Free Tapings in Toronto - MMJ, Stars, etc...

[AD]

What time did they lock everyone out?

this is the basic story of everyone who got left outside.

There was a massive line, and then the list-keepers said, “Sorry it’s full, we are at capacity. Only people on the Maplemusic list can come in.†So we’re said, “well, we’re confirmed on the list, we are going in.†they say, “no, you’re not on the right list.†And we said “oh, I didn’t know I signed up for the wrong list you stupid fucktardsâ€. (a little bit paraphrased). But they eventually only let in the Maplemusic people, and then there were about 30 of us standing on the steps of the church with ‘absolutely no chance of getting in’ this is when Bob bailed. My girlfriend told the security guard nicely that we drove from Ottawa for the show and others drove even further, he told her quietly to stick around they’d try to get us in (not that this was the reason we all got in, it's just part of the story. I'm sure we would have all got in regardless of the stories we told the guard.) So after Evil Urges starts the woman who was being all righteous with us before said ‘ok the people from Ottawa can go in, but go to the balcony don’t you fucking dare go on the floor.’ Everybody was let in then during Evil Urges, we hung out in the balcony for Off The Record and What A Wonderful Man and then went down to the floor.

I am sooo glad that I or anyone else outside on the steps didn’t say or do anything stupid, as that probably would have ended it for all of us on the spot. Lord know we were all thinking some nasty things.

There had to be at a maximum 300 people there, packed fairly tight in the super-small floor area. I had a bit of room in the back off to the side behind the giant boom camera. Unreal. So much gear in that place, about 8 HD camera set ups everywhere,

But the 25 minutes we were on the steps with ‘absolutely no chance of getting in’ was one of the worst feelings I’ve had in my in concert-going history.

[phorbesie]

Dondante was fucking HUUUUUGE and then the One Big Holiday to follow.

I agree with the AD, that Highly Suspicious is hot, hot, hot.

that was awesome. well worth the trip and the slightly stressful pre-show shennanigans. good to see we only missed part of the first song.

very sorry to hear what happened POG, crap.

thanks to all who made last night possible for me great to see y'all.

[jayr]

Did they ID you at the door or how did they confirm that you were on the list?

[ForbinHood]

there was a "list"?

Still a bit bitter... but happy a few of you guys did get in...

[Palms]

I got the feeling last night that my wife and I were surrounded by people from this board. I am just basing this on the guys right behind us, one with a Grateful Dead shirt on, one of the women being named Marge, the tall dude with a cowboy shirt on behind us and the talk of Ottawa that we couldn't help but overhear

[Jakis]

What a great show!!! Had so much fun. Good to see all the people from this board as well. Hope the trip back to ottawa was good.

[Finer1]

The new songs were incredible! Like nothing else out there, that's for sure. Nice haircuts too!

[Basher]

They "were" asking for ID to verify your name on the list. Of course, by the time they let us in there was no list required.

Yeah, there were a bunch of "Skanks" there last night. I estimate at least 20. Good showing guys and gals.

[Cully]

Thinking back on the show last night...great venue, amazing lights, so many friendly faces (and some bitter Toronto types as well)

MMJ have the ability to play all genres of music, very well. They take the listener on a sonic journey, and have amazing stage presence (they have obviously played countless hours of guitar hero!!)

Great to see the O town crew. Thanks again Basher.

[Palms]

We didn't get asked for ID, just for my name. It took a while to find it on there, but eventually they did.

Sounds like the people in charge of the "party planning" purposefully invited more people figuring that 25% of those confirmed probably would not show up...

I would have been hella upset if I had not got in too.

[scottieking]

Man, things can get weird in a hurry in T.O.

So, I came without a gameplan but synchronicity was set to high. I called my friend earlier in the day to alert her to the show. She called back and said I was to meet her outside the church at 6:30pm. We were greeted and taken two doors down to a treehouse (seriously, a treehouse) which connects to the Church through the yard. There we were treated well and assured that we would be walked through the backdoor at showtime. All of which were true. Meanwhile, various skuttlebutt about the band rolled in including:

-The airport tags were already on their equipment for their next gig in Mexico

-Jim James didn't want spicy food before the show so they had to scramble and whip up a veggie ravoli for him

-they had this cool mini disc golf basket that the crew were shooting around on

Anyway, we did get shuttled in through the backdoor and never did get a wristband. This would be problematic later and positioned ourselves on the floor.

THE SHOW - WOW. Despite your typical shellshocked Ontario crowd, the band plowed through old and new tunes alike. Highlights for me were the Dondante, Off the Record extendo-jam, the two dancy new ones (Highly Suspecious, ?) and the familiar One Big Holiday to top it off.

Post show, my friends had left their jackets backstage and getting there without wristbands and our guide was problematic. However, our host soon appeared and whisked us back through the band and to the treehouse. There we could spy on the band through glass and hang out on a warm night. I shared an herbal jazz cigarette with a TSN personality and had some good chats and laughs. By the time we snuck into the band room, we were lit and obviously a menace as a few of us were attempting three part harmony on the theme from Family Ties (for this reason alone, watching Sportcentre is going to be hard without laughing everytime) We were escorted out by security.

Sorry I didn't get to see some of you, but nice spending time with friendly faces at a very special, intimate experience with this great band. As stated last night, last chance for most of us to be that close.

[Northern Wish]

Left Ottawa at 3:15

Parked directly in front of the church at 7:00

Located a pub, downed two pints by 7:40

In line at 7:50

Inside at 8:10

I was totally unaware of the situation behind us, not knowing anyone was shut out. It was packed but the two industry doofuses right beside me left after the first song so we had plenty of space. Even got to get back and forth to the bar a couple of times. The crew was in full force, which was great to see. Palms I think you were right beside me to the left, I had a brown and white checked shirt on. Surrounding us was Large Marge, Cully, Asparagus, The Sloth, Jakis, scottieking, Groove Fetish, phunkyb, and there were a bunch of other peeps in attendance who haven't posted: Paul, Swan, phunkyb et al.

Its still the morning after, I am dead tired and it was my first MMJ show, but holy moly! I want to say Top 10 ever but I that might not do it justice. What a band, what a night. I love road trips.......Thanks to Basher, AD, Asparagus, The Sloth and RobNotBob for making it all happen.

Sean

[TheSloth]

Uuuuuuuh ..... that may have been a little sick.

What an amazing time. It was my first time being at the Church and wow what an unbelievable venue. I thought MMJ really played their hearts outs. They pretty much blew me out of the water. I couldn't say enough good things about them.

It was so great to see so many friends out. I really wish we could have stayed longer and caught up some more but duty called. Huge thanks to everyone that made it such a fantastic evening (especially to everyone that helped get it all together).

[Basher]

Anything that gets TheSloth to post has to be considered epic.

[TheSloth]

And that was my 500th post - only took me 6 1/2 years.

Thank you so much Basher for the heads up on the show.

[Basher]

Clearly it was a win-win. Good to see you, albeit briefly.

[phunkyb]

What a great night of music! I was totally unaware of the line-up issues until I saw a text message of someone complaining that they cut the line-up off. I'm glad it finally worked out for most of the folk in the end, POG...what a bummer!

Great seeing Northern Wish and the Sloth...as we get older it seems we get cleaner:)

[phishtaper]

the tall dude with a cowboy shirt on behind us

that was probably weirdness. i also got the impression I was surrounded by skanks, but thot it geeky/creepy to say "hey buuuuuuuuudy, what's yer nick on the board?"

...as we get older it seems we get cleaner

oh please, we're all just as filthy as we ever were.

[phorbesie]

i seemed to be surrounded by toronto hipsters.

[Patchoulia]

i seemed to be surrounded by toronto hipsters.

Basher is so sick of being called that.

[Basher]

That's hipster doofus to you.

[Palms]

I was totally unaware of the situation behind us, not knowing anyone was shut out. It was packed but the two industry doofuses right beside me left after the first song so we had plenty of space. Even got to get back and forth to the bar a couple of times. The crew was in full force, which was great to see. Palms I think you were right beside me to the left, I had a brown and white checked shirt on. Surrounding us was Large Marge, Cully, Asparagus, The Sloth, Jakis, scottieking, Groove Fetish, phunkyb, and there were a bunch of other peeps in attendance who haven't posted: Paul, Swan, phunkyb et al.

I am pretty sure you are right. I had on a brown/green corderuoy jacket and look pretty much like I do on my myspace page, but about 30 pounds lighter now

[NewRider]

i seemed to be surrounded by toronto hipsters.

Welcome to Toronto. Just push them over and burp in their faces. Works for me.

[Jakis]

Hey Palms I think it was you that asked me for the time?

[Palms]

Yes, that was me. We needed to find out how much time we had left before heading to Union to get the bus back to Hamilton.

I'm also a little shy about asking people "hey, aren't you on this message board that I am on" although I am pretty sure I recognized a few faces from over the years.

Edited April 1, 2008 by Guest