A concert for me?

March 22nd.

I've known about this concert for a couple weeks. It seemed too good to be true. David Usher, my favorite artist since 1995, was going to play at Zaphod's, this little club for the unpretentious with a concert stage no bigger than a small bedroom and no higher than a gnome.

Moist's first album was readily available in 1994 for people like me to eat up. Creature came out in '96 and by then people were taking notice. They played the closing concert at La Foire Brayonne in Edmundston on August 2 nd in 1997. I was in town then, visiting my mom and extended family. I remember my older cousin was going to attend the concert with her friends, but I was too young to go unchaperoned, so Mom was brave enough to take me. We stayed outside the concert fence, I could see the stage, the sound was loud and clear, and that was enough for me. At the time, I didn't want to be in the pit anyway. Two folks who left the concert before it was over give us their tickets so we could get in. We popped in for the sole purpose of buying an early birthday gift for moi, a burgundy tee with a silver Moist logo. (I still have it.)

I saw them again at Summersault '98, the best concert of my life. The Can Am Speedway in Shediac hosted the outdoor concert with two stages. The small stage had up and coming bands like Bucket Truck (who?) and Treble Charger, while the big stage featured Esthero, I Mother Earth, Moist and Our Lady Peace. I even got to talk with the IME basist for a while (Emilie can attest to this!) then met their new front man. (Remember Edwin's departure?) Other memorable moments include running from the loo to the stage at high speed through a field of muck as soon as we heard Moist, swaying to OLP's mega-extended version of 4am, and Andre crusted with mud from head to toe.

Then his solo career took off, and I attended his concert in 2001 in Moncton, then for free in the summer of '02 at the X in Ottawa. The point is: Big fan.

I was called crazy for going to a concert by myself, but I never once regretted it, especially when the girly girl next to me told her friend I was a loser. I wasn't aware I'd lost anything! Anyway, opening act was great. I thoroughly enjoyed how the singer and her band mate had to disassemble their own gear and walk through the crowd with their equipment. (There's no backstage entrance at Zaphod's.) She later saved me from the classic embarrassment of walking out of the loo with a long trail of T.P. stuck to my shoe.

Then came the headliners.. David Usher! ..And most of the former Moist. Was that Kevin Young and Jeff Pearce?? They too walked through the crowd, hopped on stage, and blew everyone's minds from start to finish then to finish again. The crowd went wild when they left the stage, and they encored for about 45 minutes thereafter. It was Nelly hot in there. Wow. For such chitty chatty prior to the actual event, I don't have much else to say about the concert! My mind's was blown to pieces! I never expected to see my favorite artist play in such an intimate venue. If you can try and imagine how unreal that would be, I assure you that it was.

Gotta thank BC for being that genius he is and turning to Ticketmaster. If it wasn't for you, I would have trusted the sourciest (m) source at said venue who informed me the show had been sold out for months...

(m) Sourciest: Most trustable source, the one who should be giving your the most accurate information. It's in the Emtionary. (because who's dic? and what makes him so knowledgeable of the English language?)