Trois-Rivieres, J.A. Thompson Theatre, May 23, 2000
Traveling is always a fun and exciting thing to do. Especially when the focal point of the trip involves waking up at enormously early hours in the morning to catch the first bus heading out to your particular destination.
This was the case for the first of two MOIST shows I would get to see in one week. And let me tell you, it's hard work!
Sylvie and I arrived in Trois-Rivieres at around 10:30AM. We walked a bit from the bus station to the Youth Hostel we were planning on staying at that night. It seemed like everything was in walking distance from the bus, and from each other, which is always an amazing thing. I hate taking taxis and public transportation.
We
got our room, and began preparing our bags for what would end up becoming
a rather long day of sitting and waiting, waiting and sitting, waiting
patiently and then waiting some more etc. It wasn't a looong wait, but
a bunch of little teeny tiny waiting periods. I find those to be more
of a challenge than having it be waiting for what feels like a lifetime.
Surprisingly enough, it didn't feel that long sitting outside.
Sylvie and I were the first one's to arrive at J.A. Thompson. At the corner was a cafe called Cafe Morgane, a quaint little Second Cup type thing (but not as good) located in a very convenient place: the left view provided a nice looking spot for the guy's tour bus, as well as them and their crew, while the right view gave us the chance to watch and monitor the theatre, thus keeping ourselves first in line.
After a while, other people started coming. Kevin passed us a few times, and said hello. David and Jeff also passed by a few times. It was nice to see them and say hello, and see how they were doing.
Waiting for the doors to open wasn't all that bad, except for one very significantly mischievous thing: my god did Trois-Rivieres stink! Maybe it was just that day, or it was just a meer coincidence or something like that, but the streets had this smell; this awful stench that creeped up into your nose, and made you want to die! Either it was the smell of rotten dead animals, dead cows in dung, sewage, or who knows what. It was AWFUL! Sylvie and I seemed to be the only one's noticing it, and we could NOT breathe half the time waiting outside.
Later, we all went inside the theatre to wait, but that did NOT stop the scent from entering it's way into the room. Every time the door opened, the scent would enter like a thrust of wind trying to kill your insides. It was a smell worse than anything you could imagine! uuhggg .. peeeeeuuuwwwwww.
The room started to get packed with people, and we were waiting for the doors to open. These two girls, Fay and Valerie came up to me and asked if we wanted to buy VIP bracelets from them. I explained to them that it wouldn't make that much of a difference, since we could still sit in the front row, but on the sides. Then I offered them CD's in exchange for the VIP passes, and they were cool with that;-) So, Sylvie and I got VIP passes, which permitted us to sit in the very front row. So, I would like to thank Valerie and Fay for those VIP passes! You guy's ROCK!!! They'll be getting their CD's soon.
Our luck was getting pretty good. Until the moment when the doors opened. The guard had the NERVE to open the OTHER gate, and not the one that we were at. We were quite pissed off at that, since Sylvie and I were waiting there till about 10:30am. And so many people kept pushing their way through, I felt like screaming! Why do they need to push? Why can't they just slow down, take a breath, and wait their turn! Sheesh! Crazy people I tell ya. We finally got into the theatre and got our places in front of the stage.
After an entire day of waiting outside, it was nice to finally be inside, sitting down, in a nice theatre that didn't have the smell of dead cows and chickens rotting in a stew of shit. It was time for the show.
The
opening act, Martin Deschamps was pretty good. He's a Francophone singer
who has a few physical disabilities, but who's talent and voice far surpass
that. It was weird seeing him at first, but when he played bass, it blew
me away. I don't usually enjoy Francophone singers, but he is one that
I really do like. His performance completely changed my mind about him
and his music. Way to go Martin!
After his set, we waited for MOIST to come out. Finally, the moment we were all waiting for. They opened with Tangerine, and did an incredible performance. It was nice not having people push you and probe you while you're trying to enjoy the show and take photos. Since the place was seated, there wasn't any moshing or wild behavior going on, but that didn't limit the band's performance. They put on a kick-ass show as always. Not a dull moment in the room! I was able to take amazing photos, thanks to my friend Annie's AMAZING camera!!!!!!!!!! I was really happy with the show, as well as with my photos. At one point David was playing with Jeff right in front of where I was standing, and they saw me, and put on a little photography show for me. They were posing for my camera! David also at one point took my camera, and took a photo of the crowd;-)
Their setlist was pretty much the same from the previous tour:
Tangerine Machine Punch Through Silver Underground Break Her Down Forestfire Fish Leave it Alone Ophelia Comes and Goes Breathe Resurrection Alive Shotgun Push Dogs
David was very energetic, and so was everyone else It was one of the best shows I've seen so far!
After the show, we all went outside and hung around the tour bus waiting to talk to the band. Jeff was the first one to come out. He was really nice as always;-) We chatted about a few different things, took photos with him, and chatted some more. Kevin came out next. He looked pretty tired, but stayed and chatted with us for a little bit, and took photos etc. Paul was the next one to arrive, walking with a towel around his neck, barefooted. When I saw him, he, out of nowhere kissed me on both my cheeks and said "hey how are you?!" It was as if he knew me! It was quite bizarre, but really cool!
David and Mark came out last, and of course, all the 'girls' latched onto David like nothing else. We didn't get to talk to them much, but it was nice seeing them again. And at least I got David to sign my Indie Cassette! Wahhooo!
After that, Sylvie and I said goodnight to everyone, and walked back to where we were staying the night. A youth Hostel. We opened the lights, and to our amazement, there was a body of hair jumping from the top bunk! AHHH!!! It scared the SHIT out of us! There was this person in there that we didn't even know about! We closed the light, apologized to her and went straight to bed without even talking. It was definitely a night to remember.
The next day, we got up early, went to the bus station, and got the local Newspaper. They gave MOIST a HORRIBLE review which sooo pissed me off. The photo even sucked and the article sucked even more.
Trois-Rivieres was okay, but it was definitely NOT Montreal. After having been there, I think I'm even more grateful to be living in Montreal. Though that Cafe Morgane place really did have some nice tasting Frozen Fruit drinks;-P
All in all, it was a fun experience traveling from Montreal to Trois-Rivieres, and that night I found out I would be going to the Sherbrooke show!
Which is another review :P