just got back to vancouver from spokane and i'm still all giddy... i
think that might have been the best concert night i've ever
experienced...

after the long drive from vancouver, and after finding a place to stay
for the night, me and my friends went down to the opera house to hang
outside... the hip were doing their soundcheck at the time and we tried
to sneak in but were unsuccessful.  we hung around the back door for
quite a while freezing... we saw the drummer from by divine right come
outside so we started talking to him - i own both their cd's and they
still hadn't played my favourite song (both vancouver shows and seattle)
so i begged him to play it and he said they don't really play it
anymore...

so we were waiting outside a bit longer, then bobby came out and took
some pictures and chatted a bit.  gord downie came out a little while
later, but didn't look like he was really feeling well - he declined
pictures and retreated to the tour bus.  then paul langois came out and
took pictures and chatted... was really nice - not what i expected since
he always seemed like the quiet one... johnny fay came out a while later
and said he take pictures after the show... some fans who came by
shortly before we left told me inside that gord came out and asked if
they were the ones who wanted the pictures, so that was nice to know
that he came out...

so in we went for the show, and i've got to say, i felt out of place.
yes, there was the standard canadian quotient, but it felt like it was
the spokane community event of the week - parents with their 5 year
olds, and quite a few teenagers... but i've got to say that the spokane
opera centre was quite a venue...

by divine right was opening yet again, and lots of people in the
audience were asking about them, as in they had never heard of them
before - to be expected i suppose.  in a break between two songs, me and
my friends stood up and yelled "long distance soul communication" which
is my favourite song by bdr, off their first record.  they seemed
surprised, and leslie asked "what was that", so we yelled it out again,
and they were like "how do you guys know that?" so here we are yelling
back and forth with bdr with everyone around us staring at us... leslie
said "we might have to bring that out of our archives" and after one
more song, jose dedicated "long distance soul communication" to "those
freaks over there" - made my day :)

the hip's setlist was as follows:
something on
fully completely
grace too
vapour trails
giftshop
poets
flamenco
courage
cordelia
ahead by a century
don't wake daddy
bobcaygeon
nautical disaster
escape is at hand for the travellin man
blow at high dough
 
encore:
fireworks
nois
fire in the hole

the sound was awesome in this venue.  the best songs in my opinion were
vapour trails, flamenco and escape... really tight and seemed to have
the audience mesmerized... gord dedicated ahead by a century for the
little kids out there... when the came out for the encore, they did a
quick teaser of "boots or hearts" and then broke into fireworks instead
(doh!).  new orleans had an awesome version of insomniacs in the
middle...

after the show we quickly made our way back outside, but by divine right
had already left... man, those guys were awesome all 4 times i've seen
them and i think it's really refreshing to see a band genuinely enjoying
themselves onstage.

so we waited a while outside for the hip to come out... they came out
one every ten minutes or so... bobby came out and took some more
pictures and signed autographs and then went to the tour bus... gord
sinclair came out a little later and chatted for quite a while... johnny
took some pictures and made it quite obvious what he thought of the
whole a.r.a. thing (more details below)... then paul came out again and
chatted for a while (saying he couldn't really discuss the whole a.r.a.
thing), and then gord downie came out... seems a lot taller than he does
on stage... we talked for a bit and got some pictures... we asked him
what his favourite by divine right songs were and he said "shine so
shine" and off the first album "long distance soul communication" - we
told him that we were the ones yelling out for the request during the
show, and he told us that it made bdr's night... as to what he's
planning on doing for new year's eve - "making lots of love".

okay, on to all this another roadside attraction and new year's
suspense... according to gord sinclair, no a.r.a. this summer.  we
talked to johnny fay about new year's and they confirmed it's a
possibility.  he told us that because skydome was recently sold it might
be double-booked (the chinese community in toronto was apparently
planning on holding celebrations there).  they're hoping to do another
roadside attraction in skydome on new year's eve and opening up the roof
for fireworks... literally, not the song :) (maybe the song too?)

that's it for now i guess... i'm going to sleep :)

wicked show... and for all of you who went to see the hip but came late
for by divine right, go check them out sometime...  they rock!

oded