On a sunny weekend in March, my good friend Kim and I joined 54.40 and
their opening act Pepper Sands on a 3 show tour through British Columbia.
By car, van, bus, ferry and foot, we trecked from Vancouver to Abbotsford,
Victoria, Whistler and home again. The exhausting weekend of strange brews
and strange beds left us content with our dose of 54.40 fun. As I always
like to do, I kept a journal to review each show while it remained fresh
in my mind. Not the most thourough of chronicles, but they certainly
captured in the enthusiasm of 3 fantastic shows.
Abbotsford
I think I'm in love... with Neil's Telecaster. Aaah, what a time, what a time,
and there are still two more shows to go (Kim is currently playing the with set
of Matt's sticks I picked up after the show..though, despite her insistance,
I'm not sure she did learn exactly "how to play the drums" from watching just
one Pepper Sands set). It was a fun, fun, time in Abbotsford. I enjoyed
finally hearnig Love Rush in its entirety live (missed part of the WCMA set),
and all the classics were out to play tonight.
Pepper Sands was amazing. These guys have big things in store for them. I'll
give you the set list then some further details.
I Go Blind
Lies to me
Crossing A Canyon
On Day in your life
She's a Jones
Lost & Lazy
Nice 2 Luv U
One Gun
Blame Your Parents
Radio Love Song
Since When
Casual Viewin
Baby Ran
Unbend
Ocean Pearl
She-La
Assoholic
Love Rush
Luv U All
I think Phil seemed confused that I was actually taking notes during their set,
but I was writing down chords that I have been unsure of, or missed while
learning 54.40 songs at home. That and drooling over Neil's guitar. I have an
intense love of Telecasters in many varieties, but due to some string breaks
(Phil & Neil both broke strings during the first song), Neil turned to his
rarely used, but beautiful wood finished brown Tele instead of his usual
Black/pearl guitar. When I see this many shows, it is these strange little
details that remain vivid. What happened: Phil was exhausted, shots were
served, Neil and Brad enjoyed some scotch, Brad addressed the crowd, and wished
someone a happy birthday, Mike shouted for Travel with Jack...Neil responded
by saying that Jack has fallen down, and he's not getting up again. I think
this was a not-so-subtle way of saying they don't know the song any more.
Honestly, I'm just impressed Neil remembered that he wrote that song.
Ugh, tired, will continue this diatribe at a later date. Must sleep before
getting on the ferry for another show. (Man, there's something great about
leaving a concert and saying "I'll see you tomorrow".)
Victoria
Sleep? wha? no. Just got in from Whistler an hour ago, and I promise to get to
that show, but I must do Victoria first. Since I couldn't get to a computer
yesterday, I wrote a review on the ferry comming back. Good timing, we ended
up on the same ferry as the band both ways. This is what I scribbled down:
Victoria...LOUD. I'm including this review in the form of my journal entry,
because that is the only paper I have to write on, and if I wait until
Whistler, I'll forget. Set list was the same as last night, but Assoholic was
cut short do to an assoholic who tossed a beer bottle on stage. The venue was
packed, cramped, crowded, excited, awesome. Victoria is always a good time.
Had technical difficulties with my film from yesterday, so all of my
Abbotsford pics are toast. i think some of the new ones will turn out well, and
I will be acquiring more film before the next show. The band has been plugging
away, despite exhaustion (a feeling I am currently well aquainted with).
Pepper Sands have put on amazing shows, last night's set was the best I have
seen them play yet, and they have been gracious hosts to Kim and I. The crew
(Meep, Boink & Ross) are working hard, sleeping little and doing an excellent
job. At the moment, we're on the ferry coming back to the mainland, and the
band is downstairs doing a commercial for an HIV campain. Oops! Gotta get
going now, we're in Tsawwassen. More reviews in Whistler!
Whistler
"Somebody screeeeaaaam!"
I've been spoiled. Really, 3 shows just aren't enough, and I don't like the
idea of going back to 'real life' today. So it's all over, I am ridiculously
tired, but definately feeling satisfied. Last night was a show in Whistler,
and since someone dug up some merch, I was finally able to make myself useful,
and sell some stuff for my favorite band. It really was as if they had
wandered through an old closet of 54.40 "items", dumped em in a bag, and
handed them to me. There was a white tank top from "Fight for Love", 1 trusted
by millions t-shirt with a UFO on it, some Heavy Mellow shirts, various Casual
Viewin shirts and hats, plus Casual Viewin USA CDs. It was great fun. Kim
watched the table for me a couple of times so I could snap some photos. I was
asked some funny questions while I worked. My favorite was "are you the wife
of someone in the band?". Haha, now that was interesting. I was tempted to ask
the woman which member she thought I was married too, hehe. The set was mostly
the same as the last 2 nights, but they exchanged Daisy for Assoholic.
Couldn't help but smile at Phil and Neil singing falsetto "ooh ooh"'s during
Lost n Lazy. Whistler is such a party crowd, so the band fed off everyone's
energy, and played a fun set. We decided to dub this weekend as the "March
Love Tour".
Big thank you-s to the crew and the boys who took care of us so well this
weekend. Until next time!
Random Stats from the March Love Tour.
(in other words, stuff that didn't fit elsewhere)
-# of strings broken on stage: 2
-colour of Ross's goatee: royal blue
-# of times Neil shouted "somebody screeaam!" on stage: 4
-Brad's stage wardrobe: Green Ripzone t-shirt and Jeans (Abby), striped t-shirt
and Jeans (Victoria & Whistler).
-Phil's stage wardrobe: Black, v-neck 'nipple shirt' (Abby), green ripzone t-
shirt (Victoria & Whistler), plus his ever present "Kung -Fu Pants" (they still
just look like track pants to me).
-Matt's stage wardrobe: a green BAMA t-shirt and jeans
-Neil's stage wardrobe: a long sleaved, navy button down shirt, with small
little patterns on it, and jeans.( Abby & Whistler), a FFF soccer jersey
(Victoria)
-I'll skip the hair report, since a picture says it better than words. Photos
will be uploaded soon.
-The lyric is "when love hurts go deep"
-# of inside jokes developped over the weekend: lost count (dirty dogs bark the
gas, you can call me bruce, just for the halibut, f*** it up!, green apple,
mmm...flax...)
-Phil admits to not knowing all the words, but that's okay, cause Neil mumbles.
-Sometimes sloppy guitar is better
-Tai Chi is hard when you're drunk
-Neil noodles Fleetwood Mac riffs to check the tuning of his guitar.
-Phil sucked on a new guitar pick before playing it...mmm, powdery plastic
flavour...
-Beer cures all