A Concert, a Long Wait and a Flight

Alright my friends! It has been long since I last made a post up in this maw and it has been even longer since I recounted any emotionally intense aural sensations!

This last week was incredibly insane as I will describe in a blog post at another time, but for now, I will say this:

Collective Soul kept me up late and caused me to be quite dazed throughout the following morning, during which I flew to Ottawa.

I will work in reverse chronological order!

A Flight!
Neil Young - Down By the River
Ah yes, Neil Young. While perusing the selection of digital music in the in-flight entertainment library aboard my flight, I came across practically nothing of any interest. Except, of course, for Neil Young's Greatest Hits. Neil is the hammer. That's all there is to it.

However, I don't know what it was that got me so into the song on this particular listen. But there I was, crammed in my seat despite the fact I had stowed most of my "prairie-winter-worthy" clothes in the overhead compartment, and I was letting every single note of that guitar solo sink into my skin.

On a Plane!
Matthew Good - Champions of Nothing
After a month and a half of not having seen her, I was only hours away from seeing Jessica again. I was past security in the airport, waiting to board my flight... The weight of all those weeks still holding me down. I think that the lyrics in this song will always haunt me when I hear them. At least, they will if I am paying attention.

When Hollywood runs out of Indians
Only the Indians will know

A kick in the head
Pass it around
Beggin' for a bed
Pass it around

As haunting as the lyrics are, though, I find that there is something triumphant about this song. I can't quite put my finger on it. There's just a sound to it that seems relentless, determined. The title is very fitting in that way.

The song ended. The boarding call was made. I did not drag my feet.

A Concert!
Collective Soul - Shine
I have wanted to see Collective Soul ever since I first heard the rockin' riffs of Gel on the radio. Their self-titled album was the first CD that I ever bought. I've since lost that CD, but in the time I had it, I listened to it enough to have remembered practically all of the lyrics to it. Along the way, I also heard a lot of their other stuff, though I sort of lost track of them after they released Seven Year Itch.

Having lost track of them, I had no idea that they were coming to town until a mere five days before their show. I hastily called up SFO and we procured tickets. It was an incredible show. They destroyed the place with their incredible energy, their smooth stage performance that only years in the business can bring. December, Gel, World I Know, Heavy, Why Pt. II... they were all there. But Shine didn't join them until the bitter-hammer end of the encore.

All I must say is this: Shine did exactly that. The Edmonton Event Centre shook as those Post-Grunge rockers pounded the place. It defies words. It really does.