…..I have to say Coldplay was a pretty tough ticket to get last minute. For the first time in a long time (probably since U2′s Vertigo Tour) I didn’t find any last minute singles on ticketmaster. At any rate I made out better than OK with a side stage (Bucklands side) seated 8 rows from the edge. Nice!! The crowd was a very, very happy bunch. It seemed like everyone I talked to was much more than a casual fan. They all seemed seriously devoted. When I squeezed into my section 110 row 8 seat 9 location (I’m a bigger guy) I said to the woman I sat beside, ” I bet you hoped no one would be taking this seat” her reply exemplified what the overall vibe of the entire ACC seemed to be, she said ” I wouldn’t deny anyone this experience”. Those words quite simply said it all! What a perfect line!!
The instrumental Life in Technicolor opened the show. This was another statement of sorts. A song to say “we are a working, rocking band and not just a singer/ songwriter on keyboards. It also comes through in the mix with a richer guitar and drum sound on the new CD. Coldplay rolls into the huge single Violet Hill and then Clocks from A Rush of Blood, which is the first of what will be 5 tunes from this CD. Clocks comes across perfect. The crowd is into every word. I love Clocks. We are on our feet from note #1 until the end of the show.
We get a nice run of tunes from Viva La Vida starting with the title track then Chris Martin does his best Lou Reed on Yes and then 42. Fix You from X &Y is a great tune live. (more…)
We arrived and headed into the Moslon Amphitheatre earlier than usual around 7:30pm or so and it still wasn’t early enough to see all of Joe Cocker’s set. We missed songs like “When The Night Comes”, “One” by U2 and “You Are So Beautiful” to name a few. No tickets were sold for the Lawn at all so the crowd was tight a grooving away in their seats to Joe Cocker and his band.
5th Row centre lends us a nice view of the stage and as I glance around to meet our family for the evening it seems it’s Mr King Can and Mike S. Hard Lemonade. This appeared to be the 45-55 crowd who hadn’t been out in a few years or that they had started the cottage party early… now as “You Can Leave Your Hat On” drifts down off the stage into our laps… people dance and look amazed at how well Mr Cocker is carrying out his set. The history of this music was hitting everyone and when A Little Help From My Friends launched it’s epic intro guitar riff… you couldn’t help feel that energy usually reserved for the “main act” – check out a couple of minutes of it here….
The intermission proved to be entertaining itself. Dozens of people bounced around all talking to each other from row 2 all the way back to row 8 or 10. I mean the crew around us from Stoufville, Ontario were there to have a good time and there seemed to be so many I felt like we snuck into a private party and knew no one. It didn’t matter. Someones grade 7 teacher showed up and walked past us 8-10 times and a previous Toronto TV Talk Show host sat beside my wife providing some interesting behaviour from people wanting to say hello in the weirdest of ways.
Steve Miller Band
Steve Miller Band walked out on stage and right into Swingtown. He looked like “Here comes Wrangler”… a rodeo dude or something.. not a run-down-rocker out on his pension tour. It took a little adjusting for me coming off a Black Crowes experience only days before. This show had a casino type feel… a couple of more songs in and the band goes into Abracadabra…that song many part-time listeners didn’t know Steve Miller did. (more…)
First time seeing the Black Crowes for me was August 15, 1992. The Crowes performed a free show at G. Ross Lord Park in Toronto, Ontario to celebrate the 15th birthday of our local radio station Q107. It was packed… and we wiggled our way towards the soundboard. When we got there some of the members of the Kids In The Hall were right beside us. 16 Years later …Kids In The Hall member Mark Mckinney walked right past us out front of Massey Hall.
I saw them again in 2005 at the Kool Haus with my wife and we loved the show. It was a real Rock and Roll concert. So for this show I asked a good friend of mine to say a few words about his take on The Black Crowes at Massey Hall…………….. Jeff
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Yeah, Seeing Things For The First Time
It is customary that when reviewing a concert that the reviewer be very familiar with the band’s catalogue and history, citing songs played and the albums they are from etc. I am not familiar enough with the Black Crowes to be able to do that, like many I remember them being very big in the early nineties with Shake Your Money Maker, and although I know they have continued to produce albums and tour I paid them little notice except for the occasional news story about their front man marrying that famous girl. I’d heard enough however to know that they were a live act worth hearing and since I no longer attend as many concerts as I once did I tend to be a little more selective about who I see. The Black Crowes were near the top of my list containing ‘bands I haven’t seen but would like to’, add Massey Hall to the equation and there I was.
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I missed the opening act unfortunately and when I found my seat I noticed immediately the smell of incense, it was like visiting that cool hippie friend that always has incense burning. A large man standing behind a soundboard on stage left introduced them as “Your friends, the Black Crowes.” The band sauntered out in (more…)
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