The afore-promised touring diaries from our 14-hour minibreak.
On the bus, ready to go!
At Metropolis. This is such a cool theatre -- the interwebs (those trustworthy sources) tell me that it has been there since the 1800s. Evidently people in the 1800s were a little slow, because they put the bathrooms on the top of four floors.
The opening act was the folky and terrifyingly thin Alasdair Roberts. He has a very lovely voice and sang many a traditional Scottish song -- a little slow compared with the main act, but still beautiful.
And now I think I will just throw photos all over the place; most of them don't need an explanation. Suffice it to say that the show completely rocked, and I knew this for sure even before they came onstage because the music between the sets was
Peter and the Wolf. Omens don't get much better than that. Katherine and I both went preparing to be whelmed (not under, not over) but came away with big smiles on our faces. Not liking their particular brand of embarrassingly over-the-top, folk-tale-like music is like not liking pie: you come face-to-face with it and you just can't say no.
In addition to skillfully playing every instrument under the sun (
viz. violin, hurdy-gurdy, banjo, mandolin, Moog and other crazy synth things, accordion, double bass, cello, slide guitar) the Decemberists get 10/10 for audience interaction. During
16 Military Wives (very catchy) they did the usual "which half of y'all sings louder" contest for the "la-di-da, di-dah, di-da-di-da-di-daaaa" section. They had people form a circle for a danceoff. They stole a cell phone from someone, dialed a number at random, and sang to whoever picked up. At some point in the encore (the encore, yet!) they did a sort of 1066 And All That history of the Founding of Montreal, and encouraged people to form up in groups of Huguenots, redcoats, and "Native, uh, Canadians" and re-enact the battle. "The Huguenots are coming down the river in canoes! Yes, in their nimble birch bark canoes! They spot the redcoats, and attack! And the Native, uh, Canadians see the melee and want in, too. They just... well, they attack everyone. And then are obliterated by disease and two hundred years of oppression." That pretty much says it all.
And so, I return to my essay, and then to work tomorrow. Alison is coming to town from Guelph, I may get together with her and Mal. And a bunch of the choir folk are going to be having a party over to learn the music for the Sankta Lucia concert. James' band, the
Red Light Saints, are playing Zaphod's on Saturday. Elliott Brood is doing a show as well, and Kyle wants to go. Darnit, why do people I know have to continue doing cool things when I have work to do? An embarrassment of riches, truly.
On the bus, ready to go!
At Metropolis. This is such a cool theatre -- the interwebs (those trustworthy sources) tell me that it has been there since the 1800s. Evidently people in the 1800s were a little slow, because they put the bathrooms on the top of four floors.
The opening act was the folky and terrifyingly thin Alasdair Roberts. He has a very lovely voice and sang many a traditional Scottish song -- a little slow compared with the main act, but still beautiful.
And now I think I will just throw photos all over the place; most of them don't need an explanation. Suffice it to say that the show completely rocked, and I knew this for sure even before they came onstage because the music between the sets was Peter and the Wolf. Omens don't get much better than that. Katherine and I both went preparing to be whelmed (not under, not over) but came away with big smiles on our faces. Not liking their particular brand of embarrassingly over-the-top, folk-tale-like music is like not liking pie: you come face-to-face with it and you just can't say no.
In addition to skillfully playing every instrument under the sun (viz. violin, hurdy-gurdy, banjo, mandolin, Moog and other crazy synth things, accordion, double bass, cello, slide guitar) the Decemberists get 10/10 for audience interaction. During 16 Military Wives (very catchy) they did the usual "which half of y'all sings louder" contest for the "la-di-da, di-dah, di-da-di-da-di-daaaa" section. They had people form a circle for a danceoff. They stole a cell phone from someone, dialed a number at random, and sang to whoever picked up. At some point in the encore (the encore, yet!) they did a sort of 1066 And All That history of the Founding of Montreal, and encouraged people to form up in groups of Huguenots, redcoats, and "Native, uh, Canadians" and re-enact the battle. "The Huguenots are coming down the river in canoes! Yes, in their nimble birch bark canoes! They spot the redcoats, and attack! And the Native, uh, Canadians see the melee and want in, too. They just... well, they attack everyone. And then are obliterated by disease and two hundred years of oppression." That pretty much says it all.
And so, I return to my essay, and then to work tomorrow. Alison is coming to town from Guelph, I may get together with her and Mal. And a bunch of the choir folk are going to be having a party over to learn the music for the Sankta Lucia concert. James' band, the Red Light Saints, are playing Zaphod's on Saturday. Elliott Brood is doing a show as well, and Kyle wants to go. Darnit, why do people I know have to continue doing cool things when I have work to do? An embarrassment of riches, truly.
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