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Concerts archive
Saturday in Toronto is gorgeous weather — blue skies as far as the eye can see. We head over to the Distillery, a “heritage site” in an old distillery building where there are many artists galleries, studios, shops and restaurants. It’s a welcome respite from all the retail that surrounded us the day before.
Around 3 p.m. we get in line for the ferry to Virgin Fest. Now, my past concert festival experience had me expecting dirt and gravel and no luxuries whatsoever. But the island where they hold the concert is really gorgeous — grass and trees, and even a little carnival area with rides.
We see M.I.A., Arctic Monkeys, and Interpol. The last show of the night is Bjork, and she is amazing. All glittery and hyper and kooky — exactly like I’d expect her to be. Granted, it’s standing room only, and I am not a tall woman, so I can’t see too much, but the music is awesome, and I have a good view of the video screens. Poor Lori ends up with some woman with ginormous boobs squashed against her back. But she still has fun.
As soon as Bjork leaves the stage, there’s a mass exodus to the ferry entrance. We have to wait an hour amid a crush of people before we can board the ferry. If I was claustrophobic, I would have had a meltdown. We get back to the room about 1 a.m. and fall into bed, blissfully fatigued.
The next morning, we’re up early so we can check out and catch the bus to the airport. It’s gray and and a little rainy. We had a great time, but we’re glad to get back home.
So I’m back from Toronto - have been back since Sunday - but everyday life has kept me from writing about my trip. Fret not, all three of my readers, I plan on putting fingertips to keyboard this weekend and telling you in great detail about my travels.
Behold, as I will regale you with tales of:
* The indie actress that I recognized based only on the back of her head.
* The popstar who lip synched for 14 minutes on the street.
* The perils of being short at a standing-room only concert.
I know, you’re now dying of anticipation. Stay tuned.
In 30 hours, I’ll be Canada-bound with my good friend Lori, off to celebrate my 30th birthday with Bjork (oh, the times we’ll have, Bjork and me). I dropped off my dog at the kennel to stay until Monday and get a bath, I’ve packed everything but last-minute essentials — toothbrush, comb, mascara — and my roommate will look after the cats and their neverending need for more food now.
Since I never took a real vacation this summer (because unlike most of Europe, I can’t take off from work for the whole month of August), I’m chomping at the bit to get away and have some leisure time. This trip will also be my Europe “dry-run”, where I test out how much I can pack in my one carry-on and how much I can tolerate sharing a bathroom with strangers.
A couple of birthday shout-outs: to my sister Sarah (Sept. 9), my friend Wassa, my birthday twin (Sept. 8 ), and to fellow blogger Jenn, who’s celebrating her 30th today in Nevis. This weekend, I’ll drink a few (too many) cocktails in celebration for you all!
I’m officially spoiled. Last night, my friend got two free tickets to see John Mayer in concert at Verizon Center here in DC in the company box. There was free food and drink, comfortable chairs, a private bathroom — how will I ever be able to go back to “coach” seating?
I’m not a big John Mayer fan, but I am a ginormous Ben Folds buff, who was one of the opening acts. That’s him on the left, beating his piano like a red-headed stepchild.
There was another opening act, the unfortunately named James Morrison. I hadn’t heard him before, but he sounded like Stevie Wonder, if Stevie was white and English. And could see. (Did you see that one coming? I thought not.)
John Mayer himself was a good show. His style was very laid back, a real blues club vibe. Not bad, but didn’t knock my socks off, either.
We had a good view from the box, but it was too far back to get quality photos. Still, the elph didn’t disappoint; that little baby has some zoom!
You can check out more photos at my flickr.
For those of you who’ve been on board with my story from the beginning (or are just bored enough to browse the archives), you’ll remember that originally, my trip to Europe was going to take place during my birthday (Sept. 8 ). I’ve since moved back the time I’m going to end of September/beginning of October, mostly because waiting three weeks makes everything much cheaper. No biggie, but it left the question of what to do to celebrate my impending 30th.
Turns out there’s a reason for everything. One of the disadvantages of living in the Southern US for so long was that many of my favorite singers and bands never toured in my region. On my shortlist of singers that I’m dying to see live, Bjork has been in the top three for a long time. The other day I did a search for her on Ticketmaster. Lo and behold, she’s playing in Toronto at the Virgin Festival. On September 8. My birthday. Yes yes yes yes YES! (Insert happy dance here.)
Apparently, you can be a groupie at any age, because my friend Lori and I are heading up to the land of hockey in September for a weekend of music and drinking. I visited Toronto once before when I was 14, but don’t remember much beyond Niagara Falls and the Skydome. All in all, I think it’s going to be a pretty sweet birthday.
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