Photos from CBC, Cyberpresse and my iPhone
It’s pretty good that I’m writing all this, cause my voice is pretty much useless right now and I can barely hear anything. I have to say this past weekend was probably the most exciting I had since I came back from Vegas and LA. On Friday afternoon, my friend and I jumped in my car and drove to Montreal to attend the Jay-Z concert at Bell Centre. We got there pretty early to have good spots on the floor, but we then got told that there were assigned seats on the floor, which kind of sucked. So, we were there awfully in advance, forced to watch the first parts. I HATE first parts. I think that 95% of the time, the ambiance sucks because people just want to see the main artist and they don’t give a damn about who plays first.
I have to say though that I was happily surprised by who played first. J. Cole, a new comer, opened up with 4 songs that were pretty good, followed by another couple of songs from Wale, which also was good. Then, I was really stoked to see Pharrell come on stage with N.E.R.D., and they gave one hell of a show I must say. Pharrell has an energy on stage that is almost unmatched.
Finally, King Hova raised from the floor, kicking the “Run This Town” lyrics, and the whole crowd just exploded. The stage for the show had to be one of the most insane setups I’ve ever seen in my entire life. Multiple LED columns of different sizes were aligned on stage to represent the NY skyline, and different visual effects were projected on those all night.
Once Memphis Bleek came on stage for a surprise appearance, and the first notes of “U Don’t Know” started, I thought the roof was going to fall down. I’ve honestly never seen a crowd so excited, chanting and bouncing along. It was really something special. He went on, playing countless hits, both classics and new songs from The Blueprint 3. He ended the night with his new single “Forever Young” and left the same way he got on stage. Exhausted, we got back in the car and left for QC.
The next day, I had a Halloween party on schedule, but didn’t have a costume. I raced to Village des Valeurs, as did hundreds of other people that were just as late as me. I managed to find 5-6 items that would be perfect to make a Joker costume. I came back home, chopped a couple of pieces of fabric, put makeup on my face, and it was a success !
No, it doesn’t end here ! On Sunday, I had a pair of tickets to go see the second Metallica concert at Colisee Pepsi in Quebec. We got in the auditorium to find out we had probably the worst tickets we ever had. Metallica was shooting for a live DVD, so there was a video booth setup, and it was right in front of us ! Still, when we were standing up, we had a very good view, and god knows we stood up during this show. The rock veterans put on an incredible show with incredible lighting/laser and pyro.
I have to say though that the sound in the Colisee is starting to be mediocre. Sometimes the vocals were almost inaudible and some guitar solos were hard to hear. Plus, I thought the setlist was maybe not the best they’ve ever put together. Where was For Whom The Bell Tolls, The Unforgiven, Fade to Black ? Nonetheless, One, Master of Puppets, Sanitarium and all the other classics, mixed with some hits from the new Death Magnetic, were all priceless to hear.
Bottom line, I’m glad I finally got to see them live, since I missed them back in 2004, and I feared that it might have been the last time they made the trip here.
I wouldn’t do this every weekend, but I have to say that was one crazy weekend that I won’t soon forget !
