Song of the Day: Saves the Day - Sell My Clothes I'm off to Heaven

This past weekend has got to be one of the most craziest weekends for me in terms of music. I hit two different ends of the spectrum in terms of music. Even though my feet are swollen from all the standing, the music was worth it.

Friday - Green Day & Jimmy Eat World
Friday involved a to four hour trip up the 400 series highway to Barrie to catch Jimmy Eat World and Green Day. We were all pretty restless in the car, but some funny stories alongside an old man with special plates engraved with "piper" made for an entertaining trip. As soon as we got there, I had suspected that we'd we late (just like the time at the amphitheatre). As we entered the final barricade, the blistering guitars were echoing amongst the Park Place tree line. Yet again, we were late for another show. Jimmy's set was rather mediocre. I didn't like Jim's onstage banter as he dummed it down for the kids, which was totally lame. I don't get a kick out of the number 69 as referenced by the vocalist and neither did the rest of the capacity crowd. When Green Day hit the stage, everyone was ready to see Billy Joe, Mike, and Tres tear up the fans with witty banter and outrageous physical humour. Their set was definitely fun and entertaining. Highlights were the fans who got to play onstage, the Green Day renditions of classics like "stand by me", "king for a day and seamless transition to shout", and the best cover of the Queen classic, We are the Champions. When the band played WATC, all the spotlights were turned off and the only thing that the crowd could focus upon was the Billy's amazing voice as he totally nailed that song. Freddy Mercury would be proud and Simon Cowell would approve. Who knew a punk-rock bloke had chops to mesmorize and raucous audience ready a good ole' circle pit. Even though Billy had the audience at his fingertips, the onstage banter was rather week and drawn out. Some of the sound bites were over used and left me unattentive to joining the crowd in a group sing-along. I was a bit surprised as to how many Green Day songs I knew considering they didn't play my three favourite songs: Geek Stink Breath, Walking Contradiction, Waiting. Overall, the ticket was worth the value of entertainment Billy and the boys brought to Canada. If you don't like the music, you'd appreciate the entertainment value.

Saturday - Foo Fighters / Sloan / The Constantines
Okay, so this show had much anticipation from my friend as he is a huge Dave Grohl fan, NOT Foo Fighters, but the boy-wonder Dave! I didn't remember much from this show because I drank too much earlier in the day the Horseshoe and other pubs (I wasn't DD. I couldn't relinquish the opportunity, hehe). I almost got into a fight with a bunch of teenagers who didn't appreciate me enjoying The Constantines set. It's unfortunate really. A friend told me me these kids were talking about me so I pointed at the individuals as if I want a officer of the law in an interrogation. I finally grabbed the our of them by the lot and threatened their lives while their dad, who stands up to my nose, was watching. The dad looked at me and I gave him the 1, 2 salute. As I eye the dad, the kids scrambled to the other side of the pit not to be seen again the rest of the night. The Cons were amazing as usual, but out of place such a large venue. Totally up for the task, they roared through their set with not much hesitation. The crowd was fortunate to hear some tunes off of "tournament of Hearts" which is soon to hit the streets. I had the chance to say hi to Doug after the show interrupting his conversation with his parents [d'oh!]. I think I was too hammered to care at this point. Sloan was good, but meh. not my thing. Finally, the Foo Fighters hit the stage which much raucous and thunder. Dave and the boys represented rock in its purest form. Half way through the set, I thought to myself, "dude, you are 10 feet from one third of Nirvana!!!". Such a weird moment. It such a treat too for the fans to see Taylor perform his song, while Dave got behind the drums and smashed the crap outta the set. Henry and I both recalled the ending to the song as Dave smashed the kit. It was reminiscent to the beginning of the "Smells Like Teen Spirit", where Dave's hair flails covering his scruffy face. Grohl behind the drums was very eerie, nostalgic, and gratifying to witness first hand. As he first hit the toms, he morphed into a different outfit taking us back to the early 90s. If only we could imagine what Nirvana would be like today. Anyways, killer show, but no "Hey Johny Park" WTF... Oh hey, look at these two dudes in the background! I think this pic qualifies for a Maxim photo section of "Who's this guy?!?!" haha

Sunday - Kardinal Offishal / Lil' Jon & the Eastside Boyz / Kanye West / Ludacris
I was totally hung over and not thrilled by the fact that I had to wake up at 10 to be ready for my ride and stand in the rain for most of the afternoon. It was definitely a rough start to what was a surprisingly great day. Even with a massive hangover, I still managed to plow back a few to break the ice and overcome the bad weather. It was great opportunity to hang out with some friends and to meet some new ones. You know everyone dogs Canadian hip-hop artists, but Sunday belonged to Kardinal. I mean he represented the 416, 905, 519, 800. He totally kept the crowd into every song, every beat, every moment of his set. Much respect to such a hard working artist. Some major label needs to sign this guy. Lil' Jon and the Eastside Boyz were A-M-A-Z-I-N-G! So much energy, so much hype, so much entertainment! Even if you don't like the music, you gotta give it up for a man who can make 2 official English words and 1 that might be found on urban dictionary so entertaining and high anticipated as Lil Jon. Who can get away with starting a sentence with "bitch" and end it with "bitch". The crowd was crazy. I have never witnessed a rap concert mosh pit, but it was amazing! BeaBe ho! Also as amazing was the highly acclaimed Kanye West. No artist has made me so interested in hip hop as this guy. His lyrics are whitty and smart. Something hip-hop has been lacking for some time now .. Intelligence. Kanye brought with him DJ ATRAK, who cuts like a butcher into a fresh piece of meat. Kanye messed up some of lyrics, but who cares. I think everyone there was happy to get get such great hip-hop artists to the great white north. If anything sticks out, it was Kanye' s stage banter. He's funny man. He's the total package: the bling, the beats, the brains. Totally worth the price of admission and the shitty weather. All in all, a great weekend! Let's hope it's only once a summer...

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This entry was posted by .::Hung::., on Monday, August 15, 2005. You can leave your response.