My birthday weekend ended up being a lot of fun, even if it was a wet one. Friday night, my buddy Scott was kind enough to me a couple of tickets to the first game of the Memorial Cup - the Giants vs. Plymouth. It was a really fun game - lots of action, and the Giants ended up winning in overtime. All in all, a fun night! Thanks Scott.

It looks like it's going to be a summer of music festivals for me. First Coachella, which was amazing; then this past weekend the first annual Virgin Music Festival. This was a two-day event, but I passed on the first day of the event - there were some OK bands, but no one that I was dying to see. Monday (day two...) was a different story...

Day two had a number of bands that I wanted to see, so I headed out to Thunderbird Stadium at UBC in the mid afternoon. After what had been a horrible long weekend (weather-wise), we finally got some sun! It actually got quite nice for the whole afternoon and evening. While this wasn't Coachella, there was a pretty good band list that I wanted to check out. Here's who I saw:

Metric
Hot Hot Heat
AFI
illScarlett
The Killers

I showed up about half way though Metric's set. I'm not a huge fan, but they have a few songs I like. Enjoyed the part of the set that I saw, and they closed strong with one of their big hits. It was a pretty good set. After they wrapped up I thought I would try to head into the beer garden - what a disaster! The line up took at least half an hour, which was completely unwarranted. They had a ridiculous process for checking ID and letting people in. By the time I managed to get in, Hot Hot Heat (HHH) were on stage - so i decided there was no point trying to get out and come back, so I watched their set from the beer garden. Not idea, but good enough. I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with HHH's music. There are a few songs I love, and a few that drive me crazy. But I'll give them credit, they put on a great, high energy set. They pulled out all the hits, and got the crowd into the show big time.

After HHH I wandered back out of the beer gardens, grabbed some food, and wandered over to watch AFI. Again, not very familiar with them - one or two songs that I new and liked. They are a bit hard for my general tastes, but again, they were very high energy, put on a great set, and really had the crowd going. I actually left their set before the end, and wandered up to the second stage, to see illScarlett. I figured I'd check out an "unknown" (well to me anyway...)band, and boy was I impressed. They're a Toronto band, and they pump out some pretty cool music. Definitely the "surprise" act of the show for me. I really enjoyed their set, and picked up one of their CDs for good measure. I like to support Canadian bands when I can.

The night ended with The Killers. The Killers are my favorite band going right now - straight forward rock and roll, with a bit of Brit-pop influence. Well I think they remind me a bit of some of those 90's bands... They put on an amazing set, and again you can just tell the different between a band like the Killer, who headline big shows and some of the other bands from earlier in the day. They really put on a great show. They played a nice mix of the big songs from the current album, plus they pulled out all the hits from their first album. This was my second time seeing the band - I had seen them a few years back at Bumbershoot in Seattle, the year they hit it big. What a difference a couple of years on the road makes. While the show in Seattle was good, they were pretty raw. There was a lot more polish to their act this time around. Man it was a good show!

Home for a Quick Visit; Off to Atlanta

2007-05-07

This past weekend I surprised mom and dad with a quick visit. I flew in Saturday afternoon, then back to Vancouver Sunday night. It was a lot of fun - especially mom's reaction to seeing me when I pulled up. :-)

It was nice to see everyone again - even if it was a very short visit. Mackenzie has grown so much in the past few months - unreal. I'm off to Atlanta for a quick work trip today - hopefully I'll be able to finish all the incomplete posts later this week.