shadow on the sun

Went to the Audioslave show last night at GM Place. We missed the two openers, 30 Seconds to Mars and Seether. Saw Jared Leto's band a few years ago when they opened for Incubus....wasn't anything special.

Audioslave came on at 9:05pm. The crowd for the show was very responsive all night, singing along to many songs. During the 1hr 45min performance, they covered some Soundgarden songs such as Spoonman and Rusty Cage. During Spoonman, Cornell called out the original Artis the Spoonman for the solo. He came out barefooted and started going insane, slapping spoons together and against his body. It was very impressive. Being a huge Soundgarden fan back in the day, I marked out big time.

They also covered some Rage songs such as Bulls On Parade and Sleep Now In The Fire. Bulls was done instrumental, with Morello's crazy scratching solo on the guitar. Unfortunately, Cornell's attempt at singing the other Rage songs didn't work out quite well.

For the encore, Cornell came out and played a solo acoustic performance of Black Hole Sun and Blow Up The Outside World. Those were done nicely. The band eventually joined him and finished off the set with a couple more songs, ending with Cochise.

I found the Audioslave songs to be pretty mellow for the most part. None of their stuff really stood out. Funny how my favourite songs of the evening were the Soundgarden covers.

the line begins to blur

Nine Inch Nails played the Coliseum last night. Queens of the Stone Age opened with a rocking 55min set. It's interesting to watch bands open, that are big enough to headline their own shows. For one, playing to another band's audience can be difficult. Depsite the Queens' set being fairly upbeat, people in the stands remained seated.

Another thing is the production of the set. Things such as set display, lights, and sound quality for openers are usually quite basic so it doesn't upstage the main act.

The Queens' performance included an extended version of No One Knows to close out their set. The drumming in the song was great.

NIN took the stage around 9:25pm with a see-through drape covering the front of the stage. They performed the first song that way, with the drape shortly lifting afterwards. Trent's stage presence was incredible. He's one of the most passionate performers I've seen on stage. Every lyric sung and every note played meant something. Trent has also bulked up quite a bit. Looks like he's been downing a couple protein shakes lately.

The set lasted 1hr 35mins and went straight through without an encore. During a couple songs, the drape would lower again and video footage would be screened on it. Images of pain, capture, survival, and nature all appeared. It was nice to watch the crowd stand still for those brief moments during the display.

A highlight included watching the circles open up in the pit to the opening drum beats of March of the Pigs. This was contrasted by the array of lighters that surfaced during the performance of Hurt.

Overall, NIN put on a solid performance and I didn't get stabbed while inside the pit. Yay. Plus I can hear again today. That's always a good sign.

Pieces of the night

the new face of zero and one

Just got back from The New Pornographers show at the Commodore. A great night of music was had.

The band has been getting a ton of press and a lot of critical acclaim as of late. Magazines such Rolling Stone and Spin have given their new album great reviews. This made me surprised that the show was not sold out well in advance. When I arrived at the venue tonight however, there was a huge lineup of people trying to purchase last minute released tickets. Apparently, they had just sold out a day prior to the show.

Immaculate Machine was the first of two openers of the evening. The trio from Victoria features Kathryn Calder, also a member of the New Pornographers as well as being Carl Newman's niece. The band's harmonies and musical stylings were solid. Having never heard of them before the night, I was blown away by their sound.

Destroyer was the second act and also features members Dan Bejar, Kurt Dahle, and John Collins from the New Pornographers. Wasn't overly thrilled with Dan's vocals, but there were a couple catchy tunes in the set.

Bumped into Ryan Dahle and Meegee Bradfield from Limblifter at the show. They were there in support of Ryan's bro Kurt and his double duty performance for the evening.

The New Pornographers took the stage around 11:15pm to a packed Commodore crowd. There wasn't a barricade tonight between the stage and the crowd, so we had a perfect spot right up against the stage. Seven members of their band filled the stage. Eight at times when Dan would come out and help on vocals. Meanwhile, the band had four other vocalists throughout the set. This allowed for some strong harmonies.

Kurt was hilarious on drums. He would throw up his sticks in the air, hoping to catch it and hit the crash symbol. Four times out of five, he would drop the sticks. During a brief break while Carl was adjusting his guitar input, Kurt insisted that Neko Case resembled Stevie Nicks from Fleetwood Mac with her long flowing dress. He then proceeded to play some "Dreams" as the rest of the band joined in.

Some other highlights of the set included performances of Mass Romantic, The New Face of Zero and One, and Sing Me Spanish Techno.

The band was approaching the 1am curfew when Carl announced that the next song would be their last. Two songs later, they were still playing. They ended up finishing their set about five minutes over curfew time at 1:05am. Their 1hr 50min set included two encores.

It's pretty much a tradition to hit up the $.99 cent slice pizzas after Commodore concerts. Tonight was no different.

Anyways I'm pretty tired and ready to pass out.......I'm officially asleeppppp.

In A Coma

Since we're such big MG geeks, we decided to have a listening party for the new release.

In A Coma















The packaging of the new release is very tasty.


















The Rooms portion with the acoustic reworkings of songs were emotional.

Must of lost my mind, when I lost your heart key.















Pups enjoyed the reworking of Hello Time Bomb.



















Playing some Prime Time Deliverance.















It was nice to finally find out what Matt says to the girl in the Strange Days video. My appearance in the Weapon video was fun to rewatch. Man, that was a long shoot. Hanging out with Matt and the crew for the day was awesome though.

My MG catalogue.

Why don't presidents fight the wars? Why do they always send the poor?

System Of A Down and The Mars Volta rocked the Coliseum last night.

We got there just as the first band Hella, was finishing their set. They ended with a nice drum solo.

The Mars Volta came on around 7:50pm and played a 4 song set that lasted 55mins. The live band consists of eight members. My friend told me that during the recording of their album Frances The Mute, guitarist Omar Rodriguez-Lopez used over 200 effect pedals. Pretty insane. Throughout the set, singer Cedric Bixler Zavala was very entertaining to watch. His stage presence was quite intense and included some Michael Jackson - like dance moves, but without any crotch grabbing.

With the Coliseum not having the best sound system in the world, it was difficult at times to hear the vocals clearly, but the musicality of the set was an interesting experience. Omar was soloing like crazy during the performance and the audience seemed very appreciative.

System Of A Down played from 9:25pm - 11pm. Their set was pounding from start to finish and had a very nice flow. With their songs being around 3-4mins, they played most of their catalogue.

Their 1hr 35min set didn't contain an encore, but it didn't need one. The performance was straight rocking and the crowd's energy showed it. There were some crazy slam circles that broke out in the pit. Included was a big circle, and a mini circle a bit farther back from the stage. The mini circle was like an amateur pit, where if you knock over 3 guys, you can graduate to the bigger circle.

During the show, I bumped into Neil Morrison from CFOX, who was seated near us. Another guy close to us was playing air guitar throughout the whole performance. He seemed really into it too, carefully watching his finger placement. I guess he wanted to make sure he was playing on the right fret.

Anyways, I had a nice ringing in my ears after the show. I asked my buddy how his ear plugs worked out. He said he put them in about 3/4 into the set. By that time, he already couldn't hear. That's just plain funny.

dangerous city

One of my favourite bands, the Pepper Sands, played last night at the Media Club.



I first heard them at a Matt Good show about 4 years ago, and have been a fan of their music ever since. Their upbeat pop-rock riffs are infectious, as are their slow, melancholy numbers. It's amazing how many other great bands I've seen open for MG in the past, such as The Dears and Wil.

This was my 11th time seeing them. On this night, the set consisted of all new songs off their forthcoming album, Forest Strays.




Go learn more about this great band at their web site.

Also check out some songs at their myspace page.

MG Show #18

Last night was fantastic. Matt played an intimate acoustic set and was interviewed by Neil Morrison for the CFOX Uninvited Guest show. The event was held at the Armoury Studios, the same place where songs from The Audio Of Being were recorded.





Only 20 people were allowed into the show, making it even more special. The five song set consisted of:
Strange Days
Tripoli
Generation X-Wing
Oh Be Joyful
Can't Get Shot In The Back If You Don't Run


In between songs, Matt answered questions from both Neil and the fans.


The show started at 7pm and lasted just over an hour. Afterwards, we had a chance to talk with Matt and get some things signed.






Thank you to Matt and everyone at CFOX for such a memorable experience. You can catch Matt's interview and performance tonight on CFOX at 8pm.

Matt Good CFOX Uninvited Guest

Huge thanks to Marcy Mailloux, Neil Morrison, Karen K, and everyone at the FOX for inviting me to be a part of the MG CFOX Uninvited Guest show tomorrow.

This is gonna be my 18th time seeing Matt perform.....craziness.

Here's a list of the shows I've seen him at so far:
1) July 11, 1998 Thunderbird Stadium Edgefest 98
2) July 14, 1999 Thunderbird Stadium Edgefest 99
3) Jan 2, 2001 Commodore Ballroom
4) Jan 3, 2001 Commodore Ballroom
5) July 28, 2001 False Creek SnowJam
6) May 10, 2002 Commodore Ballroom New Music West
7) May 11, 2002 Vogue Theatre New Music West
8) Apr 17, 2003 Commodore Ballroom
9) Apr 18, 2003 Commodore Ballroom
10) Apr 19, 2003 Vogue Theatre
11) Apr 25, 2003 Commodore Ballroom
12) Apr 26, 2003 Commodore Ballroom
13) Aug 2, 2003 Plaza Of Nations Celebrate BC
14) July 1, 2004 Richard's on Richards CFOX Canada Day Show
15) Aug 06, 2004 Commodore Ballroom
16) Oct 10, 2004 Vogue Theatre
17) Apr 8, 2005 Thunderbird Stadium Arts County Fair

They're allowing only twenty people into the Armoury Studios so it's gonna be a very intimate performance. I'll be sure to bring my camera and take some pics.

The Masterplan

Arrived home from the Oasis show just over an hour ago. It's Friday morning and almost 1am. Should be sleeping now. Work starts in just over 6hrs.

Anyways, I enjoyed the show. We had some sweet seats, floor row 5. The view was good and I didn't have any giants standing in front of me. Kasabian was the first band on. Caught two of their songs. Recognized one of them. Jet was the second opener. Their first song played was Cold Hard Bitch with an extended intro. Neato. The set lasted about 40mins. Nothing too special, and a decent opener to warm up the crowd.

Oasis hit the stage at around 9:15pm and opened with Turn Up the Sun. Their set consisted of many songs off the new album and singles off their first two records. Liam was entertaining to watch. He would sing the song, then walk to the edge of the stage and just stare off, with his sunglasses on during the set. At one point, he was staring with his tambourine resting on top of his head. OK....Anyways, as Noel prepared to hit the vocals on a couple tracks, the roar of the crowd would intensify. I guess many people agreed with my opinion that Noel is a better singer. Acquiesce was awesome, as was Live Forever and Don't Look Back In Anger.

Back to Liam, it seemed as though he wasn't enjoyed the sound of the show as much as he kept getting the sound guy to adjust his mic volume. He also complained about how his band was playing too fast for him to sing. Near the end of the main set, he said something along the lines of "I wish I played with a fuckin' decent band once in a while." As he walked off the stage, he gave the good old blowjob motion to Noel and Noel flipped a guitar pick at him. It was classic! Funny how when the band came back on for their encore, Liam came out one side of the stage while the other band members came out the other side.

I'm a bit disappointed that they didn't play anything off Be Here Now as there are some good tracks on it such as "I Hope, I Think, I Know", "Stand By Me" and "Don't Go Away". I'm not as disappointed that they didn't play anything off Standing on the Shoulder Of Giants or Heathen Chemistry. I thought the setlist could have been stronger. Also absent from the setlist were Supersonic, Roll With It, and Stay Young. I did however enjoy Morning Glory and their cover of My Generation as the last song. Zak Starkey, Ringo's kid, was whaling away on the drums for their final song.

Despite the missing songs from the setlist and Liam's usual antics, I still had a good time at the show.

Anyways off to sleep...this time for real. I have no idea how I'm able to get up so early every morning.

MG tix go on sale at 10am this morning. Must also somehow get into the CFOX uninvited guest show.

Pearl Jam Night #2

Pearl Jam's performance last night at GM Place was once again incredible. Two nights in a row watching them and it felt great.

Before the show, we drove around downtown in our Pearl Jam van. We came across a few enthusiastic fans while some people gave us some weird looks or didn't care. Typical Vancouver reaction.

GM Place was completely packed for the show. The Supersuckers opened to a quarter full arena and played what I thought to be a decent opening set. As the opener, your job is to warm up the crowd and help set the tone for the evening. For the last song of their set, they invited a friend onto the stage to sing the song. When a masked man with a shiny jacket appeared, we all knew it was Eddie. The song started up and the vocals hit, with Eddie's familiar vocals and fans could be seen running to theur seats. By the end of the song, the arena was 3/4 full.

Pearl Jam hit the stage at 9:00pm and went until 11:25pm. Show came out to 2hrs 25 mins with 3 encores. As opposed to the previous night's acoustic set opener, the guys came flying out of the gates with this show. It was all business right from the start and I knew the night would be rocking til the end.

I felt the band sounded tighter this show, making less mistakes and the setlist having a stronger flow than the night before.

Eddie used a mirror during "1/2 Full" to reflect the stage lights across the arena. He first panned the mirror slowly across the crowd, then quickly flashed it in circles.

"Wishlist" included a disco ball and lyrics at the end:

"I wish I came from a country that never went to war, I wish I came from a country that took care of its poor, Maybe someday that will change, In the place from where we came, In the meantime, thanks for the example"

Some highlights for me included Release, Go, Animal, Save You, Wishlist, Immortality, and Alive with everyone's fist pumping.

During Black, Eddie asked everyone to whistle at the end of the song. The crowd responded, like they did all night. This was one of the most responsive crowds I've seen at a Vancouver show. Probably because many Pearl Jam fans attended from out of town.

The last two songs of the evening were played with the house lights on. This reminded me of the last Pearl Jam Vancouver show in May 03.

Mike was bouncing around the entire stage all night, running circles around the stage. At the end of "Go" he fell over the amps to show his exhaustion after the energy spent on the song. Matt also pounded hard on the drums and threw out what must have been at least 10 drum sticks to the crowd.

Like the previous show, a friend that was front row scored the setlist. They had "Indifference" written on the setlist, but it got crossed off.


Here's the setlist for the show.

main set: Release, Go, Animal, Save You, Given to Fly, Corduroy, Love Boat Captain, Even Flow, Better Man, 1/2 Full, Daughter/(W.M.A.), Wishlist, Lukin, Grievance, Immortality, Nothingman, Down, Do The Evolution, Blood / (Atomic Dog)

first encore: Footsteps, Elderly Woman..., U, Alive

second encore: Bee Girl, Black, Porch

third encore: I Believe in Miracles, Baba O'Riley, Yellow Ledbetter

Pearl Jam and The Gorge

Yesterday was an eventful day. Went down with some friends to the Gorge to catch Pearl Jam. It was my first time there. In fact, it was my first time seeing a concert outside of the Vancouver area. The drive is about 5hrs. A couple of my friends are doing the complete Pearl Jam Canadian tour, which stretches from Vancouver to St. John's, New Foundland and covers 16 shows. The Gorge show was the pre-Canadian tour prep show. It turned out to be one of my favourite concert experiences ever.

Our tour van was decorated to coincide with the Pearl Jam tour, and included each city stop along the way written in hockey tape along the van. After we reached the Gorge area, many people noticed our van and started taking pictures. A reporter from Entertainment Weekly also stopped by to interview us.

The venue of The Gorge was magnificent. The backdrop higlights the Columbia River along with the mass amount of rock and the earth at its most natural setting. Watching the sunset as the band played was unbelievable.

It was billed as an evening with Pearl Jam, with no opener. They started playing at 7:15pm and their set was finished at 10:30pm. 3hrs and 15mins in total with 3 encores.

Our seats were fairly close to the stage, with all the ten club members seated within the same vacinity. What I like about this is that everyone around you is a hardcore fan, some traveling great distances to reach the show.

The band came on and played their first few songs sitting down, acoustically. During Crazy Mary's "Take a bottle, drink it down, pass it around" Ed proceeded to hand the front row a bottle of wine where they drank and shared. The acoustic part of the set lasted about 45mins before they came back on to rock out.

They reopened with Given To Fly and also whipped out many rare tracks during the set including Hard To Imagine and Crown of Thorns. Some highlights for me included Save You, State of Love and Trust, Dissident, Rearviewmirror, Low Light and the Elderly Woman sing-along. Throughout the set, Eddie, Mike and Jeff did many scissor kicks in the air. They had the same energy as if they were in their 20's. Mike also pulled out the behind the head solo in Even Flow.

Throughout the set, Ed teased an appearance by Tom Petty, who is playing The Gorge the next two nights.

Here's the setlist:

first set (acoustic): I Believe in Miracles, Elderly Woman ..., Off He Goes, Lowlight, Man of the Hour, I Am Mine, Crazy Mary, Black, Hard to Imagine

second set (electric): Given to Fly, Last Exit, Save You, Do The Evolution, Alone, Sad, Even Flow, Not For You, Corduroy, Dissident, MFC, Undone, Daughter, In My Tree, State of Love and Trust, Alive, Porch

first encore: Love Boat Captain, Insignificance, Better Man, Rearviewmirror

second encore: I Won't Back Down (Ed solo), Last Kiss, Crown of Thorns, Blood

third encore:Yellow Ledbetter, Baba O'Riley

Off to do it again right now and catch Pearl Jam at GM Place tonight. Can't wait.