The trip to Canada and the Killers show

On last Friday I drove up to Canada to see the band the Killers perform.  I really enjoyed them the last time I had seen them play and I told myself when they cam back into town I would go to their show again.  Unfortunately their next Seattle show was scheduled for the same night that U2 was playing in town so I had to figure out how to see them otherwise.  Vancouver, British Columbia is only about 120 miles North so that became the plan for me and also my brother and a few friends.  The wait at the border to enter Canada took about 40 minutes despite the fact that the reader board sign just read >5 minute wait which I guess was not a lie but at the same time was far from accurate.  When I got into the queue I called my brother to find out where he was on the road and I found out that he was actually about six cars behind me.  How crazy is that considering we had not planned to leave even close to the same time, he was going to leave earlier in the day and I left home an hour after I wanted to.  For some reason I never seem to get to Canada.  It had been almost two years since I had last been in Vancouver.  It was such a nice day and such a nice drive I really do not know why I do not go up there to visit more often.  Maybe because I have really no one to go with is part of the problem?
I got settled into my hotel and I went to meet up with the rest of the gang who was staying at another hotel.  The Vogue Theatre is kind of what the call the “Entertainment” part of Vancouver.  It is right off of the touristy Robson Street and there are a few other concert venues and a lot of dance clubs all within a few blocks on the same street.  There are plenty of places to get late night food.  I went into a Taco Time which was open until 3 AM but the tacos did not taste the same was the Taco Times in Washington state.  Right before I got to the box office I notice three or four people standing with a guy with who was putting away his TV camera and I notice that two of the people were Tegan and Sara.  These two young girls played as part of the Farm Aid show in 2004.  There is more of a buzz about them now than there was back in October and I found out that they were opening for the Killers.  I knew that they were doing this in Seattle but the marquee did not list them – only “special guest”.  They were really nice to talk to and I was surprised considering we were less than 200 feet from the theatre that they were not mobbed by more people.  Later I found out why.
After spending the afternoon doing nothing and a quick dinner we went over to the show.  Most of the seats were already full downstairs and in the balcony but our plan was to just be in the mosh pit anyway so we went down to the very front.  We were surrounded by a very young crowd and many young girls.  While they let you bring in drinks only a few people were drinking.  I ended up talking to this set of girls who were all drinking beer only to find out that they were all only 17 years old!  The drinking age in Canada is only 19 and they had one friend that was old enough to buy.  I worried about all of these young kids getting pushed around and a lot of them ended up leaving before everything was said and done but some of them did tough it out.  I asked around and no one around me really knew who Tegan and Sara were.  The same was true in a quick conversation I had in the bathroom.  Canada has these weird laws where they have to play X% of Canadian artists on the local radio so I really was not sure why they had not gotten a lot of airplay given the great opportunity they have.  One theory I have is that actually many people in Vancouver listen to the Seattle stations.  My two favorites were coming in clear as day when I was driving all over town up there.  The Tegan and Sara set was at best OK.  The crowd really was not into them at all.  They did not even really seem to appreciate the fact that Tegan lives in Vancouver along with one of the other band members and another band member was from Victoria, BC.  Here they were playing in front of a home town crowd and they were not getting a ton of response.
The Killers had a great set and played one song I did not know.  One of the highlights was went they went into a Pink Floyd cover.  On the way out after the show there was a Vegas style tune that was playing over the PA that was also theirs.  You can tell they are still a new band in the grand scheme of things.  I was a little disappointed in Brandon Flowers as he really did not smile that much or really engage the crowd.  He gave them thanks and props at the end but the rest of the band seem more in touch with the crowd itself.  I cannot wait to see the Killers again.  They will be opening for U2 in Europe and so those people will be very lucky.  The Killers are everywhere right now, however.  They are playing as part of the launch of the next version of the XBOX and I talked to someone at Microsoft the other day who said they will also be playing Microsoft’s part at E3 this year.  Too bad I do not develop video games for a living.
I had to get up early Saturday since I was going to the M’s game later that day.  I was really bummed because it had been so nice up in Vancouver, weather-wise and it would have been fun to walk around.  The wait time listed at the border was 30 minutes but it took me about 45 and I think it was more of the fact that I was in the very slow line.  I attached a couple photos from the border crossing.  I cheated a bit as they were taken in May of 2003 but since nothing really has changed they are still the same.

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