O Canada

(per usual, click on the photos to go to the rest)

We sat in a coffeeshop, sipping caramel caffe lattes. I'd been humbled by the barista who prepared our drinks - her ability to slip from English to French and back again made my high school German seem pretty damn inadequate in life.

A sex shop was across the street, next to a seemingly high-class clothing store. People walked by in Burlington-appropriate garb, followed closely by designer-clad women and Euro-chic (ahem) men. There seemed no rhyme or reason to who wore what, who spoke which language, who stopped in to pick up a coffee or not.

It felt as if home was a lot farther away than the car ride (less than two hours - hurrah!) indicated. It felt as if I hadn't already worked that day, it felt as if I wasn't seeing Coldplay that evening, and it felt as if we weren't due back to our normal lives the next day.

And the caramel caffe latte was pretty damn good.

I don't do big shows. I'm more of a club and bar venue kind of girl. The Orpheum is a large show for me; FleetBoston/Bank of America Pavilion is really big for me.* I'm used to and gravitate toward the shows where one could be spotted dancing or singing along. I'm a big proponent for immediately feeling the connection between those at an event.

I like to know that the person performing before me could, in theory, be acutely aware of the fact that I'm there.

So you take a girl with that kind of mentality and place her on the floor of the Centre Bell in Montreal last night. For not a large show, not a really big show, but One of the Most Highly Anticipated Epic-Proportioned Rock Shows of the Summer. Coldplay's Twisted Logic Tour. Surrounded by probably 18,000 screaming fans.

Hmm.

Added to this is the fact that the heroine of the tale still somehow regards Coldplay as the little British quartet that put out the sensitive little album that connected with her early in her college career. Sure, she knows they're popular; she thinks "A Rush of Blood To the Head" is one of the best albums put out by anyone in recent memory. But they don't strike her as the Aspiring Greatest Rock Band Around. I think of "Yellow" Coldplay - Chris walking on the beach. I don't think of "Clocks" Coldplay - Chris looking like a rock god in front of blue shards of light.

But then the opening act (finally, mercifully) leaves the stage, the crowd starts grooving to piped-in Beck and old Britpop tunes, the lights dim and the countdown comes up on the screen behind the stage. And I realize I'm holding my breath, watching the numbers count down to zero, the band is taking the stage and holy shit this is a rock show and I'm so glad we made the trip to Montreal for this.

And then I take a breath as the percussion tears through the stadium and the screen creates the sense of watching an iPod commercial come to life.

We lucked out, I know. Thanks to the fact that Coldplay's lottery system is actually fair and fan-friendly, it was surprisingly easy to get what turned out to be incredible seats. The crowd gathered for the show was cooperative, energetic and so damn happy to be there. The band visibly soaked in that energy and threw it back at us tenfold.

But it was just so much fun to be able to jump up and down, clap, scream, sing along and dance to a crazy huge rock show. No need to worry about anything other than the way the music hits you, the dazzling lights, and keeping in time with the beat as the audience clapped to an ever-faster outro to "Clocks" that left hands stinging, arms tired. To know you look like a dork because you squeal as the band starts playing "Yellow," but it's one of those songs that became overplayed for a reason, dammit, and you've just loved those opening chords for so damn long and you're going to sing along.

Square One
Politik
Yellow ("Fuck it, arret, arret!" "Let's rewind the last five minutes. This is a song called "Yellow.")
God Put a Smile Upon Your Face
Speed of Sound
Low
Hardest Part
Everything's Not Lost ("If you've fucked up "Yellow" and the audience isn't cross, everything's not lost")
White Shadows
The Scientist
Til Kingdom Come
Don't Panic
Clocks
Talk
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Swallowed In The Sea
In My Place (Chris appears in the empty upper seats near the stage, lounging in the seat, wearing a Canadians jersey, to wrap up the song)
Fix You

It required a sense of giving something up, leaving something behind at the Centre Bell as we left. Much as I walked out with ringing ears, a hoarse voice and exclamations of "That was fucking incredible," I had to realize that it's not quite the same band who penned the song Patterson sang to me on my 21st birthday as we all sat on the front porch (I told you I've loved "Yellow" for eons). It's certainly not the band that played River Rave in 2001**.

It's one of those Epicly Huge Rock Bands.

And know what? That's cool with me.

But finally, I ask this: do customs agents think you're being cheeky when you reply to a question of "Did you purchase anything while in Canada" with, "Well, I bought a coffee, actually." I was just being honest...
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In other news. My head feels as if it is filled with cotton balls. The rest of me? Completely fine. But this is an epic head cold and it's pissing me off.

But it didn't stop me from going to Montreal and it sure as hell will not stop me from Boston tomorrow.

* That said, I do acknowledge that I have attended/are attending a rash of large/big/epic shows. Looking at tickets with Dave Matthews Band, Coldplay, Ben/Ben/Rufus, Tori and the mother of all, U2, written on them has messed with my head. This is not normal V activity.

** I was head over heels for "Parachutes" pretty early on, and I was beside myself with giddiness at the 2001 River Rave because Coldplay was performing:

5.28.01
...
- coldplay: i had been waiting, WAITING to see coldplay forever. unfortunately, there were three factors playing against coldplay. 1) outdoor venue 2) large crowd 3) no one knew who the hell they were. i need to see coldplay at a small venue such as paradise. i walked out of their set after i heard "yellow". i never thought that would be possible.

Coldplay was followed up at that show by Dropkick Murphys. You do the math.