Moving in issues aside (oh, that horrible paint job - no wonder I'm having trouble sleeping)...
BB King concert last night!
I really enjoyed myself - though today I'm utterly exhausted. (I think I'm getting too old for this sort of thing.)
I spent a few hours at the Ex (Canadian National Exhibition) being a kid again and trying some rides. The Ex isn't what it was, though - many of my favourite rides are gone, and the ones that are there just don't do it for me. The only roller coaster that's left is the Wild Cat, the Flyer having been torn down because it was getting too old, and the other one they had was also absent; other favourite rides, the Monster and Tidal Wave are both gone, as is the one that used to spin from the horizontal to the vertical (Tilt-a-Whirl? though its replacement looked interesting...). And though the Doggy Doggy guy is dead and gone, his voice lives on... (those who have been to the Ex will know what I'm talking about).
I didn't have enough time or money, but I did want to take the short (3 1/2 minutes) trip on the helicopter. Flying terrifies me and helicopters terrify me even more, which is why I wanted to do it. Nothing like doing what scares you to get over it....
Anyway, afterwards I made my way towards Ontario Place. The concert started at 5:30 (the venue has a 10:30 curfew, which is why the concert started so early). I hadn't been to the Molson Amphitheatre before. It used to be The Forum, an open air venue "in the round" where everyone could see and hear everything without being blown away by the sound. Now it's partly open air, but just a typical stage, and what they have to do to the sound to make the people 'way in the back hear...
I had a seat down in front. Buying tickets on the web without having been to the venue beforehand turned out to be unfortunate - I was sitting right in front of one of the speakers! Still, I had a good view of the stage (until the two tall guys sat down in front of me - I swear, I'm under a curse!
) and could see the performers perform.
Now, I'm not au courant with any of these performers, so forgive me if I get stuff wrong. This was all new to me, and I had to keep asking questions of the lads sitting next to me, who were good enough to explain stuff as the concert went on.
First up was the Muddy Waters band (I gather Muddy Waters himself has shuffled off this mortal coil). I really enjoyed their music. It struck me that for these guys, the venue didn't matter - a big place like this, or a smoky bar with fifty people in it - it was all about the music. Excellent. They're on my list to get their recordings.
Next was Elvin Bishop. Again, like the Muddy Waters band, it was all about the music. Bishop was a character, though - at one point, he left the stage (his guitar had definitely seen better days, btw - battered, pock-marked, and obviously much loved), came down to the audience in the orchestra circle (my level), sat on a woman's lap, and then snagged an audience member - a young pretty girl, of course! - brought her up to the stage, did some hip bumps with her and then had her strum his guitar while he fingered! It was a lot of fun, and she was a good sport (and he gave her his pick afterwards).
Next was a female vocalist, a newcomer, apparently much awarded, I think her name was Shereena Cobeden (but the sound was so loud I couldn't hear her name - that's just what it sounded like, to me, so apologies for getting it wrong.)
Anyway, with her it was like switch had suddenly turned off. I couldn't get any enjoyment out of her performance at all, and she had twice as many songs as the previous two bands combined. The guys sitting next to me scolded me for being critical, saying it was my fault and not hers for not liking her; that it was the sound technician's fault. Interestingly, though, when it came right down to it, these two guys themselves couldn't remember the title of a single song she sang. So I don't think it was just me, or the sound technician deciding to take a coffee break right at that particular moment....
Certainly something was wrong somewhere - she and the musicians seemed to be competing for supremacy in the sound department. And to me, she was making the mistake a lot of new, inexperienced artists make, thinking volume and over-embellishing the elements in the music makes one sound better. What I was getting during her performance was that it was ALL about the performance and not about the music. I guess I just get turned off by singers flapping their arms like they were pumping a bag pipe and bellowing like a bull in heat. I think I should have taken a dinner break right then....
Anyway, next up was Dr. John. Now here, we were getting away from the small, intimate feel of the first two bands and getting something more stagy. But the staginess didn't matter. Dr. John was a character, you bet, but his music was good. Different, not as much to my taste as the first two, more the jazz end the blues spectrum, but I still enjoyed it quite a bit. I visualised him as an old fart who didn't care what people thought, he was just doing his thing, and that's what made it so enjoyable overall. (I didn't know this, 'til one of my seatmates told me, but Dr. John is the one who did the music for the Garfield (cartoon cat) holiday specials. I thought he sounded familiar....).
Then, of course, was B.B. King himself.
First his band did a couple of warm-up pieces. The first one was clearly boogie-woogie style, and a lot of fun, the second was blues. They also had this Temptations dance thing going whenever it was their turn to play, coming up to the mike in step and then backing up... fun to watch.
B.B. King - I guess the only way to put it, is that he was just an adorable, cute old guy who was just there to enjoy himself, and invited you along for the ride. There was one song he was completely mugging his way through and had the audience practically on the floor from laughter. Lots of audience participation which was a lot of fun (I'd lost my voice my this time, so the lads around me were stunt-dubbing for me). A open spot on the floor of the orchestra circle turned into a dance floor briefly, I thought that was great and enjoyed watching.
He even joked about the 10:30 curfew. (Everything was timed down to the minute, and he was off the stage at precisely 10:29).
He finished by throwing out handfuls of picks, and for the ladies, a couple of gold chains.
I had a great time, overall (despite the lads on either side of me getting totally wasted because, after all, this was the MOLSON amphitheatre and the pints were plentiful). I have to say, it was the most fun I'd had, well, ever!
-TD, exhausted but happy to have gone
