SARS Concert in Toronto - June 21st 2003 by Gwennie - Try To Shut Me Up Tour

[Sharifa]

Try To Shut Me Up Tour Review

Concert: SARS Concert in Toronto

Reviewer: Gwennie

Date: June 21st 2003


hey guys.. i kind of wrote a full review of the concert - not just avrils part - so hopefully you wont mind postin it in full cos its kind of.. naked.. wifout the whole thing cos everythin ties into everythin else in some way or another.

for those of you who dont know, ive written quite a few reviews in my small amount of time spent on this planet. however, i have a habit of babblin endlessly so that it takes me many pages to get to my point n by that time you've forgotten what it was i was tryin to prove/state/tell. so ive decided for this one that ell focus mainly on avril+OLP (the bands/singers i paid most attention to) n use the list of q's that shaman gave out awhile
back. ell start by answerin the general ones 1st cos theres no sense in repeatin myself 57309725032750940 times. today's date - which is now westurday's date since its 1:56am - was june 21st, 2003. the bands playin were as follows (in the order as follows.. took me many minutes sittin in my seat durin sarah mclachlans show to figure out which ones i missed for what reasons n between which more significant ppl those ones were):
swollen members (skydome)
jann arden (acc)
sum 41 (skydome)
remy shand (acc)
our lady peace (skydome)
glenn lewis (acc)
avril lavigne (skydome)
diana krall (acc)
barenaked ladies (skydome)
sarah mclachlan (acc)
the tragically hip (skydome)
for those of you who arent aware, it was sorta an intermittant (sp?) concert between two venues on which there were giant something-tron (videotron? who knows.. i forget what someone i spoke to in line called em), n one band played at the venue we were at (skydome) n was shown on the screens at the same time, n then it switched to the other venue, n we saw a live playin of it on our screens. it was actually a brilliant setup i think - that way theres none of that annoyin time spent between bands/singers for equipment rearrangements n stuffs cos you'd still be entertained while you wait.
back to my initial point for listin alla the bands playin - it was held in toronto, ontario, canada (the capital of the province of ontario for those of you who are canadian geographically challenged) n the gates opened at 2pm. the edge (a toronto radio station) had live interviews from sum 41 n our lady peace at 2:30pm n 3:00pm in their mobile studio but i didnt stay outside to see those since the show itself was set to start at 3pm. each band/singer was alotted ~30mins to play, wif the exception of sarah mclachlan n tragically hip who got a lil over an hour - i wasnt really keepin track right down to the minute.
the venue can hold.. erm.. geez.. i dunno. the ACC can hold around 14,000 ppl but since i wasnt there i wouldnt know if it was full or not. i imagine it was though, or somewhat near full, but there were prolly more older ppl (like our parents age) there cos most parents arent like "OMG AVRIL LAVIGNE IS MY HERO!!!!!!!!!!!!!" - although it'd be funny if that were true. so i'd say that skydome had at least as many seats as the ACC, n skydome was FULL. i think i only saw like one or two empty seats the entire time.. itsa massive stadium thing where the toronto blue jays (baseball team) usually play.. so just picture your local baseball stadium full of concert fans, n there you have it. :P
i wouldnt say that drivin 3 1/2 hours or so was a great distance, considerin the fact that i do it fairly frequently (or at least i did last year), but nonetheless, it was still a borin trip. on the way there i mostly just typed on msn on my mobile, on the way back i slept cos i was so bored outta my skull. nuffin unusual happened on the way there, but at the show there was a GUY who had a sign that said "avril, em pregnant". on the way back from the show i saw the end results of a hideous car accident - one car somehow got smashed at the front end n the back end, but the middle was fine.. n the other one is gonna need one hell of a makeover before it'll be in any state to go newhere besides the uhh.. car recyclin place.
this venue was really weird bouts cameras compared to all other ones ive ever been to. normally they say no cameras at all, or they just dont give a care.. but skydome was speshul - they said you could have normal cameras (non-digital or non-video), but digicams+videocams n any other cameras werent allowed. my mom took in my normal camera but still got searched for weaponry (they confiscated the dodge caravan frisbee that i got at this giveaway stand cos its apparently a weapon.. how? i dont know :P), n i was originally gonna put the camera down the front of my pants but then i saw them makin ppl unbutton their jackets/coats/whatever, so i buried it under makeup n other junk in my purse n when they asked me to open it n she saw, i just said it was makeup n skin cream n stuffs n she let me thru security is so gullible sometimes.
the age group of ppl who attended was very diverse - i saw parents wif their mini-avril children, senior citizens, but the majority were teens or early adulthood ppl. i imagine that at the ACC it was the exact opposite - more middle-adulthood ppl n senior citizens, n fewer teens n early adulthood ppl. my basis for drawin that conclusion is the bands/singers that were playin at each venue - the only two bands that were at skydome that i think non- teens/early adulthood ppl could appreciate are barenaked ladies+tragically hip (unless of course you're my mom who happens to like alla the music i like - minus avril - which is still peculiar), whereas the bands/singers at the ACC were more ppl that parents n senior citizens would have heard of n wouldnt have shut off the second it blasted in their ears.
i dont know who was intended to be the supportin band(s)/singer(s) or if there was even an intention.. but since sarah mclachlan n tragically hip were given the most stage time, i'd say that they were the main bands/singers, n that alla the other musicians were supportin acts. i guess its all a matter of perspective n its open for interpretation since this was not your average arrangement for a concert. :P ell give a quick lil synopsis of the "supportin bands/singers" i actually stuck around for, in case any of you know/like the bands other than my main 2 focus bands. i wasnt originally a fan of swollen members but i'd hafta say that they're actually really good live - they have great stage presence n arent like these rappers who try to be all in your face n stuffs the entire time they're singing or gettin their msg across. i dont really know the names of any of their songs, but i do know that they played "breathe" which was originally a song that nelly furtado featured in.. n they played a recording of her part of the song n asked the audience to fill in for her vocals (although almost noone did.. i tried but i barely knew the words :P). i'd have to say if you havent heard any of their music but you're sort of a rap fan.. check em out
since my moms a big fan of jann ardens, ive heard alotta her stuffs - but shes sorta not my scene if you know what i mean :P (no rhyme intended!) sarah mclachlan came on stage durin her performance n sang backup or something for her on one of her really well known songs but em at a loss for what the name of the song is.. too many songs playin thru my mind all at once. either way, it was a good duet type thingie.. they should record a song like that sometime.
sum 41 had their usual performance - ive only ever seen them play lil concert thingies on muchmusic, but they'll always be quite like blink 182 (sowwie for any of you who like blink n hate sum41 or vice versa!). they were all really lively but coulda layed offa the yelling into the mic a lil.. kinda took away from the vocals.. or rather killed them. there were 4 gurlz sittin next to me who acted like they were equally good on stage as they are on cd.. but i think they're one of those bands thats better on cd than live.. well.. unless you turn their voices down. they played "in too deep" n "fat lip" n some other ones - em not their #1 fan though so obviously i dont know the names to the majority of their songs.
i didnt stick around for remy shand cos i dont really like him or his music.. actually i think its just him. i dont know why, but it doesnt really matter :P so instead i went lookin for sharifa (static) n a security guard said i could ask at guest services if they'd page her or somethin for me cos i couldnt find her.. but then i walked to guest services n nearly had quite the asthma attack since they decided to send all smokers in that direction, n guest services just shut me out on the spot wifout even decidin to make an effort to help me.. it was pretty rude but i didnt feel like wastin time arguin :P
our lady peace was amazin as always - i saw them back in november at the ACC when they were playin wif noise therapy n treble charger, n i guess you could say this time was a lil bit of a disappointment cos skydome has a lesser quality sound system than the ACC did. either way, i was glad to see raine+etc on stage again. it was also disappointin though that they couldnt stay on stage for longer than around 1/2 an hour quite a few bands had played at that point, so i didnt member every song they played cos when you hear that many songs, you begin to lose your memory. i do member that they played superman's dead, clumsy, naveed/life (sorta a transition thing between the two - they did this the last time i saw them aswell), n innocent. i think they played 2 other songs besides that, but i could be totally off. this was the beginning of my voice loss.. i was screamin the lyrics pretty loud, much louder than the last time i saw them.
glenn lewis was.. different. i have no comment, or em undecided on how he was. ive heard one song of his before cos someone last year asked for one of his songs on her mix cd i made her, but jazz isnt really my kinda music. i mean, i dont hate it but its not my #1 choice. for a jazz singer though, i hafta say he had a good voice n those who appeared to like that kinda music seemed highly intrigued by him n his performance.
avril was as good as i expected - prolly woulda been better than my expectations if it wasnt for that stupid sound system. it was a bit disconcertin listenin to my mom n her friend talkin bouts their dislike for av on the way there n back, but i was too tired to strike up a huge argument so i just pretended i wasnt listenin. she wore her army greenish cargo pants n her black 'war child' wife beater shirt. i didnt see what evan or any of the other guys were wearin cos i was too far away n the something-tron screens showed almost NO shots of anyone cept av. they centred on evan a few times, but whoever was decidin what to show on the screens obviously didnt deem it necessary to show us the resta the guys. so that kinda sucked, but oh well.. ell get over it. the setlist is as follows..
losing grip
mobile
sk8er boi
things ell never say
em wif you
complicated
unwanted
due to lack of performance time, she couldnt perform nething mores than that. she played the guitar durin mobile.. i think thats the only song she played it for. she messed up n sang the same verse twice for one of the songs but i cant member which one now.. i think it was for "things ell never say", but then she just went on as though nuffin had happened.. i dont think most other ppl noticed either.. maybes it was just me who noticed. i didnt wear nething speshul for it like my home hardware t-shirt cos i bought it more for a souvenir n not so much as an avril-wannabe type item. if she wants everyone to be themselves, n i had my intentions of tryin to meetin her, i wanted her to meet the real me not some doll-style version of me who was fake. so i dressed as i would any other day, but didnt end up meetin her :/ there was this gurl a few rows aheada me who was dressed like her n she looked sooo much alike that it freaked me out at 1st.. i thought it was her n then i gave myself the reality check that avril wouldnt be hangin around in the stands :P yea the band was all hyper n stuffs but my mom made some comment bouts avril seemin a lil less excited for this performance than the ones she had watched on tv.. so maybes its just me who thought avril seemed as excited as usual. avril (n possibly evan too.. too many bands.. too lil brain power to member everythin) talkedta the audience a lil between some songs but nuffin major unfortunately they played no covers or acoustic songs cos there wasnt enough time *niffle* oh well, maybes next time
durin diana krall, i wenta go get dinner n somethin to drink cos i felt like i was gonna pass out if i didnt have water or somethin like RIGHT then cos the bass was makin me feel ill n i was dehydrated n could barely talk from screamin lyrics to avrils songs. someone in the pizza pizza lineup wif me started talkin to me bouts the # of customers.. n we were sayin how it was prolly insane how many slices of pizza they serve to customers in one night at skydome. can you imagine enough pizza for almost 14,000 ppl? scary.
barenaked ladies were great.. i danced durin their performance too.. i did for mosta them. they played "one week" n i forgot how crazy fast the words are.. i know them but i couldnt keep up.. i guess it takes alotta practice :P they also played "its all been done" which was even better live than on the cd too. i havent heard them play "brian wilson" in a really long time.. i still member listenin to that song when i was lil, so it was really strange to finally hear it live - you know, at least 7 years after it was one of your fav songs :P they did a weird version of "if i had a million dollars" cos they sort of played 1/2 n then talkedta us for a lil while n then steve sang the 1st line n then the audience would sing the line after that n then steve would sing one n so on. it was cool though they played a few other songs too.. they're way way way more rockish live.. really good hough.
sarah mclachlan was her usual self i think. she played aida, ice cream, building a mystery, n pretty much every other song of hers that ever became a single or got radio airplay. she closed wif playin angel.. which will always be my fav song by her. ahhh i luv that song newayz.. jann arden n diana krall came on stage to do backup vocals for her on one of the songs but i cant think of which one. diana krall did a better job on sarah mclachlans backups though than she did on her own songs (you could watch the shows you werent in your seat for from the lobby on smaller tvs), so maybes she just needs a change in musical styles? somethin for her to consider :P the 3 of em sound good together.. itsa shame that most musicians dont see who they should do duets n stuffs wif cos they cant really take a step back n be like "now who do i have similar style to?".
tragically hip was awesomeeeee. ive never seen them live which is crazy cos they've played at almost every location imaginable near me. i didnt really know any of their songs besides their encore song "ahead by a century". i was gonna die if they didnt play that, cos i think its sorta more like the song that actually made them who they are. they played 2 other songs for their encore - the only band that HAD an encore.
as a whole, i think alla the bands shoulda come up wif one song they could sing/play together as an encore insteada singlin out one band to do an encore. even if it had been a song as generic as happyful birfdai (ok, not that song.. but you know what i mean by generic), it woulda been good. although they prolly coulda come up wif another song thats better.. like "stairway to heaven" or "imagine" or somethin really well known for a full
performance encore song. onto other things.. the stage was pretty typical, however.. whoever did the lighting for it was AMAZING. i wish they could redecorate my room or something - i dont know how they did it but somehow they made the b/g look like there were lil shootin stars n i think they used xmas lights or somethin. i was a lil too far away to get a close look on how it was done but it was still incredible - they mostly made the shootin stars blue n purkle n green but they were really deep versions of em n it was really nice. i did take pics wif the digicam n mom took some wif my normal camera but i have NO idea if any of them actually turned out cos skydome is so big that i wasnt that close to the stage also, the ppl in the few rows in front of me kept standin up to let someone in their "crew" thru, but they seemed to forget that thats why they stood up n they got caught up in talkin n em short so.. that kinda killed the whole takin pics thing somewhat :/ so i doubt any did come out which sucks but ell survive..
if i didnt explain somethin well enough or missed somethin that you wanna know bouts.. email me (webmaster@kittenelle.net)

[Picturesque*Heart]

sorry this is so late.
i usually dont look in reviews.

I liked when Sarah was on stage ppl booed her for the Hip... then she left and did an encore everyone at the skydome was soo mad.

I was at the skydome one because of Our lady peace and the hip.

Swollen members was an opener for the whole show.

that was an awesome show!

OLP is my fave band and i loved their set.... and that one song they played that they wrote a few days before hand.. No warning (they opened with that).... i ahve that concert on my computer its sweet!


P.S i was at the November 11th OLP free concert.... too bad Noise therapy isnt around anymore.. they had some pretty good stuff.

and 2 weeks prior to that I saw them in London!!


now ive seen them 7 times.. woo!
I was totally there just for OLP. yes i liked avril then. but when it comes to OLP shes nothing. =] if you know what i mean.