The end of the tour

So I've completed my two month Spring Rock extravaganza of 2005, and logged quite a few miles along the way. Here's the final tally of shows.

Sat Mar 26 - Pedro the Lion, Low
Thurs Mar 31 - Velvet Revolver
Wed Apr 6 - The Dears, The Soundtrack of Our Lives
Thurs Apr 7 - David Usher
Fri Apr 8 - Arts County Fair: Matt Good
Mon Apr 11 - Wil
Wed Apr 20 - The Tea Party
Fri Apr 22 - The Killers, Tegan and Sara
Sun Apr 24 - Puffy AmiYumi
Thurs Apr 28 - U2
Fri Apr 29 - The Weakerthans, The Constantines
Thurs May 5 - The Raveonettes
Tues May 10 - Keane
Fri May 20 - ...And You Will Know Us By Trail of Dead
Tues May 24 - Collective Soul, The Waking Eyes

15 shows in 2 months.....and a bunch of good times.

My top five shows of the tour:
1 - U2
2 - The Tea Party
3 - Collective Soul
4 - Keane
5 - The Dears

Thank You Goodnight Sold Out

Wil and Ray Lamontagne were playing at Richards last night. My friend and I went down hoping to catch another Wil show, but found out the show was sold out. Pretty surprising considering we had never heard of Ray Lamontagne before. Nor did anyone else we know. Pat Steward was outside the venue minutes before Wil came on and I had a chance to talk with him.

Pat told me he wasn't going to be drumming with Wil for the show. We tried to get on the guess list with Pat, but he said that he wasn't able to do that since he wasn't performing for the night. He also had to make a few calls to get on the list himself.

So we stood outside Richards for another 10 minutes listening to Wil's music through the walls of the venue. We then decided to walk around downtown for awhile before catching The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy.

Where The River Flows

Collective Soul played a sold out show last night at the Commodore. It was the first time they've played in Vancouver since Edgefest '97. The show was excellent.

Tonight was the last night for the boys of Collective Soul and The Waking Eyes on their cross Canada tour, so there was some fun to be had throughout the night.

The Waking Eyes opened up the show with a 45min set. The band had a mix of upbeat rock songs as well as a number that included a double bass, keyboards, and a trumpet. The bass player had a really energetic presence on stage, in so much that it looked like he was having a seizure. The band also played a cover of The Beatles' hit "Come Together". Near the end of their set, Will Turpin of Collective Soul came out with a tray of shots for the band. The gesture would be reciprocated later on in the night.

Collective Soul came on around 10:30pm and kicked off their set with 5 straight singles. Ed Roland quickly mentioned this being the last stop on their tour and said this would be a long night. He wasn't kidding either, as the set went on for 2hrs 15mins. The night consisted of them playing practically all their singles from their first five albums, mixed in with some stuff from their new album "Youth". During the set, Ed stated that they hadn't played this song for about seven years until soundcheck earlier in the day, and proceeded into "Disciplined Breakdown".

One of the highlights of the set included a solo acoustic version of "Satellite" that Ed said he wrote for his son. Later on he started teasing some "Thunderstuck" by AC/DC to the crowd before stopping. When the audience seemed ready to rock, the band ripped into "Highway To Hell". The Waking Eyes came on stage during the set and also offered a tray of shots to the band. The drummer for the band also decided to come on stage sans a shirt and pants. He ended up parading around the stage in a thong with "Collective Soul" written on his ass, and playing a tambourine to the song "Gel". The show looked like it was gonna end with "Shine", but the band came back on one last time to play "Smashing Young Man". By the end of the evening, I was completely spent, but satisfied.

Yah...I can hear today

Went to see ...And You Will Know Us By The Trail of Dead last night at the Commodore. The first opening band was a trio called We Are Wolves. Couldn't understand what they were singing about. However, they did fulfill my daily intake of cowbell that was included in the drum section.

The International Noise Conspiracy was on next. The band had a lot of energy throughout their garage rock set. They also informed the crowd with some political banter in between songs. There was no barricade between the crowd and the stage for this show. This lead to some smart ass getting up on stage and falling backwards off expecting some people at the front to catch him. Unfortunately, people decided to move out of the way and I saw him land on his back and head on the cold Commodore floor. Ouch.....that's gotta sting.

Having seen The Trail of Dead before, I knew what was expected and decided to bring some ear plugs. This was my first time using ear plugs at a show, and they worked out nicely. I felt the last time I saw them at Richards was a stronger show, but I've grown more on their new "Worlds Apart" album and still enjoyed the set. At the end, some stage hands urged fans to get on stage and rock out with the band. This eventually lead to over 60 people jumping around on stage while the band concluded their final song. A few friends of mine jumped at the opportunity to get on the stage and started taking pictures of the mayhem. The pictures turned out rather interesting.

We might as well be strangers

Keane was playing at the QE Theatre last night. I didn't have a ticket yet, and decided to go to the box office to see what was still available. I ended up row 7 centre. Not too bad. The show was fantastic.

Brendan Benson opened. Never heard of him before, but he won me over by the end of his set. He's one of the best openers I've seen so far this year.

Keane consists of a vocalist, a keyboardist and a drummer. The setup of the equipment was in the shape of a triangle, with the front centre of the stage open to move around. The keyboardist was extremely enthusiastic in his performance, reminding me of Chris Martin's movement in the Clocks video. The lights and production were well done. Tom Chaplin's vocals are so strong. I found his voice and the accompanying music to be quite emotional. They previewed 3 new songs for us. All of them were enjoyable.

The set lasted just over an hour with one encore, but definitely felt a lot longer. Like The Killers, I expect these guys to be playing arena shows the next time they're in town supporting a new album.

I would consider this one of my top three shows so far this year.

Attack of the ghost riders

Went to see The Raveonettes last night. The first band of the night was a trio from San Francisco named The Peels. I thought they had some catchy riffs. The next band was called Autolux. They had an amazing female drummer that smashed her cymbals with a unique grip.

Note to self.....female drummers are hot
Another note to self.........female musicians are hot

During the entire Autolux set, Sharin Foo of The Raveonettes was standing right beside me watching the opening band. A guy came up to buy her a drink, but she politely turned it down as she already had one. She left quickly after the Autolux set with few people recognizing her.

The Raveonettes play a really solid set, that included a cover of "My Boyfriend's back." Their catalogue of songs include both a garage rock feel and disco dancing numbers. They were on for about 1hr 10mins but it seemed a lot longer.

On my way to the show, I was waiting for a green light at an intersection and noticed someone staring in my direction. He proceeded to wind down the window and I then realized it was my friend Eric that I've know since kindergarden and haven't seen since highschool. Maybe we'll meet up again soon. I hope it's before another five years.