CMW '10 - almost a month later!

So much to blog about, so little time! March has been an INSANE month (those of you closest to me know why... everyone else... stand by, it will all be announced in good time!). I've been meaning to update about Canadian Music Week for a while now. I'm ashamed to say this, but I haven't even finished editing my photos from the last show I went to (although, in fairness, I did take like, 200+ photos at that gig). Here's a brief recap of the shows I saw.

I was super excited heading into CMW weekend, because I found out that the Our Lady Peace shows were open to the first 50 wristband holders that showed up at Massey Hall. It was also super cool that once I got my wristband for the shows, the seats were down on the floor, pretty close to the front! I was expecting to be way up in the 2nd balcony, so this was a pleasant surprise!)

Short backstory: OLP was my absolute FAVOURITE band throughout my teen years. I was a crazy-die-hard fan. They fell out of favour with me when guitarist Mike Turner - now in the band Crash Karma - left OLP. Now, I've seen OLP in the time since Mike left the band (and in fact, told the longer version of this story here on my blog during last year's CMW recap), and I wasn't really *THAT* into them anymore - however these shows were bound to be different. They were playing two nights at Massey Hall - the first night, they played their entire Clumsy album, followed by an intermission and another set of songs from all the other albums, and the second night was Spiritual Machines, with another set.

I also got to hang out with a whole bunch of my friends from the "Clumsy Congress" days - it truly reminded me of being 16 again.

The Clumsy night was probably one of my favourite Our Lady Peace shows to date (and that says a lot, because I've probably seen them more than 20 times over the years). They sounded REALLY great, and it was amazing to hear the entire album from start to finish. The second set was also well-received, and I found myself even somewhat enjoying a few of the new songs. (Paper Moon is probably the best song I've heard them put out since I stopped listening). I found myself REALLY missing Mike Turner though - especially at the "OO-Wee-OO-OO-Wee-OO" part of Is Anybody Home, and some of my other favourite guitar licks & background vocals.

Spiritual Machines was also awesome. It's one of my favourite albums, and I loved hearing their interpretations of certain songs (like The Wonderful Future, which I don't believe they've ever played live, before this tour!). It seemed to be a little more difficult for the crowd to get into this show - at least, the people around me, who were all CMW wristband holders. Maybe they didn't realize that the first set would be entirely Spiritual Machines. Lots of people sitting down for this set.
There were also less people who showed up to get wristband tickets, so I was able to sneak two of my friends who had tickets up in the balcony down to come sit with me. It was much better being able to share the show with my friends! The best part of this show was rushing up to the front of the stage (when Raine called for everyone to move forward - in an orderly fashion), and really feeling like a part of the shows - just like back in the day.

Here's some shots of the two nights:




The last night of CMW was very exciting for me as a die-hard Twilight Fan. Jackson Rathbone's band, 100 Monkeys was playing an all ages show at Tattoo Rock Parlour. I was worried about the "all ages" bit... but it actually wasn't too bad. In the lineup before the show, most of the people were getting 19+ drinking wristbands (though, I assume that most people just got them to identify as part of the 19+ crowd, because I didn't see very many people drinking). And the younger set that was there wasn't too shriek-y.

The show was opened by two bands, Desperate Union and New Teeth. Both bands were good. Hard to say much more than that this long after the show, because it's not quite fresh in my head anymore. But I do remember enjoying them. And it was nice because I was able to move around to get shots from various angles (Not so much during 100 Monkeys' set)




When 100 Monkeys began to set up their gear, the girls in the crowd got a little more crazy. The set was really cool, I hadn't realized before the show that each of the members of the band played all the various instruments. They would up and rotate every few songs. The music was wicked. I haven't gotten around to editing all my 100 Monkeys photos yet, so there will be more on Flickr in the future, but for now...


Check out more from Canadian Music Week '10 right here

CMW Day 2: Oh, to be 16 again...

Day 2 went considerably better than Day 1.  Picked up the media pass at around 3pm (for the record, they did not use any computers.  All they did was pick up a pass out of a box, hand me a Canadian Music Week guide, and have me sign beside my name... and the pass doesn't even have my name on it - it just says Media.  Fail, CMW Staff.  FAIL.)

I still had to line up for an hour outside the Rivoli, but that was my own fault for not getting there earlier (got there at around 8:30 - first band went on at 8, and the "special guest" that everyone was pumped about was scheduled to go on at midnight)

Who was that special guest, you ask?  Well, it was the band that my life revolved around from the ages of 13 to probably around 19 or so: Our Lady Peace.

When I was a teenager, everything I did, lived, breathed, etc... it was all about OLP for me.  I was known to all my friends as "olpphreak" 

I fell out of the scene shortly after their Gravity album was released, and guitarist Mike Turner announced that he was leaving the band.  After he left, nothing felt right about OLP for me anymore, and I closed the door on that chapter of my life.

I bought their "Live" cd which was released a year or two later, but it just wasn't the same.

I saw them at Live 8... and I thought it was the most horrible thing I had ever seen in my life.  I vowed to never see them again, because it was just ruining my youth at that point.  

So, fast forward to a few days ago.  It was leaked on facebook (via Jeremy Taggart, OLP's drummer - who is on my friends list... who, for the record, I had 3 drum lessons with, back in the obsession days.  One of the coolest things I've ever done) that they would be playing a small club show.  I started to think about it.

I still had no concrete CMW plans for Thursday night.  I decided what I would do is go to the Rivoli (where OLP was playing), and if the lineup was crazy long, I'd just go down to the Horseshoe (about 50 feet away) to see the ChartAttack showcase.

I got to the venue at around 8:30, and the line was only about 6-7 people deep.  I asked if they were still letting media in, but alas, no, and he sent me to the back of the line.  They were at capacity for wristbands/passes, but were saving room for guestlist, and people who had actually bought tickets to the show.  The line got longer behind me.  A few people dropped out in front of me.  I texted some friends of mine (who I actually met through the Our Lady Peace message board - the Clumsy Congress - and we've been very good friends ever since then, for more than 10 years now) and they were already inside, so I figured I might as well wait in line a little longer, even if just to see them.

Finally at around 10 minutes to 9pm, I got in.  (Did I mention it was absolutely FREEZING in Toronto last night?)

Saw two bands before OLP went on: Cure Gravity (they were okay, kind of generic, nothing really memorable, but not bad either) and Hail The Villain (reminded me a lot of Billy Talent, but not quite as good yet... WAY too loud - I was standing right by the speaker to get good pics) - and one band afterward: Inward Eye (very good rock, from Winnipeg)

OLP took the stage at midnight.  My inner 16-year-old could barely breathe :)  I remember looking at the pictures that the photographers took at those small clubs, when I was too young to get in, and thinking "some day... that will be me."

That day was last night.

It wasn't nearly as magical as it would have been when I was 16.  But I was still in awe of myself at that moment.  

They played one or two new songs.  A few songs that were on their last albums that I didn't recognize, and then some older songs like Innocent, Clumsy and Superman's Dead (can't help but think of Mike Turner, every time I hear the "ooo ooo ... ooo weee ooo" line in the background at the end of the song.  They closed with Starseed, a perennial favourite.

It was good.  

After the show, Jeremy remembered me... I met the new guitarist, Steve (who complimented my shirt)... and my heart did not skip a beat, as it would have if I were that 16-year-old, meeting her favourite band.

I'm over my hatred of them.

I just don't think I'll ever love them the same way again.

I leave you with a picture :)  (I took close to a million, it seems LOL... It'll take a while to actually get a photo set web-ready... but here's one I snapped of OLP with my wide angle lens)