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03/26/2010 Our Lady Peace (North Tonawanda, NY @ Riviera Theatre)
By Eric | March 29, 2010 12:00 pm
If you go back and read my review of the Lockport OLP show from over the summer, I sounded kind of down on them, but mentioned that A) the album versions of the new songs might grow on me, and B) that show was a “little bit” of nostalgia. Well, the new songs certainly did grow on me in the past couple months, and that led to me “getting back into the band”, if you will. Then in January, OLP announced a unique series of two-night stands, where they’d play either Clumsy or Spiritual Machines in it’s entirety, then a second set of other songs. The first dates were all in Canada, but then, a Buffalo date! But not quite Buffalo, more specifically, North Tonawanda! As in, home! The Riviera Theatre! Needless to say, I got even more excited, got tickets for the Clumsy show, and got real impatient. This show was going to be a “big bit” of nostalgia for sure. March 26th couldn’t come fast enough.
I drove down from work, met up with Phill, we got our tickets, got inside, and headed upstairs to the balcony to grab some beverages and say hi to Karl and Kelley. We made our way down to our (tenth row, left side) seats and anxiously waited for the fun to begin. It was kinda surreal to know exactly what was going to be played, in what order, just like the album. And for me, Clumsy was the beginning of the OLP love affair, having seen five shows on that tour, and knowing the songs inside and out. On this night, OLP didn’t disappoint. The lights came down, the band walked out, and the Riv exploded. Superman’s Dead obviously got the place into the show immediately, and then Automatic Flowers (which was the opener for most of those shows) put me right back into 1998. Raine went on to mention that Carnival was one of the first songs they wrote for the album where they felt like they were breaking away from the sound on Naveed, and Big Dumb Rocket hit the spot as well. He also told the story about how he never thought 4AM would see the light of day on the record, as it was too personal. After Shaking, there was the epic singalong for Clumsy, and next I recalled how much I always liked hearing Hello Oskar in the live setting. Let You Down has always been my least favorite song on the album, but it sounded as good on this night as any of the rest of them, and Story of 100 Aisles I don’t believe I’d EVER heard live, not even during the Clumsy tours. The capper was Car Crash, and Raine hit *the* note. The band sounded great, Raine’s voice was great in spots, good for the vast majority of the show, and there was only a couple wayward notes that I could discern. Honestly, they probably could have sounded terrible and I wouldn’t have cared nor noticed, because I was just too caught up in the fact that they were playing songs I hadn’t seen them perform in 10-12 years, if ever! And the best part? A second set!
After reminiscing about this show and past shows during the intermission with Mary, Katie, and a couple others, it was time for the rest of the show. The second set opened with Monkey Brains, which is one of the aforementioned new songs that really grew on me. The crowd participation was back in full effect for Innocent and Life, and came to a crescendo with Is Anybody Home? (For some reason I jotted this song down as Happiness and the Fish, don’t ask me why. Wasn’t thinking straight by this point.) and One Man Army. They brought the crowd back down with two of the more subdued new tracks (Paper Moon and Escape Artist), but yanked us right back up with Somewhere Out There, followed by Naveed. They ended the main set with the first Burn Burn single, which was All You Did Was Save My Life. We didn’t have to wait too long for an encore, which is good because I don’t think most people in the crowd had much of any voice left to cheer anyway. What little we did have was spent screaming along to Starseed, which unsurprisingly brought the house down. I don’t think anyone left disappointed, as these songs sounded just as good as the Clumsy set did. I know I left with a huge smile on my face. An immensely satisfying show, for any number of reasons, but mostly because it made me remember all the times and all the shows that made me love this band in the first place. Show number 16 echoed show number 1 in a way, but stands on its own merits just as well.
Monkey Brains
[flickr-gallery pagination=”0″ mode=”tag” tags=”2010-03-26″ tag_mode=”all”]
1. Superman’s Dead
2. Automatic Flowers
3. Carnival
4. Big Dumb Rocket
5. 4 A.M.
6. Shaking
7. Clumsy
8. Hello Oskar
9. Let You Down
10. The Story of 100 Aisles
11. Car Crash
Set 2
12. Monkey Brains
13. Innocent
14. Life
15. Is Anybody Home?
16. One Man Army
17. Paper Moon
18. Escape Artist
19. Somewhere Out There
20. Naveed
21. All You Did Was Save My Life
Encore:
22. Starseed
Topics: Concerts | Tags: 2010, North Tonawanda, Our Lady Peace, Riviera Theatre | Comments Off on 03/26/2010 Our Lady Peace (North Tonawanda, NY @ Riviera Theatre)
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