i don’t know what to say or where to start….but…
first off….
what i love about canada: i can go 85 mph and still get passed
what i hate about canada: they’re retarded ass backwards address numbering on streets
got out of class earlier than i was going to have to leave it, so i got on the road about 4. took 2 hours to get to london, the drive wasn’t too bad at all. it’s all familiar territory cuz it’s the way we go to detroit. but once i got to london it took me a half an hour to find centennial hall. why? because canada numbers things retardedly. this is the 2nd time in recent history (aka a month) that i couldn’t find a place because of retarded numbering. the directions were easy, the location was easy…550 wellington street. no problem. it’s 1 friggen exit, turn right, and bam….wellington street. i drive down, i’m in the 700s, no problem. the numbers are going down, no problem. suddenly i’m in 300s with no sign of any centennial hall. wtf. so i figure i passed it somehow and turn around and head back up the numbers. still, i don’t see it. i stop at a tim hortons and ask. they didn’t know where it was, but they said their address was 7 something, so i had to go left down the street again. right. makes sense. still no centennial hall. wtf. i turn down this street where big hospitals are, cuz i think, maybe you can’t see it from this street. no. no centennial hall. i stop in another tim hortons. this time 2 customers knew where it was. it’s downtown. i have to continue down wellington til i get into downtown london…where the numbers decrease down to 1, and then go back up again….!!!!! WTF! who numbers streets like that?! canadians do! so after all that, i did find the place, and parking was 3$…yeah. 3$ canadian. i was like holy shit that’s cheap.
anyway. waited outside for over an hour cuz they didn’t open doors ontime (surprise) and it was friggen freezing. i actually thought at one point it was snowing. but it was just rain. yeah. it rained. thankfully, just sorta misted and not a torrential downpour.
inside, it was another good setup like the boston show, where there was an outer elevated ring area…up 2 steps. so i immediately claimed my space along the railing of this elevated area. perfect unobstructed view of the entire stage, and no possibility of getting killed. some guy started talking to me randomly. his name was phil, he’s a musician, and he’s 26. he was sorta asking me the stupidest small talk questions ever like… “What do you think of canada?” um, it’s just like the US….”where were you during the big blackout?”….”do you shop in fetish stores?”….yeah. k. anyway.
first band, danny carey’s band Pygmy Love Circus. yeah. sucked. the music was alright, and of course the drumming was amazing (he’s drummer in tool), but…yeah. i don’t think so. i didn’t think they were as awful as some of the reviews i had read, about people being pissed they spent 40$ to see APC and have to suffer through danny carey’s shitty band calling them fucking assholes. it wasn’t fun, and i didn’t quite get it, but at least it wasn’t velour.
now this venue had the most nazi security guards i’ve ever seen. when we get in we get our bags searched, no problem. we get patted down. no problem. nothing unusual. but they wouldn’t let anyone take lighters in. so any lighters they found when searching you were thrown in these big bins (you could get them back after i guess). they were sniffing everyone’s cigarette packages for pot. still, that’s not super nazi or anything. so we’re inside, and the Pygmy’s had played, and this Phil guy is still hanging around with his friend, but they went down the 2 steps to the “main floor”. some guy gave him a cigarette and a few of them were smoking. security saw them and came over, and started searching phil for a lighter, and he got thrown out. and they were doing this to anyone they saw smoking. holy nazi. they had really good crowd control though, only 2 crowd surfers, there was no moshing and falling and me almost breaking anything like in boston.
these 3 other guys started talking to me before APC and everyone was amazed i came from NY to see the show. it’s like, it’s only 2 hours, it’s really not that big of a deal. they were asking me if i had a boyfriend so i just said yes hahah.
so…the show. gah. anyone who doesn’t recognize how friggen amazing this band is needs to have their head (or ears) examined. because they are one of the most talented and interesting (lyrically and musically) bands out there right now. possibly ever (imo of course). seriously. it might not be your “thing”, they might not play music you’re really into, but give me a break. if you’re a music fan, you should be able to recognize good music even when you don’t like it. and this is a fucking. good. band. holy shit. i was completely blown away.
i’m going to assume the set list tonight was the same as the other setlists, which would be this:
Pet
The Hollow
Magdalena
Weak and Powerless
Orestes
Rose
Thinking of You
The Package
Three Libras
Thomas
The Outsider
The Nurse Who Loved Me
Judith
Maynard, as always, sounded amazing. he is definitely, hands down, best male rock singer ever. the stage set up for the show is maynard on an elevated platform in the middle back of the stage. to the left is james iha, to the right is josh freese. the front left is twiggy/jeordie, and front right is billy howerdel. maynard acts like maynard, but doesn’t have his back to the audience the entire time like with tool. but he’s still maynard…maynard the freak. twiggy and james iha still look like their in their old bands…just their mannerisms and what not. billy howerdel is an amazing guitarist. and well josh is the one man orgy…
the new songs were definitely interesting and intriguing, i really can’t wait to hear them. of course now that i saw the show i’m allowed to listen to the new songs from the bootleg haha. the old songs sounded as good as ever. for “thomas” danny carey and one of the pygmy guitarists came out to do extra drums and guitar, really rocked it out. sounded great. i don’t think they’ve been doing that at every show either, so that was really cool. the whole time you can’t help but be blown away by maynard’s voice. it’s just…so amazing. “judith” rocks as always, cuz how can that song not rock live? you get everyone screaming the lyrics, it’s a good time.
gah. i walked out in a complete high daze with a big smile on my face. haven’t gotten that since u2 2 years ago. it was fantastic. i really wish i could get my hands on at least one of the toronto shows next week, but i’m not going to pay above face value for them. ah well….
i had some wicked urbex dreams i forgot to mention…one was about getting into the psych center through a side door that went into a giant library, still full of books up to the ceiling. there were workers inside, but they didn’t notice me, and when they did, didn’t really care that i was there. but the building was sorta boring, cuz it was mostly empty and clean, so i was disappointed. the other one had to do with the terminal, and i can’t really remember it anymore. but they were awesome hah.
anyone else want in on the orgy?!? the more the merrier. i decided i definitely won’t be able to wear the fake hair to orgy cuz it’ll just get pulled/tornoff/destroyed when i’m up at barrier