Meet and Greet Canadian Style: Bryan Adams

In case any of you have caught a few of my comments in the blog this week you may have guessed that Dar and I have scored again on the concert ticket scene.

Tonight we are off courtesy of 92.1 CITI FM in Winnipeg on another great rock and roll adventure.  Darlene having the proverbial horseshoe up her ass came through on tickets for tonight’s extravaganza.

Bryan Adams Live in Concert

We are off for dinner at the MTS Centre, then backstage to meet with Bryan Adams and the band.  Given exclusive tickets at the front of the house and a swag package to boot.  WOW!

The only thing I have to get straight in my head is what I am going to ask Bryan when we get face to face.  I had considered asking him about Princess Diana, being that they were close friends before she taken from us.  But Dar vetoed that saying it was just tacky.  So being that we have just experienced Roger Waters and The Wall here in Winnipeg I suppose I could ask him about his experiences performing Young Lust  with Roger in Berlin after the fall of communism.

In any event we are sure to have a stellar night, stay tuned for yet another great concert review in the coming days.

Rock On!

Bob

Roger Waters – The Wall Act 2: Concert Review

Happy Father’s Day to all the dads out there, myself included.  Have a great day!!

OK,  I guess I’ve left you all hanging long enough from my preview and part one of the show.  Let’s get on with the my review of the Roger Waters show  from his May 31st performance in Winnipeg.

“Hey you, don’t help them to bury the light, don’t give in without a fight!”

The second act opened as the first act had ended, with the assembled audience staring up at a blank brick wall.   The acoustic guitar work from Hey You playing over the P.A. system.  This song echoes the depths of Pink’s despair.  He feels utterly alone and isolated behind his wall.  He calls out in a vain attempt for someone to hear his cries for help.

The Wall at the start of the second act (Image courtesy of Wikipedia)

The full-scale of Roger’s vision becomes clear during this act, also the completed wall acting as a monumental video screen to project the full-sized decent into madness that Pink endures.

Roger Waters – The Wall: Concert Review.

One word really sums it up for me.  WOW!  Well maybe three words Holy F’n  Wow!  Yes the show was that good.  I admit that my perspective is a just a tad skewed on this issue having been a fan for over 25 plus years.

As I commented in my earlier post I spent my formative years fully in the grasp of Pink Floyd.  From angst filled drives pouring out my soul to friends or having a manic episode raging with Run Like Hell burned into my brain.  Good times, good times.

But onto the show, I knew going in that the production values of this production were going to be beyond top-notch, Roger being the detail oriented man that he is, and I wasn’t disappointed.  The minute we walked into the MTS Centre and saw the beginnings of the wall I knew that we were going to be simply blown away.

Doing a quick scan around the arena revealed a few surprises that were to come.  The German fighter plane tucked into the rafters and tethered to a wire, two oddly placed bundles high above the stage, and what appeared to be trap doors in the stage floor.  All would be revealed in good time, and with great effect!

German fighter plane hidden in the rafters.

Then all hell broke loose, people whistling, clapping and cheering.  Roger on stage it’s all just like a slide show in my brain now.  In fact it may be easier to explain in pictures so here we go.

“So ya thought ya might like to go to the show”

In the Flesh

The Nazi-esque Roger takes the stage challenging the audience to dare and have a good time.  I must admit I was feeling the thrills of confusion and space cadet glow. Explosions boomed, pyrotechnics flashed and at the height of the action the German fighter plane hidden in the rafters flew into the wall causing a huge explosion and shower of sparks from the front of the stage.

One hell of a way to start the show, don’t you think?

“We don’t need no education”

Another Brick in the Wall: Part 2

The arrival of the teacher and his students really got the audience singing along.  Who doesn’t know the iconic lyrics.  “We don’t need no education, we don’t need no thought control.”  The inflatable puppet of the teacher bounced around angrily.  A choir of local schoolchildren sang the chorus and taunted the teacher.  The children were all decked out in exclusive t-shirts that read “Fear Builds Walls”

Local school children taunt the teacher in Another Brick in the Wall: Part 2

Roger Waters, tear down that wall!! A concert preview.

As you may have guessed by the title of this post Roger Waters and his wall have finally made it to Winnipeg and Dar and I have tickets for tomorrow night’s show!

Roger Waters – The Wall Live

Being a teen age boy in the 1980’s exposed me to the full angst ridden fury and psychedelia that is the music of British super group Pink Floyd.  Along with Dark Side of the Moon, The Wall remains one of my all time favorite musical experiences.

For those of you unfamiliar with the concept that became the rock spectacle it is today let me give you a bit of background on Roger Waters’ magnum opus.  Born out of an incident at a Pink Floyd concert in Montreal, a group of fans in the audience were letting off firecrackers and generally being disruptive.  Roger being a relentless perfectionist took offense to the distraction and ended up in a screaming match with the audience.  Ending with Roger spitting on a fan close to the stage.

Marching Hammers an image from The Wall

Later horrified by his own behavior and alienation he felt while on stage the seeds for the character of Pink were formed.  Tensions in the band and his own tragic childhood also began to creep into the narrative of the rock opera.

Firing it up with Johnny Reid

Last night was one of those occasions where Dar and I had concert tickets for a show that I really could have passed on, but after seeing the show in person I am sure glad that I got to attend.  Johnny Reid, for those of you stuck under a rock somewhere, is one of those classic entertainers that just defies categorization.  He’s one part Johnny Cash, two parts Tom Jones with just a dash of Joe Cocker  and Joe Walsh thrown in for fun.  He’s not quite country, he’s not quite a crooner and definitely not all the way rock and roll but a wild Scottish/Canadian hybrid all of his own design. One thing is for sure though he’s one hard working man on a mission to make sure that every dollar spent in his name is one that he’s earned to the full.

The night opened with Canadian country songstress Carolyn Dawn Johnson doing a bare bones acoustic set.  Her haunting lyrics and country philosophies speak to a life lived in search of love and family.  The set really did showcase her singing, basically it was her and a backup steel guitar player and a room full of eager ears.

Carolyn Dawn Johnson

After a short intermission the houselights came down and Darlene and I were expecting another opening act but the booming horn section and pounding bass drum could only signal the arrival of Mr. Johnny Reid.   The opening strains of Let’s Have a Party washed over the overwhelmingly over 40 crowd and got the audience dancing in their chairs if not in the aisles.   At the end of the opening number pyro blasts boomed and confetti and streamer cannons let loose with a torrent of shiny red and gold party favors.  Johnny said let’s have a party and apparently he meant it!

Johnny Reid with the band.