March 30, 2002 - Red's, Edmonton, AB Posted By Threads "I turned the volume up this morning, Till there was ringing in my ears, I haven't felt this good in years..." As I type this concert review, I am listening to Big Wreck, so I can relive last night. It's all I can think about...it's all I want to think about. At this moment there are a million adjectives to describe the live show that they put on, I can't just choose one. I will say this though: it was the epitome of rock n roll. So here's the story of the night, the way I saw it: 8:25- We arrive at Red's (the venue). We walk around, scope out the crowd, run into some friends, talk about how pumped we are. 9:00- A band called Chunk is intorduced. Many people including myself are surprised, because we didn't expect two opening bands. Chunk had also opened for Finger Eleven in Edmonton, a little while ago. They had a pretty loud set. I would have caught more of there act but... 9:10- Forrest Williams (drummer) walks by. I ask him for an autograph (I was trying to get both my CD's signed by all 4 band members, My TPATG CD was already signed by Ian in Grande Prairie). Then my pen ended up not working, but Forrest went and asked a few people for a pen. He showed up with a pencil. That was totally nice of him. He seemed a little out of it, maybe he was tired. I talked to him for a little bit. He said the tour was going good, that a lot of the towns they played in didn't usually get a lot of bands so it was pretty cool. A bunch of people eventually recognized Forrest and they sort of huddled around us, so I left him to interact with everyone else. 9:30- Chunk was done. I felt kind of bad for missing half their show. A lot of people weren't paying attention, because the Oilers / Stars game was on. It turns out the hockey game ended up having a huge impact on the night. You'll understand why in a little bit. The Oilers and Stars are battling for the 8th and final playoff spot. If Dallas won, they would be tied. If Edmonton won, They would be up by 4 points. More importantly, if Edmonton won, the crowd at Red's would be more rowdy and ready to rock. 10:04- Left Pencey take the stage. (score 1-1) The concensus was that Left Pencey was really good. I was impressed, and so was everyone around me. The lead singer's voice sounded kinda Tantric-ish /Lifehouse-ish, but just his voice, not their sound. I wish they would have told us the names of their songs, cuz some of them were great. I tried to catch some of their lyrics to the powerful songs. "Maybe someday, I'll be alright, I'll be okay, I'll sleep at night....I'll find my place in life." At one point, the lead singer said, "I want you guys to scream on the count of 3. 1-2...3" Right when he said 3 The Oilers scored. The crowd went nuts, some for the band, some for the team, and some for both. It was like all these people were getting more into the band the more excited they got. I felt bad that there were TV's everywhere showing the game, cuz it took away from the band, but I guess they helped everyone get pumped. The Oilers scored again right before the end of LP's last song. By then LP owned the crowd. I really enjoyed them, so I will have to check out their stuff. 10:48- Left pencey is done. The lead singer says: "Thank you Edmonton, get ready for one of the greatest bands in the world...Big Wreck!!" Final Score: Oilers 3 Dallas 1 Anticipation. The minutes before the band you've been waiting for comes out seem like an eternity, and it's hard to describe. You try to make small-talk with those around you, but really everything you're saying won't matter in a few minutes. Everyone does what they need to do to make those minutes go by faster. The whole crowd was on a crazy adrenaline rush and waiting to snap... 11:21- Big Wreck stroll on stage. Ian smiles "How bout those fuckin Oilers?!!!" The crowd goes nuts. Now we could only wait...for the drum-beat, for the base-line, for the guitar riff, for the voice... "IT'S FULLY OPERATIONAL, WE DON'T EVEN HAVE TO SELL..." They opened with Look What I Found, and at that moment nothing else was important. Not a thing. Everything in our lives that led up to that moment, the joy, the pain, the sweat, the smiles, the tears, and all the rest, was drowned by the one thing we all came to see...the music. That's fuckin rock n roll! All that mattered was the crowd screaming out the chorus. At that moment, we were all on the same page. Setlist Look What I Found That Song How Would You Know / If I Had My Way Inhale Knee Deep Breakthrough Undersold Blown Wide Open Under The Lighthouse Another Brick In The Wall (Pt.2) / Ladylike Head In The Girl (Encore) Mistake The Oaf / Baba O'Riley That Song was HUGE. Especially cuz it's the BW song that everyone knows. During How You Would You Know, they integrated Big Sugar's hit If I Had My Way. We loved it. They followed it with Inhale, and when everyone heard the opening riff, they just jumped, and jumped some more. Inhale had a different impact for me, cuz last time they opened with it, so it was cool to see it later in the setlist. Ian sang an extra verse before Knee Deep, and mentioned it's from a song that he and Steven Ferry (Candaian guitar genius) wrote together. Throughout the show Ian had great on-stage banter. Hockey seemed to be the theme for the night. "We love it here in Edmonton. I'm the only Canadian in the group. I'm from Toronto. So Toronto and Edmonton are our two favorite cities to play in. I wish I could move here but they won't let me...cuz I have a Maple Leafs watch." (Crowd boos) "But I am an Oilers fan." (Crowd cheers) "But I like the Leafs better." (Crowd boos) "But I am glad that the Oilers won tonight." (Crowd cheers) "But you gus don't have a Tie Domi. Nobody can beat Tie Domi, they should get a boxer and put him on skates to try to fight him. Geez I'm talking to much. Tell me to shut up." (Crowd yells "SHUT UP!") "I'm turning into a public speaker...Ian Thornley the public speaker." So any time he would talk between songs the crowd would tell him to shut up, it was pretty funny. He seemed tired at times, but he was still having fun. Breakthrough was great, every time I hear the end where Ian and Brian scream with everything they have, I just get so moved. Now one of the hilights was definitely Undersold. At the end of the song, you know the part when he yells "hey" and the then he just keeps yellling Undersold, the crowd went fuckin insane. "UNDERSOOOOOOOOOLD!" I love that part of the song. The band kinda sped it up a bit and we were all just jumping. Ian mentioned that a little while ago he cried on stage during Blown Wide Open due to a phone call he had gotten earlier. So he said he hoped he wouldn't do it again. It was intense. The whole crowd sang along. "THE GUN'S TILL SMOKIN, BLOOD KEEPS FLOWIN, BLOWN WIDE OPEN!" They followed it with Under The Lighthouse, which seemed to be a crowd favorite. "CAUSE I'D RATHER BE ALONE..." It was really emotional. The night just kept getting more and more electrifying. There was so much build-up. Then it came: "WE DON'T NEED NO EDUCATION, WE DON'T NEED NO THOUGHT CONTROL..." People started to recognize the Pink Floyd tune and sang it out loud. "HEY TEACHERS, LEAVE THOSE KIDS ALONE!!" The band jammed for a bit, the crowd was once again ready to snap. "SO SHE LAYS DOWN..." It was Ladylike. The crowd snapped. It was definitely another hilight of the night. Ian kept laughing at how rowdy we were. During Head In The Girl, Ian said "Edmonton, when we explode, you explode!!" "I love you Edmonton." They left the stage. When they returned Ian had an Easter egg. He started to talk about how he wondered what the cream filling consisted of. He joked that maybe it was sperm, and then he yelled out "Happy Easter!" Mistake was the next song. It was haunting. "WHAT A MISTAAAAAAAKE!" I can never get over Ian's vocal range. Afterwards Ian said here's a song I wrote for...Anson Carter (Oiler hockey player). Then he played the riff for The Oaf. Then he yelled out "Tomy Salo" who is the Oilers goalie. The Oaf was awesome. Halfway through it was just Ian playing, and he was toying with the crowd. then they integrated The Who's song Baba O'Riley. "TEENAGE WASTELAND..." Ian called up the guitarist from Left Pencey and gave him his guitar. Before we knew it, the show was over. 12:57- Big Wreck leave the stage after many thank you's I went and mingled with the crowd for quite some time. I went back down to look for the band. I found Dave, who has hair now by the way. he looked strikingly similar to the actor Gil Bellows. He was very nice and down-to-earth. I asked him what was the deal with the record label, and he said he really didn't care. He told me that their next stop was in Victoria and that he wasn't too sure what they'll be up to after this tour. I told him his hair was looking good, and he said that he has more aero-dynamics now when he haid bangs on stage. He seriously was an awesome guy. he kept thanking me for coming out and willingly signed both my CD's. Some guy asked me to borrow my pen, I let him. Next thing I knew, Ian was signing autographs with my pen. It was kinda funny. I spoke with Ian again, as he signed my ILMO CD. He saw that my other CD had already been signed by him, and I mentioned that he signed it in Grande Prairie. He was telling me how there were some rough crowds in the smaller Alberta towns (fights would break out). I also asked him about the record label. He joked around about how they better make tonnes of money when they put out another album. Then I ran into Dave again, and we started talking about Nickelback singing Mistake on their tour. He told me that he thought it was cool, and that he caught one of their shows in the States. He said he hadn't hung out with "Chad and the boys" for awhile until then. He was saying that the last time they hung out before that was when Nickelback and Big Wreck opened for Kiss in Vancouver. We spoke for a bit more, and then he went to go sign more autographs. So both my CD's are now only missing Brian's autograph, he was nowhere to be found after the show. What a night it was. Now I can only dream it up all over again, and wait till I get to see them again. Talk to you all soon. -threads-