We're a little bit backed up on getting my concert
photographs up here on The Old Blog. I suppose we will catch up at some
point, but this would be a good time to remind you that my concert photographs
can be seen in a much more timely manner by visiting V13Media,
which you can do by following the link. If you'd like an even more direct
route to my photographs, you can visit my personal page over there but using
the following
link. If you’re
going to do something, do it in style.
That’s exactly what we did this past weekend. Blue Rodeo brought their 40th Anniversary
Tour to Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier, part of the world renowned Place des Arts
complex. The world famous concert hall was
the appropriate setting one of Canada’s most famous bands. Blue Rodeo was warmly greeted by the Montreal faithful and immediately
began the show with “How
Long”, from 1989’s Diamond Mine album.
How long in deed. Blue Rodeo are
another band on an anniversary tour.
They joked about how hard it is to believe that forty years have passed
in the blink of an eye. Tell me about
it. The
fabulous trip that Blue Rodeo was leading us on continued down memory lane with “Rose-Coloured Glasses” and “New
Morning Sun”. Greg Keelor then dedicated
the following song, “God And Country” to a certain President who resides south
of the border. His sentiments weren’t
very kind, but judging by the cheer he received, they were very much shared. “Side of the Road” featured a blistering
guitar solo by Jimmy Bowskill who was simply awesome all night. Jim Cuddy 
shared a story about a ride from Toronto to New York with his father before
“Finger Lakes” and was his usual awesome self all evening. The man’s voice is one of the most loved in
the Country. On this night he added a
few French words into his repertoire to make the locals even happier than they
already were. A short
intermission set to the tune of the Pink Panther allowed for a slight stage
rearrangement. The band all came
together for a 5-man acoustic jam. Blue Rodeo were also joined on stage by Kendel Carson, on loan from opening act Adam
Baldwin, for the song “Bulletproof”. A quick
memory about “all of the shitty shows we’ve played before getting here” led in
to “What Am I Doing Here”. During the
song, the seated crowd finally rose to their feet, much to the chagrin of the
Place Des Arts staff who tried to
get everyone back in their seat
afterwards. Their efforts proved futile
as the entire floor, and most of the balcony rose as one as the intro to “5
Days in May” rang out. Faced with defeat, some of them did the only thing that was left to do. They began to sway to the music and had a good time as well. I, for one, don't blame them at all. The very generous 22 song trek through 40 years
of music came to an end with “Try” and “Lost Together”. It was an amazing evening of great music in one of
the best venues in the World. I certainly can’t
think of what would have been a better way to begin my musical year. All of the photographs were taken at f/3.2 while using various different shutter speeds, ISO settings and focal lengths. Here are the rest of the photographs that I took of Blue Rodeo as they performed on the Place Des Arts stage.
