I got to see one of my very favorite artists ever, a man I grew up on as a little kid, Stompin' Tom was one of the first records I ever owned (The Hockey Song album) when I was 7 year sold. I am talking about the ultimate Canadian, Stompin' Tom Connors. I saw him twice in the summer of 2001. The first time was in Calgary on July 6th, where I saw him play the Jack Singer Concert Hall, I went to this show with my brother, he too is a big fan of Stompin' Tom. Jack Singer is a performing arts Centre, so it's plush seats and very good acoustics a little up scale for me, sit in your seat kind of show, all and all this was a very fine show and my brother and I had a great time.
Two weeks to the day, I got to see Stompin' Tom again, this time in Edmonton on a Friday night again, at the Skyreach Centre (Coliseum) the floor for this show at the coliseum was set up cabaret style. There were a few thousand people at the show and the beer was a flowing big time. At least at the show in Edmonton, you could drink, and dance and just have a very good time. The sound wasn't the best, Calgary was better for sound, because of where he had played, but this was a way more fun show. People of all ages singing and dancing and carrying on. Lots of fun was had at this show. I went with Geddy, Hurl, Hillary and my Cousin. Good times!!!!
Another great show I saw in 2001 was John Mellencamp with The Wallflowers opening, talk about a great double bill. I went to this show with my cousin, I managed to get front row seats on the floor the day before the show. Knowing how big of a fan my cousin is of Mellencamp, I invited him to check the show out with me.
And with the Wallflowers opening, we were in for a treat. I thought the Wallflowers were excellent, they put on a rocking show playing lots of songs from the album Bringing Down The Horse which is an awesome album. They closed their set with a rocking cover of The Who's - Won't Get Fooled Again, and rocked it the fuck out, big time. A great set for an opening band.
Then of course we had Mellencamp come on, opening with The Stones song Gimmee' Shelter, which caught me by surprise, didn't expect him to open his show with a cover song. He put on an awesome show, playing for over 2 hours and playing all the hits and some new tracks from his album Cuttin' Heads, which hadn't even been released yet. All and all, a great double bill, and excellent seats too :)
The hilite for me in 2001 was seeing Ween play in Vancouver at The Commodore Ballroom back to back on September 2nd and 3rd. Both shows were fucking amazing. I went to both shows with my friend A Bomb. And what a time we had, and not only at the shows. We stayed in a flea bag hotel with a stripper bar on the main floor, good times,lol. And then there were the late night excursions down East Hastings, never borring walking down that street. And then also there was sitting in our room all bugged out watching the freaks from our 5th story room, speed freaks,junkies,hookers,bums all kinds of fun. Then there was only oone bed in our room, not that we did much sleeping, but damn, sleeping on the bottom part of the bed, wooden frame,ouch,lol. What a great time we had them two days.
As for the shows, well the first night was excellent with Ween playing all the songs you would expect and playing for about 3 hours. There was no lack of pot being smoked at this show.This was the first time I had been to a show at The Commodore Ballroom and what an awesome venue to see a show. A really good time was had.
The second night of Ween was even better then the first night. They again played for 3 hours, but this show seemed to be a lot browner then the first night. If your a fan of Ween, you would understand about the show being more brown. They played all kinds of weird shit that they don't usually play. A real freak fest this show, and again, lots of pot being smoked in the venue. Once again, Ween put on a great night of music.
Another great show I travelled to Vancouver for was the Janes Addiction show Nov.3rd at Pacific Coliseum. A Bomb once again made it out to the show with me.
This was my first and only time so far seeing the awesome Janes Addiction with openers Stereo MC's. Didn't really checkout the opening band, little busy getting some drinks in us. We had general admission floor tickets for this show.
What a fucking excellent show it was too. Although, I almost had to bail on it. Before Janes came on stage, we were right up front in the masses, smoking pot and rinking from flasks that were being passed around, and they had this fucking fucked up trance music playing, which put me in a trance, I thought I was going to pass out. A Bomb looked at me at one point and asked if I was ok, my reply was, no. Luckily he was there to talk me through my trip out and keep me standing, not long after that, Janes finally hit the stage much to my relief. Once they came on, I was fine, but holy fuck, do I ever hate trance disco shit.
The show started with lead singer Perry Farrell coming out with this big parachute dress on, then as he is singing, all these dancers and such come out from under his dress, fucking weird shit,man,lol.
This was a great show, I was very stoked to finally see them play live as they have been one of my favorite bands for a long time. No disappointment at this show, good time was had by all.
So those are some of the shows that really stuck out to me after 8 years, it was a busy year for show. here is a list of oter shows I saw in 2001.
Everclear with Nickleback at Shaw Conference Centre, Elvin Bishop at The Myer Horowitz Theatre, Supersuckers (Country show) at Suburbs (a great fucking show), Steve Earle with Stacey Earle at Winspear Centre, Sno Jam which consisted of Sick Of It All,AFI,Death By Stereo, Nicotine,Planet Smashers and Zero Down at Red's, Johnny Winter at The R&B Club ( fucking awful show, which I will write about later), Danko Jones with Three Days Wiser at Red's, Buddy Guy at The Jubilee Auditorium, Colin James and Wide Mouth Mason on the Legislature Grounds on Canada Day after this show, everyone hit Whyte Ave and had the legendary riot, Warped Tour in Calgary at the Race City Motorsport Park, bands that I saw were AFI, Less Than Jake,Bouncing Souls,Me First and The Gimme Gimmes,Rancid,Alien Ant Farm, and the Vandals, I am sure there were a few more, but don't recall, The Reverend Horton Heat with Bare Jr. at Suburbs (another great double bill), Jasper Folk Festival where I saw Eric Bibb (fucking awesome) and The Rheostatics and more, Black Crowes with Beachwood Sparks in Vancouver at The Orpheum Theatre, Big Sugar with Staggered Crossing at Shaw Conference Centre, The Real McKenzies at Stars, Supersuckers again at Likwid Lounge 9rock n' roll show), Merle haggard with Carolyn Dawn Johnson at Skyreach Centre and finally The Bad Brains at Suburbs. Quite the year for shows. Good times!!!!
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