SEATTLE REVIEW

(a la us)

Alrighty, Seattle. Let's see, we decided to take a summer "holiday" to "relax". Turns out the holiday we planned wasn't altogether relaxing...if I ever wondered how far I'd go to see OLP, the answer as of today is: Washington State. Anyway, we went Vancouver, then on to Seattle, and stayed overnight.
The day of the concert we did our touristy stuff then went to wait outside the Showbox (to our great surprise we weren't the first ones there and we got there at 2:30). We had spoken to the club owner beforehand and he said OLP wasn't really that big in Seattle, so we didn't have to worry about a big lineup. In any case, we were sitting outside, getting to know our neighbors, when who should walk up the street and past us but Jamie. Then we saw Jeremy in the parking lot, so Irkas and Bumble went to meet him.
Duncan came next, in the backseat of a convertible (we thought on first sight that he was Kid Rock, ha ha ha). He must have went onto the bus or into the 'Box through the back door, because he didn't come past us. Then Mike arrived, walking up the street, and finally, (when we heard the soundcheck starting) Raine.
We were let in, and scored front-row-Mike. The show was awesome. OLP played their new song "Whatever" and their setlist rocked. Of course I can't remember the whole thing, but I was surprised at their choice of songs. During the show, Mike entertained the groupies behind us (who were surprisingly male), he bowed to their catcalls and "Ladies and Gentelmen, MIKE TURNER!!". The band was bang-on in their performance, and exuded a lot of energy. Duncan was really hopping a lot more than I thought he would, in light of his recent surgery, but I think he must be getting better (positively corking to hear, old boy).
After the show, we talked to one of the Cutty girls in the bathroom but were unable to get meet n' greet passes, as she had none left. No problem, we had nowhere to sleep that night anyway. :P We went outside and waited with the people we met beforehand. We were sitting on the curv in the parking lot when we witnessed a commotion, also known as OLP's bus driver and the parking lot owner getting into a fight. (The outcome? OLP were never allowed to come there again!!) We were just recovering from that when we heard someone say: "That's the guitarist." We took a peek around the corner and saw Mike getting surrounded by people. Patiently waited, then Bumble got her sicky signed, and a photograph. When Mike took her sicky, he said something like: "You always have to be the first in line!" and laughed. The jury's still out on what the hell he meant by that, lmfao. Then I got Mike to sign my friend's Clumsy booklet (I was getting pity signatures) and was setting up for a picture when Bumble proclaimed: "Oh, and Mike, she's always right!" Mike suddenly remembered who I was (apparently), grabbed me, and went: "OH HO HO HO HO HO HO!!" whilst rubbing my back and pulling me closer. Needless to say, I was a little shocked that he actually remembered me.
After Mike, we spotted Raine in the parking lot, talking to a girl. We headed over, and basically just got him to sign our stuff. He said "Awesome." to Bumble's sicky. Then we met Duncan (which we've been trying to do for four years), he said: "A barf bag!" and laughed to Bumble's sicky, and we got pictures.
Then, our meeting of all the members complete, we prepared to leave. But alas, what should happen? Bumble realized that Raine still had in his possession her sharpie, which for some reason she was very attached to. My quest made clear, I began. First: Locate the sharpie. (done. Raine's hand) Second: Get another sharpie so he'll give you yours back. (done. Apprehended Mike's sharpie with a plea for help. His response: "Sure! I'll get it from him later, I'll kick his ass!" Thirdly: The most difficult task. Get the missing sharpie. (Done. Approached Raine from rear. Waited until he was finished signing his current thing a ma jiggy. Grabbed the sharpie while his wits were slow, and replaced it with Mike's.) Fourthly: Run. (done and done).

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED

SPOKANE

So...Spokane. The Spokane show posed a small logistical problem for us, that being: how do we get across Washington State for a concert the day after the Seattle one? Easy enough, our eternal friends Greyhound provided us with a service that we could not go without; a seat on a bus, preferably one without sweat stains on it. We took the 2am bus from Seattle and arrived in Spokane at about 8am. Unfortunately for us, our hotel started check in at noon. So, off to IHOP we go!
After a long-awaited shower and a nap, we left the hotel at about 5:30 to go line up at The Met. Luckily for us this was OLP's first time in Spokane, so we were the only people there until the doors opened, at 7pm. Before that, we had met some of the people from The Peak, Spokane's radio station, who seemed intrigued in the fact that we were Canadian. I guess they were surprised that OLP had such big fans. In any case, the seating was set, so we didn't worry about getting front row, and it was all in all very relaxed. We took some pictures with The Peak people, and then proceeded to our seats.
The opening band came out, commented on this "not being a school concert" and urging people to get up. We stayed seated, however. There's only so much we can take. The opening band was a bit of a dissapointment to me, I found them boring and repetitive (perhaps because we saw them the night before). OLP came out, and I was astounded at the energy they put out. I believe it was due to the fact they had never played in Spokane before, but they really reinforced why I love their music so much. As we weren't up close to the monitors, we got a lot better sound quality (The Met is a theatre) and their songs sounded AWESOME. They even played Potato Girl!
During the show, Mike saw Bumble's watch, pointed at us, and gave us this kind of "there you are!" look (as we had told him we were going to the Spokane show the night before). A whole bunch of people turned around to see who he was pointing at, and it was quite the thing. After that, Mike found it neccessary to make fun! He even mocked the way I stand, lmfao. I was *this close* to giving him the finger, but the opportunity was not right.
So after the show, we proceeded outside to wait for the band. As I was in the middle of: "Oh no! Look what you've done to happy head!!" a big man came up to us, and said: "I've seen you here since the afternoon. I have one meet n' greet pass left. One of you should come with me." TRAGEDY! There are three of us! We got into a bickering match about who should go, and he finally gave up and took us all. So down we went into the dungeon of The Met. I have to admit it was the weirdest thing I've ever experienced meeting a band. There's something just not right about lining up to meet them and them having to sit there meeting people one after the other.
We were standing in line in a daze when who should appear but the Peak guys!! With much "HEY! The Canadians!" and high fives, they left and said "See you around!!" (roight). So we got to the front of the line and met OLP. Much of it was talking about travelling from Edmonton down...like: "Wow, you're from Edmonton...(and)...boy, you sure have a long drive home." Mike made cracks at us by saying things to Raine like: "Don't believe anything they say, they're troublemakers!!" It wasn't as good as meeting them in Seattle, but I'm not complaining. After taking a picture (see last picture on picture page) we left and went back to the hotel for a well deserved sleep.

Total hours in concerts: 3 or 4
Total hours on buses: 36 (ouch)
Total hours relaxing: uh, none, really. Except those sleep hours.

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