Once in a lifetime

When I first heard about the BSS show in Central Park I played the 'Should I, Shouldn't I' game for a few days and then thought, how many times in my life will I want to kick my own ass if I don't go? The answer was well into the triple digits so we immediately formulated the most ridiculous plan ever to attend the not to be missed evening. I flew out of Toronto mid afternoon Saturday, we raced in the cab over to the Park and were met by about 3000 other people who also understood the importance of the event. All told, by the time the show started, I am quite sure attendance topped out at over 6000.

The setlist was phenomenal - my favourite addition being Romance To The Grave - if there is a track off of FRR that can explain to the world exactly who they are, it's that one. Older crowd faves like Ibi, Shorelines, Looks Just Like the Sun and Cause were all present and accounted for, with FRR heavily represented.

The set was longer than I expected and the whole night was surreal (we stayed up all night in NY and caught a 6:00 am flight back to Toronto), but there was 1 disappointment.

Their performance was beefed up with the addition of back up tracks - that cut fairly deep. For anyone who has ever seen them live, we recognize that a huge part of their whole 'mystique' is that any given performance will be different from the previous and the subsequent performance due to who shows up on stage each night. This is why I have 27 versions of Anthems. I am hoping that backing tracks are not now going to be a staple of their live gigs.

Anyway - all in all a pretty inspiring night, I can now say that BSS has brought me to tears in Central Park (thanks to Lover's Spit and Hotel). I feel a bit like I should do a Mastercard commercial . . . "concert ticket $31, return airfare to NYC with 16 hour turn around time $600, seeing your favourite band play Central Park - dreamy and priceless."

Oh, and an aside - if you don't know when to clap in Stars & Sons, just don't effing clap at all!

And thank you to Mother Nature for holding back the rain, although I don't even think that could have ruined our night.

Another year

How the hell do I forget every year what a shitstorm Back To School is?