BIG SUMMER CLASSIC - THANK YOU FROM THE PROMOTERS

[kyebay]

Thanks to everyone who rolled with the venue change and supported the Big Summer Classic show in Toronto on Tuesday. I can't fully express how happy we the promoters were to see so many smiling faces leaving the venue exhausted from a day of non-stop musical bliss.

We all knew that there was going to be some hesitation around the idea of a festival moving inside a club, but given the searing heat outside, and the way we structured the show inside, I know that many were satisifed, if not relieved, by the changes. Of course we can't deliver the identical experience to what the Island show would have been, but what did get delivered was very special - 2 stages instead of one, so we could run live music literally non-stop from about 3:15 on; and no curfew, so the Cheese could play late into the night.

By my calculations, those who attended this show from start to finish got about 2 hours more music than anyone else on the tour! We had some technical problems that prevented us from opening doors on time, which was a drag for everybody, but the bands and their crew and all of our production staff worked really hard to pull off the difficult task of mounting this event where we did, and we're very proud of what was accomplished. Anyone with comments - good or bad - I'd love to hear them.

[fluffhead77]

had a great time! loved the venue change! the A/C was god-sent!

[CyberHippie]

Well... for me the changing of the venues was a big disapointment, and I know people who were going to come (who didn't know the bands), simply because they wanted to go to an island concert and no doubt would have been turned onto to great music. But that's neither here nor there...

I think the Docks worked out fairly well. I don't have any complaints. Sound was alright. It was really nice not having to wait for long periods in between sets. Security was there, but there presence was not really felt. People were pretty much free to do whatever they wanted and go about their day. No hassles. There was a bit of a festival atmosphere, one of the coolest things was when Franti and Co. all took their percussion parade outside and continued to bang away for quite some time. It was also really cool seeing band members just wandering around enjoying the site. In fact this was on the whole a very intimate concert experience. It was a great opportunity to see some of America's top touring jam acts, up close and personal. It would have been nice if there were a few more festival type elements present, like a little vendors row kinda thing. But that's minor. Most important was the music. And the music was simply fucking sick!

Thanks so much for making the BSC happen in the TDot!!

[headygouda]

I'm still glowing from tuesday's festivities! Definitely pumped to have gotten 2:18 of cheese after some short sets in chicago. Also amazing that every act got more than the hour they get for the rest of the tour. I was really excited when I heard the venue was changed.. I knew the indoor atmosphere would send the energy through the roof. One of the drawbacks of being outside all day is having to pace yourself with the sun beating down on you. I've heard most of the cheese shows this tour and must say that toronto has been the best one thus far...

What I want to know is what the total attendance for the toronto show ended up being. After hearing rumours of 1000 tix pre-sold (which I thought was pretty good despite a mid-week, daytime show), I think there were definitely closer to 2K there.

[deranger]

People who throw glowsticks are RETARTED. How you think that improves the quality of a show, I can't fathom. I'm sure it looked really cool that time at Deer Creek when everone was doing it and the molly was just kickin' in (or whatever) But for christ sake are you 4 years old? Twirl them, connect them and make a necklace, but please don't throw them in a small room with low ceilings. You demonstrate your lack of an attention span and disrespect the guys on stage. We're there to enjoy ourselves and god forbid actually LISTEN TO AND WATCH MUSIC not throw sh!t around cause you're an idiot who can't imagine there are others at the show who may not share your passion for doing everything possible to NOT watch the band.

[bouche]

People who throw glowsticks are RETARTED. How you think that improves the quality of a show, I can't fathom. I'm sure it looked really cool that time at Deer Creek when everone was doing it and the molly was just kickin' in (or whatever) But for christ sake are you 4 years old? Twirl them, connect them and make a necklace, but please don't throw them in a small room with low ceilings. You demonstrate your lack of an attention span and disrespect the guys on stage. We're there to enjoy ourselves and god forbid actually LISTEN TO AND WATCH MUSIC not throw sh!t around cause you're an idiot who can't imagine there are others at the show who may not share your passion for doing everything possible to NOT watch the band.

At least you didn't have to deal with lawnchairs

[Kaidy Mae]

:cool: kyebay, you rock! :cool:

Thank you so much for bringing such an amazingly good time to Toronto. I was a little nervous about the venue change (as I was shooting and wasn't sure what the lighting would be like at the Docks), but man, am I ever glad it was switched. That AC was a blessing! I was right cashed once we were all packed up and ready to head home. Nearly 2 hours spent in line under that blazin' sun was enough. I couldn't imagine a whole day out there. Would've been some heat stroke goin' on for sure!

The music was incredible. I sincerely hope that Keller and Umphrey's get back to the area as soon as humanly possibly. Wow, oh Jesus God man, wow! The whole day was a really positive experience. Security was definitely cool. I only saw one minor incident early on in the day and it looked like it was taken care of. The rest was melodic, smokey history.

As for the glowsticks, I couldn't agree more with what deranger said. People can be just fucking ignorant at times. It was especially bad for the Cheese set. I took a lot of shots with the fisheye lens (that'll be up tomorrow, I promise) just to try and get a visual of how many glowing pieces of garbage were all over the stage. I actually saw Nershi get hit with a glowstick...twice! How pelting another human being who is playing for you with radioactive looking plastic equates gratitude is beyond me. I was trying to shoot and got pelted quite a few times. That's not my complaint however, I could really give a shit. But to all you glowstick chuckers, if you need something for your spastic arms to do...fine, throw glowsticks. THROW THEM AT EACH OTHER. Tossing them at whoever is on stage is bad form and terribly embarrassing for those close enough to look them in the eye. Hell, we should all be embarrassed by that lame display on Tuesday. Where are all those glowsticks now? Right, swept into the trash cans so that they can leak out into landfill sites and probably outlast each and every one of us.

That being said :blush: it really was a stellar time. The extra music was such a lovely treat!

Let's hear it for kyebay! Wooohoooooohoooohoooo!!!

[bouche]

Things on the list:

ottawa needs a dedicated and limited lawnchair section.

SCI need a dedicated and limited glowstick section.

[CyberHippie]

As far as throwing things at the bands go, that is a really really really shitty thing to do!

During the Keller set, this dude threw the purple alien on to stage and hit Keller. OMG, what would he do! Fortunatley everyone in the crowd turned to the dude and BOOOOOOOOOOOOOO'd him! Keller responded that it didn't hurt. Glad he took it in stride instead of just walking off the stage. Still it looks bad on all of us.

[SmoothedShredder]

Hey KyeBay et. al ... great great show!!! How was the Docks after? Did they dig the crowd... or was it like... "NEVER AGAIN!". They were cool with me violating the "Not under the influence" rule at the batting cages... tres fun!

~W

[balogna pogna]

Awesome show. I'm encouraged by the success of this tour (considering the failure of Zooma etc.) Hopefully they'll do it again next year.

Who said Toronto can't support good acts?

[Basher]

Sold out Red Rocks to 2k in a club - dunno if they will consider it a success, but I sure hope more shows like that roll through. I had a great time.

[Kaidy Mae]

Check out some Toronto photos here.

[paisley]

nice shots Kaidy Mae, looks like some goodtimes

[Kaidy Mae]

Yeah, too bad you didn't make it Pais. Hopefully I'll see you soon buddy.

More pics on the way after the weekend.

[Patchoulia]

How could anyone possibly throw glowsticks after Umphrey's so articulately decried the act in their moving Glowstick Manifesto?

Throwing glowsticks (particularly indoors and especially at a band) is ludicrous and "retarted" behaviour, but I can't pass up the opportunity to mock the Glowstick Manifesto. That would just be wrong.

[grateful_dave]

hey keybey, great show!!! one thing i didnt like about the docks was there cavity search!!! well it may as well been. they had there hands down my pants. it was a woman but cmon. i know a few years ago i would have loved that. but what the... i had shorts and a tank top. what on earth could i be hiding that she would need to search that hard, an uzi? it was an invasion of privacy as far as im concerned. she basically grabbed my nuts..., inside my pants. on another note, the glowsticks. i didnt like it much either, but one thing it was good for, and i wondered if they did it for this reason, was so that when the lights went out and everyone LIT UP, no security could tell the difference between a glow stick and a glowing amber.lol if thats why they do it, then i love the idea. if not, get rid of em! i know they didnt see me smokin cause of those glow sticks. but any cheese was awesome and so were everyone else. ive never seen alot of those bands before and im glad i had the opportunity. keep em comin, dave

[Kaidy Mae]

Dave, too bad you got pawed. Too bad you didn't enjoy it more. Just kidding. That's a little excessive. I doubt it has much to do with Kyebay though. Probably worth mentioning to the Docks...not that they'll really give a shite.

I had the total opposite experience. I had all of my gear open and ready to show and was just given the go-ahead. Sweet. However, a certain someone (from this board), got searched ahead of me. The lady pulled out an empty tape case full of joints from his back pocket, gave him that "you know better" kind of look and then put it BACK in his pocket! LMAO!!! It was hilarious!

[SmoothedShredder]

In the Immortal words of Shaggy: "It wasn't me }:|"

On a side note, I'm listing to an all acoustic Version of Down, Down, Down by Neil on a Buffalo Springfield thing that just showed up on my computer... Awsome

"Find out that now, is the answer to answers that you gave to me later."

That's tripped out.

[ike]

While I wasn't at the show, and judging from all the positive reviews I really should have been, I do have a comment for ya kyebay. Bring Umphrey's back for a full show. I've been wanting to see these guys for quite some time now, and I just couldn't take a day off work to see them play for an hour (some of which I would have missed anyway because of the late door opening). And please don't make it Mid day on a Tuesday, I'm sure if this show had of been on a weekend the turnout would have been much greater. But I'm sure you had/have no control over that.

[grateful_dave]

Bring Umphrey's back for a full show.

someones already got it in the works. lets cross our fingers and hope for the best!! (bri )

[mark tonin]

I had a great time at the Toronto BSC ... thank you to the promoters!

My personal highlight in Toronto was watching Keller Williams do his thing ... I was up close for his set in Toronto (and Ottawa) and watching him put it all together is lots of fun ... he's got great stage presence. I managed to find a spot to watch him where I could see his facial expressions and still have room to dance.

Although it was an indoor event, it definitely still had a festival feel to it, with two stages, a place to hang outside with a great view of the city & the lake, a pool, and a relaxed vibe. A number of times I saw musicians from the different bands wondering around inside and out.

Well done to all of those involved in making the Toronto BSC happen.

Peace, Mark

[Tooly]

really p[isssed that i missed this too but couldnt get time off work and that shitty lame excuse

post it up when the keller mcgee set is available please, im looking foward to hearing that, read drooling

and an umphreys show would be stellar as well, they kick my ass

[Fuckholes]

Got a little to tweeked out for this show, but from what I can remember... The venue was nice, the peep's were amazing and the music was fantastic.

Thx again for the good time.

Cheers

[tangerineman]

I had the total opposite experience. I had all of my gear open and ready to show and was just given the go-ahead. Sweet. However, a certain someone (from this board), got searched ahead of me.

I think I was right before you in line and just after that certain someone... Right before the steps up to the awning-covered "porch" where we waited to get in, right?

Just as she started asking me to unpack my stuff, her superior came up to her and said "Go LIGHT from now on" (I guess b/c there were too many people showing up by then). Excellent timing, although I think having so much taping gear in the bags was the ideal diversion and would have got me in anyhoo.

Had stash/papers in my undies, 3 pre-rolleds in two separate places in my gear bag and boxes--got it all in.