I'm at Dayna's parents' house alone right now while she and her (lovely) mum are out walking all three dogs (two are Dayna's). So UPDATE TIME.
Now that my headache has faded and I've had some food I'm in the best mood.
Was a bit hung over last night on account of
Ohhhhh Smirnoff Ice. It was actually oddly delicious, I had a weird craving for it. Switched back to beer though. Ughhh beer and then smirnoff. Gross!
okok but before that:
Took Ottawa transit downtown to go and see the Arkells!
The bus was like a fun novelty for us! Especially for Dayna, total flashback town. Buses have such a weird stigma to them but they're actually kind of fun. When you make them an adventure at least.
We totally wienered our way onto guestlist (I threatened to kill myself if they didn't let us in, also offered to disguise myself as Max to be snuck in -- I wish I had to do that) and I was kind of excited because I'd never really been to an Arkells show.
To recap, I am vague buds with a couple of these dudes because they are band-bffs with Sweet Thing and sometimes play together, plus I've owned Dan Griffin's solo CD for about a billion years and it's totally a favourite of mine and of Mrs.'s and of Dayna's actually. So good. And they just seem to be around a lot. Especially at all the stadiums I work at lately.
I've seen bits of their sets in different situations. And saw them played on the jumbotron at Skydome while they were playing the Bills' tailgate party (amazing!) but probably not since they were still called Charlemagne had I seen an actual show.
We got there pretty late and it was paaaacked. So packed! Sometimes I forget that bands are popular!
We only saw a bit of the first band and then at the break we rammed our way up to the front. I lead with my elbows for sure. We tried a couple of different routes, actually, it was pretty hard to get up there.
Made it up the front and parked ourselves good. I only like to be right at the front or all the way at the back out of the crushingness. It's hard being a little guy sometimes!
One time I almost got smothered to death at a Watchmen concert in highschool. haaaa too tiny for rockandroll.
I only have really shit pictures, sorry dudes! Also couldn't really get any of the rest of the band, they were too far. Really I'm just posting these bad photos so that you keep looking at this entry.
I do really like it when they move too fast to be photographed! From all the rocking out.
Arkells put on a fucking good rock show, I'll tell you that for free. I danced and sang and danced and annoyed Dayna with my jumping around but it was worth it because if you're going to enjoy something then you should enjoy the shit out of it, ya know? Full enjoyment.
I knew that they were good, but man, they are so solid and Max's banter is perfect and the clap-alongs are obviously the best. The songs manage to be catchy but not annoying, they are loud but not offensive. Kind of the best mix. Obviously.
We stuck around afterward to make them pay attention to us. I got laughed at for being surprised at how busy it was. I hopefully didn't sound too surprised at how good I thought they were.
Had beers in the green room and I'm pretty sure that Dan was just hanging with us to make sure he didn't have to do any work. I offered to help load. I can do at least 3 push-ups so I feel like my skillz are pretty much invaluable.
cheers to the moon!!
Awwww texting her Sweet Thing husband!
so cute!
She kept showing us all adorable photos of him. We were all like "quit shoving your happiness in our faces!"
Jealz. It's actually super refreshing to hang around with someone so happy and in love with a partner who is actually just as awesome. She's so in love it's kind of amazing, really. Remind me not to settle for anything less.
Ohhh wait, it's me, I don't think I've ever understood the concept of settling.
ANYWAY.
Then we went down onto the stage and danced around (oh yeah, these guys actually had a barricade in front of them. That's what kind of show it was. A barricade show. that's what stopped me from storming the stage.) !
I like stages (no one is surprised).
Yeah I have no idea what's wrong with our faces. Too much fun?
Yep, that must be it.
Dayna was into having her picture taken! She was sooo fun.
Hahaa she was so T.O.ed at me for tweeting earlier that I was party all the time and she was only medium party. But that meant she had to step up and prove her party potential!
Winter is the worst! I'm not even going to bother planning outfits anymore, I always just end up with a jacket over top for most of the evening!
I was happy to have that jacket though when we went outside to watch them load the equipment (I like to watch. prize if you know where that quote is from!).
Freezing rain! so slippery! It was pretty terrible and funny. Day and I decided it made more sense to take transit back (free because her darling parents gave us tickets versus $$$ for a cab) and then the quick walk back from the station was soooo funny. We were slipsliding all over and basically skating down the roads in our smooth boots.
Luckily it was so silly that it was rather fun and exciting.
But yeah. Funtimes. Successful partytowning.
We were a bit worried that the dudes in the band we don't know so well thought we were the creepiest groupies, but I have to say that in this point in my life, I don't really care. I like bands and partytiming.
It's funny how bands on tour are so different than regular hometown shows. It's a different energy or something? Yeah?
SWEET THING TONIGHT.
Which was the excuse for this trip in the first place -- so Dayna could see her husband play! And I came along for the ride because I don't really have stuff to do! And I like fun things. Fun Sweet Things.
And I really liked the fat snow that was drifting down this afternoon. Sighssss.
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