Monday, June 9, 2014

Big Wreck - New Music Fest - Sudbury - June 7th, 2014

I will begin this post with letting my followers in the beauty industry that this post has absolutely nothing to do with makeup. It does however have everything to do with my favourite band. If you love Canadians (which you obviously do) feel free to keep reading and check them out for yourself. The album release is tomorrow June 10th, 2014 for Canadians. http://www.bigwreckmusic.com/

Ok, so here it is. The review of my Saturday night. For those who are unaware, it was my 38th birthday on Sunday. What a twist of fate and perfectly tailored weekend for TOAD to cancel their show and Big Wreck to fill in. I still have a hard time believing that all actually happened. What a gorgeous mess of chaos. I promise you this will be a terribly shitty review. I barely remember a thing, my mind is a damn blob.

The Glorious Sons took the stage at around 8:15 or so and were really great, they were followed by Monster Truck who rocked the stage and amped up the crowd for sure. Their songs get quite a bit of airplay here and were received very well. I was sitting in the front row seats for their portion of the show secretly planning how I would be weaseling my way to the front, standing area against the metal fencing. I was hoping the crowd would dissipate after Monster Truck and that is indeed what happened and I made my move. I then planted my feet and would NOT be moving. It took a bit for the road crew to set everything up, some drunks were shouting nonsense to hurry and I wanted to drop elbows on all of them.

The local rock radio guy announced them and was sure to reiterate that they filled in last minute and saved the day for Sudbury.

The boys came out to a very warm reception and they were all smiles. I was nuts trying to figure out what they would open with. I was so shocked and surprised that it was "Look What I Found".
I, of course sang my damn head off and screamed like a complete fool and loved every second of it. Next it was onto "That Song" which was warmly received and had the whole crowd singing along.

After they were done, Ian spoke about Sudbury and that they had great memories here and were happy to be back. I don't know if they all had a great nights sleep or the fact that they were hanging with the Monster Truck guys or what but the entire band was all smiles all night and genuinely having a real great time together. They were constantly teasing each other and just had a GREAT chemistry and vibe. The crowd loved seeing the positivity and responded positively in return.

Third song was ready to start....I was busy swatting away the drunken fool of a woman who was stretching her arm literally across my best friends face trying to get Dave's attention, making googly eyes at him and snapping her fingers and drooling all over herself. Due to this distraction I missed Ian saying "Where's Dana?" People started tapping me and I heard him say... "Oh, there she is!" He then said "Happy Birthday! This ones for you!" Rips into "Hey Mama". Dead. It is my favourite and as I explained to Buk (James) I feel almost guilty for loving it as much as I do. It rips my soul from my body and takes it to the moon and back, I'm gone. After so many years of nostalgia with so many BW songs, this one has just engulfed my heart and mind. It was an epic dedication to say the least and pretty much made my life. Only to be outdone by Ian finishing a song and bending down to give me his slide. A few people tried grabbing it from him but he swatted them away nicely and locked eyes with me and I told him I had it. He then went to the mic and said Happy Birthday again :) Dead....er.

Suffice to say everything after that was a blur. I know Bohemian Rhapsody was brought into a song and I cannot even tell you which one. Ian and Dave did a little battle a few times, their instruments answering each other in this melodic tango. Dave had a great energy as did Paul and Brian. Brian played his guitar and the banjo at the same time during Ladylike. His guitar would hang around his neck while he strummed the banjo from behind on its stand moving fluently from one to the other without skipping a note. Chuck was a monster on the drums. Paulo had a perma-smile and had great chemistry with everyone on that stage. Paulo's stance reminds me a bit of Ken's. Dave and Paulo were constantly singing and mouthing the words to every song. Near the end of the show, during "The Oaf" Ian did his down tuning as he did on the bag of tricks release, and the others left the stage and let the crowd soak in the feverish solo. So amazing. They then teased Chuck and would not end the song, making him drum like a hurricane with sticks, he kept up and was INSANE. It was so fun to watch and experience. They smiled the whole time and were just having so much fun, it was so great to watch.

They ended the night with the crowd singing along and very into it. I don't even think they were off the stage before the crowd was chanting "encore". The Glorious Sons and Monster Truck guys were all on stage alongside in the wings singing and taking pictures and smiling having a blast watching.

They encored with "Shout/Falling to Pieces". Then just like that it was over. It will never in this lifetime be possible to outdo that night. My husband said once we were home "Short of me paying them tens of thousands to come play a private concert for you, there is no way I could have ever topped this or had it be more perfect for you".

I am eternally grateful to Ian for his generosity and for making my night so supreme. It is one I will never forget.

Cheers.