Wilco - May3, 2008 - Burton Cummings Theatre

Wilco May 2, 2008 Burton Cummings Theatre
4.5/5

This was my third time seeing the band, each time up close, confirming my view that they are one of the best live bands that I've ever seen.
Photo courtesy of Kathryn Yu.

They are not a pop band, and they are very entertaining when they play extended jams. In this sense, they are a bit like Los Lobos and other
bands that have longevity based on the fact that they can really play. Your typical pop artist will be popular so long as they have hits. Wilco have up to three guitar players. Lead singer Jeff Tweedy plays rhythm and occaisionally lead guitar, ditto for keyboardist Pat Sansome. Virtuoso lead guitar player Nels Cline is the newest and oldest Wilco member and is a bonafide star in his own right. He's like an erupting volcano with the music twisting his body as it finally emerges out of his fingers and onto the strings. He was spellbinding. After receiving an avalanche of applause for playing an incredible extended solo, he just kept right on soloing, causing some folks at the front of the stage to become absolutely transfixed with awe.

Wilco's live shows have everything from quiet, slow material to thrashing, intense rock, all played with attention paid to craft and intensity. Tweedy spoke and joked around with the audience, calling some of them douche bags as they were rocking out to quiet songs. He threatened to call his lawyers to check out three teens who were apparently wearing home-made unofficial Wilco t-shirts.

A photographer from the Free Press suddenly appeared beside me at the front of stage, early in Wilco's set. He apologized and I promptly gave him some elbow room, knowing that he would only be there for a short period of time. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw this short woman and her equally short male companion muscle their way towards the front. She actually confronted the photographer about what is doing blocking her view when she paid money to attend the show, etc. He replied that he would be leaving in five minutes. As soon as he was finished, he turned around and gave her a nod and she zipped into the place where he was, elbowing this teen who was leaning on the front of the stage and who expected to reclaim the room she vacated for the photographer. The short woman got into a brief argument with this poor teen, causing the teen to politely mention twice that she was there first. I have two thoughts about this. It's a concert and if you choose to leave your seat to stand at the front, you may or may not get a good view. On the other hand, I totally expect people to move around to get a better view. I've had my view obscured by taller people before so I know the feeling that she must have had. But I wouldn't elbow my way around and not apologize for upsetting anyone I bumped into who became visibly upset. If you sitting in the first few rows at the Burt and people stand up at the front of the stage, your view may be blocked. I have been to some shows there where everyone sat down, allowing good views for all, but such behavior isn't likely at a rock show, and a crowd at the front makes the show look a bit more exciting.

I have to commend these guys for playing for 2 hours and almost 15 minutes, including a 2-3 minute break between sets.

Openers Retribution Gospel Choir are not a choir but a indie rock power trio, if I can describe them that way. The lead singer plays a mean guitar and he drew a small crowd of teens and twenty-somethings to the front of the stage, about 30 minutes into the show. I think I will check them out.

Wilco's last two studio albums have been somewhat mellow, but live, these guys are exciting.

Setlist
Hummingbird
You Are My Face
Company In My Back
Impossible Germany
Handshake Drugs
Jesus Etc.
Pot Kettle Black
Shot In The Arm
She's A Jar
Side With The Seeds
Shake It Off
One By One
That's Not The Issue
Summerteeth
Via Chicago
I'm The Man Who Loves You
Poor Places
Spiders


Walken
Christ For President
Hate It Here
Heavy Metal Drummer
Red-Eyed And Blue
I Got You
Casino Queen
Outtasite (Outta Mind)

Concert Review: Sonata Arctica - Winnipeg, Feb. 8, 2008

Making a return appearance at Winnipeg, located in the geographic center of Canada, Finland's Sonata Arctica drove 26 hours straight from London, Ontario, to make it to the gig, according to charismatic lead singer Tony Kakko.

The doors at the West End Cultural Centre, a renovated church lauded as one of the best live rooms in Western Canada, were supposed to open at 7:15 pm, but a few minutes after I arrived, the promoters were posting notices that the band was running late and one of the opening acts, North Carolina's Sanctity, had canceled.
I wasn't sure if I should sit in my car to thwart the barely tolerable cold weather, head to a cafe, or just stand outside and be among the first in line, practically guaranteeing myself access to one of the few seats. I ran into a friend who I often see at classic rock and metal shows, and we opted to stay in the small line up. He had seen them before and we both marveled that such a quality band would have to return to a venue that sounds great but holds less than 400 people. Ticketmaster lists them as having 311 seats, but I wasn't sure if the gig had more people since there were no more than 50 chairs available, with everybody else standing. Clearly, a lot of metal fans just don't know about them - or fellow Finnish power metal kings, Stratovarius, who also sold out their last show in Winnipeg, appearing at the same venue.

The local opening act, Port Amoral, was actually pretty decent, with crunchy, Iron Maiden-ish guitars and a lead singer who does not rely exclusively on "cookie monster" vocals. They exited the stage around 9:15. I ran into another friend who shares my broad taste in music. I mentioned to him that I sometimes just show up around 10 pm or later for shows at this venue rather than have to sit around twiddling my thumbs for three hours. He said the headliners would likely begin at 10:45, while I was hoping for 10 pm. He was right. Next time, I'm showing up late.

The crowd was packed so tightly that the promoters actually forced people to back away from the front of the stage. Whenever the lights flicked off and on or a roadie appeared on stage, audience members cheered in anticipation. After several false starts, the band finally took to the stage.

Rarely have I seen such an affectionate welcome for a band. It was like the crowd was greeting an old friend, and sure enough, when surveyed by singer Tony Kakko, many fans acknowledged that they had seen the band before. The opening tune was "Black and White," the first song on their most recent release, 2007's Unia.
I was surprised to see what appeared to be a keytar, being played by Henrik Klingenberg, who also happens to bear a resemblance to Lars Ulrich. I had assumed a regular keyboard would be used, given the intricacies of the band's music, but the music didn't suffer at all.



Goateed Tony Kakko was very chatty with the audience and is quite simply one of the most fun front men in metal today. Sonata Arctica's music tends to be uplifting and occasionally romantic, and the set was peppered with blazing, flawless, unstoppable power metal tracks, power ballads, and songs that were between the two in tempo but were sometimes not terribly memorable to me. Ever since I heard they were coming to town a few months ago, I have listened to Sonata Artica more so than any other band, so I was fairly familiar with the standout material.

It was actually fun to watch the fans get whipped into a ferocious mosh whenever the band played a fast tune, and then watch the same group, mostly teenage guys, gently sway their arms back and forth during the ballads. One guy in front of me turned out to be a neck-snapping manic, and I feared he would collide skulls with an unsuspecting fan. At one point, he just went ballistic during yet another gloriously executed power metal piece, and a diminutive fan and I exchanged glances of surprise as we deftly stepped away from him. I avoided the pit by being on the left side of the stage, but once in a while I was almost "caught in a mosh."

The band's strengths lie in their musicianship and brilliant songs. New lead guitarist Elias Viljanen was excellent, but I would have appreciated hearing more of his guitar in the mix. Drummer Tommy Portimo looked as if he could be the elf Legolas from Lord of the Rings with his blond locks, and he almost unexpectedly caused a fight on the floor after tossing out his drum sticks. The fans were reaching to the sky to grab a stick, but it bounced several feet back and the crowd almost seemed to move as one entity as they stumbled over backwards, frantic to grasp the souvenir. A few kids pounced on the stick and a struggle ensued.

It's astonishing how something so insignificant can mean so much to a fan. Had it landed safely in my hands, I would have just given it away to the nearest kid. In the end, the victor, drumstick clenched protectively to his chest, stuck out his hand to the kid who lost the prize. This pretty much summed up the mood of the evening, lots of fun with very little heavy attitude or negativity.

As a treat, the band played one of their classics for the first time in a long time, the juggernaut "Wolf & Raven," from the 2001 album Silence. For me, other gems played included "Replica," "8th Commandment," and "Black Sheep." Missing from the set were some tracks I really wanted to hear like "Weballergy," "San Sebastian," and "Blank File," all incredibly fast, superbly written power metal pillars from their catalogue. These are the tracks I include on mixed CDs when I want to introduce friends to their music.



Not all of the band's songs were memorable. In fact, I think they played too many that did not win the crowd over. Some of the ballads left me cold, but the well-known material was met with more unbridled enthusiasm than I expected. On severalsongs, Kakko pointed his microphone to the audience and they sang out in unison, which pleasantly surprised me. The band also played for 75 minutes, possibly cut short due to the illness guitarist Elias Viljanen was suffering from, as he mentioned on his blog:

"02/08/08 Thunder Bay/ Winnipeg
I'm still sick. At noon I had to get out of bed because we had a shower room in a hotel. We were in a city called Thunder Bay. It was very nice to get cleaned up. Then we headed for Winnipeg. We were afraid that we wouldn't be on time because of the bad weather. It wouldn't be nice to cancel. Finally we were there around 10 pm. It was a close call. The show was sold out. Not nice to perform while you have fever. Well, we met some fans after the show again."

I can only hope Sonata Arctica continues to tour as they are bound to increase their fan base considerably due to their live shows. They need to weed out the weaker material and just not record such songs so they don't feel obligated to play them when promoting new albums.

Metacritic's top 30 CDs of 2007

Metacritic.com consolidates reviews to arrive at their top 30 list of the best music of 2007.

The 30 Best-Reviewed Albums of the Year
1	Untrue by Burial		2007	91
2	From Here We Go Sublime by The Field		2007	90
3	In Rainbows by Radiohead		2007	88
4	And Their Refinement Of The Decline by Stars Of The Lid		2007	88
5	Raising Sand by Robert Plant And Alison Krauss		2007	87
6	Let's Stay Friends by Les Savy Fav		2007	87
7	Neon Bible by The Arcade Fire		2007	87
8	Children Running Through by Patty Griffin		2007	87
9	Kala by M.I.A.		2007	87
10	Sound Of Silver by LCD Soundsystem		2007	86
11	Comicopera by Robert Wyatt		2007	86
12	Person Pitch by Panda Bear		2007	86
13	Mirrored by Battles		2007	86
14	45:33 by LCD Soundsystem		2007	86
15	Boxer by The National		2007	86
16	New Moon by Elliott Smith		2007	85
17	Crazy Ex-Girlfriend by Miranda Lambert		2007	84
18	Ire Works by The Dillinger Escape Plan		2007	84
19	The World Has Made Me The Man Of My Dreams by Me'Shell NdegéOcello		2007	84
20	Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga by Spoon		2007	84
21	Copia by Eluvium		2007	84
22	Sweet Warrior by Richard Thompson		2007	84
23	A Place To Bury Strangers by A Place To Bury Strangers		2007	84
24	The Shepherd's Dog by Iron & Wine		2007	84
25	Beauty & Crime by Suzanne Vega		2007	84
26	Frank by Amy Winehouse		2007	84
27	Vieux Farka Toure by Vieux Farka Toure		2007	84
28	The Besnard Lakes Are The Dark Horse by The Besnard Lakes		2007	83
29	Grinderman by Grinderman		2007	83
30	23 by Blonde Redhead		2007	83

Led Zeppelin reunion: the review

You might think it couldn't possibly live up to expectation but, it transpires, the opposite is in fact true of Led Zeppelin's first public appearance in 19 years.




They seem buoyed by the deafening roars that greet their every twitch tonight - everyone present in the O2 Arena is willing their performance to the realms of greatness. It's almost impossible to be subjective, to not be sucked in.

It takes plant three songs before he offers a cursory "good evening". By the time they've blasted through an incendiary 'Good Times Bad Times', a dramatic 'Ramble On' and the stop start rhythms of Black Dog'. He needn't say anything.

Next They launch into 'Nobody's Fault But Mine' and Zep are smiling at each other, only occupying about six foot of the enormous stage. You wouldn't believe this is a band who haven't played together for so long.

They do No Quarter' and they're locked in as tight as if it were the 1970s. Only the close ups on the screen at the back give away their advanced years.

Launchomh into a version of 'Dazed And Confused' that seems to last forever but every last second is enthralling.

Jimmy Page is lit up by lasers and at the song's climax Robert Plant yells out "Jimmy Page on electric guitar!" in a moment the resonates right back to their first heyday.

'Stairway To Heaven' follows. Ridiculous in many ways yet it is a song that everyone present thought was fated to only be performed by dodgy pub covers bands and not again by its creators.

Jimmy has the double headed guitar, bassist John Paul Jones is sat at a keyboard and Plant - contrary to the pre-gig rumours is singing beautifully.

Playing this well known classic proves a shrewd move as it gently reminds everyone present just which, giant-sized rock band they're dealing with.

The final half an hour is comprised of songs so omnipresent it's hard to make any sort of tangible judgement.

'Kashmir' finishes the main set sounding incredible the band take a bow and they're gone.

Rapturous applause follows as you might expect but its nothing compared to the sheer mania that greets the first encore song 'Whole Lotta Love'. Not many bands have one of those, you see.

The middle section veers into space rock territory any young band would be proud of and when that riff returns its well you know how it goes.

Then Led Zep blast through a second encoure of 'Rock And Roll' - paying tribute to their old mentor and the reason this concert is taking place, Ahmet Ertegun, on the way - and, well again... you know how it goes.

If there were sceptics here tonight - there weren't but just for the sake of argument consider it - Led Zeppelin silenced them and banished any rotten memories of their shambolic Live Aid reunion.




More importantly though, what they have done here tonight is prove they can still perform to the level that originally earned them their legendary reputation.

We can only hope this isn't the last we see of them.
Hamish MacBain, NME Live Editor

Led Zeppelin played:

'Good Times Bad Times'
'Ramble On'
'Black Dog'
'In My Time Of Dying'
'For Your Life'
'Trampled Under Foot'
'Nobody's Fault But Mine'
'No Quarter'
'Since I've Been Loving You'
'Dazed And Confused'
'Stairway To Heaven'
'The Song Remains The Same'
'Misty Mountain Hop'
'Kashmir'
'Whole Lotta Love'
'Rock And Roll'

Led Zeppelin reunion: live setlist

Led Zeppelin have taken to the stage at the O2 Arena in London tonight (December 10) - and NME.COM will be bringing you the action as it happens.

Currently we're experiencing one of technical issues with our live blog, but we don't intend to let that stop us, so we're going to post up the set and the comments from our journalist in the hall in this news story while we get things fixed.

So while it is a bit basic, if you just refresh this news story every few minutes you'll have the action from the Ahmet Ertegun tribute show.

So far Led Zeppelin have played:

'Good Times Bad Times'
"The set started with a clip from 'The Song Remains The Same' DVD with an American news clip telling of they broke The Beatles' attendance record for a gig in 1973 in California. Simple stage set, video screen behind the band."

'Ramble On'
"'Ramble On' done in extremely slow, bluesy manner, with shards of electric guitar from Jimmy Page."

'Black Dog'
"Page wearing dark shades, quite muddy sound. Crowd singing the 'ah-ah' bits back at Plant."

'In My Time Of Dying'
"Page is playing bottleneck guitar. Plant spoke for the first time before song, saying 'Good evening'."

'For Your Life'
"That's not something you get to hear often these days, Led Zeppelin giving a song its live debut."

'Trampled Under Foot'
"Before starting Plant told the crowd it was the band's attempt to sound like Robert Johnson's 'Terraplane Blues'."

'Nobody's Fault But Mine'
"There are huge screen's dominating the O2 Arena, they split into four sometimes, goes monochrome, colour etc...quite spectacular."

'No Quarter'
"Following the song Plant paid tribute to John Paul Jones, who played keyboards and bass on the track."

'Since I've Been Loving You'
"A bit of a style guide for you, all the band are dressed in black bar Page who is rocking a white shirt. As for the song they gone for the epic version....very bluesy."

'Dazed And Confused'
"Settle yourselves in, we're expecting a ten minute version of this classic... it was. At the end of it of the song Plant told the audience 'On guitar Jimmy Page, just as he did on 'The Song Remains The Same' DVD which was filmed in Madison Square Garden in the 70s."

'Stairway To Heaven'
"What do you think happened? Right! From the moment those opening notes rang out the whole audience went absolutely crazy. The atmosphere is electric. Afterwards Plant said "Ahmet, we did it!"

'The Song Remains The Same'
"A fairly straight version of the classic. The sound is still a bit muddy and quiet though."

'Misty Mountain Hop'
"Plant kicked this one off by praising the job drummer Jason Bonham has been doing, stepping into his late father's shoes tonight."

'Kashmir'
"Yet another epic, as this song cracks the ten minute mark. Plant introduced this one declaring 'We've got people from 50 countries here and this is the 51st'. Afterwards they left the stage to loud applause. Will they do an encore? What do you reckon..."

'Whole Lotta Love'
"... of course they come back to deafening applause. And it's an extended version of the old 'Top Of The Pops' theme. Then once more the band leave the stage with a visibly emotional Plant declaring:
'Thanks to everybody. Thanks Ahmet Ertegun, this one for is Ahmet Ertegun as we remember the days when Atlantic Records was the best label on the planet!'."

'Rock And Roll'
"Just time for one more, as after two hours the night reaches its climax, and what a stomper to go out on. And after the hype, the millions of people who entered the ticket ballot and the speculation, Led Zeppelin's reunion show is over. A one off? We dearly hope not."

We have the world's first Led Zeppelin reunion review, filed from the venue just after the band left the stage. And a massive Led Zeppelin reunion photo gallery from the night

Ozzy Osbourne/ Rob Zombie/ In This Moment, Winnipeg, Oct. 27, 2007, MTS Centre

audience: 11,500
Ozzy 3/5
Rob Zombie 4.5/5
In The Moment 3/5

Overall, I would rate this concert 3.5/5.

Ozzy played about two or three songs from his weak new album. Classic material heard included Crazy Train, I Don't Know, Mr. Crowley, Suicide Solution, Bark At The Moon, the ballad, Mama I'm Coming Home and Black Sabbath's Paranoid. Not so classic material played - Fire In the Sky, Not Going Away, I Don't Wanna Stop. Missing were favorties Over The Mountain, Flying High Again, Iron Man, No More Tears, The Ultimate Sin, Miracle Man and Journey To The Centre of Eternity. Ozzy is a nostalgia act, like many veteran artists, and as such, he continues to survive and draw fans largely based on the strength of his best material, as opposed to his new releases.

Ozzy's vocals were all right. Fortunately for us, he didn't take his shirt off like he did the last time I saw him, about 8 years ago. He looked like he came from a workout with his black outfit appearing as sweats and a sweatband across his head. Throughout Ozzy's set, there was a video camera panning the crowd, which stopped on a woman who was jiggling her breasts. She noticed herself on camer, and pulled her puppeis out to the delight of many. Of course, a few other exhibitionists decided to pull up their tops for camera, including this one woman standing with her girlfriend beside me. One guy in front of me realized that the camera was showing a woman with red horns and turned around to confirm that it was this young woman by me. He pointed towards her bare boobs with his full arm, obviously enjoying the scene and then decided to take a few steps towards her, to get into the party by copping a feel. Well, her friend was having none of that and sternly slapped his hand away. As usual, Ozzy spent a fair amount of time trying to get the audience fired up with his constant beckon on "Make some f**king noise. I can't f**king hear you!" I know Zakk Wylde is a guitar hero to many and is successful with his own band, Black Label Society, but....his ten-minute guitar solo was woefully lame. Maybe I'm spoiled after having seen Eric Clapton solo brilliantly without appearing to break much of a sweat. In comparison, the kilted Wylde was about as good as the guys from Twisted Sister. Randy Rhoads, I miss you.

Rob Zombie played like a headliner and his stage set up was easily the best that I've seen a supporting act perform with, not to mention the endless flames that blasted out in synch with the music. The set boasted six video screens which accompanied all the songs with scary and campy animation and snippets from films, including Zsombie's own The Devil's Rejects. Most of the footage seemed to revolve around vampires, zombies, werewolves, Herman Munster and most common of all, breasts, some clothed, some not, but all jiggling. I'm only familiar with one Rob Zombie song, Dragula. I thought the first song he played was it, but it was saved for the latter point of the show. Zombie's set opened up with the band wearing skull masks, which reminded me of how the last Alice Cooper show began, with the band in masks. The drum kit was on a platform around 20ft in the air, and the platform itself appeared to be a Japanese demon face, almost "Simpsonized." Early on in the set, during More Human Than Human, a 10ft tall robot walked on stage and proceed to thrash around and pursue the musicians. Of course, this is straight out of the Iron Maiden playbook as they came up with the gimmick over two decades ago with their mascot Eddie. Helping out with vocals and eye candy were two scantily clad female singers. Tracks played included American Witch, Demon Speeding, Livin Dead Girl .

With constant visual spectacle, Rob Zombie is tailor made for today's masses of attention-deficit fans who need relentless shock and awe in order to have a great time.

Stars - Burton Cummings Theater, Winnipeg, Canada - Nov. 24, 2007

Quite a crowd showed up for Stars' return to Winnipeg since playing the Garrick Theatre in February 2006.

Doors opened at 8 p.m. and the line to buy merchandise was about 30 minutes long. Not a bad way to kill time, I suppose. I'm not sure what the attendance was but I would bet it was around 1,300 as there were fans even in the second balcony of the 1,646-seat venue.

Miracle Fortress took to the stage around 9 p.m. and at first I wasn't sure what band I was seeing. I can recall that Stars has two lead singers, with the guy having short blonde hair.

I quickly realized that they weren't playing anything that I recognized and they must have been some other band, but I didn't catch their name until later. The music was poppy and yet indie at the same time, but not as catchy as Stars' music. The drummer had possibly the best sound that I've heard at that venue.

Sitting in the centre of row four I could see, but not as well as I wanted. During intermission I went to the bar for water and my vantage point, looking over the tops of mostly teenage girls, was much better. I would say the audience was mostly teens and twenty-somethings with older folks being in the minority.

Opening the show with the infectious "Take Me To The Riot" from their new album, In Our Bedroom After The War, the sound was initially muddy but became better later on.

They played a variety of songs from their recordings, including some that the audience sang along to. During those particular moments the band aimed the mics at the audience and the mood turned warm and fuzzy.

Songs played included "Ageless Beauty," "My Ex-Lover Is Dead," "Personal," "Bitches In Tokyo," "Midnight Coward," "In Our Bedroom After The War," the funky "The Ghost of Genova Heights" (complete with falsetto vocals that recall Michael Jackson), among several others.

The five-song encore began with "The Night Starts Here," another instantly appealing song from the band's new album. Not everything was a simple pop, song however. Some were slow-moving, bitter soliloquies to failed relationships. I wouldn't necessarily describe them as ballads.

Throughout the show bassist Evan Cranely plucked flowers that decorated the set and threw them into the crowd, often trying to fling them as high as possible. It proved to be a popular move among the mostly teen and twenty-something crowd. Cranley's bass often stood out and he added some needed visual interest by dancing around a fair bit.

Co-lead singer and guitarist Amy Millan, who was in town earlier this year to promote her country solo album, didn't really crack a smile or look as if she was having a great time. That may have been her regular stage persona. Her eyes were like lasers, staring into Cranley's eyes without flinching as they two of them stood close together and played their instruments on a few occasions.

Torquil Campbell, the other singer, was an athletic foil to Millan's sombre presence. Stars are one of the few bands around with two lead singers, who sometimes sing the
same lines together while other times, their own verses.

He wowed the crowd as he knelt down right in front of the stage and sang directly in the faces of the stunned audience members. I absolutely love the sound of the trumpet and Campbell played his a few times during the show, which added even more variety to the overall sound.

On a couple of occasions, he praised the audience for showing up, curiously saying that they don't have a lot of friends and that having the turnout was something very special to the band. One thing is for certain, unlike some bands, Stars have managed to play larger and larger venues each time they returned to Winnipeg.

During the encore, at the end of one of the songs, the crowd kept on screaming "Amy!" as she handed out some short-stemmed roses to fans in the front. At the very end of the show, as the band members walked off the stage, Millan stayed behind to play the final chords of a song all by herself with her back turned to the audience. It was a poignant moment. As soon as the final note rung, she sped off the stage.

I would describe Stars as one of Canada's premiere indie bands, and Campbell, Millan and Cranley also contribute to the Canadian indie kings, Broken Social Scene.

Prior to releasing their CD, the band made the entire thing available for a free download, knowing that this would happen anyway, and hoping that fans and newcomers would like what they heard and would buy the CD. Months later, Radiohead tried something similar, where people could pay anything to download it.

My rating for this show is 4/5.

Pink Floyd Laser Spectacular, Nov. 18, 2007 Burton Cummings Theatre

Good turn out at the Burt this evening for lasers, videos and the music of Pink Floyd. This of the best hi-fi that you've heard Floyd on. This was better.

The visuals were far out and tended to follow the lyrics. No spliffs were lit during the performance. Some fans came inebriated. Long lineups for the bathrooms during the 20-minute intermission. The Burt's bathrooms are woefully inadequate.

The first set featured Darkside of the Moon in its entirety. People jumped when the bells rang to introduce Time. Right after the first two songs, people were clapping and cheering.

The second set featured the "best of" Pink Floyd, which of course, it wasn't. They skipped over anything from the early albums and Animals. Lots of tracks from The Wall, some from the Momentary Lapse of Reason with video footage showing a Waters-less Floyd.

Many wore "3-d" glasses , but I opted to not to. Maybe the experience would have been better with the $2 glasses, but I had a good time.

I always wanted to see Laser Floyd when it was playing at the Planetrium in the 70s and 80s, but I missed out. I think I would have preferred seeing tonight's show there, given how more intimate and cosmic it is.

Concert Review: Modest Mouse At Burton Cummings Theatre, Winnipeg, MB, Nov. 7, 2007

It was rush seating on the floor to see Modest Mouse, one of the most celebrated US indie bands in recent memory, whose fans are split over their older, more intimate material versus the MTV-friendly direction of their last two albums.

I left the house around 6:30 pm, and after finally parking a bit further away than I had hoped, I joined the line up of around 30 people. The last time I checked online, the show was not sold out, but the 1646 seat venue did apparently run out of tickets. I struck up a conversation with Sean, a young bearded free spirit, originally from Winnipeg, who was based in Taiwan, teaching English and pursuing work with local Asian rock bands. It's always fun to speak with someone as passionate about music as I am, since you can learn about other cool bands to check out.

Finally, the doors opened and I made my way right to the front of the stage, to park myself in row 1. Sean tracked me down and sat beside me, while hoping that his girlfriend would find us, which she eventually did.

Right away, the young fans began to stream to the front of the stage to see the opening band, Love As Laughter. They sounded like any number of melodic indie bands and could go on to bigger things. I will be checking them out.

Nothing could have prepared the audience for the next band, Philadelphia's Man Man. Wearing a uniform of white t-shirts with sweat bands, these guys were part musical act and part performance art, a modern day vaudevillian group.

They were very spastic, with the lead singer / keyboardist jumping around and yet managing to play in sync with the other band members who were bashing out syncopated, frantically paced pop. At one point, all members started playing kazoos to the delight of the audience. The lead singer threw something towards the bassist who batted it into the head of the drummer. Far from seeming out of the ordinary, this was just par for the course with these wacky musical pranksters.

During one of the numbers, the sound changed for the better, with a fuller bottom end. This was due to the two Modest Mouse drummers sneaking onto their kits and pounding away with Man Man. The drummers, dressed as ghosts in white sheets, injected even more excitement into the show and fans went nuts due to their surprise appearance. As much fun as they were, I can't help but wonder that they will have an intense but very limited appeal. People who are into Frank Zappa might want to give them a try.

Unfortunately, almost an hour passed before Modest Mouse took the stage, at around 10:10 pm. During this time, I marveled at the discretion the bouncers showed as they blocked the aisle to the floor many fans had streamed towards, hoping to get into the front row. As the standing area filled up, the bouncers would turn people away while letting others back in who stepped away for bathroom breaks and beer runs. The smart ones would politely get their attention and ask them if they would be allowed back in. Usually, the answer was yes, but as the area became more packed, some were told that they were taking chances.

Some people who were turned away left quietly and found seats emptied by fans who did it make to the front, while a few argued. One guy who either had multiple sclerosis or was a bit smashed (or perhaps a bit of both), had us grinning as he argued with two bouncers for several minutes. Resembling a young, bearded John Belushi, this feisty cannonball eventually did end up at the front and was seen grabbing people by the neck as he took them on a wild bouncing tour of the pit. I had to brace myself as they collided with me a few times. I looked over to this one bouncer and he reached out with his arm to block these guys from crashing into my part of the floor, all the while enjoying the energy of the fans. Everywhere you looked, it was a sea of flashing teeth, smiles and bouncing, happy people.

The band took the stage with "Black Cadillacs," which had several fans in the pit singing along. Lead singer and band leader Isaac Brock occasionally spoke to the audience but it was largely unintelligible. At one point, someone threw something on stage, which prompted him to snap that if they did it again, he would "fuckin' kill" them. Someone threw a scarf in front of this older looking guitar player with a shock of jet black hair.

In the lineup, I spoke about how Johnny Marr, formerly of The Smiths, was now in the band and wondered if many of the predominantly young fans would even know who he was. It was only when someone shouted out his name that it occurred to me who this obviously stellar guitarist was. Marr played superbly and was far beyond the caliber of musician you would expect in an indie band. He only spoke to the crowd a few times, to acknowledge the fans in the upper levels. When the encore was over, Marr picked up the scarf, put it on and offered thanks in the general direction from where it came. Recent news from the UK has Marr also serving as a visiting professor at Salford University. Since the breakup of The Smiths in 1987, Marr has performed and recorded with the likes of Bryan Ferry, Oasis, Beck, The Pretenders, Billy Bragg, and The Pet Shop Boys, among others.

During "Tiny Cities Made of Ashes," Brock took to the front of the stage and flew into a spontaneous rant, but again, it was near-impossible to make out what he was saying. Some of the songs utilized both drummers while some had one on percussion.

Still, Modest Mouse, from my intimate vantage point, were superb and were light years more interesting than a recent Ozzy Osbourne/Rob Zombie show I also attended. Their songs are distinctive, and have become increasingly catchy with their last two albums. Some see this as a sellout, while others view it as progress. About a third of the songs were from their first three albums, and several gems had to be skipped. I would have loved to have heard "Missed The Boat," "Florida," "Spitting Venom," "Ocean Breathes Salty," "Dramamine," "3rd Planet," and "The Stars Are Projectors."

Without a doubt, this was one of the most fun concerts that I have been to in years. Curiously, the major local newspaper thought the show was a bust, as they witnessed people leaving early and complaining about the band being limp and lifeless. I have this theory that the closer you are to the stage, the more likely you're going to enjoy the show. I don't know where the newspaper reviewer was sitting, but I found the band was superb. Sure, in comparison to the manic Man Man, Modest Mouse were a bit sedated, but they still put on a thrilling show. Isaac Brock did find his groove and exploded off his feet a few times on his side of the stage. He also strapped on a banjo for "Bukowski" and "Satin In A Coffin," both from 2004's Grammy-nominated Good News for People Who Love Bad News.

Modest Mouse were strong musically although the sound wasn't as good as I had hoped.

Setlist (in no particular order)

Black Cadillacs
Paper Thin Walls
Dashboard
Here It Comes
Trailer Trash
Broke
Tiny Cities Made Of Ashes
Bukowski
Float On
Fire It Up
Education
Satin In A Coffin
Bury Me With It
The View

Encore

We've Got Everything
King Rat
Parting Of The Sensory
Out Of Gas

Concert Review: Blue Oyster Cult, Burton Cummings Theatre, Winnipeg, MB, Oct. 28, 2007

This was the legendary New York band's first appearance in Winnipeg in about 20 years, when they last played a bar to less than 300 people. Without an album to support and with only the memories from classic rock radio playing their handful of hits the show, not surprisingly, was not a sell out. Curiously, the best seats they had they day before the show were in the last row on the floor, but there were many seats in the rows in front of us that were empty.

Boy, do they ever look different. Mind you, there's only two original members remaining. Bassist Rudy Sarzo, of Quiet Riot, Whitesnake and Ozzy Osbourne, looks pretty much the same as he always was in the heyday of hair metal. He's actually 57 years old, but was an absolute sensation during the songs and his solo. I was wondering who he was and the audience gave him a lot of applause when Eric Bloom introduced him.

Singer/guitarist Bloom no longer sports tons of hair in an afro, but the bearded 63-year old performed with the vigor of someone 20 years younger.

Lead guitarist/ vocalist Buck Dharma (Donald Roeser), 60, was unbelievable on guitar.

Unlike a lot of guitarists, Dharma apparently played the same guitar all evening, a curious looking axe with no head. His solos in the jams at the end of their classic tracks, were tasteful without being cliched heavy metal-ish. During one solo, a fan walked to the front of the stage and waved others to join him. And join him, they did as many of the fans flooded to the front. Dharma hammed it up by dropping to his knees and bending over toward the crowd, almost to the point where their fingertips could touch him.

It was a bit funny to watch but the fans that were able to get up close and personal no doubt reveled in the experience. A big surprise to me was the axemanship of Richie Castellano, who also played keyboards and sang. Castellano, Dharma and Bloom could probably wander around any city and not be recognized due to their non rock-star appearances. I had never heard of Castellano but he proved to be an intense and formidable performer in his own right, on vocals and instruments.

Early on, fans were shouting out for "Don't Fear The Reaper" and Eric Bloom responded, "Oh, we're going to play all that stuff, don't worry. You are going to stick around for a while, right? I mean, It's not every day we're here."

Songs played included "Summer of Love," "O.D.'d on Life Itself," "Burnin' For You," "Shooting Shark," "ME 262," "Cities on Flame," "Golden Age of Leather," "Black Blade," "The Last Days of May," "Godzilla," "Don't Fear The Reaper," "Hot Rails to Hell," and "The Red and the Black."

Opening for the band was Alverstone, a young, local band that are obviously into The Ramones, Strokes, New York Dolls. They received a fair amount of applause and while are promising, are not quite ready to headline.

Overall, this was a very fine classic rock concert.

During some numbers, there were three guitarists grooving really loud. I don't know if they are having much of a career anymore, in the last 20 years, but they are still touring and recording and still bridge the gap between the sound of heavy metal and hard rock, without having to rely heavily on cliches to keep them going.

Yes, Eric Bloom played a cowbell during "Don't Fear The Reaper," and yes, the audience went nuts for that song.

I would see them again in a heartbeat. Unfortunately, they had no merchandise for sale. They could have easily sold hundreds of t-shirts to the mostly older crowd.

My rating for this show is 4.5-out-of-5-stars.

Concert Review: Ozzy Osbourne / Rob Zombie in Winnipeg, MB, Oct. 27, 2007

Around 9500 fans showed up at the MTS Centre to see Ozzy's third Winnipeg show in seven years, but I think many were actually bigger Rob Zombie fans.

Ozzy played about two or three songs from his weak new album, Black Rain. Classic material heard included "Crazy Train," "I Don't Know," "Mr. Crowley," "Suicide Solution," "Bark At The Moon," the ballad, "Mama I'm Coming Home" and Black Sabbath's "Paranoid."

Not so classic material played included "Fire In the Sky," "Not Going Away," and "I Don't Wanna Stop." Missing were favorites "Over The Mountain," "Flying High Again," "Iron Man," "No More Tears," "The Ultimate Sin," and "Journey To The Centre of Eternity."

Ozzy is a nostalgia act, like many veteran artists, and as such he continues to survive and draw fans largely based on the strength of his best material, as opposed to his new releases.

Ozzy's vocals were all right, but obviously past their prime.

Fortunately for us, he didn't take his shirt off like he did the last time I saw him, about seven years ago. He looked like he came from a workout with his black outfit appearing as sweats and a sweatband across his head.

Throughout the set, there was a video camera panning the crowd, which stopped on a woman who was jiggling her breasts. She noticed herself on camera and was really delighted to display them for all to see. Of course, a few exhibitionists decided to pull up their tops for the camera, including this one woman standing with her girlfriend beside me.

One guy in front of me realized that the camera was showing a woman with red horns and turned around to confirm that it was this young woman by me. He pointed toward her bare boobs with his full arm, obviously enjoying the scene and then decided to take a few steps toward her, to get into the party by copping a feel. Well, her friend was having none of that and sternly slapped his hand away.

As usual, Ozzy spent a fair amount of time trying to get the audience fired up with his constant beckoning of "Make some f**king noise. I can't f**king hear you!"

I know Zakk Wylde is a guitar hero to many and is successful with his own band, Black Label Society, but....his ten-minute guitar solo was woefully lame.

Maybe I'm spoiled after having seen Eric Clapton solo brilliantly without appearing to break much of a sweat, earlier this year. In comparison, Wylde was about as good as the guys from Twisted Sister. Randy Rhoads, I miss you.

Rob Zombie played like a headliner and his stage set up was easily the best that I've seen a supporting act perform with, not to mention the endless flames that blasted out in synch with the music. The set boasted six video screens which accompanied all the songs with scary and campy animation and snippets from films. Most of the footage seemed to revolve around vampires, zombies, werewolves, Herman Munster and most common of all, breasts, some clothed, some not but all jiggling.

Zombie's set opened up with the band wearing skull masks, which reminded me of how the last Alice Cooper show began, with the band in masks. The drum kit was on a platform around 20 feet in the air, and the platform itself appeared to be a Japanese demon face, almost "Simpsonized."

Early on in the set, during "More Human Than Human," a 10 foot tall robot walked on stage and proceeded to thrash around and pursue the musicians.

Of course, this is straight out of the Iron Maiden playbook that came up with the gimmick over two decades ago with their mascot Eddie. Songs performed and accompanied by stunning videos, included American Witch, Living Dead Girl, Dragula.

LA's In This Moment, fronted by a female vocalist who looked as if she stepped off a Lawrence Welk set in her dress (costume), were quite good with their dramatic and powerful melodic metal, not unlike Lacuna Coil and Evanescence.

I would see Ozzy Osbourne again, but only if I ended up on the floor within the first ten rows or if he released a really excellent album. While I wasn't Rob Zombie fan and still find his music sounding a lot alike, I might see him if he headlined. He truly earned a second look.

Overall, I would rate the entire evening as a 3.5 out of 5 stars. Ozzy's set was worth three stars while Zombie's was easily 4 stars.