That was some trip…my first New Year’s Eve out of the house in forever (my son was 6), it was 12 C so all the snow had melted and it was a SEA of mud, almost lost a boot in said mud and then was covered with it, and the boys opened for Collective Soul, who I’d wanted to see for a few years at that point. We went on 4D rides on Clifton Hill and ate bad food, and just generally had a blast.

And I finally got to see them live, after liking them for over a year.

Great NYE all ’round.

It’s not good for the old ticker. And I do mean old, as I’ve had another birthday and seem to be hurtling toward the half-century mark faster than I’d ever thought possible.

So, that didn’t help. Then ongoing financial issues just keep on going. And work was stressful. Add to that those boys from Antigonish that I kind of adore were on the road and I couldn’t go ’cause of said financial issues, and wow, I just wanted to break things. A lot of things. Repeatedly. And violently.

This is how 2 year olds act, folks. Don’t try this at home.

So, the end of last week gets here and I’m in full cranky mode again, and then I think to myself, “Hunh. Watertown, NY, is only like 3 hours from here, and that’s where the boys are gonna be last night [Jan 21]. I could drive there and back no problem. Wonder if anyone would want to go?” A chat with the Diva at work confirms it – she’ll go if I want to, as she was just gonna sit and watch TV Saturday night. Hmmmmmm.

Worked things out with hubby – who was taking our son and a friend of his to the Monster Truck Jam downtown, an annual thing for them – and then had this super-tight schedule to follow: lunch with a friend, back home, take the trio downtown for 5:30, get back to the Diva’s for 6:00, get on the road ASAP because Watertown is just over 3 hours from here and they went on at 9:30. But there was gas and food to get, too.

Well, hit all my time marks, for the most part, and we got to the 1000 Islands Bridge at 9:00 exactly – with half an hour to get to the show. We found a parking spot at the venue – a shed called Exhibition Hall on the Watertown Fairgrounds – as their intro music started and walked in about four bars into “The World, I Know”, their opening song. Not bad at all.

Exhibition Hall is, indeed, a shed that they clearly use for – well, exhibits during their fair. It would be the place you’d go to see people’s homemade food and knitting and doilies and kids’ artwork, all the stuff that would be judged and awarded prizes. So in other words, it’s a tin building with a bare infrastructure, no insulation or padding or anything else at all. And into this building they put a stage and lights and a sound system, and tables to sell alcohol – and about 400 unbelievably drunk people who’d clearly been there since the doors had opened at 6:30.

We went up to the front and off to Colin’s right, and stayed way over near the wall ’cause a) we were in front of the speakers and they were stunningly loud and distorted, and it hurt the ears; and 2) everyone was drunk and dancing in very wide, stumbly circles, which meant I was bound to be stepped on or people were bound to bump into us with their cups of beer or some kind of combination of those, neither of which was very appealing to us. So we tried to give them as wide a berth as possible, which wasn’t actually always possible, as it turned out, because very drunk people just stumble everywhere anyway. Saw many an amusing dance move, though, so there was actually some great laughs during the evening.

The band? Were awesome, or as near as we could make out through the crappy sound, anyway. The distortion where we were was pretty intense. But what we could hear sounded pretty great.

And they sure looked happy, wow…the previous week’s gigs were very poorly attended (40 people in NYC, 30 people in Boston, “why’d we bother” numbers in Providence according to Sean) so to walk into this building and see 400 people blind drunk, banging their heads so hard I thought they’d fall over, singing along to every. single. word., clearly made the band so very glad to be there, and they were off and running.

Colin made sure to make an extra effort for those assembled, crooning and screeching and warbling with energy and heart, all the while twirling and jumping and stomping – and tuning his guitar, which clearly kept going out of tune almost between every song. At one point he finally said into the mic, “please stop opening the doors – when the cold air comes in and hits the hot air in here, it throws our guitars out of tune”. He kept the talk to a minimum, though, only going on for a second when John Angus told him to stretch things out while he disappeared behind the stage for a second. It was clearly an evening of just getting down to it with as little fuss as possible.

Although the stage was not small, it did not lend itself well to John Angus throwing himself around too much, so he spent most of the set sort of confined to his mic and peddle area, only venturing forward for a couple of solos a couple of times. Jack was fairly rooted to his spot too, not moving about a great deal other than to dance a little now and then. It was a bit too tight to do much else where they were. Sean, though, had a lovely huge area around him and was up on a tiny riser, so from our vantage point I could see him all night. That is always a huge treat.

Song-list wise it was a fairly traditional set of standards, but Gord Sinclair from the Hip, who co-produced Hope & Ruin, showed up so we were treated to “Dreamin’ Man”, which is always very very cool, and he also played on “Love Is The Real Thing”. That third guitar sure adds another layer to their wall of sound that is really wonderful.

The thing that put it over the top for the night, that made the 6+-hours round-trip driving worth all the time and energy, was them breaking into Aerosmith’s “Last Child” in the middle of “Hold Me”. Holy CRAP.

No, I mean it, HOLY. CRAP.

Let me be clear, in case there is any doubt: H-O-L-Y C-R-A-P.

The song is a total southern groove, stomp song, and they played it perfectly. Colin nailed the vocals, giving Stephen Tyler a run for his money screech-wise…he even tried to toss his mic around a bit like Tyler does. And they came out of it and back into “Hold Me” pretty well, too, ending with an enthusiastic drum-jump from John Angus. It was absolutely amazing and incredible in every way.

They got called back for an encore, which seemed to surprise them, because when they came back on stage John Angus said they hadn’t worked one out, so what did everyone want to hear? Songs were yelled at them loudly, and they chose “Sing Your Heart Out” and “Ishmael & Maggie”, much to everyone ‘s delight. “SYHO” was interesting – they all stayed on their electric instruments and played/sang from where they were, rather than breaking out the acoustics and djembe. Colin didn’t even have his harmonica, so John Angus played that part on his guitar. It was…yes, interesting. “Ishmael & Maggie” fared better, and Sean joined Colin at his mic, only to get distracted by handing out Colin’s picks and his own drumsticks to people instead of singing, making Colin laugh into the mic while trying to finish the song. They left the stage in a cloud of fake smoke and bright lights coming up – and then had to walk through the shed to the opposite side of the building to get to their dressing room. They were absolutely mobbed and followed, so that was gratifying to see.

We found a couple of friends who had come from Ottawa for the show and hung out with them, eventually helping them get photos with Jack and Sean, and autographs from everyone with my black sharpie. Short chats with Jack and Sean, and lovely conversation with them, and we were headed back north to the border, getting the world’s most uptight and serious Canadian border guard I’ve ever encountered ever. That boy clearly takes his job way way way too seriously.

We stopped at Denny’s in Kingston for food but ended up leaving early because of the three drunk boys that stumbled into the restaurant and sat behind us, two of which then threatened to be sick all over the place because they were so hammered. That’s always fun. NOT.

Dropped the Diva off just after 4:00, was home by 4:30 and in bed by 5:00 – and it was all so very very worth the efforts made and hours driven.

Next show is in March now…they head down east for a few days this week, then at the beginning of February they’re off to the UK for five shows, and the Big Night Out Tour starts up again at the start of March. We have tickets for the Toronto show on the 23rd, but I’m seriously debating going to the London show on the 21st as well. I’ll have to see what’s going on financially between now and then.

Won’t see them now till January. This makes me sad.

What I really really like – no, love passionately – is one of the other songs on the EP, “Mandy”. I first found it in videos on YouTube during the acoustic tour last year and then finally got to hear it in person in Belleville at the Empire Theatre. It’s such a GREAT *song*, in every way. And recorded? It’s even BETTER. It’s pop-y and hook-y and catch-y as hell, and doesn’t fit on Hope & Ruin in any way, so I’m so glad they finally released it in another way.

The EP also has “Big Night Out”, which I’ve never really cared much for, and “St. Thomas Is Calling”, which I really really like except for the bridge – it kind of loses me, it just doesn’t fit. But I really like the rest of the song.

You can get the EP when you buy Hope & Ruin, at a discounted price, either on CD or vinyl, or digitally; check out the official website for more info if you need it.

The best part of all this is the fact that they announced dates in Canada in January and March, and they’re coming to the Queen Elizabeth Theatre here in Toronto March 23rd, as part of Canada Music Week, and you could order tickets to the show bundled with the album and Ep this week before they go on sale tomorrow to the rest of the world. Our friend D, who won the Scene contest all those years ago, got tickets for the Diva and I for our birthdays & Xmas! Woo-hoo! Now trying to figure out if I want to brave the weather in March and go to London that week as well…we’ll see.

Club NV, Brantford, ON, Nov. 24/11

Put on by the same folks that do Brantford’s Hockeyfest, this one was announced quite some time ago but for some reason didn’t sell out. I can’t for the life of me figure out why – they used to play Jackhammer’s in Brantford, that was really quite large, and a couple times we saw them there it was sold out. This club has to be not even half as big, but it didn’t sell out. Very strange. It was, however, an early all-ages gig, so perhaps that was it.

Regardless, my friend V had purchased tickets quite some time ago for it, as she lives there, and then the week of the gig the Diva came down with a cold that put her out for the count. I managed to persuade my long-time friend C, who’d come to a few other shows with us (including the second night of the DVD shoot), to join me, and we headed out late because of stuff I had to do with hubby and son.

Not knowing it was an early show, though, imagine my surprise when V texts me to say the boys are just about to go onstage before 10:00. Ack. I went as fast as safety would allow, and we got there just as they were starting their fourth song – and ended up at the back near the soundboard. We tried to get up closer to where V and her sister were, but it was not to be; the floor area was just far too crowded and jam-packed.

Ended up being absolutely fine back there – I could dance, it wasn’t too crowded and I could see over almost everyone’s heads. I very much enjoyed what we saw, and am equally as glad I stayed home to do stuff with son and hubby.

And the band? Wasn’t too hard to tell they were ecstatic being back in front of a large crowd who adored them and knew every word to every song; they let them sing all night, every song, with lots of encouragement and very large grins. And yikes did they rock. Brain-blasting, ear-drum-busting, gut-banging song after song, only taking breaks for “Sing Your Heart Out” and “Highway Of Heroes” – both of which had everyone singing so loudly I could hardly hear the band back where I was. The sound itself wasn’t the best ever – it was muddy and distorted, and it was hard to pick out the vocals from the guitars at times, it was so loud. That and the people around me singing at the tops of their lungs made for a sludgy band sound.

But it didn’t matter, because – aside from there being no light on the band’s faces – their showmanship and performance were JUST so much fun to watch. Folks in the front row were reaching for them and they were shaking and slapping hands, throwing picks out, dancing, careening, and stomping all over the place. It was a joy to behold, and a joy to hear the audience’s frenetic, adoring response. Brantford loves this band to death.

Caught up with all of our friends that were there afterwards, if some only briefly, and decided to head out because it was getting on midnight and I had to work the next day before heading to Buffalo, but as we were going to our car past the club we saw Jeff out talking to some of our friends, so we stopped for a chat, as we hadn’t seen him since August. Ended up giving those friends who were talking to him a ride to their hotel before heading out ourselves. Dropped C off at her place and was home before 2:00, which was far earlier than I’d anticipated originally. Yay me.

The Town Ballroom, Buffalo, NY, Nov. 25/11

The Diva and I worked for about three hours before heading out. It was Black Friday in the US, you see, and all indications were that there would be long long lines at the border as Canadians headed south to take part in the shopping frenzy. Plus we had to pick up V along the way.

Despite traffic, we actually got to the meeting spot with V about when I said we’d be there, which was slightly miraculous to me, and proceeded to the Peace Bridge border crossing at Fort Erie in great time. Only to get there and see that there were NO lines at ANY lane. There were NO cars there, not a one. We got through the border in two minutes. And the exit to the bar was the first one we got to on the I-90. So now we’re there for the 5:00 pm public meet & greet with the band over an hour earlier than we’d originally thought.

Wonderful. What does one do in downtown Buffalo for over an hour?

Wander, that’s what…and bemoan a city with no shops downtown, no people downtown, a mall that should be closed for lack of shops, and ooh and aah over amazing Christmas decorations in the lobby of a downtown hotel. Or at least, that’s what we did…

We headed over to the bar hosting the meet & greet with about ten minutes to spare, and found other friends in a restaurant across the street. Had a chat and then went to the bar, found spots to sit and made ourselves at home. Despite the number of people that said they were coming, about half that actually showed up, and when the band arrived most of them didn’t even approach the band. Can’t quite figure that out myself…those guys love to talk to the fans, will take photos with everyone who asks, will sign pretty much anything put in front of them, and are extremely easy to converse with. So, it makes me sad that so few actually talked to them. Not sure why they went…

Some wonderful conversation with John Angus, Colin, Jack, and Jeff (Sean had some friends there and I didn’t want to disturb them) and our friend P arrived with her new boyfriend, so we were off to have dinner at the TGI Fridays near the bar, which is where we’ve eaten every time we’ve gone down there to see them. GOOD food and hilarious conversation, and excitement outside with the lady outside who was taking her pants and coat off while cops and security were chasing her around trying to corral her into a car. An ambulance finally showed up and took her away, because she was stumbling a lot – she had either fallen or was physically disabled in some way, we couldn’t tell.

We headed to the bar and found it a little less packed than it has been in the past – another show that used to sell out that didn’t this time around – so we got down to our normal spot beside Colin in front of the speakers with no hassle. There were folks in the front row that didn’t leave this time, though, so we ended up behind them, which was most alright. V and I ended up on some steps, which put us almost at eye level with them, so that was fun.

And it was once again an amazing, stunning, incredible, jaw-dropping performance in front of an amazing, stunning, incredible, jaw-dropping audience. There aren’t words for how awesome the Buffalo crowd is for this band; they go absolutely insane from the moment the band steps onstage, and sing louder than any other audience I’ve seen these guys in front of. It’s mind-blowing. And Colin couldn’t stop smiling, all night; he doesn’t smile like that anywhere else that I’ve seen him – he can’t seem to stop. It must be so phenomenal to hear that many voices singing your songs and lyrics back at you so loudly. And so the band just throws down like nowhere else. I’ve definitely seen them play better and more intensely, but not at all with more love and admiration for the people standing in front of them.

Highlight of the evening had to be the way they ended “Poor Ol’ Broken Hearted Me” – normally they eventually end up playing in double time that Sean then speeds up to maybe triple time before the final “There’s no sight she’d rather see, than poor ol’ broken hearted me” that they end the song with, at the right speed. In Buffalo I think he sped it up to quadruple or maybe even quintuple time, and the rest of the band had to keep up with him – which they did, flailing and caroming and running and dancing and going in circles and jumping. To the point that Colin simply lay down on the stage. Then realized that he had to sing, so he hopped up for that last line, then simply lay back down again. Hilarious!

And…they got called out for a second time. John Angus said it best – “we don’t often get a second encore”. I’ve never seen it myself, in 102 shows. So, that was just absolutely awesome in every way.

Afterwards we hooked up with friends we hadn’t been able to find beforehand, and headed out to the foyer. The washroom was used, coats were gotten, other people were looked for, and then Jeff was there. Another lovely chat and it was time to go. Went to the hotel that some friends were staying at just down the street, used the bathroom and almost got kicked out because we were too loud, and headed on out. Got lost trying to leave Buffalo and ended up taking the long way out through Niagara Falls, but that was alright because the drive was nice and the lights were pretty. Dropped V off at her car, dropped the Diva at her place, and got home around 4:00 am.

Such a great couple of shows, so glad I went…must say that the fandom is raging a bit out of control at the moment, it’s probably a good thing I won’t be seeing them again for a few weeks, and that after that it won’t be till the new year. It’s probably a good idea to get my 12-year-old heart under control at my advanced age.

That was completely put to the test with the lads being away this fall. Oh yeah, boohoo, woe is me, talk about first world problems. I get it, I do. But a fan is a fan, and I am a fan – of this band in particular – and, as with most fans, I want to see my favourite band as much as possible. Period. And the longest I’ve gone between seeing them is 3 months before I met them and just under 3 months since I’ve been talking to them with any regularity.

So while this stretch of time was about 2-1/2 months, it felt like forEVER because of how far away they were; it wasn’t about time this fall, it was about distance. They weren’t just gone for 2-1/2 months, they were on the other side of the freakin’ world for most of it. And I felt that keenly.

Word of advice: don’t ever become so addicted to a band that 2-1/2 months without seeing them feels like a million years. It’s not fun.

So, the Diva and I arranged a few weeks ago to go to the Detroit and Lansing (MI) shows the weekend of Nov. 11th, because we hadn’t gone on a real road trip to see them in forever – not one where we stayed over, anyway. And the 12th would be my 100th Trews show in almost 7 years, so we really wanted to celebrate – what better way than with a road trip and an overnight stay in a nice hotel?

The Magic Bag, Detroit, Nov. 11/11, opening for Dick Wagner

We worked for a couple hours in the morning, and left about half an hour before I was hoping we would; this ended up being a good thing. We made really amazing time to Woodstock, where we stopped for some gas (it’s so cheap there), then we went on to London and stopped at Pizza Hut there for some lunch. It was about 1:30 when we left.

We made alright time to Sarnia, mostly because there’s construction and it’s down to one lane for like 20 km, but then we picked up speed and made good time – till just outside the city. And then we stopped. And crawled. For 2-1/2 hours. We started listening to “Hope & Ruin” when we left the Pizza Hut, and by the time we got to the currency exchange at the base of the Bluewater Bridge in Sarnia, we had listened to their entire catalog (backwards), including the live CD. It was insane. We thought it was construction, but nope; the gal in the currency exchange building said it had been that busy the day before as well, and thought it was people going over to shop. I have no idea. All I know is, we watched people waiting to pay their toll on the Canadian side of the bridge leap out of their cars, go to the bathroom and come back to their cars, and we were still waiting in line. One guy almost didn’t make it back to his car, though; that was amusing.

So now we’re about an hour later than I had wanted us to be, to get to the hotel – the SpringHill Suites in Southfield, where we stayed in 2008 when we saw them at the Magic Bag then – so when we finally got there (missing their lane and having to go ’round and try again), we had to rush a bit more than I’d wanted to to get ready, and we ended up having to skip dinner.

Took only about 15 minutes to get to the club in Ferndale, but finding parking was an issue, so we finally chose a paid lot behind the club ’cause the free one was full. Of course. We walked around to the front where there’d been a bit of a line when we’d first driven by, but things were clear now and I gave my ticket confirmation email to the no-neck at the door; he asked me for ID and so I asked if he wanted my driver’s license or passport. His reply? “Whatever has your name on it.” 0_0 My answer was, “…they both do…!” Strangest request for my ID ever, I swear.

Get inside and our friend J, from the Detroit area, is sitting at a table at the top of the bar; the building is an old theatre so it’s slopes down towards the stage, and has several levels on which there are tables. They were all full, and people were sitting along the side at tables and on benches there as well. And we were the youngest people there, for awhile anyway.

J said they’d changed it and there was nowhere to stand in front of the stage, but I saw someone standing in front of the stage, so I asked a waitress if we could go down and stand there and she said sure. So we make our way down and there’s only one other person there, and he’s front and centre – and he’s a Trews fan. Not gonna be a bad night after all.

Eventually the floor filled right up and the lads came out to a rather raucous reception; almost everyone around us were Trews fans and knew all the words. They were singing along and clapping like crazy, hooting and hollering and generally being extremely receptive. Which was good because the band sure deserved it, holy cow. They were on fire, as the Diva said, raging through their set with intensity and enthusiasm. Things only slowed down for a lovely version of “Highway Of Heroes”, fitting for Remembrance/Veterans Day (Colin even wore a poppy), but the rest of the set was all uptempo rock stuff.

Colin’s voice, though, was not exactly up to snuff and it was easy to tell that he’s been sick recently. He tried, man he tried, but he was scratchy almost the entire set and you could tell he was having trouble holding a breath. I felt so bad for him, he was really giving his all because, as he said at one point, that was the biggest crowd they’d ever played for there. No one seemed to care one iota, though, because they got such a great reception.

And it was SO AWESOME to see them again. To hear my favourite music live again, even though it was a standard set of their hits. To see them rip and stomp and blast and fling through it all. I was blissfully, thoroughly joyous at seeing them all again. Their level of professionalism, their effort, their cohesion and dedication, it all came through in waves, through every song. There’s a reason they’re my favourite band, and a set played like that is why.

The last song was, as usual, “Hold Me” but they broke into a bit of Led Zeppelin’s “When The Levee Breaks”, and didn’t that go down a storm with that guitar-loving crowd (Dick Wagner having been, after all, Alice Cooper’s guitarist for many years). The gentleman behind me was singing along at the top of his lungs.

Afterwards we headed back up to the top of the bar and ran into our friend S, who we hadn’t seen since Lewiston in August, and she told us that she’d seen about a song and a half; she’d come from London, ON, and had gotten stuck at the border too, although only about 40 mins. But it was 40 mins too long for her to have made it on time. So we all traipsed back up to the top, and after a long while John Angus came out to help with their merch. Got to say hello and have a lovely chat, and while doing so, Colin came in, so there was a bit more talking although I told him he needed to stop talking to us to save his voice. Turns out they were THREE hours at the border and had gotten there so late he’d had no time to warm up so that, combined with his recent bronchitis, had made for his scratchy voice situation. Jack eventually also surfaced so the Diva had a yack with him and I at least got to say hi. But we were hungry so J, S, the Diva, and I left and went for food at an Italian place a few doors down. Much wonderful conversation and food, and we all went our separate ways after 1:00 am. The Diva and I stopped and bought food for the hotel room, then passed out like two things that pass out.

The Loft, Lansing, MI, Nov. 12/11

An extremely lazy day, broken up only by a trip to a nearby Meijer (holy crap is that place HUGE) to secure goodies for the evening. J came at about 5:30 and we headed out about 6:00; since we’d heard they WEREN’T headlining but they kept saying they WERE, we decided to get there early to make sure we were there when they went on, regardless. Turns out they WERE headlining, so yay for a longer set!

But boo for one of the three bands on before them; soooo painful. The other two were both very alright, I just don’t particularly like the kind of music they do. So we were bored and J let us use her iPhone to play the full, proper Bejeweled (since I’m quite addicted to Bejeweled Blitz), for which I was extremely grateful. Eventually all the opening bands were done, and we moved over in front of the stage and after awhile a few other folks did too; there was a small crowd in front of the stage by the time they came out.

They started out a bit tentatively but after the loud cheer they got after the opening song, they seemed to relax and get comfortable. And as the crowd got louder and louder, they got tighter and louder and more raucous. Colin’s voice was still pretty scratchy – it was the kind of thing where “Paranoid Freak” was just a bit too high for him to do comfortably – but it held out much better than it had the night before. The stage wasn’t bigger but they had more room, being the opening band, and that lead to jumping and dancing, and stomping and careening, and Jack being able to stand up on the low drum riser to rip things apart with Sean.

Another standard set of hits, with one exception. The night before I did something I hadn’t done in the almost-7 years of going to see them: I asked for a song for my 100th show: “Hollis & Morris”. Colin said some lovely things onstage and they tore into a blistering, raging, frenetic, absolutely amazing version of that song that just about fried our faces off at the end. I will be forever grateful to them for obliging me with such an incredible rendition of a song that I love so very much.

Weird thing: after they were done? No one called them back out for an encore. There WERE people still there, there were people still up at the front of the stage. But no one cheered or banged tables or anything. It was just very very bizarre. So we gathered the goodies we’d brought and took them to the band, and had a lovely impromptu birthday celebration for John Angus, as it was his bday that day. Much much fun, and totally what I’d been hoping for for my 100th show.

Drove back to Southfield, J got in her car and went home, and we did the passing out thing again. Left at noon the next day and had NO problems at the border whatsoever. Still can’t figure out what was going on that day.

An amazing, awesome trip, completely worth waiting 2-1/2 months for. Probably came home liking them even more than I already did, which – not sure how that’s even possible.

And it made the anticipation for the upcoming Brantford and Buffalo gigs that much stronger!

So…the last gig I saw of the lads this year was at the Hanover Fair, up in – surprise, surprise – Hanover, ON, where we went with our friends from Scotland last year. This year the Diva and I went with our friends J and L, two gals we’ve seen at many gigs and that I finally met seeing Tim Chaisson downtown earlier this year. Lovely, lovely gals, too fun by half. They lived up Barrie-way, so they drove down from there, we drove over-and-up from here, and we met at Highways 89 and the 400 at a MacDonald’s there. They left their car there and we drove to Hanover in our car.

Totally uneventful drive following the Google Maps instructions I had printed out, but what the instructions didn’t say was part of the road we were taking was under repairs, and so we ended up on a dirt road just south of Hanover while trying to get there. Been all over the place to see those boys, never driven on a dirt road to get to them before, though.

We parked in the same lot as last year, but this year we had to walk around to the grandstand instead of getting a ride on a golf cart, sob, so once we got our wristbands for the concert in the grandstand, we went back outside and went over to the fair. Mighta been even smaller this year than last, somehow…

Headed back inside the grandstand, just in time to see a band from Hamilton that I thought I hadn’t heard of till they did their “hit” at the end of their set. They were so impressive, though, that I’ve forgotten their name already. [/sarcasm] Next up were Crash Karma, a band I’d been interested in seeing because I’d heard they were great. About two songs in the sheer pretentiousness of their music made me want to bash my head in, so the Diva and I headed back inside to the casino, where we played some slots (lost), got a drink and talked to the Trews’ merch gal for a bit. Managed to waste their entire set inside, then went out and got against the fence way off to Colin’s right, in a spot we’ve been many times before.

The lads came out and right away it was apparent that Colin was sick – his voice was scratchier than usual, and he barely talked. He’d lost some of his high end and seemed to be struggling just in general; breaks my heart every time I see him like that. The one thing I’ve learned about this band is that they strive their hardest to be the absolute best they possibly can be every time they step onstage, and when Colin’s sick, it makes him kinda cranky.

However, they plugged along and he ended up sounding better at the end than he did at the beginning, which is the second time I’ve seen him do that this year; not sure how he does it! Their usual stomping madness was nowhere to be seen, not surprisingly, but they were still pretty great, and they treated us to some stuff they didn’t do for much of the summer – “Every Inambition” (electric!!), “Yearning”, “Fleeting Trust”, and “Sing Your Heart Out” (!!). “Every Inambition” made it worth everything right there, without question. All the rest of the hits were there, and the crowd – the drunken, falling-down, idiot crowd – sang so loudly for so much of the evening that Colin wisely let them sing FOR him many times. The smile on his face when he did so also made it worth the effort to be there.

The only downer the entire night were the two pairs of buttheads that jumped onstage during “Highway Of Heroes”. No, I’m not kidding – talk about being disrespectful! Seriously, how freakin’ drunk and stupid do you have to be? It was bad enough when the first pair did it, but then another pair had to do it too? I hate drunk people more and more all the time.

They went out with a bang and we waited for the inebriated crowd to disperse before we headed to the car, and were then treated to short chats with Jeff and Jack, which were both wonderful and awesome. The trip home was long but really great, with more hilariousness and great great conversation. Dropped the gals at 89 and 400, and was home before 5:00. Not bad at all!

Didn’t make it to the Peterborough show – was otherwise, uh, occupied that weekend – and then they left for Australia the middle of September. They’re in the UK as we speak, and I’m waiting to hear from friends who have and will be seeing them there. Can’t quite believe I’m not there this time around, I’ve been waiting to go back to see them since the trip in 2007 and then our lives fell apart and so I’m stuck here while they’re there. Not at all pleased with that.

We’re making plans to see them this fall at a few gigs, including a couple in Michigan in about three weeks, which I’m really looking forward to…can’t wait to hear them sing and play again!

What’cha think?

Yeah…still not sure. Does that make me a bad fan?