I can't take my mind off of you...

Went to see Damien Rice play a sold out show Tuesday night at The Centre For Performing Arts. It was my first time at the venue. We arrived inside just as Damien was finishing up his opening song Me, My Yoke and I. He then moved to the piano to play 9 Crimes. No Lisa Hannigan in the lineup as she and Damien have recently decided to part ways creatively, with Lisa now pursuing her own artistic endeavours. Vyvienne Long however did a fantastic job on cello, as did the rest of the backing band.

Damien's performance of I Remember was fantastic and breathtaking as the song built up into a climax of distorted vocals and fuzzed out guitar riffs.....along with some crazy lighting effects. It was interesting to watch Rice use all these guitar effects on his acoustic.

Delicate had many people in tears. Volcano, Rootless Tree, and Coconut Skins were great. Damien mentioned he was playing all these depressing songs but joked that he isn't depressed. Some audience requests occurred with a performance of The Professor being granted.....which then transitioned into La Fille Danse.

The venue acoustics were excellent with the music and vocals sounding crisp. At one point, someone shouted "Go Canucks!"...which Damien thought was "Go canoes!?"....then "Thought you said Go Nuts!"...then he showed a going nuts crazy motion.

Damien came out for the encore and played The Blower's Daughter. After the song, he unplugged his guitar, walked to the front of the stage and performed Cannonball without a mic. A great moment as most people remained silent, until some joined in on the last chorus. The show was capped off with Cheers Darlin' playing in the background and Damien sitting at the front of the stage with a cigarette in hand and drinking wine. He also had a waiter right onstage that would pour Damien refills during the song. Overall, a really fantastic and intense performance filled with a lot of emotion.

***

Okay.....off to the airport for Coachella!!!

Shake The Sheets

Caught Ted Leo play an all-out rockin' show at Richard's last Wednesday. Opening for them was Love Of Diagrams. The Australian trio kicked off the night with a set filled with some raw sounding and catchy riffs along with a groovin' bass tone.



Ted Leo & The Pharmacists wasted no time in getting the crowd moving along to their beats. The music was aggressive and straight up rockin' and rollin'; the lyrics were intelligent and thoughtful. Ted was battling a cold but still kept the crowd involved with his interaction and storytelling.

The songs off the new album translated well live, especially The Sons Of Cain, The Unwanted Things, A Bottle Of Buckie, and The Lost Brigade. The inside of Richard's was getting pretty warm by the end but overall, it was an enjoyable night. Set lasted 1hr 30mins with one encore.

***

Did a show with Catlow on Thursday.



The folks from London Spy were also impressive.....really liked the cello in their sound.



***

Saw Regina Spektor at the Commodore Saturday night. A solo artist named Only Son opened the evening. His music didn't do much for me.....his vocals were also a bit off key at times.

Some friends found a great way to keep entertained during the long 40min set changeover.



Regina Spektor came onstage to a very welcoming ovation from the sold out Commodore crowd. It was her first time in Vancouver and she commented on the beauty of this city. She opened with Ain't No Cover a cappella, then sat down at her piano and began the opening notes to On The Radio.

Regina's solo performance was accompanied by mainly just her piano, while strapping on an electric for a few songs such as on That Time. She mentioned that her guitar had been lost on her flight into Canada and was playing a new one for this show. Regina then gracefully decided to name the guitar "Vanc" after Vancouver.

Hearing her live in person, you can clearly feel the sound of her voice as it's so full of range and beauty. Her performance of Better was full of intimacy.....Us and Fidelity drew me in close.

For the encore, Regina included a cover of John Lennon's Real Love. She ended her 1hr 20min set with the emotional Samson.

***

Flowers Falling From Dying Hands

Went to see The Appleseed Cast play at Richard's Tuesday night. The venue was kinda sparse, less than half-full.



Love And Mathematics opened. I'm glad I checked the set times before we left since the show didn't start until 2hrs after doors. The local trio had some dreamy guitar riffs and some nice layering to their songs.

The Appleseed Cast finally made their first ever Vancouver stop after releasing six albums. The Kansas based quartet had some solid guitar structures in their pieces, producing an epic wall of sound at times.

Drummer Aaron Coker was a bit off in keeping time during a few songs. I don't mind drummers getting flashy during performances as long as they don't get off beat, as it can throw everyone else off.....though he did get better as the set progressed. Some highlights from the evening included Hanging Marionette, Fight Song, and Innocent Vigilant Ordinary. Set lasted 1hr 30mins with one encore.

***

Back at Richard's on Friday to catch David Usher play to a sold out crowd. The supporting band for David has been revamped. Gone are Julie Galiatsos on backing vocals and Lindsey Hilliard on violin. The new sleeker lineup allows for a more raw sounding rock feel.....though I personally liked the old lineup better as Julie and Lindsey added a new dimension to the songs and created a fuller sound. Also, bassist Jeff Pearce is now focusing more on producing duties and has been replaced by a guy that everyone thought looked remarkably like Ben Stiller.....No Blue Steel poses though during the show.

David mentioned that he lost his voice a few nights earlier at a gig in Red Deer and had not spoken for the last four days. For his first day back talking and singing, his vocals held up quite well during the set. Usher also had great interaction with the crowd, going and singing into the audience a few times in addition to walking across the nearby bar countertops to sing to the balcony and the other side of the room.

The highlight of the set for me was when they rocked out to Push, one way back from the early Moist days. They also did their attempt at Crazy by Gnarls Barkley. David did a really cool and hypnotic dance while covered in flashing lights at the end of Everything Is All Right By Me Now.....you could clearly see he was drained from the dancing as he transitioned into the next song.

My Way Out, Love Will Save The Day and Devil By My Side were also standouts. After finishing the encore with St. Lawrence River, he and his band left the stage one more time only to return again and end off with F Train. Pretty short performance for a 2 encore set that lasted just 1hr 15mins. Nonetheless, it was an enjoyable show and is always a pleasure watching David Usher perform live.



After that ended, I headed off to do a show at The Media Club. Everyone did a fantastic job and I had a chance to work with Christian Thor Valdson, so that was pretty special for me. Christian is doing good and keeping busy with a few things, including working on a solo album and raising two kids.

WrestleMania 23 Trip

Spent last weekend in Detroit enjoying WrestleMania 23 and its festivities. I arrived in the Detroit area Friday night on March 30th and took it easy, getting ready for the next 2 days. On Saturday, I headed to downtown Detroit to take in some sight-seeing.







Next, I stopped by Ford Field to enjoy the pre-WrestleMania Fan Axxess session.








This restaurant had some super tasty Greek food. The lamb was delicious.



After dinner, I headed to Fox Theatre to attend the WWE Hall Of Fame Ceremony. It's an annual tradition held the night before WrestleMania that honors influential legends who have helped to pave the way for the business. It was nice to see everyone all dressed up and all the wrestlers enjoying themselves and relaxing with their families 24hrs before the big event.




Each induction was special in its own way. Don Muraco shared some great road stories as he inducted Mr. Fuji. I really enjoyed Steve Austin's speech as he introduced Jim Ross. Jim was very open and honest in his emotional speech.

Baseball great Wade Boggs had the distinction of inducting his good friend, the late Mr. Perfect Curt Hennig. Wade shared a story of a hunting trip he took with Curt and how Mr. Perfect saved his life. Wade was bleeding profusely at the time and would have bled to death if not for the aid and bravery of his friend.....this was echoed by members in the audience that shouted "The Perfect Friend".....haha!

Things were also kept a bit lighthearted when members of Curt's family came out to give a speech, as shouts of "The Perfect Daddy" and "The Perfect Family" could be heard throughout Fox Theatre. Hennig was very much loved amongst his peers and fans and is greatly missed. I'm very honored to have met him shortly before his passing, and his match at SummerSlam '91 against Bret Hart still remains one of my all-time favourites.

The American Dream Dusty Rhodes was inducted by his sons Dustin and Cody. When Dusty came out, it was the first time that he and his two sons were seen together onstage so they shared a very special moment. Rhodes had a fantastic speech that helped to show why he's hailed as one of the greatest talkers in the business. Many standing ovations were had as he acknowledged some other greats in the crowd such as Harley Race, Ric Flair, Arn Anderson, Ricky Steamboat, and Triple H.



I had a good sleep and woke up Sunday morning ready for one of the biggest events I've had the opportunity to be a part of.....WrestleMania 23. It's what everyone in the industry works for, the culmination of 364 days of hard work to get to this one special day.

Arriving at Ford Field shortly before doors, the streets were completely packed with people that came from all over to witness WrestleMania. In total, people traveled from all 50 U.S. States, 9 Canadian provinces, and 24 countries around the world to be a part of this event. I met some great people including Sign Guy Rick, some guys from the Okanagan and Alberta, two guys from Toronto dressed in Canucks jerseys, some folks that flew in from Germany, and a guy that was given tickets on last minute notice and drove across 3 states to catch the annual spectacular. The total attendance for WrestleMania 23 at Ford Field came to 80,103 people!



Once inside Ford Field, I could clearly see the enormity of WrestleMania 23 first hand. The production on this event by far exceeded any other concert, sporting, or entertainment event I've attended before. The set design was the end result of months of intense planning and coordination, built by around 300 staff members working from close to 40 semi-trucks. Huge props to everyone involved, from the stage hands, to the lighting people, to the writers, to the producers, to the people in the truck.....they did a fantastic job and it definitely showed.










The set and entranceway for the wrestlers was crazy. It's the tallest entranceway they've had at over 100 ft and the set was designed to morph accordingly to each particular wrestler's entrance. As a production point of reference between a weekly Raw show compared to WrestleMania.....Raw uses 24 LED boards compared to 414 boards on this show. For pyro, Raw uses about 65 concussions compared to over 400 for WM 23. For a normal PPV, they use about 6 searchlights compared to 56 used on this evening. In addition, there were 35 gas heads used to produce 30 ft high and 6 ft wide flames, and over 50,000 ft of cord used to set off the pyro.





Shortly before the PPV went live, they had a tag team lumberjack match featuring Carlito-Flair vs. Helms-Guerrero.



Everyone stood as Arethra Franklin came out to sing America The Beautiful and as the WrestleMania intro vid played and the insane pyro display went off.



The 8-man Money In The Bank Ladder Match opened the show with a bang. Many crazy spots including Jeff Hardy leaping off a 15 ft ladder onto Edge, who was laying on a ladder himself. That ladder broke and Edge had to be carried off on a stretcher. Thankfully, he was okay.



Kane always has a unique WM entrance with flames going off.



I was quite impressed with the technical wrestling ability that MVP displayed in his match against Benoit. A lot of nice counters and reversals.



Undertaker and Batista put on a solid match for the Heavyweight Championship. Taker had an excellent entrance with the druids and the bursting flames, and is now 15-0 at WrestleMania.



It was nice to see Dreamer, Sandman, and Sabu make their WrestleMania debuts after so many years in the business.



The Battle of the Billionaires Hair vs. Hair Match was entertaining, featuring Austin as a special guest referee and a surprise appearance by Shane McMahon. Shane pulling off the Van Terminator in his suit and tie was great to watch.





Vince got his head shaved bald in the ring after losing the match. Trump also took a Stunner from Austin.



Lumberjill match for the Women's Championship.




Cena and Michaels did a fantastic job headlining the event. Shawn had a nice pyro display during his entrance. They told a great story in their match that went back and forth with many near finishes. The piledriver on the ringsteps was a memorable spot, as was watching Michaels trying to battle out of Cena's STFU at the end. It's become my favourite match I've seen live.




Overall, I had a tremendous time at WrestleMania 23 and the city of Detroit played a great host.