040; Noel Gallagher...AKA what a night!

On November 5th I had the pleasure to attend a special acoustic set at the newly named Virgin Mobile Mod Club, formerly known as the Mod Club, featuring the one and only Noel Gallagher. It was a private, pre show warm up to his performances at Massey Hall later in the week.

Mod Club

Virgin Mobile Mod Club: a mini profile

• 722 College Street, Little Italy Toronto
• Fits 600 people (floor, lounge-ish areas, balcony)
• Concert venue - one of my favourites because it's so small, sound is crisp, and there's no barricade separating you from the stage
• Night Club - Not familiar with their system but I know there are UK Underground Saturdays

So my expectations weren't extraordinarily high, although I expected something good because well it's Noel Gallagher, the better half of Oasis. The email invited me + guest to attend a 5 song acoustic set on the re-opening night. What did I get?

• A club full of middle age people - I'm 99% sure my friend and I were the youngest in the crowd
• drink ticket - thank you virgin mobile!
• An awesome view of the stage over all the tall men
• Grown men shouting "I love you Noel" between every song, to which the cool Noel replied" there's a lot of fucking love in this room."
• An 8 song set. He played:
• It's Good to be Free
• Talk Tonight - one of my favourite Oasis songs
• If I Had a Gun
• Supersonic
• Wonderwall - I was not expecting that. Thought he'd be tired of it. 
• AKA... What a Life
• Half the World Away
• Don't Look Back in Anger - soo good.
• A poster commemorating the night on my way out

I definitely got my email's worth.

036; back to: back concerts/school

September 8
Two Thursday nights ago I went to a STP concert and I must say Scott Weiland is incredible! After watching him perform I found a new form of respect for him. I can't help but admire him. After his battle with drugs and despite his age (okay he's only in his early 40's) his vocals whether amplified by a megaphone or straight to the mic greatly impressed me. But enough about Scott, the band's performance was pretty awesome too. They played all my old favourites including "Creep" and "Down", and new stuff like "Between the Lines".
And something interesting I noticed, I was probably the youngest and one of the few Asians (if any) in the stadium of thousands.

September 9
I was pretty excited to hear the university I attend got Montreal's Sam Roberts Band for frosh this year. Land of Talk, which is another Canadian band, opened for them with a 35 minute set. It was pretty spacious on the field during Land of Talk's performance. Everyone sat on the lawn with the sun beaming brightly on the back of their college frosh shirts. Although my attention was elsewhere, they seemed like a decent band. Before Sam Roberts came on, a heard of freshman entered the field after the parade and filled in the spots with vivacious students, spirit, and colours.  Not too long after, Sam Roberts took the stage.

They played my favourites and the set was well timed. The encore was probably my favourite part. They did a cover of Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds "If I Had A Gun." It was one the best covers I've heard live. I really hope there's a studio version soon cause I can't seem to find it anywhere. They ended their set with "Don't Walk Away Eileen" and it was then I thought, I'd really like to see them live again. And on top of all that, the sound was so clear and perfect. I don't know if it was because it was an outdoors concert, or if they had a really good sound check session, or if it was just the band. It was a fantastic show.

029; the black keys, you're my everlasting light

Last week I went to the sold out Cage The Elephant and The Black Keys concert at the Molson Amphitheatre. I'd just like to say that it's one of the best shows I've been to.

• Despite arriving later than usual, I had one of the best seats in the crowd - second-front row and centre on the floor. 
• Two ah-mazing bands for the price/place of one. 
• I finally got my "The Black Keys are my Brothers" shirt - and it looks better in person.
• I didn't have to pay crazy money for a bottle of plain water - I was allowed to take my own water in.
• My personal space was not violated/people around me weren't pushy - for most of the show anyways
• The set list was more than satisfying - I even scored the set list. 

Encore: Sinister Kid, Your Touch

Matt Shultz

Brad Shultz

standing in the crowd

Dan Auerbach

The Black Keys

7 days later, I'm still in awe.

I'm curious to see what they are up to next. If the new album doesn't like Brothers, does that mean they're reverting back or moving forward? Can December come a little faster?

027; MMVA madness (the first and the final)

I attended the Much Music Video Awards this year. I've wanted to go since high school, but because it's always near exam time I always skipped out. Next year I won't be in the country and the year after that I'll feel too old. So this year felt like it was the perfect timing.. plus The Black Keys and Lady GaGa!

MMVA (a mini profile):

• Location: Toronto
• outdoors award show
• held annually on Father's Day (3rd week of June)
• free
• all ages* *For wristbands (you're closer to the stage) you need to be 14+ or accompanied by an adult. If you're watching on the streets you could be a 2 week old baby being exposed to fan girls at their best or a 98 year old lady reliving her teenage dream. 
• show appreciation to Canadian artists (and International artists too) 

I attended the red carpet in hopes to meet my brothers (The Black Keys) and "mother" (Lady GaGa). I didn't get to meet them, let alone they weren't even at the red carpet. That didn't dampen my spirits however.

To my surprise, I met half of Billy Talent. I didn't even know they were coming. My encounter with Ben Kowalewicz was one of the highlights of my night. He was such a friendly guy. For BT fans, when I asked when the new album was coming out he responded with a smile and said "soon." Yay for new material!!

While most of the members of Simple Plan were strutting their stuff, Chuck was "greeting" the fan girls who screamed at the site of anybody who appeared to be famous. I put greeting in quotations because all he was doing was signing anything that came his way, much like a robot who didn't care. I knew Simple Plan was going to be at MMVA so I packed their old cd with me. I held out the booklet for him to sign and he looked up and said "thanks for coming out."  Although I stopped listening to them years ago, I liked the fact he acknowledged me. Small things like that make me happy.

I had the opportunity to meet some people who don't interest me. Some pictures of a few of them:

Shawn Desman

These Kids Wear Crowns

Karl Wolf (?)

Fefe Dobson

Nikki Reed

Abandon All Ships

David Guetta

Down With Websters' lead singer

Selena Gomez

MTV Live hosts
 (I would have liked to meet Daryn Jones actually...)

Here are some red carpet walkers that I would have liked to meet, but didn't have the chance to:

Marianas Trench
(as you can see, they were busy racing in their bubbles)

Bruno Mars

Colin Farrell
(Is he looking at my camera/me? I'm gonna pretend he is anyways..)

Johnny Galecki

The actual award show on the other hand... too many tall people so I didn't see much. I did however see Lady Gaga's dress rehearsal performance earlier in the day. that was another highlight of my day actually.

All in all, it was a fantastic experience. :)

016; No Go Radio = Scre4m and Sushi

"She's Daniel Radcliffe to my J.K. Rowling" Gale Weathers

I bought tickets to see A Rocket To The Moon earlier last month and the only reason I wanted to go to the show was for the opener Go Radio. It turns out that they won't even be there because of transportation issues. Sadness. VERY disappointed. Not disappointed at the members of band, more so the situation. Anyway, I ended up selling the ticket for face value. Yay me for not scalping - cause I totally could have made a few extra bucks because of the sold out show.

After a change of plans, I ended up watching Scream 4 and eating sushi with some friends. I sat in the chairs of the store while waiting for my friend to get off work. When a girl asked me if I was there for the interview, I soon discovered that the people sitting there were waiting for a job interview. I didn't exactly fit in with the fashion-frilly girls with my ripped jeans and worn out Chucks, but maybe that was Hollister was calling me?  Naah, I'm kidding, mere coincidence. But in all honesty, I really wanted to take part in the interview with them 'cause I really need a job : (

I'm not a fan of horror films. I know it's all made up but I still get scared! In fact, one of the trailers (Don't Be Afraid of the Dark) scared my shitless. Thinking about it scares me. Kind of hypocritical that I'm watching Scream, but I'll explain.  Scream is categorically horror, however I've seen the previous ones to know how the story is going to fall. There's no surprise: the killer is always in a Ghost face costume, mysterious phone calls, the weapon of choice is a regular kitchen knife, and stupid people who don't know how to lock doors. Same goes for the Final Destination series where the story line is practically the same and it's the mundane that attacks people in gruesome ways. But ya, Scre4m was an entertaining movie. Ridiculously hilarious at the most inappropriate parts (laughing just thinking about it). Personally I don't like Emma Roberts and I find her so boring. Okay SPOILER ALERT.  She plays a dumb bitch and the master mind of Ghost face to get FAME. Are you freakin' kidding me? I think what Wes Craven was trying to say is that people do stupid things for fame - and he definitely shows that in the movie - as stupid as stupid can get. Also, the 3 survivors survive.

Watch any "scary" movies lately?

011; My favourite season: Concert Season

Concert season starts at the end of March and goes on till mid November.

(I know, it's practically the whole year.)

What I'm looking forward to this year:

The Black Keys - I don't like the venue very much BUT 

Cage The Elephant - is the opener so how can I say no. Really. Two birds with one stone.

Rise Against - new CD means new tour. They're doing Edgefest (music festival) this year but I don't know whether to wait it out for their own show or just go for the festival. I feel like they won't have enough time on stage if it's a festival, but I don't know...

Go Radio - The last time I saw them was 3 years ago and they only had a 6 track  EP. They've grown a lot and I would love to see them again because a) they're really good live b) I want to hear them sing "goodnight moon" live, and c) the last time I met them, they were really nice guys, especially Jason. They're opening for A Rocket To The Moon and I dread the thought of teenboppers. 

30 Seconds To Mars - they're coming back! I saw them last year so i'm kinda debating on whether to go or not.... It'll all depend on the openers I guess.

What I've already missed out on (Sold Out Shows):

Adele - her tickets sold out within a few hours. boooo.

A Day To Remember - should have got the tickets when i had the chance - dammit!

I'll probably be adding to the list as more shows get announced but until then
I wish you all a very happy concert season.

004; shhh. it's a secret show

Yesterday, Alexisonfire had a secret show at Sonic Boom and I could not pass down an opportunity for an intimate show with these guys.

Sonic Boom: A mini-profile

• Independent Record Store
• 2 floors; Music on the main floor and even more music in the basement! The stage area is also in the  basement.
• Great selection of music, current and old & new and used.
• VINYLS, CDs, T-shirts, books, and some other fun stuff. 
• Friendly staff (?) - The only actual staff encounter was asking for the ticket so it's not much to base it off of, but he seemed really nice nonetheless.
• Scott Pilgrim was filmed here!

Performance:

They started off with songs from the new Dog's Blood EP and ended off with You Burn First and Control in a 30 minutes-ish set.  Control was definitely a bonus. After George announced the show was over, the audience wanted more - but really, who wouldn't want more - and someone wanted to hear Control. So the guys talked about it and we got what we wanted : ) 

The stage was really small so I couldn't see Dallas or Jordan really well but from what I could see with George, Chris, and Wade, it looked like they were having fun. Anyways, I loved the performance. It was so full of energy and George definitely has charisma!

Chemistry: 

This was the second time I've seen AOF perform. The first time was 3 years and 2 days ago and at that time I didn't notice any tension or whatever, just saw a bunch of talented dudes loving what they were doing.

When I saw them recently, I noticed something different with one member actually. When they first came on stage, the guys were getting geared up and they noticed that they were short a guitar pick. Dallas said he left/saw (can't remember exactly) the picks near the amp. From my perspective (I could be totally off), I thought he seemed a bit frustrated when he said that. As I mentioned before, control was not originally on the set list. When the band was talking it out, Dallas said  how playing one more song was like doing a concert. I couldn't help but feel that he didn't want to be there (again, I can totally be off) doing what he was loving.

I've come to an undecided conclusion that:

a) Dallas was having an off day

b) Dallas is normally like that

c) I'm over analyzing things

Lastly, I got to meet the band afterwards and I'm still pretty happy about that - got my CD and poster signed. I thanked AOF for doing the show individually and Chris, who is actually my personal favourite, was the one I talked with most. He said how the band liked doing shows at small venues like the one we were at. It's comforting to know that the band you love like doing what they're doing, kinda like their heart is where it should belong.

NOTE: I'm not hating on Dallas.