Calgary, August 27
The Concert was held at Race City Speedway- a big racetrack. A good deal for everybody, since it was in the middle of nowhere, had lots of space, and didn't bother anybody who didn't want to hear all the great music. There was alot of parking, at least when I got there, and the tickets were just general admission, which means everybody is equal and happy. There were even some bleachers for people who were afraid to sit on the ground, or tired, or whatever. The sound I heard was pretty good, but I was down 'mosh pitting' <HEY GOAT!!>... never mind. Since I was down with all the other people, I couldn't focus all my attention on the music, as people were kicking me in the head, and pushing me around and stuff. It was a HOT day, I would guess around 25 Celsius (77 Fahrenheit?) and it was even hotter in the pit. I'd imagine that some people passed out from the heat- I was getting close a few times. The fire hose they turned on the crowd every now and then was VERY nice. Since this was my first 'mosh pitting' experience, I don't know if pits usually get that hot. I wouldn't think so. Silverchair came to these two concerts, since it was in their tour area, but they didn't go to the east part of the Edgefest tour. Lucky us. Collective Soul played pretty good, I thought. To start their show, Ross (the lead guitar player, yes, we are on a first-name basis :) came out and started playing a new intro to Simple. Most People didn't know what song it was. One at a time, the rest of the band came out, and added their part to the intro. Once Ed came strutting onto the stage, they started into the song. It was pretty cool. Most of the songs they played were about the same as they were on the CDs. I think thats the way it should be. The way it is played on the CD is the way the people like it. Somebody should tell the Smashing Pumpkins this little secret. There was a little intro on Where the River Flows that was different, and they played the chorus on December way cooler than on the CD. They also played Crazy Train by Ozzy Osbourne. It sounds like Simple. The one bad thing about the Collective Soul performance was that most of the people in the pit were idiots. Everybody tried crowd surfing at once, so the rest of us, who were trying to watch the band were constantly getting kicked in the head, or getting people tossed on us. Once we'd get rid of one idiot, another one would fall on us. It was like it was raining idiots. Despite the strange weather, I still enjoyed their performance. Another thing that stuck out in my mind about the Collective Soul performance was that after they were done playing, they stayed out on stage a bit longer than the other bands, and waved to the crowd. I though that was kind of cool. The other bands may have done this too, but I was watching Collective Soul closer, so I may not have noticed the others. The one downfall to the Edgefest in Calgary was that there was no public transit, or anything going out to the track. I waited an hour and a half at least to get back to the road, which was 3 km away. that works out to about 1.5 km/hr. You have no idea how SLOW that is until you have actually done it.
Edmonton, August 29 - Judgement Day
For those of you that haven't seen Terminator, Judgement Day (August 29, 1997) was when the computers were supposed to take over the world... or at least Los Angelus, or wherever it was supposed to take place. I wouldn't have remembered, but I watched it a little while ago. Edgefest in Edmonton was held at a Football Stadium (Telus field for anyone who cares), and there was city transit going to it, which was good. Thats about where the advantages end. The Bands were the same, and I think they all performed the same- a few different songs here and there, but they kinda sounded the same to me, at least they would have if the sound man would have done a better job. I'm not saying that I could do a better job, but I'm sure somebody could have. Like in Calgary, I watched Collective Soul closer than the others, since they are my favorite, but the sound mix was pretty bad, at least from where I was sitting. The vocals were too loud until Ross ripped a solo, then the soundguy cranked the solo so loud that it distorted, and didn't sound near as good as it should have. In Edmonton, they had general floor tickets by the big stage, and general seating tickets. They both cost the same, just the early people got the floor tickets. We even got ripped off on out early bird tickets. Some meathead screwed up when we ordered them, and to make a long, boring story short, they ended up costing us $35 instead of $25. I know thats not alot of difference, but in the words of Bob & Doug "Ten bucks is Ten bucks!". I sat for this one to let other people have a chance to go 'mosh pitting'. Whoever layed out the stages in the stadium, and how the wristband crap worked should be layed out. I realize that there are probably some kind of regulations as to how many people can be on the field at a time- thus the wristbands, but no wristband was needed to get on the floor by the small stage, where all the less known bands played. The small stage was fenced off, and there was no opening on the floor to go directly to the big stage, so everybody had to go up through the stands to get back to the big stage. When everyone was going back and forth between the stages, they thought it would be a good idea to cut through the first 3 rows of chairs... guess where I was sitting. I don't know if all stadiums are this way, but when you sit in those oh so comfortable plastic chairs, your knees hit the chair in front of you for added comfort, so you can imagine how thrilled I was when I saw a few thousand people charging at me and my orange seat. I also made the mistake of sitting next to my friends, who wisely picked seats by the isle. If anybody has sat in an isle seat at a concert, they'll know what I'm talking about. I missed the first two songs from each group because people were trying to walk in front of me, and people were backed up from getting their wristbands checked. This was kind of funny, I thought. In Calgary, they had a fire hose to cool off the horde of 'mosh pitters'. It worked quite well. In Edmonton, they had a stupid squirt gun. I laughed. Ha. It wasn't quite as hot in Edmonton as it was in Calgary, which was a good thing for the crowd. I know this was just my problem, but it added to my "Not as good as Calgary" list. You have all heard a crowd of cheering/screaming people. There is always that one girl that follows them around and screams louder than the rest of the crowd. That girl was in Edmonton... how do I know, you ask? well, you see, she was sitting right behind us. I fail to see why or how one person would make that much noise over a few guys. Maybe it's because I am a guy. Maybe it is because I am in a band, and know how all that stuff works, and have a different point of view... who knows. To top of my "Not as good as Calgary" list of Edgefest in Edmonton- it was in Edmonton. I have nothing against the city, or anything, but it's about 5 hours away from where I live, and that's a ways to drive.
Calgary: 8/10
Edmonton: 4/10