consider myself a fan of their music. some of their songs are really catchy, but i dunno what it is that is stopping me from actually loving their stuff.

then it was the killers. i was really excited for them b/c i've never seen them perform. and they didn't disappoint. it was a great show. i have their second album on my ipod, and i remember really liking it. great show.

then the smashing pumpkins closed the festival. i was definitely looking forward to this set the most. even though i'm not their #1 fan in any respect, i think i only have one album (meloncholy and the infinite sadness), but it was definitely one of their best. they sang lots of their classics along with their new stuff. i really wish they sang 'disarm' though, that's one of my favourite pumpkins songs. we basically waited for them to perform 1979, and then left. which i think about half the people there did as well. 1979 was great though. billy corgan did an acoustic solo version of the song, and it sounded really good.

all in all, a great virgin festival again this year.

#36: City and Colour (11-Sep-07) - Danforth Music Hall

day 1 of my city and colour shows. attack in black opened up this show (they did shows 1 and 3. casey baker did shows 2 and 4). they just released their album, and it sounded pretty good. i bought it at the merch table afterwards. i only caught half of their set though.

we had row 4 seats to the right side. and it turned out that dallas was standing on the right! what luck! he did these shows a little differently. he had the 2 people from attack in black come out and play the bass and drums behind him. so the songs were definitely louder. at first, i was mixed as to whether or not i liked the new way of performing the song. why mess with a good thing? but i was really surprised by it and really liked it. it mixes up the songs a bit, and i'm sure he must be tired of performing the same songs the same way for almost 2 years. he even made a comment about people thinking he's ruining their favourite songs.

one of the best things of city and colour shows is that dallas talks to the crowd all the time. and he's so funny, without really trying to be. he usually does it while he's tuning his guitars. and sometimes it takes him awhile, so people heckle and yell out stuff constantly. so it gets a little annoying at times, but whatever.

he played a few new songs, and some covers as well. he's going to be on a neil young tribute album where a bunch of people perform neil young songs and the proceeds go to neil young's son's charity. i don't know what the song is called, but it was really good. the CD comes out at the end of this month, so i'll probably pick that up just b/c of dallas.

he also played boiled frogs acoustically, which sounds so different without the loudness of a band and without george screaming in the background. and then he played another cover with the two other guys and they all sang a verse. also a good song, but no idea what it was.

somehow doritos were brought up during the show, and dallas was like "top 5 doritos flavours, think about it, we'll talk in 2 days." he likes doritos.

he played a few songs with the full band, then did a few songs acoustically, then the band came back. for the encore, he did save your scissors, but mixed it up a bit.

#37: City and Colour (12-Sep-o7) - Danforth Music Hall

day 2. we ran a little late at dinner, so missed the first song. we had row 2 seats on the right again. this was exactly the same set list as the day before (surprise surprise), and some of the same jokes too. gotta give him some slack though, he can't mix things up every night.

it's too bad i missed the opening act. i thought attack in black was doing all 4 shows, but casey baker opened up this show.

after that doritos comment the night before, someone at the show knew someone who worked for doritos and sent a box of chips to the venue. how cool is that? and how much do i wish i was that person? so much.

there was this super loud singer guy who sat in the row behind me. he sang so loud and would clap so loud, before the song even ended! i wouldn't mind if he sang a little quieter, but he was almost drowning out dallas. wasn't the girl he with embarrassed? i would be.

at the encore. when dallas was talking about save your scissors, and how widespread it got, he referred to west edmonton mall! he was saying how he was walking through a mall with a skating rink in it (he said he didn't have to say what mall it was but said "how many malls in canada have a skating rink in it?") and the song was playing while people were figure skating. and that's when he realized the song had gotten bigger than he thought it would.

#38: City and Colour (13-Sep-07) - Danforth Music Hall

the last of the shows i was seeing, but the 3rd of 4 shows in total dallas was doing. this was going to be a concert first for me. this was the first time i'll go to a show alone. i had front row seats, so that's why i did it. i don't think i've ever had front row seats. the first picture is one i took from my seat without any type of zoom. not bad.

pretty much the same set, except he added one more song to his acoustic part. the more songs the better!i felt a little weird having front row seats. i felt so exposed for some reason. like i couldn't take as many pictures, b/c he could obviously see me doing it and i couldn't hide behind people in front of me. and i didn't want to stare, so i kept looking away, but then i realized i was there to see him, so why would i look away?

i timed it perfectly to get there right when he started his set. there was no way i was going to sit through the opening act, then wait alone in between sets for dallas to start. so i showed up right before dallas took the stage.

even though i went to 3 shows in a row, i wasn't bored or anything. i enjoyed each one, and was glad i did it. i wasn't the only one who went to multiple shows either. dallas asked if people had tickets to multiple shows, and there were quite a few people who cheered.

check my facebook profile for a video i uploaded of the show. it's the part where dallas sings a part of justin timberlake's "my love" in the middle of his song. so good.