Yesterday, we saw the Barenaked Ladies in concert. This is the third time I see them on stage (once in Montreal and early this year at the tsunami relief concert) and they proved, yet again, why I'm right to call them "my favorite band". The show was, simply put, AWESOME!
I started off a little disappointed because, using the button-mashing technique I've used before to buy tickets (which consists in clicking on the "get tickets" button on the Ticketmaster site until it stops saying "not on sale yet"), I wasn't able to get anything closer than the tenth row. I tried the tenth row at the Montreal concert and, as 5'2" Marianne can attest, the view isn't all that good. Today, I learned that they reserve the first rows to the fan club (what rock have I been hiding under to not realize there's a fan club and they get the good tickets?!?) so I'll be signing up right after I write this entry.
Armed with our first balcony seats, which are actually pretty good, we made our way to a packed Jubilee. I just HAD to stop by the merchandise table because Yanik (father of Edgar) told me they were selling USB memory sticks with BNL material on it. Of course, I got one: it's BNL and geekiness all wrapped up in a slick silver package!
With that in my pocket, up we went to the first balcony. I found it odd that a security guard was causing traffic in the small isle... until I saw why he was there: Tyler Stewart was standing there, signing anything you put in his hand in one swift motion. How cool is that? Really cool, it is. I told him so and he said "thank you". Then I moved on so the mob behind me could move forward.
That was very classy of him. Makes the tickets a whole lot better!
And so the show started (with an opening act of Kurt Swinghammer). It was a holiday concert, so we got a bunch of those songs (unfortunately, no Elf's Lament), but what surprised me was that they played a very large variety of songs from every album -- from Be My Yoko Ono to Upside Down, through many hit songs like One Week and the necessary If I Had $100000. And through it all, the jokes and banter that define BNL as a must see show.
The show opened with a group of kids from a local choir (sorry kids, I forget your name!) singing some Christmas songs, then BNL got on and sang a couple more with them. Really well done. Toward the end, they poked fun at Kevin's squeeze box and poof! enters kids from the local accordion association (whose name I forget too) to play $100000.
Next thing you know, over two hours have gone by and they are coming back for a second encore.
I can name only three things that weren't AWESOME:
- The crowd didn't sound like it was really into the songs like that first show in Montreal. Maybe it was being on the balcony that made it so I couldn't hear everyone singing, at least I hope it was. I'm pretty sure they couldn't hear me, but I sang every word along with them!
- A couple of ladies around us had very loud laughs, so we missed a couple of lines after jokes. Oddly enough, asking them to repeat that last line did nothing. Maybe I should have asked one of those ladies to scream the demand...
- After the show, I can't hug them and squeeze them and pat them and pet them and rub them and caress them and name them George and bring them home with us. Though I'm thinking they might object to the rubbing.
In the end, we drove back home really happy to have been there, with the car radio off so as to not chase the sounds of the concert from our minds (to some country songs Vero likes so much).
If, by some luck the Gods grant me, the band or anyone connected to them happens to read this, THANKS FOR THE GREAT SHOW AND COME BACK ANYTIME!!! (I don't know why I'm screaming that part, as if they could hear it better...) I'm thinking Calgary isn't the prime audience for a show like this, but I promise that anytime BNL shows up here they will sell at least two tickets. Every. Single. Time. And if the venue causes problems, I got plenty of room in my basement!
If you, gentle reader, have never seen their show, remedy that ASAP. You will not regret it!
And to Marianne who is moving here next month: gna gna gna, you should've moved earlier, you missed a great show, IN YOUR FACE! :)
