Canada, Ottawa: Congress Center - August 20, 1997

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I just got back from the concert in Ottawa.  I have a guitar pick next
to me but i'm not sure whose it is cause i got it from a roadie after
the show.  My friend Jess caught the one that Ed threw into the croud,
and the one i got was identical, so it may be his as well.  Jess and i
were at the very front, right in front of Ed.  I'm pretty sure he and i
made eye contact several times.  At first he smiled, but after a few
times the look in his eyes seemed to say "Why does this bugger keep
staring at me like that???".  At one point Thom came over to Ed's side
of the stage and i'd swear he stared right at me for a second or two
(ah, me and my wishful thinking...).  My only other souvenir was a small
piece of the tape which held Ed's pedals to the floor.  He reached into
the crowd near the end of the show and i tried to shake his hand but
only caught hold of his fingers before he went back to his spot on the
stage.  I almost got his cigarette butt too but the usher gave to
someone who was shouting louder for it.  I just barely missed getting
one of Phil's drum sticks too.  As for the show itself, it was great, of
course.  There were a few abnormalities.  For instance, i don't know if
this has happened before, but they got off to a false start on Lucky.
Thom only sang "i'm on a" before he stopped and asked everyone to stop
moshing (which i appreciated since i was getting flattened against the
barrier), then they started again.  Also, they played Polyethyline for
the first time ever.  Best of all, Thom sang the new lyrics to Karma
Police.  Now the chorus goes "this is what you get, stop all that
pushing you fucking morons, this is what you get when you mess with
us".  Much better than the original words, don't you think? :)
The only real disappointment was CUTW (the synth bassline really gets
ruined when they play it live, doesn't it?).  They did play Creep, but
not the Tourist, (Nice Dream) or Thinking About You which really
disappointed me.

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