2001-07-27 - 2:14

Crikey

It's difficult to update your journal when you're either on the go somewhere or are passing out on your feet. However, I have my better-late-than-never recap of the Toronto trip, broken down by day (yes, this will be long):

Saturday: After I finished my brief bit of work (and hair bleaching), Aaron, Loralei, Nick, and I got on the road. Rather than heading straight to Toronto, we stopped at Sandbanks Park, to enjoy the beach and to go for a dip in the water. Getting for a swim again felt great. I'm not sure if I'll make a trip back home this summer, so I have to take advantage of my swimming opportunities when I can.

After spending a few hours at the park, we made it the rest of the way to Toronto in time to get a hotel room, attack supper, and crash for the night.

Sunday: Sunday was the big day, with Moby's Area: One concert on the schedule. Prior to the festival, we grabbed breakfast and did a little shopping. (I snagged a pair of sunglasses, which was all that I was after.)

I've finally written my official concert review; but I'll add more thoughts here. After briefly checking out the DJ area, I took my spot in the front of the crowd. My plan was to sit through the first act so I could stake a good position for The Roots. Unfortunately, I didn't know that The Roots ran into problems at the border. I ended up waiting through two sets only to have Incubus take the stage.

My original plan was to skip out on Incubus in favour of food. Being stubborn, though, I didn't want to have wasted my time standing at the front of the crowd; so I decided to stand through Incubus to be ready for Outkast. (Yes, an attitude like that would make me a poor poker player . . . but I didn't want to fold with nothing to show for myself.)

I lost the rest of the crew around this time; but I didn't mind checking out the bands by myself. As is seemingly my Toronto concert standard, I ended up standing directly in front of three short girls, so I let them move in front of me to see the show. Unfortunately, I think that I lost whatever points I had won when I accidently headbutted one of the girls later in the day. Well, it was very crowded and it was just a little headbutt, and I was sorry . . . heh. Too bad . . . she was rather cute, too.

In any event, Incubus was fairly boring; but Outkast made up for it. I had a lot of fun bopping around during their set. There was a lot of crowd movement after they finished and I managed to move up to within one person of the railing (yet another cute girl).

Shortly after that, though, I saw Aaron, Loralei, and Nick quite close behind me, so I gave up my spot so that I could hook up with them. I'm glad that I did, because it was cool to hang out with Nick for Moby's set. Nick had just missed seeing Moby with me last fall, and I was very happy that he got his chance to make up for that omission.

After the concert, we grabbed some food (my first meal since breakfast), I went back to the hotel, and everybody else made their way to Ottawa.

Monday: After getting a bit of sleep, I got together with Richard, who I hadn't seen in ages. We talked music, as usual, and tried out some new CDs on each other. We also made our way downtown for a while. We didn't get up to very much (and I didn't mind in the least), but I did snag several Nick Cave singles.

By night, Aaron had come back to the city, so the three of us went out for supper and hit Yuk Yuk's. The amateur comedy was of mixed quality, of course, but that was part of the fun.

Aaron and I stayed downtown for a little longer, including a stop at the Panorama Bar. (The view from the 51st floor is nothing to complain about.)

Tuesday: Concert number 2: Ozzfest. Aaron and I made our way around town early in the day, including stops for Korean Barbecue and a stroll through the Pacific Mall.

By a little after lunchtime, we returned to the Docks for Ozzfest. (I still have to write a real review for this concert; but it's coming.) I wasn't too psyched for most of the bands on the bill, so we chilled for a lot of the day.

I made sure to get in the mix for Marilyn Manson, which was a blast. I wouldn't buy one of his CDs, but I think he's a lot of fun live. His stage show is something to see and he gets a strong crowd reaction.

After Manson, I found a great spot for Sabbath . . . which felt less great when the crowd started pushing from behind. I don't know why people have to be so stupid about things like that. I was trying not to crush the girl in front of me the whole time.

When Black Sabbath took the stage, though, people seemed to settle in place. It was still a tight squeeze, but with a good looking girl standing next to me, headbanging away to Sabbath, I wasn't complaining. Heh. Oh yes, I did mention falling in love at the concert, didn't I? How many non-scary/freaky girls would you expect to see who are hardcore enough to get near the front of a Sabbath concert by themselves and really get into it. Add on a smile like she had, start the show with "N.I.B." (a classic love song), and what more could I ask?

I stayed around that area for a lot of the set, hopping around a bit, screaming along constantly, and having an amazing time. Eventually, though, I had to make my move to the front, where I went full force into the mosh. I ended up sustaining a position about five people from the stage, directly in front of Tony Iommi.

Anybody who knows me probably realizes that I was practically orgasmic about experiencing Sabbath that close. I don't even need to say how incredible the night was for me.

Oh yes, I should mention that I had to play mosh pacifist during Manson and Sabbath. I'm very much a controlled mosher; and I'm the first to get annoyed about people doing stupid things or going after people who aren't into it. However, during both sets, I saw people who were standing close enough to the action for incidental contact get enraged at people who weren't deliberately bumping them and who weren't being careless.

During Manson, I ran interference so that two angry guys couldn't get a hold of their intended target; and at the end of the Sabbath concert, I stepped between two other guys and told the aggressor to chill. A good mosh is generally self-policing, but there are always a few people who don't know how to handle themselves.

Oh yes, I forgot to mention the extremely psycho looking guy who thought he could walk through me during Incubus' show at Area: One. When I just looked at him and wouldn't budge, he walked around me and started getting into it with a girl near the front. Very sketchy. Fortunately, he was hauled away by security.

I don't mean to paint the wrong picture, though. Those were just isolated incidents in two days of great atmosphere.

Aaron drove us back to Ottawa immediately after Ozzfest, so we made it home for about 4:30 AM. Since then, I've been on the go with the Linux Symposium, but I'll leave those stories for later.

I'll write my full Ozzfest review add some trip pictures to my web site soon, too. In case, I wasn't perfectly clear, though: the Toronto trip was amazing! I had an awesome time at both concerts, I enjoyed relaxing on the off days, and experiencing Black Sabbath one more time ranks as another lifetime highlight.

Life is good!

J.