Trooper Live In St. Anthony, Newfoundland July 24th 2012

The other show I got to see while on holidays was Canadian classic rockers Trooper play in St. Anthony, Newfoundland as part of "Come Home Year". Trooper were the headliners for the week of festivities. While I have never been a fan of the group or had any desire to see them play live, I had tickets for the show nonetheless.

St. Anthony is in the northern peninsula of Newfounland and is a town of about three thousand people, the population was almost double for the week of "Come Home Year" and it was a hopping, lots going on everywhere. The town has always been a big supporter of Trooper from what I understand. As this was the third time Trooper has played St. Anthony in their 38 year career. There were a lot of people excited about this show. So if you are going to see Trooper it might as well be in a town like this.I was even getting excited about this show. Trooper were scheduled to hit the stage at 11pm at the old Olympia Arena. Beforehand there were a lot of pre-partying going on allover St. Anthony, we got there just before 11 and everyone was primed to have a good time. We missed the opening band (Jason Rogers) obviously getting there that late.

Janis,Cuz and I got there in enough time to get some beer tickets, get through the beer line up, get a few in us and then Trooper came on. The Olympia Arena was packed for this show with about 2500 people packed in the place and ready to party. I lost Cuz in about the first 15 minutes of being there. Trooper played about an hour set which seemed awfully short for being the headlining band. They played all their hit including songs such as 'We're Here For A Good Time (Not A Long Time)', 'Three Dressed Up As A Nine', 'Raise A Little Hell', 'Two For The Show', 'Boy's In The Bright White Sports Car' and a song I actually don't mind 'Thin White Line' guess what that's about. Everyone dancing and carrying on and having the time of their life. I was even having a blast. I thought lead singer Ramon McGuire sounded kind of rough, but then the man is 62 years old and has been fronting the band for 38 years, the only other original member of the band guitarist Brian Smith sounded alright, the band was tight and put on an ok show. The biggest complaint I heard that night and days after was how short of a set they played. All and all a fun time.

After Trooper the opening band Jason Rogers came back on and played til about 3 in the morning, playing all kinds of covers and kept the party going. Most of the crowd seemed to be having even more fun with Jason Rogers playing as they did with Trooper. But then everyone was pretty liquored up by then.

One of the funniest things I saw at the show was in the fenced off area outside they had for smokers was a lady asking 3 other ladies that she didn't even know if they would stand in front of her as a wall. All three stood across, she went behind them, dropped her drawers and took a piss right in the smokers area, fuck did I laugh. Bad thing was, I knew the lady doing the deed. Lol.

Like I said earlier, I lost Cuz early in the evening, but found him back at home (Janis' place) in the greenhouse crashed out on the floor. Again, laughed my ass off. So I awoke him and we stayed up for another 6 beers or so. Good times!!!

Some pictures I took at the show.

Olympia Arena where show took place.

Trooper.

I should also mention a big thanks to Janis' brother Baxter, for not only picking up our tickets for the show, but also for paying for them. Thanks Baxter!!!

In concert news...Trooper will be playing in Edmonton on the weekend of Aug 17 and 18th at Hawrelak Park Amphitheatre as part of the second annual Rock Music Festival. Other bands on the bill are Blue Oyster Cult, April Wine, Barney Bentall, Prism among others.