Edmonton Concert

[badatlife]

Last nights concert at Reds in Edmonton was the Best MG concert i have been to yet. Opening the show with 21 Century living was unreal, then playing some songs that havent been heard in a while like Carmelina and a revamped Rat who would be king (best song of the night in my opinion)

What a great show!!!!! WOW.

[gursky]

I put in quite some time writing up this review so thought I would cross-post it on a few of the Edmonton related threads across the MG boards.

 

Alright, here we go with my review from the Edmonton show, the recap is a little long so those with ADHD might have a problem with this.

 

Pre Game

 

I arrived early (4PM – doors at 7PM) and met up with my friends and also new ones I had met at the shows back in June. Shortly after 4PM the guys started the soundcheck and ran through the audio clip for 21st Century Living, a song from WLRRR, Workers Sing a Song of Mass Production and then Carmelina. The two songs from Audio of Being were not played in entirety, but hearing just that little bit was enough to satisfy me. And then I waited for a few hours until the doors were opened. It’s amazing how much time you pass just by doing nothing. Although arriving early does have the benefit of being able to have a quick word with Matt or talking to Christian as he makes his way back into the venue (Rich seemed very…unsociable, perhaps to go with the David Hasslehoff persona Matt talked about later on in the evening). And yeah, more time goes by and then we were let in.

 

Show

 

Let’s go straight to the headliners, no disrespect to Limblifter (who were amazing) or Auf Der Maur (she was good, but I need to listen to her studio record before I judge) we were all there to see Matt and his crew. Lights go dark, and then this voice comes through the dark “We did not authorize…” This continues on for just over a minute then Christian and Rich take the stage to lay the beginning intro for 21st Century Living. One of the biggest teases of this night actually, when Pat and Matt joined the stage it took a little longer before they actually busted into the song (nearly three minutes into it is when Pat and Matt started to play). This was a great opening track and set the mood for the night.

 

Having Hello Time Bomb next in line was a surprise, I had expected the “Flip a Coin” to occur but it was good to get one of the big singles out of the way. This song was pretty much the same format from back in June. The next three songs from WLRRR were very well done and the guys were off and flying.

 

Weapon was amazing live, I believe this is when Matt went into the front row of the crowd and played for a minute or two. The outtro for Weapon was extended for a little while as Matt kneeled on stage. Then from one beautiful ending to another great beginning Blue Skies Over Badlands came in and I enjoyed the extended version of this song (I am biased though because this is one of my favorite tracks from WLRRR). It built so slowly and then rocked during the high points and calmed right down near the end.

 

Matt was very talkative tonight, sharing stories and memories ranging from losing his wallet while going into the crowd while playing a show once and then about how one of Limblifter’s guitars ended up on eBay after being missing for seven years and then it was right into Alert Status Red. I love the live version of this song; it never ceases to entertain me.

 

Following that was a hard rendition of North American for Live (filled with what sounded like German voices during the pause) and then into Little Terror. After this Matt was brought out a black Telecaster, one I had not seen used back in June so I expected something was up. Matt talked about the Fantasy Land Hotel and then the intro for Rat Who Would Be King was played and it gave me goose bumps to hear that song live. This is a true beauty to hear in concert. It was a long song so I expected the encore break to begin there as the guys had been on stage for quite some time. But after Rat Matt was given an acoustic guitar and soothed everyone in the audience with the slowed down version of Apparitions.

 

After the encore break Load Me Up started but half way through (maybe?) the rhythm guitar changed and it then went into Carmelina. Hearing another song from Audio of Being was definitely a treat, but I expected this one as I was able to see three songs during the sound check. I was really hoping to hear Big City Life, a hard rockin' song to close the night out but Been a While was still enjoyable. The guys were on stage for quite some time and didn’t play Empty Roads which was on the setlist (after long versions of Blue Skies and Rat I am not surprised they may have gone over their lime) which would have been a good closer but the whole show was a complete treat.

 

Post Game

 

There was some debate following the show as to where it would be best to meet up with Matt and the guys for some autographs. We took a gamble and went by a back door entrance but as we got closer we saw Pat so it seemed like our gamble was golden. I asked Pat to sign my Avalanche vinyl but he said he needed to go get changed and then come back out. Shortly after that Christian popped out, I asked for a quick autograph but he said he had other plans right now, and would be back after. I never saw Christian or Pat again.

 

Little disappointed but then Matt came out and spent a lot of his time with us. It always amazes me how much he does for fans. After everyone had autographs it was asked if he had time to take a few pictures and possibly sign some other items we had brought and he took as much time needed to get through them all (I also got ALTINLTS signed on top of the vinyl and a picture too) and that was it. Really generous with his time considering he still wasn’t feeling too well and he probably needed to get to bed or on the road to Fort McMurray.

 

ADHD Version

 

Another good show tonight, a few surprises added into the setlist and they played on stage for quite some time. The June 24/2004 show still stands out as a highlight from the earlier tour but this one was very memorable with the performance of a few Audio of Being songs. Audience responded well to the big singles and really enjoyed Carmelina. Stand out songs were 21st Century Living, Blue Skies, Rat and Carmelina.

[loveisnotenough]

Well, there's not too much to add because the review was very thorough but I just want to say The Rat Who Would Be King is the most amazing song ever and I almost puked because I was so excited that they played it. I also want to say that I hate it when people push there way to the front half way through the show when everyone else has been there all night, especially when all they do is stand there and yell out stupid comments like "kick it up a notch" after Blue Skies over Badlands...end of rant.

[guitarchick]

Little disappointed but then Matt came out and spent a lot of his time with us. It always amazes me how much he does for fans. After everyone had autographs it was asked if he had time to take a few pictures and possibly sign some other items we had brought and he took as much time needed to get through them all (I also got ALTINLTS signed on top of the vinyl and a picture too) and that was it. Really generous with his time considering he still wasn’t feeling too well and he probably needed to get to bed or on the road to Fort McMurray.

 

.

Yeah he puts up with all us little shits, sign my shirt! sign my cd! sign my ass!

The things he does to keep us all happy ;)

[Russell]

I was there! It was awesome.

 

I was along the front off to the right. Still a very good spot to see everything. I enjoyed having a copy of the setlist right in front of me (along with Hasslehoff ;)). I was/am so dissapointed that he didn't finish with Empty Road though

 

I was scared that all the 14-year olds would charge the front and squeeze me to death during HTB. I was glad they did not. :angry:

 

gursky, the voices in North were indeed German. From what I could tell, it was some corny "plot" of a porn movie, prior to the *ahem* "action" starting.