An Evening and a Love Affair with Barenaked Ladies

I am friends with music people.  Serious music people.  People who know all kinds of obscure tunes, who post YouTube videos of old music shows and videos I've never heard of.  I have several friends who are DJ's, many who think the best thing to do with their weekends is to go to a show or a festival or a record store.  I admire them all.  I admire their passion for music.  I have discovered a lot of new music through them.  But by and large, to me, music is just more noise in my environment.  I really don't listen to ANYTHING, given much of a chance.  It is the introvert's curse.  I last really paid attention to music in the late 90's, when Savage Garden was still together, Rob Thomas was not yet taking it solo but just chillin' with Matchbox 20, when Train had 1 little hit and called it a day.  About 4 years ago, when we had teenagers in the house, I had no choice but to brush up on more current music, and rediscovered Train, in addition to some other music that I have to say is not half bad, even if it's the most commercial pop available.  I have fond memories of listening to Kelly Clarkson and Lady Gaga and Taylor Swift and Cee Lo Green with Penny.  But by and large, when I left my teens behind, I more or less said Adios! to music beyond what I already liked.  I've kept up with my favorites however, and none more so than my all time favorite band, Barenaked Ladies.

I discovered them in the late 90's when I was working at summer camp after college and, like everyone else, we are all singing If I Had a Million Dollars.  The CD didn't belong to me, it was the camp director's, so I didn't really listen to it all that much as she had other things she wanted to hear.  If I had to fault myself for something musically, it's that when I hear a song I like, I never really go on and listen to anything else the artist does beyond their big hits.  I know exactly one Gotye song.  I know maybe 3 or 4 Lady Gaga songs, yadda yadda.  So I just didn't much bother listening to anything by BNL until a few years later when my sister brought home their "All Their Greatest Hits1991-2001" CD.  And I was totally hooked.  There wasn't a single song on there I didn't love.  If I'm being honest, I think I even stole the CD.

Still, it took a while until I got to see them in concert for the first time.  With the release of Barenaked Ladies Are Me in 2006, they went on tour and came to the Patriot Center in Fairfax, Virginia.  My friend Heather got tickets and 4 of us went, including my sister, and it was my first time seeing BNL in concert.  Steven Page was still with the band and it was magical.  Hearing the songs live, singing them with friends, it all had so much more meaning and just took things to a new level.  We sang for days after that concert.  It was awesome.

In 2011, they came to Celebrate Virginia Live here in Fredericksburg, and I got tickets to that show for me, my sister, Heather, and our new exchange student, Kristin.  Kristin was not terribly impressed, a modern teenager through and through, but for the other three of us it was incredible.  We got "gold level" seating, which at CVL means you can pay to enter into preferred seating and sit anywhere (it cost all of $25!  What a bargain!).  We got second or third row seats, dead center, and it was amazing.  Steven Page had left the band by then and we were all wondering what it would be like without him.  But my friend Emily summed it up succinctly, "Didn't need him."  Although that's probably a bit blunt, and there are times that I do miss his voice on their albums, I have to say, BNL has managed to forge ahead without him as a very strong musical force.

So fast forward to 2013, my life has changed dramatically, and I am really trying to figure some shit out while mainly acting like Brian Wilson (without the drugs and alcohol), and up pops Grinning Streak.  And there seemed to be a lot of songs on the album that spoke to me in the midst of my predicament.  I really took the time to listen to it on my own, and ignored what my friends were saying for the first little bit, formed my own preferences for my favorite songs.  Grinning Streak just came along at the right moment for me.  It was the right album at the right time.

With it came the announcement of the Last Summer on Earth tour.  Initially I didn't see much about DC on there--BNL was going to Columbia, MD (I didn't want to go up there) and then they were going to Virginia Beach, but it was as part of a music festival and I didn't very much feel like doing that either.  So I invited myself to Chicago to see them and in July that's precisely what I did.  It was a significant event in that it was just before the anniversary or Mike's death and the album was really helping me cope with that, but it was also part of re-connecting with Kyle, and he is a music guy, so it was fun to go to the concert with him.  The fans there were awesome--I sat next to a guy for whom this was his 10th BNL concert in a very short amount of time, and every time BNL strummed an opening chord, this guy would throw his arms in the air and scream, no matter what song was playing.  He was really, really nice.  Despite the fact that my feet hurt and it was hot and I didn't especially want to sing and make an idiot of myself in front of Kyle, I just had a blast at that concert.  It was such a great atmosphere (seriously, the midwest is awesome), such a great show, such great music, such great company.  It had been long enough that I hadn't seen BNL in concert that I kind of rediscovered how awesome they were.  They had a British comedian, Boothby Graffoe, open for them, as well as Ben Folds, and that was great.  There was just nothing bad about it.

I got home and I lived off that high for a month or two.  Then I looked at the tour again and discovered Washington DC was added in November.  I called my sister up and asked her if she wanted to go, which of course she did, so I got us tickets and within 3 or 4 days, we were going to see them in DC.  It was one of those serendipitous moments when I happened to catch the tour on time and whatnot, and I started to kind of get into the cult of BNL.  We had dinner at a restaurant across the street from the theater and it was packed to the rafters with BNL fans.  There was one man, maybe 10-15 years older than me, who was really freaking out because the service was slow and he didn't want to miss the show, and we got talking and just really a nice guy despite being a little high strung.  But you kind of find these fellow fans and it all kind of clicks.  I am finding it pretty rare now when I talk to someone for whom it's their first time at a BNL show.  And you listen to people's stories and what the music means to them, and the shows, and it's just incredible.

So that show was great, we called my friend Melissa  in the middle of it because she is a diehard "Odds Are" fan and when they played that song, we recorded it into her voice mail, which made her happy.  And I really thought that would be the end of it.  Somewhere in this time, I started following BNL on Twitter, and although I really, really, REALLY wanted to go over to the UK for their tour there, I didn't.  And then they announced their Canadian tour 2014.  I looked over the list of where they were going to be and spied Kingston.  And it occurred to me that Kingston is not too, too far away from my dad's house.  So I called my dad and said, "Dad!!!  Are you busy the last week in January?  And can we go to Kingston?" and his answer was no and yes respectively, so I told him I wanted to go to the BNL show and he was kind of iffy about it but said he'd go.  They had VIP packages available, so I snapped them up for him, me, Leah, and his girlfriend.  Last week was The Day.  I was so, so so excited.  I had a hard time deciding what I wanted to bring to have autographed, I had a hard time deciding what I wanted to wear, what I wanted to say, how it was going to go...  And I started to pray that no one would wear black.

Because, you see, last summer, we also went backstage to meet Train, my second favorite band, and Leah FREAKED OUT because they were wearing black and she is apparently terrified of people wearing black.  So that was money down the drain!  She climbed up and wrapped herself around my neck so I couldn't breathe or speak, and nothing the band said and nothing I said made any difference.

So, Thursday, we left Dad's around 2:30.  His girlfriend couldn't go due to her chemotherapy schedule and I had been unsuccessful at selling her ticket for the show or even giving it to any number of my friends.  So I just had the thought, "Tonight you can use the extra to make someone's life a little bit better" and I figured the right person would present themselves in some way that I would know to give them a pass.

We got to Kingston and I was on a mission for a while to find some Canadian stuff that I never did manage to find.  We had dinner and headed over to the K Rock Center, and no problem whatsoever--we were in the system, they gave us the passes and we were in.  (This is stark contrast to my experience with LiveNation at the Train concert--I never received my initial email and only with the sheerest of luck did I go over to the concert venue early and discover the meet n greet group, because no one at the venue itself had any idea of what was going on for the VIPs!).  And going to a concert in Canada is a totally different experience, let me also say that.  When I took Leah to see the Fresh Beat Band in November, my bags were searched and I was sent packing with my iPad, and told I couldn't have it with me.  In contrast, the guy manning the door at the KRock center didn't even seem all that concerned that I had a huge tote bag with me full of "stuff", I wasn't searched at all, and they barely glanced at our tickets.  Everyone was unfailingly polite, friendly, and completely unconcerned that I might set off a dirty bomb.  It was eye opening and refreshing.  A reminder of a saner time, it reinforced my growing love affair with Canada.

Me and Leah with Emma from England

So we went over to the VIP area and waited, Dad walked Leah around the center to burn off some energy and at 7 on the dot, we were met by the tour manager and he was prepared to take us 'backstage.'  As we were heading out, I saw a group of 3 ladies next to us and two of them were going backstage and one was not--she said goodbye to her friends and told them to have fun.  I asked her if she didn't have a pass and she did not, so I asked her if she would like one.  She said, "Are you serious?!" and in a perfect little English accent no less.  So I said yes, and I gave her Linda's pass and we walked backstage together.  It turned out she was visiting Orlando, FL from England and had come up to Kingston to visit her friends who were going to the BNL concert.  I asked her if she had seen them before and she said she went to every single show they did in the UK.  I was sure to tell her how totally jealous I was of her.  :)  So it just worked out perfectly that I was able to give her the pass--I got a little English culture and she was a lovely person and it really made me so happy.  She said she would buy me a drink later if I found her, but given that I don't drink, I told her I'd be happy with a photograph for my scrapbook and she happily obliged.  It was just right.  It really was the icing on the cake of my evening.

We were taken to a little area that was cordoned off from the main corridor of the arena.  We were still in the hallway, just behind a beverage cart, sectioned off only by a black curtain.  It was explained to us that the band would come out and stand in front of one section of the curtain, and each "group" would go up and have a group picture taken by the official photographer and then we could break into small groups and the band would come around do autographs and take individual pictures with each of us.  The band came out and everyone applauded, and then my first thought was, "Oh shit."  Because Ed Robertson was wearing a black t-shirt exactly like the one Pat Monahan had been wearing in Charlotte.  Well, there was nothing to do about it, except to wait and see what was going to happen.  On the plus side, I had let Leah bring her stuffed llama with her, which she got as a Christmas present from my dad, so I hoped that might be enough to keep her calm.

So we all formed a queue and each group sure enough got up there and got there picture taken.  When it was our turn, my dad said, "C'mon, Kate, let's get in there."  He was carrying Leah's coat under one arm, and as he stepped forward, Ed said, "You know, sir, if you would just put that little pink coat on, you wouldn't have to carry it."  HAHAHAHA  Then they made the appropriate comments over Leah's llama, which set her at ease, so she wasn't screaming and freaking out and she actually stood for a picture! Hooray!

Now little did I know, my dad had it in his head that BNL was somehow going to offend or insult me or Leah, and he was totally loaded for bear.  You can see he has one arm protectively on my shoulder, totally ready to push Kevin the hell away. But as we walked off, he made the comment, "Hmmm, a nice group of young men." 

So off we went to a different side of the room and after all the groups had their picture taken, sure enough, they split up and came around.  We first met Kevin, and he is easily the quietest so it was a brief encounter.  I had brought a box of Kraft dinner and some boomerangs to have autographed--Boomerang is probably my favorite song on Grinning Streak, and I thought the Kraft dinner and the llama went nicely together.  I was feeling way shy and I didn't have much to say to him and, "My sister's madly in love with you and would probably sell her three children into slavery if you just say yes" didn't seem appropriate.  But Leah, as you can see, picked up the slack nicely :)  And he was very, very nice.  Probably scared of my dad!

Next up was Tyler, and he was awesome too.  I still felt nervous to say much, so I didn't, but he talked to Leah about the llama and signed all our stuff and was really nice and kind.  My dad manned the camera and took actually pretty good shots--we all kept our heads and no one got cut off, so I was very proud of him.  I imagined Tyler would be the easiest to talk to, given that he's so outgoing and a bit crazy on stage, but I was just literally in awe of being around these people, so I just let Leah do the talking.  And she was utterly nonplussed.  See the llama sticking up in the bottom of this picture?  Yeah, she was all about "Look at my llama, mister!"

And then, Ed came over.  Glorious.  I finally had the good sense to ask for a posed photograph with him, and asked him a few things, I don't really remember what.  He asked Leah what her name was, how old she was, and about her llama (and yes, they really do pronounce it lam-uh, not law-muh) and then I asked him for the picture and he was happy to do so, and put his arm right around me, so I put mine around him.  I probably said some crazy shit, I really don't even remember, but I did notice that he sounded kind of sick.  And I was thinking "Well that sucks!" And then it was over.  I thought of a million things I should have said afterwards, but in the heat of the moment, I just froze.  So there you have it.

Finally, Jim came over and him I could actually talk to!!!  Hooray!!!  I always enjoy watching him on stage and told him so, and told him about the other concerts I'd been to in the past few months.  We got talking a bit about Chicago and I said, "remember how it was about 9,000 degrees out there?" and he remembered it very well, but said it was a really fun show to do.  So I asked him for a picture as well and sure enough, he was happy to do it.  And I wished him well on the show and off he went.

It was a really nice backstage experience--15 or 20 minutes, got time with each member of the band, Leah didn't flip out, my dad didn't kill anyone, it was a lot of fun.  So after they all left, we went out and got our seats and listened to Clara Venice and Ladies of the Canyon, the two opening acts, then in fairly short order, the familiar strains of Limits came on and the show started.  The crowd started out pretty tame--a few other people and I jumped out of our seats to dance to Brian Wilson, but they were playing a few slow numbers and Ed did in fact say he had something going on with his throat and he had to take a quick shot of something between each song.  Eventually quite a crowd formed in front of the stage, and unlike Fredericksburg, where we were booted back to our seats, the security there was unimpressed and let us dance to our hearts content, which is what Leah asked me if she could do, so I took her up there.  She was quite a hit!  She was dancing her patoot off, and Jim noticed and played a bit closer to her (she has since declared that he is her favorite.)  Well, she was such a hit in fact that a lady next to us picked her up and tried to put her on stage. This was where security finally drew the line, but they just came over and yelled "no, no, no!" and as soon as Leah's feet were back on the ground, they disappeared again.  And really, Leah wanted NO part of it--she said it scared her.  Still, I don't know too many 4 year olds who can say they were onstage with Train (she was one of the mermaids selected to go onstage during that concert) AND Barenaked Ladies.  :-)

Eventually she wanted to go lay down near my dad, and I had brought ear protectors for her because she cried a lot at the Train concert and I thought she would feel better if she could have peace and quiet.  Sure enough she popped them on and fell asleep.  By the end, everyone was on their feet, even Dad, and cheering and screaming and having a great time.  They did one encore, which Tyler did to preserve Ed's voice, but he has such awesome presence that everyone just went nuts.  It was so much fun!

So what did Dad think?  From his Facebook:

It was a great night for all of us.  We got home around 1AM, even though Dad was so excited he did 80MPH part of the way home.  It was hard to fall asleep, so I checked out the rest of their 2014 tour dates around Canada, but nothing was where it would be terribly easy to get to.  (Not that this is stopping me, mind you!)  The current BNL Twitter statuses are full of scans of Ed's vocal chords, so it's looking like they're taking whatever it is pretty seriously.  Still, I'll keep monitoring the tour listings and I'll just keep on going.  I've been 5 times now, and every single show has been so fun and so different, I can't imagine I won't want to continue.  Meeting fellow fans is as much fun as meeting the band, and I just really, really have enjoyed it, and converting my dad to a fan is an added bonus.  Seeing them in Canada was also really fun!  It was so laid back and cool.  BNL Forever!