Concert Reviews, Photos, Videos and Rock and Roll Stories from fans who love live music

Spiritual Machines – album presentation

Fifth time is a charm! I have caught OLP 4 times prior to last night including a small acoustic set at a local radio station. With the exception of the acoustic set I have been less than impressed with their live sound. Last night was much, much different!

I have good rock & roll luck and as it would have it last night I ran into a guy selling a front row centre pair way below cost, nice! It was meant to be as I had tried earlier to get into the Mod Club for the Sirius Radio Song writers show featuring Joel Plaskett, Jeff Martin, Default and The Trews. When this wasn’t working out I went over to Massey for the OLP’s presentation of Spiritual Machines.

Man I forgot how good this album is. OLP’s concept album has some really nice stuff here. From the start Right Behind You sounds so good! It isn’t hard to tell the band doesn’t play many nights that feature albums in their entirety. Raine Maida has the MAC set up to play the narrative of author of the book the album is based on as well as a binder with the lyrics. We’re lined up in front of Steve Mazur and his wonderful sounding Marshall stack and full array of effects pedals, I am seriously impressed.

We get Life, Middle of Yesterday the lead vocals are soaring the crowd is heavily into it. This is one of the loudest crowds I have ever heard at a Massey Hall. It makes sense because this is a homecoming for this band. I really forgot how beautiful the guitar work is on this album. Basically we get the entire album song by song and it is really nice. I mean pull it out and play it through a few times again. I know you will say yeah!! Exactly!! The entire presentation worked well. I wanted to bolt home and pull out the Cd’s and it made me wish I been here the night before for Clumsy. There is still a chance they are playing Clumsy in Kitchener next week Friday. This album finishes with 3 very strong tunes, All My Friends, If You Believe and The Wonderful Future the best of the 3 is The Wonderful Future which Raine starts out saying they recorded this song never intending to play it live. The Wonderful Future has a hidden portion. The song lists at 20 minutes but fades out @ four minutes then is silent for 12 minutes before it coming back in with a conversation between the book author and someone else. (for obvious reasons the break was condensed down) I am not up on the whole thing enough to know who he is conversing with but I am up enough to know this was a great first set for this band and the entire album run through was perfect!!  In between sets I managed to snag a guitar pick.

The second set started out with Maida telling everyone that the band looked at the first set as work and now it is time to have some fun!! The second set consisted of a 13 songs. Starting out with Monkey Brains from Burn, Burn which had several tunes show up in this second set and then ran into Superman’s Dead, Innocent, Clumsy and One Man Army back to back to back!  The sing along with Innocent was pretty amazing with crowd basically singing the whole tune. Raine climbed the balcony at one point I think during One Man Army. I mean this whole chuck was worth the price of the ticket any day! A couple more from Burn and then we get a stellar Somewhere Out There! Then the unmistakable bass line to Naveed, Nice! This song finishes the set and the encore is not to be missed 4AM straight into Starseed!

Anyone worth their own weight in OLP appreciation was hooked back in 1994 by the Naveed album.
Overall I though Mazur’s guitar / guitar effects and Maida’s voice were in the best form possible. To be fair to the first shows I wasn’t in the front row and only one of these featured Mazur. The band was extremely appreciative of the crowd response and referred to this as a homecoming quite a number of times and as you could imagine this sent the crowd over the top every time. I managed to get a setlist from both sets. I stayed with this band until 1999 and Happiness and my interest beyond this period was somewhat sporadic and tied to radio hits but man I am glad I did this show!! It is nice to go back and listen to some of the stuff that came out I never paid much attention too.

Here is to new ground.

The Professional

The stage set up in the Sean O’Sullivan Theater at at Brock University on Friday night was evidence that there wasn’t going to be a rock show. On the stage were 2 microphone stands, 5 guitars and a keyboard.  When he was introduced the tall, lanky Plaskett appeared as though someone had told him ten minutes ago that he was performing tonight.  Loose sheets of paper in hand, he bumped his head on the microphone when he put them down, he looked, well, confused. None of this seemed to faze the crowd as there were numerous “I LOVE YOU JOEL” greetings before he had struck his first note.

As a prelude to Absentminded Melody he finger-picked and sang a brief, off-the-cuff salute to St. Catharines citing The Hideaway and The Mansion House.  After his first number he confessed to being up late the night before in Brooklyn, “You can probably tell by my voice, and the fact that I haven’t shaven.”  As he said this he broke a string trying to tune his guitar.  A collective sigh and chuckle.  You would assume that most Polaris Music Prize winning artists would have a stage hand run out and hand him a new guitar.  No suck luck.  “Anyone know how to put on a G-String?”  Eventually an audience member volunteered and strung it, sitting on the piano bench, taking as long as it took Joel to sing the second song.  “I should be able to tune this thing and tell you a story at the same time, I am a professional after all.”

What followed were 2 sets of songs from his latest, 3-disc record called 3, along with some old favorites, rare gems and yes, occasional lapses in professionalism.  Despite these the crowd, seemingly very familiar with his body of work, appreciated every moment and laughed with Joel as he laughed at himself.   A few songs in he announced that he was going to play a song on his keyboard, but rather than sitting down at the one set up he picked up what looked to be no more than a small toy keyboard held together by duct tape, a Value Village find no less.  On this he would eventually play very fun renditions of Television Set and Fashionable People, the last two songs you’d expect to hear during an acoustic set.  In addition that little toy accompanied him on Rewind, Rewind, Rewind, one of the shows highlights.

Taking a song that in the studio received much production treatment with numerous instruments and backing vocals and presenting it so stripped down live is the mark of a good performer, but moreover it reveals how good of a songwriter Plaskett is.  His songs seem to work no matter how they are played.  Once people began shouting out requests I was reminded of a Neil Young show 2 years ago when a pre-recorded announcement sternly told fans not to shout out requests because the set list was pre-determined.  Joel seemed flattered by the requests.  Even taken aback when one fan called for The News of Your Son.

“We don’t play that one often” Joel chuckled.  “

“I KNOW, I’VE SEEN YOU SEVEN TIMES AND I’VE NEVER HEARD IT!” the fan replied.   He played it of course, as far as I could tell he didn’t have a set list written out.   He seemed even more flattered at the request of a Thrush Hermit song.  “St. Catharines was always good to the Hermit” he grinned.

Peter Elkas of the Emergency eventually joined Joel onstage and backed him with vocals, guitar, and keys. The two finished off the first set on high note with hand-clapping favorites Happen Now and Rollin, Rollin, Rollin.

The second set had its share of high points and humorous moments.  Joel introduced Nowhere With You as one of his greatest hits and it didn’t disappoint.  He told stories, often in the middle of songs.

“That was the first verse, I think it went well.  Here comes the second, I hope you enjoy it.”

This one also introduced as a “new song” called “Old Friends”…

He spoke of his education in the week past and coming.  While in New York he took in a Broadway play starring Hugh Jackman and Daniel Craig called A Steady Rain.  He saw one of heroes Nick Cave perform, and next week he and Peter were off to Philadelphia to see Bruce Springsteen.  Elkas performed his own new single, the catchy Poor Young Things.  “When I sit down to write a song I always try to sound like Bruce Springsteen but it turns out sounding like Bob Seger’ Peter lamented.

Always personable with the audience, Joel and Peter were able to find the humor in the mishaps that occurred throughout the night.   Plaskett closed the show by dropping to his knees and feigning injury or exhaustion, either saluting James Brown or making fun of himself.  On cue, Peter brought out a cape and draped it over the star of the show, something he had foreshadowed in the opening number.  After retreating to the back of the stage he all of a sudden returned, triumphantly to finish the song.  In the midst of his charge back to the microphone he inadvertently unplugged his guitar and as he began to sing again there was no accompaniment.  Laughter ensued, most enthusiastically from the two performers.  Undeterred, they tried the entire scene again.  This time Plaskett’s cape knocked over the beautiful Gibson guitar Peter had been playing all night, sending it tumbling. That’s how it ended.  A great show that fell short on professionalism but no one in attendance seemed to mind.  It goes to show you, all the slick stage preparation and execution in the world are no substitute for talent and charm and Joel Plaskett has an abundance of both.

Another brief moment from Deny, Deny, Deny

The setlist, in no particular order, as far as I can remember:

The News Of Your Son

When I Have My Vision

Work Out Fine

The Day You Walked Away

Absentminded Melody

Television Set

Happen Now

Rewind, Rewind, Rewind

I Love This Town

Fashionable People

Penny For Your Thoughts

Face Of The Earth

You Let Me Down

Through & Through & Through

Safe In Your Arms

Sailors Eyes

Rewind, Rewind, Rewind

Precious, Precious, Precious

Deny, Deny, Deny

Rollin, Rollin, Rollin

Nowhere With You

It isn’t just a rock show!! U2′s 360 Tour is a massive spectacle!!  This band is at the absolute pinnacle of their success in many ways!! Heading into this show if you want to be close to the stage you have to go the full GA immersion. You have to get down early and stay alert and get ready to run when you can. Jeff got down to the Rogers Centre somewhere around 8:30AM and I arrived just after. There was a fan list being done that never really helped much but none the less we were numbers 236 and 237. The first few barricades held tents, chairs, newspapers and lots of sleeping bags.  There were people who started camping out before the first show was even over and others who attended show #1 on the 16^th & walked out of the venue and right back into line.

Understanding there is an circular area that holds some 2000 we were going to be in there no problem… it is the barrier spot in between Bono and the Edge that is in very high demand and this was our predetermined ideal location for watching U2 360 unfold.

This would be my 8^th U2 show and of the last to 2 tours I was inside the ellipse twice and the heart twice. The location of the Rogers and the many store in close proximity made life a lot easier. The day was spent people watching and meeting new fans. The line up began to tighten up around 2PM. Security had people get rid of their chairs and begin to bunch up. Close to 4PM security began to stamp tickets and hands with a green stamp indicating these were general admission bodies and tickets.  At 5PM security made a weak announcement letting people know there were 5 shoots to move down and we needed to remain orderly. This is where security was the most lax.

I stood in my approximate location and watched as easily 50 to 100 people began to filter into the line. This is when I made my decision to move directly to a shoot bypassing the barriers all together!! Being basically a loner concert goer I move quickly and hit a hard run as I clear the turnstiles. Security told people not to run. I just kept running. I ran down 3 ramps and then the stairs to floor of the stadium and to the security manned barrier at the entrance to the pit!! Bang! I am in the pit and dash for the rail stage in the space between the microphone stand for will Bono and where Edge will spend most of his time during the show!! Out of breathe but very happy I check number of the people beside me just for curiosity sake and they are in the low teens!! Not bad and right where I want to be.

Right away the stage is massive and very impressive. In size maybe the Stones last couple of tours would compare but by design this beast is in a league of its own. As I understand that there are 3 of these babies playing leap- frog around North America. A show on this scale has to stay on the road for a couple of years to really make it worth while. AS an added bonus the roof is fully retracted. This is the first show the roof has been opened since one of Bruce Springsteen’s shows in 2003 a the Rogers Centre.

After everything is said and done this tour will likely be the highest grossing tour of all time. Were not here to count beans we are here to see rock and roll in all its glory!! Snow Patrol, open the show and they are very well received.  Nice gig for these guys!! Fellow Dubliners getting to open up for what is right now the biggest band going!! Snow Patrol play an inspired set given the task and really come across as having a lot of fun!!

The anticipation is thick!! As 9PM nears and with the end of each song being blasted over the PA it grows… everyone know what signifies the beginning from following YOUTUBE videos or reading or talking to someone who went last night…. delirium reins down as the opening chords of Bowies Space Oddity unfolds for us….as Bowies tunes concludes Larry’s drums kick in and out of know where the new tune Breathe hits as the Biggest band in the world is pretty ballsy to come out and play 4 new songs one after another.

No LINE ON THE HORIZON then a nice Bono Hello with an intro into Get On Your Boots which has some awesome bass and drum kicking…and then into the killer of these 4 tunes Magnificent … this is a great song !! We are pumped   and the euro-rockers keep hitting us Mysterious Ways followed by Beautiful Day come F***IN  on! The Explorer Edge uses in the intro to Beautiful Day offers us a slightly longer version…. a nice change from the album track !! Larry gets a ride during this song as his drum platform move around in a circle for some reason and then ELEVATION!

Just look at these songs played already!! We are in a deadly spot as the Edge is playing a lot directly in front of where we are posted!! The camera attached the stage and sliding around the stage perimeter is annoying but it still so nice to be this close. There is some momentary thought of maybe it would be nice to back it the stands to get the full effect of the stage design but this quickly fades when Still haven’t Found What I’m Looking For get unleashed followed by Unknown Caller!!

Edge does really nice guitar work on this tune just understated enough to really send that trade- mark ethereal sound wafting out to the masses!!  The keyboards are magic here as well. Got to Love it!!!  New Years Day still carries the same passion it had for when I saw the first time!! This band still plays this with conviction and it is good!!

I have been listening to the bootleg from Barcelona shows of this tour and NYD isn’t played so I guess they are doing some deviating from a standard setlist. This stage & show is so large that deviating from a standard list would be pretty difficult as it has to pretty heavily choreographed, all the way through. I guess you could say this would be the only down side that the show is almost “bigger” than you can take in, like on the edge of being too much!!

During one of the many “participation moments”  Bono yells to the condo towers that peer into the Rogers Centre to offer a signal that they were listening …turn your lights on & off if your listening he said ….. there were some responders and it was classic!! Anyway we wind down near here with some acoustic ……Stuck in a Moment.

The second serious sing along is the City of Blinding Lights. I loved this tune from the first moment I heard it was the first song to jump from HTDAB for me and it still sounds gorgeous.  At the end of Unforgettable Fire…Bono pulled a young kid up onto the ramp. See it happen here Then he kicked off CITY by walking hand in hand with him. Lucas was his name and Bono seemed to be singing & teaching him something using the songs lyrics.  When lyric regarding purple irises the camera can’t see, Bono took off his shaded glasses and had his young partner put them on… it was cool to see the kid looking around with the shades as cameras flashed..  It was marvelous… the interplay and symbolic nature of the song and the child in relation to what was going on in the song. It seemed to fit well!!

Hello Hello!! Vertigo and the crowd are in frenzy. I mean a real frenzy!! I think we are peaking here because the energy is just so high. In this moment we are all just jumping up and down in one big mass!!  I’ll Go Crazy gets a highly souped- up extended remix version that is nice! I liked it a lot better then the album. It is tough to say but Sunday Bloody Sunday sailed by way too fast. It wasn’t the most inspired version I have ever heard. The crowd started this song out strong…I am sure the first part of the song got a standard treatment with Edge’s guitar was ringing like a friggin bell… but it got mush more interesting when and we got a little Clash throwin’ in for good measure…with Rock The Casbah and the Irish lullaby that was to bridge to the portion of the show that honors  Aung San Suu.

We get out our masks on and volunteers wearing masks walk the catwalk that separates the inner GA section from the main GA section. This is a very poignant moment.  I know this deserves more explanation but this is a rock show review. I will leave the political explanation to someone who is more inclined. I could tell but really couldn’t really see the stage when it came completely alive during Walk On. The massive revolving screen dropped down and formed a huge cone. I’m not sure if it was at this point Bono mentioned Daniel Lanois and the fact it is his birthday pretty soon. He said “Happy Birthday Danny Boy”.

The band kind of disappeared for awhile around this point and came out to do One… Bono out to the microphone hold that beautiful green Gretsch guitar with The Goal is Soul pick guard…had the whole place pull out cell phone and called them “our stars”. I know this would have been a nice place for Daniel Lanois drop in for a guest appearance as he did in Toronto during a show at the Air Canada Centre!! For some reason Bono went on to sing Amazing Grace and I kind of recall at some point near Walk On …I scored a setlist from the camera guy that contains some details. Where the Streets Have No Name closes out the first encore and I know that the huge microphone I saw pulled up to the ceiling earlier hasn’t been used yet.

Out comes Bono wearing a jacket covers with red lighting and this awesome microphone drops down that completely lights up in hues of blues and reds that fit Ultraviolet (light my way) perfectly. It is quite a scene as the stage is darkened and we get this ultraviolet futuristic scene played out to a great not so hidden gem from Achtung Baby!! Then he blends right into With or Without You with this same microphone and jacket setup. Pretty intense!!

If that version didn’t move you …maybe this one will shot from a Condo Tower Looking in on the same song

I know the show ended with a new song Moment of Surrender but I may have given up the ghost because I just can’t seem to light that candle. I remember the band fading off the stage and this juggernaut coming to a slow crawl. The show seemed to fly by. It felt like the main set was done in a half hour. Sometime after the lights came up and people were milling about watching the techs begin the load out. A tech threw a bunch of guitar picks out. As the crowd reached high the concertaholic goes low and to the floor because he knows these thrown guitar picks are hard to catch and some always hit the floor…. Yes I got a pick!! It was a long day but well worth it!! The 360 spectacle is a must see!! All future tours will be measured against this new standard.  I don’t see anything on the horizon that will even come close!!

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