Timber
Shyne Factory
Luther Wright and the Wrongs
Bucket Truck
Joel Plasket Emergency
Trews
Tegan and Sara
King Konqueror
Buck 65
Grimskunk
Lowest of the Low
Planet Smasher
Crush
Rascalz
Mighty Mighty Boss Tones
Fishbone
Matt Good
I arrived at the hill around 2:30, just as Shyne Factory was beginning their set… they sounded good… they’re very catchy… I just walked around and looked at the merch before making my way back to the other stage where I made sure I’d be front center..
Before long Luther Wright and the Wrongs came on… now, a country act with a crowd like that by all rights should have done horribly but they were certainly an exception… they did a few covers from Pink Floyd’s The Wall and overall their set was very energetic… Even though it’s not my style in most situations, I was able to get into them… especially when Kelly from Big Sugar came on to play the harmonica… they really rocked then… I actually walked by Luther Wright while he was standing by the stage afterwards…
I stayed at that stage until Joel Plasket Emergency came on. I had seen him before when he still played with Thrush Hermit in 1999 at Rockfest when they were the first act… Matthew Good Band, Big Wreck and Collective Soul were the others, in order)… I must say that he really impressed me… His music was much calmer than a lot of the other acts but was great… reminded me of Rolling Stones, Beatles, Sloan… I’d certinly go to see him again if he plays at the Marquee.
During the Trews set on the other stage I walked over to the merch tables and bought a Buck 65 “jersey” t-shirt… Sascha and Shane found me at the front of the stage when I came back… We talked a while and then Tegan and Sara came on.
Those two really, really impressed me! They were certainly in the same league as the other bands… rocked each song… Most songs were from their new album(I’m discovering that now, but more on that later)… The two girls alternated playing accoustic and electric guitars a couple times during the show and both played very well and were great singers… able to do rock vocals or softer ones with ease…
Once their set was over(it was far too short for an introduction to them) I returned to the merch table and got one their t-shirts(with a line drawing of the album cover) and their new CD, If It Was You… Both were quite inexpensive so I had to get them… and I really wanted the CD right away.
We met Nathan next and all stood at the front of the stage eagerly awaiting the magnificent BUCK 65!
Every time I see Buck 65 he puts on an even better show… He had a full band with him this time… slide guitarist, guitarist, bassist, drummer, sampler-guy(what do you call them?) and himself scratching and being, well, himself… It was fantastic! He actually looked our way and mentioned seeing “familiar friendly faces” that was awesome! To be remembered by a great artist like him was very cool… He played most of my favorite songs, including the “dry shine” one, “bluebirds and roses”, “the food song” and the one about Mt. Uniacke (it has a great part that goes “she tried to hide her scars, her name reminds me of the stars, I saw diamonds divide, in the corners of her eyes”)… I’m hoping those will all be on Square his new album that is coming out in October… it will be a fantastic album no matter what… He told a story about his father and snow removal… One time he had a lane full of snow and it was sloped downward… so he poured gas across the lane and lit it… a wall of fire came across the lane and started to melt the snow… gravity pulled all the snow down and melted it all… leaving his lane clear… his father seems nearly as brilliant as Buck. The whole set Buck was throwing shiny confetti from his pockets into the air… it looked quite cool… The show was great but far too short. Someday I want to see Buck 65 in a headlining slot so that I can see him perform for at least an hour…
After that we all decided to leave the venue and get some pizza rather than pay too much for food… We walked, joked around and played catch with a tennis ball as we crossed the commons… I really missed being able to hangout with Sascha so this weekend was really great…
I forgot to mention the bracelet incident from yesterday… Sascha had bought some bracelts that were fairly masculine and wanted more but didn’t have any money… I said I’d give him some so that he could get a pink bracelet that he could never take off.. so for the entire two days he wore it. I was slightly amused.
We grabbed some pizza and Sascha got a sweater from their truck before heading back…
We got back in time to make the front of the stage for Crush… I had seen them at the concert on the hill this summer but this time they were so much better… experience with large crowds is certainly helping them… they put on a really good show and the pit was actually alive for them with crowd surfers… “Here” and “Live” were the highlights for me, but it was a a solid show overall… they actually sang a line from an Eminem song… it was amusung
We stayed put until The Mighty Mighty Boss Tones took the stage… They were great… Ska at its best…they are obviously at home in a live environment and controlled the crowd well, dispite the huge intensity in the pit… it was full of energy and tons of crowd surfers… they songs were great and “The Impression That I Get” was huge… the crowd was likely at its peak for the day in pure energy… I was kicked in the eye and nose a couple times, hit on the head 3 or 4 times and kicked in my left leg too many times to count… but it’s totally worth it… there’s just something about being in the pit that you can’t find anywhere else in life…
We stood there again waiting for Matt Good to come on… He let the place up again… between the surfers, single-direction-entire-crowd movements and singing along it was obvious that Matt Good was the crowd’s favorite… He was truly great… so much energy was in even his slower songs… by the end I was sore but I didn’t care, it was so great to be in that crowd andexperience the communion of a big rock show…
After that I found Nathan and we started walking home… we stopped into Wendy’s for some pop and then called Miranda once we were at the corner of Oxford and Quinpool… she picked us up and drove us here not long after that.
I had a shower and started listening to my new CD… I’m really enjoying it… you all need to check it out if you haven’t already! It has a great mix of songs and is just beautiful!
I’ll have 3 rolls of film developed this week, likely at the Walmart… if they turn out they will be going up on my site in an updated [TheBox] sub section… I need to e-mail them to Deirdre when they are developed and I also need to remember to e-mail her tomorrow to make sure she still has our address so she can send us stuff 🙂 Hanging out with her yesterday was such a blast and the only thing that tipped the scales between the two days… If she and Strawberry play Halifax again or she’s here again for another reason I hope we’ll be able to hang out again…
I’m tired now so I’ll sleep… sweet dreams… goodnight