There are a few reasons why I dislike buying concert tickets months in advance. First, I have this fear of missing the show itself, but I have yet to do this. Second, I don't recall where I'm seated until a few days before the show, when I decide to dig the tickets out of some dark corner of the house. I could go on, but I think I'll stop here.

I figured out that my friend and I were seated in row 10 at the MTS Centre. That's pretty good, considering that I bought the tickets one morning at work, and thought that I was too late to purchase any. We presented our tickets to the guy at the door and walked in.

Normally, I purchase a shirt before I sit down. I couldn't find a shirt stand. After sitting down and listening to some folks in the same row talk about shirts, I figured out that there was a stand on the other side of the building. I placed that tidbit of information in my memory and continued on.

This concert was my first one at the MTS Centre. I had strictly seen hockey games up to this point.

Promptly at 08:00, music played, and a man came on stage with a guitar. He reminded me of a young Bryan Adams with a bit of Jason Mraz's style tossed in there. He started off by saying that his name was Bob Kemmis. He's from Vancouver. He's a Libra. His favourite colour is blue. He thought that the audience and he should get to know each other before he started to play and sing.

His songs are goofy and hilarious. He's creative and has an excellent rapport with the crowd. His voice is beautiful and velvety. He's a talented guitarist.

His best song was "Freak luck," which was about getting hit by a car that drove off afterwards and how he ends up falling for the girl who had hit him. He said that we'd "all be able to identify" with this song. I still remember hearing him sing, "Neither one of us was looking, but our eyes met as I bounced off the bonnet of your Chevrolet."

Bob sang some humourous songs like "Acquired taste," "Water to the moon," "Late night advice," and "Letter to Gotham." Towards the end of his thirty-minute performance, he suggested that we take the intermission to "get all liquored up before Jann gets on stage." Oh, and he has a new CD out, Arena ready. I should get it. I didn't that night. I've got three more shots at purchasing it. He is opening for Jann for this entire tour.

I particularly liked his doing a karaoke version of one of his song. He played it on his iPod, saying that if he did so, that he could write it off. It worked out well. I forget the name of the song, though. I just remember hearing him sing, "I had a dog and I loved that dog."

So, it must have been around 09:00 when Jann set foot on stage. I wish I had jotted down what order the songs were sung. Oh well.

Jann came on stage and opened with "How good things are." She looked great, wearing a dark pair of jeans, an orange leather blazer (not bright, but you knew that it was orange), and a black top. It was nice to see her dressed casually. Her five bandmates wore jackets, ties, nice pants... they looked organized and cool.

One of the greatest things about going to a Jann Arden concert is hearing what she has to say. She is exceptionally funny. She started off saying that the opening was supposed to have 47 dancers from the Lord of the Dance. They had cancelled. Her parents had spent four months sewing their see-thru costumed, too. She ended her little aside by saying, "Fuck it," and continued to sing. Classic Jann.

She gets funnier every time I see her. She did imitations of her parents. Her mom had asked if she'd be singing the same songs during this concert tour as she did on her last tour. Except for a few new songs, she admitted that it would essentially be the same as her previous shows. Her mom then decided to stay at home. I love when she portrays her father as a cursing, rugged guy from Alberta.

Jann went on to say that her mom wasn't normal, that she was 25 years old before she had told her mom she had her period. "When I was 22, she took me upstairs to the drawer and had the talk with me. It was kind of archaic. She had the belts and things. I thought she was getting ready for a hockey game," she remarked.

Several songs moved me, particularly "Will you remember me." That song means a lot to me and I teared up instantly.

She talked about living in the sticks and how it takes her 45 minutes to drive into the big city. She said that she went to Calgary to see a movie. She bought a huge drink and some popcorn. After the movie, she did a "pee check" before heading to her car. About thirty minutes into her drive, she had to go to the washroom badly, citing that she "couldn't feel anything down there" and that "she was numb."

She arrived at her house and pressed her remote to get her garage door open. She claimed that she times these things well, but she didn't this time. She took the rack on top of her car right off. She headed to the bathroom and was relieving herself. She noticed that there was now a piece of popcorn resting on the her underwear's crotch, as if "it had its own hammock." She tried to figure out how the popcorn had got there. She realized that it was in her shirt and when she went to sit down, that it landed in her underwear. The punchline was cute. She said that the popcorn was good and wanted to eat it.

A woman a couple of seat to my left was doing the same thing as I was -- singing to every single song that Jann was performing. It was cool. Her boyfriend sang along to a few songs, too. We were like a little glee club.

Jann introduced her band members. Russell Broom had dyed his hair blonde and it was spiked up. She said that they were celebrating their eleventh year collaborating. The only reason why it has worked is due to the fact that they haven't seen each other nude.

She had a new addition to her band, a guitarist and singer. She asked him to sing something, to show everyone how great a musician he is for the next thirty seconds. He sang Sugar Ray's "Is she really going out with him?" Well, Sugar Ray's version popped in my head first. It occurred to me the next day that it was a Joe Jackson song. Anyway, the guy was great. The band joined in. Jann looked at her wrist, as if she were timing the whole thing. After he was done and we stopped clapping, she said that her mom would have said that he sounds a lot better than she.

One chick in the audience at one stage yelled out, "Can I ask you a question?" Jann was game. "Do you know how awesome you are?" She does now. She is simply that.

She made a number of memorable remarks during the show. She started off by saying that "it's good to be here with you. I'm going to take away your troubles for two hours and I'll let you hear mine."

She did say nice things about Winnipeg. She congratulated the city on hosting "the best Junos ever." She talked about that -52°C evening when she had performed at the Burton Cummings Centre for the Performing Arts in January 2004. She said that Winnipeggers were so nice. It was so cold that she had lost her left nipple that evening. She headed towards Thunder Bay for her next tour stop, and a fan from Winnipeg drove all the way down there to give her nipple back, sealed in a Ziploc bag.

Bob Kemmis came back on stage frequently, handing guitars to the various members of the band. He even did a duet with Jann. They sounded terrific when they sang "Unloved" together. It was perfect.

She ended the show with "Good mother," which is standard. She came back to do three more songs, with everyone sitting on stools. They were closer to the audience. She invited folks to get close to the stage, claiming that they were a part of the mosh pit.

I am going to take a stab at the setlist. I know that the first three songs in this list are in order. The rest are not.

Jann Arden
MTS Centre
October 28, 2005
Setlist

How good things are
All of this
Will you remember me
I'd be glad
If you loved me
Holy Moses
Could I be your girl
I would die for you
Waiting for someone (acoustic)
Unloved (acoustic, featuring Bob Kemmis)
Cherry popsicle (acoustic)
Calling God
Where no one knows me
The sound of
Wishing that
Willing to fall down
Insensitive
Good mother

It was truly a great show. I bought a long-sleeved Jann shirt afterwards. It's black with green and white lettering, using the same colours that are on her latest CD. I am so lucky to be seeing her again soon.

|

Song that's stuck in my head: Jann Arden's "Waiting in Canada"
Yummy food eaten today: Bread pudding
What I crave: Music

Recent thoughts:
Readings, lights, and random thoughts - 2009-03-15
Thoughts about work, school, and peeps - 2009-03-09
Working from home and a mini life update - 2008-12-19
The weekend is here! - 2008-01-06
A new year - 2008-01-01