Corel Centre, Ottowa, Canada
Well, I read that review by the guy from the Ottawa paper and, I have to say, I wish the media would just get a clue phone and stop raggin' on the guys.
Last night was my first ever mb20 concert - and I was IMPRESSED. (I could have done without Lifehouse, but that's personal preference - I don't like them.)
They (mb20) started off with Crutch and Bent - and you can bet the entire floor was on their feet before they got through the first song. Unfortunately, I was up in the 300 level where there a bunch of people who apparently didn't care all that much about the band, and there was NO concert energy up there - other than me and my housemate.
Then they stopped so Rob could talk for a while (he's such a sweetie) and he said things like "let's like, gather around the fire, let's pretend we can put a great big f'n lock on every door, just forget about the world outside and have FUN for the next two hours. Forget about your job, f'n family crises, everything." OH YEAH!!! (mmm locked in with mb20 - wouldn't we all love that??? hehe)
And from that point on, I think, Rob had the crowd pretty much in his pocket. His way of addressing the crowd made it feel like he was talking to us as individuals, and as a collective all at once. I can't explain it, but it was awesome. He made the concert feel personal for each person, even though there were like 10,000+ people there. Which is really a small crowd, compared to what they've been playing in the States, I would think!
I blame that on one thing - lack of radio promotion in the area. I listened to no less than six of the local stations on the two-hour drive to Ottawa (from Kingston) and only ONE of them even mentioned the concert - and that was like "::mumble mumble:: matchbox twenty at the Corel Center tonight ::mumble::." ARRRGH!!!
No wonder it wasn't sold out!!
But anyway, back to the concert.
Next up was Argue (love that song), Girl Like That, and 3AM - and of course everyone was singing along. When they did 3AM, Rob held the mic out and let the crowd sing one of the choruses - and I was really, really impressed by how on key and on the beat everyone was!! It was easy to tell that people LOVE this music.
Somewhere in here, Rob talked some more, and apologized for his "potty mouth." He said "kids out there - don't say f-k to your mom." and he said it really clearly, so they'd know exactly what he was saying. It was kinda cute, and sensible at the same time. He was like "if some kid comes up to you in the school yard and wants to beat you up or something and you wanna say "f-k you!" go for it! just don't say f-k to your mom." Words of wisdom. ;)
Then there was Last Beautiful Girl, with the faces on the backdrop. I pretty much ignored them because, I mean, those pants of Rob's are much more interesting and binoculars are a WONDERFUL thing. LBG led into The Burn, and that's when the money collages the reporter mentioned started showing up (he obviously wasn't caring enough to keep track of the songs! Geezzzz!!!!!!!!)
From there they swung into Long Day, and the Charlie Rich cover, Lonely Weekend. I couldn't make out the words all that well, but there was a whole heck of a lot of energy on the stage, I'll tell you that much. :)
Rob and his mic stand though - that boy is a hazard!!! Ok, so I'm sure they're used to playing bigger stadiums, with bigger stages and more room to wander, but really, he spent an awful lot of time twirling his mic stand around, and with Pookie bouncing all over the stage, it's a wonder someone didn't get hurt! But it was still darn cute.
Then they slowed things down (insert the "nice... and easy" quote here), hauled out the piano, and a different drum set. Adam sat down to play as well, though Brian and Kyle were still wandering around. They did You Won't Be Mine, and Rest Stop (with Rob giving us the story behind rest stop - I bet that girl is kicking herself for kicking him out of the car!!). Very cozy and club feeling, but then so was most of the concert.
They put the piano away, and Rob grabbed a guitar to play on Angry - and yes, the intro was long and jungle-trance ish but it was FUNKY and Awesome!! The media rags on the guys for not improvising enough and then when they DO more improv. They rag on them for it not being the right "kind" or something. Geeez... (hrmph ::grumble::)
Then of course, there was Mad Season, and Real World - "this is a song about having just one day - just one day where you can do anything you want" My fave!! Everybody was on their feet again (except up in the nosebleed 300's where I was. Get some energy people!!) and they swung into Back 2 Good, and wrapped up with Black and White People, with Rob introducing the band, and Ben, and Sexual Chocolate, (but not himself, although I would hope that everyone there knows how he is by now).
So of course they had to do an encore, and Rob came back on stage alone, grabbed a guitar, and started on Time After Time. Kyle joined in about half-way through. (and yes, Kyle ought to sing lead more often! he has a great voice too!)
And for the grand finale, they did Push (couldn't let them off the stage without doing Push!!!). Rob grabbed a tambourine, and he was all over the stage - crashing it on Paul's cymbals, and bouncing around like a madman. ::grin::
It was AWESOME!! All of it!!! I was kinda worried that Adam wasn't feeling well, cuz he wasn't bouncing around as much as the other guys, but maybe he's just quieter. :) Pookie was having enough energy for three people!! But Paul was hiding under this ratty old baseball cap. Oh, and at one point, I think it was around B2G, Rob and Paul had a water fight - spitting water at each other!! And yeah, the guys smoked - I didn't expect anyone to try and enforce city by-laws on them!
So was it worth the two-hour drive, and the $100(can)??? Oh, HELL YEAH!!! More promotion on the local radios would have helped. So would a bigger stadium - the Corel Center is really a hockey arena, built for the Ottawa Senators (Yay, Sens! Thanks for losing the series to Toronto or we wouldn't have gotten a concert!!! Ok, that's bad.) I don't know how on earth Bon Jovi is gonna play there in three weeks - they've been getting MASSIVE radio promotion. I hate the way local radios have been slighting mb20 - they hardly get an air play (in Kingston, anyway).
And THAT is my opinion and memories of the concert. I hope they come back again sometime - though I also hope they don't tour for TOO long and burn out!!
The only thing I coulda added to the concert was if they stayed to do autographs, but I can understand them not having time, since they had to be in Hamilton for the next night! Hope you had fun in Hamilton peeps!!!