Extreme Swinging?

Concert Review: Joe Satriani with special guest Mountain

Well - it appears my blog has become a concert review site. Last time I saw Joe Satriani was in 1990 - fast forward to 2008 and my same thoughts re-appeared - I clearly am not worthy of playing a stringed instrument compared to Satch. Not only can he shred effortlessly - his melodies & tone are unmatched! He played my favorite classics like Ice 9, Always With Me/Always With You (played at our wedding), Surfing With The Alien, Time Machine, Flying in a Blue Dream, One Big Rush, and some new ones like: the showstarter - I Just Wanna Rock (not my favorite but appropriate to open with to a crowd going), Asik Vaysel - really neat sound to this one!

I won't claim ownership of this pic but it captures well two legends!

I had no idea who the opening act Mountain was until clicking in while playing Rockband that Mississippi Queen was their song! Both Corky Laing & Leslie West of Mountain were entertaining but were joined by perhaps the most annoying bass player I have ever seen. He was a good player but seemed to think his 5 braids at the top of his head were a circus act as he twirled them repeatedly. Corky - apparently from Montreal - entertained the audience by firing about 40 drumsticks into the audience towards the end of their set. Leslie is still an accomplished vocalist & guitar player but has no clue about starting songs smoothly - his solos were cooking but intros & endings were brutal.

Satriani clearly was who most people came to see and my jaw was on the floor consistently...it was good to see Stuart Hamm back Joe up on bass. Very inspirational player - although he seems to have aged the most between the two. Joe is 52 years old and Stu 48 apparently but I would have sworn it was the reverse.
I still have my concert ticket stub from July 13/1990 - $24.75 at the Concert Hall. Ticket prices apparently have sky-rocketed with this show at Burton Cummings Theatre ringing in at $45 not including taxes & entertainment fees. Having said that - compared to Tom Petty and some of the other shows - that's cheap!
I haven't found a good setlist for the show - if I find one I'll post it! Here's another review of the show.

Sheryl Crow Concert - 9/27/08

It seems Wendy & I have become regular concert goers as of late. We had amazing seats for the Sheryl Crow concert - 5th row on the aisle in line with the stage in the 106 section - basically about 30 feet away from center stage. She definitely is a great entertainer, musician and interacted well with the Winnipeg audience. The favorites were definitely her classic tunes but some of her new songs definitely caught our ear as well. Jim Cuddy of Blue Rodeo fame opened up the show with some of his solo hits and a couple of Blue Rodeo tunes from the vault as well. He has an amazing voice and super-talented musicians surrounding him. Wendy & I have seen Blue Rodeo a few times back in the day and so it was get to hear Cuddy again. Here's a local review for those interested.

Sheryl's website listed this as the setlist:

GOD BLESS
BABYLON
LOVE IS FREE
CHANGE
VEGAS
STRONG ENOUGH
CAN'T CRY
MOTIVATION
MISTAKE
GASOLINE
NEIGHBORHOOD
DETOURS
I SHALL BELIEVE
HAPPY
OUT OF OUR HEADS
SOAK
WINDING ROAD
****************************************
ALL I WANNA DO
ROCK AND ROLL

Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers - Aug 9/08

The show was fantastic sonically & visually and Tom Petty connected well to the Winnipeg audience.
The shot above you can see the cool backdrop (U2 videobeads) and the cubes that projected video or images. A very cool stage set-up from my perspective. The Steve Winwood set seemed to lag somewhat compared to Tom Petty and although the musicianship was top-knotch - Winwood didn't seem to connect as well to the crowd. He just doesn't have the long-term radio hits that TP & H have.
I love this shot - I find that my little point&shoot digital works better with more light projected - especially white light. It was great to have two songs with Winwood joining Petty (The Heartbreakers are probably the best backing band you could ever have - eg. Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash) - a lot more energy than when he was with his band. All in all a great rockin' show that Winnipeg loved!
Here's the setlist:

1.　You Wreck Me
2.　Listen To Her Heart
3.　I Won't Back Down
4.　Even The Losers
5.　Free Fallin'
6.　Mary Jane's Last Dance
7.　End of the Line
8.　Can't Find Way Back Home (with Steve Winwood)
9.　Gimme Some Lovin' (with Steve Winwood)
10.　Saving Grace
11.　Breakdown
12.　Honey Bee
13.　Learning to Fly
14.　Don't Come Around Here No More
15.　Refugee
- encore -
1.　Runnin' Down A Dream
2.　Mystic Eyes
3.　American Girl

A shot of Wendy, Mandy, Sarah, and the crowd at the show!

Recap of Birthday

I worked for most of the morning - so much prep ahead yet but had set aside the afternoon for my daughter Aimee's birthday. We had "A"-shaped pancakes for breakfast thanks to the creativity of Wendy and the plan was unveiled to AJ that we would be going to Tinkertown & she could bring along her friend Piper. Aimee was so stoked! We spent almost 3 hours enjoying an assortment of rides and Zach actually went on a few as well. I'm not sure why they insist playing that crappy country pop stuff - pretty annoying music. It was a cooker too - 28 degrees C. We of course snacked on the famous donuts & some ice cream treats. Then it was off to Applebee's - Aimee's favorite restaurant! Nothing fancy for the girls - grilled cheese but I enjoyed the Lime Chicken & Wen had some Chicken Fettuccine. We followed that with a driveby to get a castle cakepan at a store, then off to ToysRUs for a birthday gift and party supplies. Wen will host a "princess" party next week for Aimee & some of her friends - this week just slipped away on us and we weren't able to get it all going. So there ya have it 08.08.08 - a great day for a birthday escape!

08.08.08

Interesting numerical date today - start of the Olympics in Beijing and also my daughter Aimee's birthday! Lots planned for today!

Anything's Possible!

The Vacation Is Over - Sort Of

Well it's back to work as of today after another couple weeks of holidays - most spent at Star Lake. I managed to squeeze in a great mtn bike ride in Ingolf with Pat for a couple hours - around 20kms I'm guessing and although I haven't ridden as much as I'd like - most of my rides have been good.

I've done some road-riding with my buddy Paul as well and actually did a 40km "Magic" Loop today. I hope to get in some more riding before the semester picks up in September - I made some adjustments to my mtn bike that have helped make it a better ride as well.

So what have we done as a family over the past number of weeks? We did a trip out to Edmonton/Calgary/Banff to visit friends/family/mountains which was pretty epic. The kids especially enjoyed the view from on top of the mountain we "gondala'd up" and hopefully gave them a good taste of future hiking trips up mountains.

We've done some work to our house - including a couple garage sales to help us simplify and simply get rid of some accumulated stuff. We still have more of that to do though - hard getting rid of possessions - not sure why though? It seems as soon as one gets rid of something we tend to replace it. It's the classic "fill-the-box-you-have" phenomenon that I see played out in rooms, houses, and even hard-drives!

I think spending time at Star Lake or in our backyard have been the most family-oriented & relaxing though. Amazing how the "great outdoors" does that - recharges you!

Holidays & Blogging

You'd think with some "extra" time on my hands I'd be blogging more often - apparently not. I do want to record though that I went to two great concerts this week. Tuesday - my cousin Alex and I enjoyed Jimmy Eat World at the Burton Cummings Theatre - seats could have been better but they put on a great show.

But the best show I've been to in a long time was this past Friday with Mark Knopfler (of Dire Straits) at the Concert Hall - amazing, amazing, amazing musicians & incredible tonality & sound! Thanks much S & D for the invite and getting the tickets. I just love shows that exhibit such amazing musicianship & class. Definitely up there with The Police show I saw last fall.
Update: Courtesy of Isaac - a setlist!

Cannibals
Why Aye Man
What It Is
Sailing to Philadelphia
True Love Will Never Fade
The Fish and the Bird
Hill Farmer's Blues
Romeo and Juliet
Sultans of Swing
Song for Sonny Liston
Marbletown
Speedway in Nazareth
Telegraph Road
Encore:

Brothers in Arms
So Far Away
Going Home (theme from Local Hero)

We've managed to squeeze in two garage sales which I've officially nicknamed Purge-itory - not convinced I'd be willing to do that again. Great making space & getting rid of some excess possessions but really time consuming. Celebrated with taking in the fireworks on July 1st here in Steinbach and escaping down south to Grand Forks for July 4th & my Grandma's 80th birthday.

I haven't done as much riding as I'd like - hope to escape sometime tomorrow - we'll see! We're enjoying a great summer though!