Ottawa, Canada - November 12, 2005


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Kris Scissons:

Ok folks (especially Astrid....:)

Here's a review of the concert last night in Ottawa.

First I must say that I was very excited because longtime listmember 
(and an attendee of the 2000 concert in Ottawa), Ses and her husband, 
Ted were coming to the city for the show.

We met for dinner  and Ses had made the Read My Name t-shirts for us 
(each in our favourite colour!).  We shared some memories of our last 
visit and talked about the upcoming night.

We walked to the concert hall, checked out the souvenir booth.  After 
picking up a few items, we made our way to our seats......no, Ian, not 
front row, but awfully close.

We only had about a 10 minute wait before the first strains of "When 
Winter Comes" sounded through the speakers, and the "fog" began to roll 
across the stage.  At the end of the song, the lights went down and then 
CdeB climbed the stairs and made his way to the microphone.  He received 
a hearty round of applause and we settled in for an almost 3 hour 
journey.

I was thrilled because this was the first time I was able to bring my 3 
kids with me, and they weren't disappointed in any way.  Right from 
"The Road to Freedom" at the beginning of the show, to "Hey Jude".....
they sang along!! 
(I was so proud! ;)

The set list was long, with many songs from TRTF, but also many old 
favourites like "Lonely Sky", "Borderline", "A Spaceman Came Travelling" 
and "The Tower"!

At one point a couple of women ran to the stage with gifts, one a 
stuffed moose with flowers and a flag, and another wrapped present.  
Then one of the women was bold enough to climb the stairs of the stage 
and gave him a hug!! 
*I can't honestly say that I wasn't a bit jealous of her nerve!!*

CdeB was in extremely fine form vocally........but he also put on a 
great bit of stand up comedy between the songs.  We were laughing almost 
to the point of tears more than once (and I'm very glad that my kids 
are all teenagers, as some of the jokes were a little, ummm, mature!). 
He spoke about how is daughter got her looks, and how a husband/boyfriend 
should romance their woman (and if the woman is very lucky, they would 
both romance her at the same time....;)

He did his "Britney Spears" bit with the microphone headset and walked 
through the floor seating with his guitar while singing a medley of 
songs, and many fans took the opportunity to shower him with hugs, take 
photos and he danced in front of the stage with one young fan of about 
11 or 12yrs.  It was at this point that I recognized Helene from a 
couple of years ago.  She was in the first row and was able to have her 
picture taken with CdeB as he was making his way back to the stage.

Back to the stage and more songs, 2 of which were the highlights for my 
oldest kids...."Lady in Red" followed by "Spanish Train".  My son, who 
is 17 has counted Spanish train as one of his all-time favourite songs 
since he was about 3 yrs old!!

Just before he began the "Revolution" trilogy, he asked for the help of 
the audience and invited us to the front of the stage to sing and dance 
and act as his "band".  Needless to say that there was a rush to the 
stage as he sang the line "....and the sound of running feet", and Ses, 
my daughters and I were all able to make it to the very front, where we 
spent the rest of the set and both encores!!

We sang, clapped, and danced for the rest of the show!! *and took a few 
pictures too!*

At one point he came to the edge of the stage and Ses, one of my 
daughters and I were able to shake his hand!!!  Not the same as meeting 
him, but it was certainly a thrill for us!  We got a few big smiles from 
him as well.

He came down into the crowd in front of the stage once more, for some 
hugs, but he missed us by only a person or two!  *sigh*  At least we're 
getting closer, right Ses!?  *grin*

He did his final encore of "A Hard Day's Night", "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da", 
American Pie", "Pretty Woman" and of course..."Hey Jude".

As we were singing the end of "Hey Jude", CdeB put away his guitar, 
waved and slowly walked off the stage.  All of a sudden the lights came 
up and it was over.  

Wow.....what a concert.  It amazes me every time, how powerful his 
voice is through 3 hours.  I don't think I'll ever get tired of it.

After the show, I tapped Helene on the shoulder and she, her friend and 
a member of the the offlist (on Yahoo), Joel joined our group for a 
snack after the show.

It was such a wonderful night, we didn't want it to end, but my kids 
started getting sleepy and Ses was fighting a flu bug, so we eventually 
decided that we needed to say goodbye.  (Yes, Lourdes, I gave Ses a hug 
and a kiss from
you!!)

Well, it's very late here and I must get some sleep as I have to get up 
and work in the morning, so I'll end this review now.

Hope this gives you a little insight into a night in Canada (poopy 
diapers aside!)  And Ian, if I wasn't lucky enough to go to a show, your 
evening sounded perfectly lovely.......I'm a fan of Lenny Briscoe too!!!  
;)

Take care,
Kris :)


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File last modified on July 29th, 2006