A long weekend in the life of Alan

So Friday started of as a pretty crappy day. Getting to work at 11:30 I was immediatley confronted with a problem at work that required me to pull 6 tickets out of thin air for that night's sold-out show (which I did, thank you very much). That was followed by 5 straight hours of meetings including 2 hours with our finance dept. Not fun.
Also due to someone calling in sick, I was on my own between 5 and 7:30 and then had to rush over to Massey Hall to see Damien Rice at 8.

So done with the crappy work part, and on to the show. We have great seats in the centre orchestra at Massey but lined up right behind us are 6 photographers and sure enough for the 1st 3 songs, all we hear is click, click, CLICK, CLICK, CLICK.......
Ahhhhhhhhhhrg - It was not turning out like the day I hoped but finally after the 3rd song, the photographers cleared off and left us to a truly wonderful show.

The first time I saw Damien Rice at Convocation Hall it was the best live show I have ever seen and although Friday's show was good it wasn't quite that good. Still he is one of those artists who sounds 10 times better live than on record, and I absolutely love his records. He builds songs up and creates intense walls of sound from the most delicate of starts. He uses lighting to create different moods on each of his songs. He tells storys and is relaxed with a sometimes over adoring crowd (one chick kept shouting "I love you" which annoyed me no end). To end this show, he sang his drunken lament to lost love "Cheers Darlin'", whilst drinking a couple of glasses of red wine and acting progressively drunker. In the end he stumbled of stage and had everybody laughing, a really unusual way to end a show. It's nice to know he doesn't take himself too seriously.
The only big dissapointment to the show was the absence of Lisa Hannigan. Her beautiful vocals are such a big part of a lot of Damien's song and "Blower's Daughter" was a pale imitation without her.

So onto Saturday and another Toronto FC game, this time against DC United, the team below us in the league. The weather was beautiful and the crowd were singing even before they were in the stadium. Tim and I took advantage of the 3:30 start to get a few beers in beforehand and I was in the mood for it come kick-off.
The game was fairly fragmented to start off and a typically picky referee was holding things up as much as he could. Not to worry though as ex-DC player Alecko Eskandarian finally notched his first goal, banging one in from 8 yards out after a Dichio flick on.
So half-time and all seems right with the world. I even get id'd getting a beer, proving I still have the baby-faced looks of an 18 year-old!
The 2nd half though is another story. The crowd are still into it. Someone starts singing the bass line to the White Stripes "Seven Nation Army" and that takes off, a nice addition I think. The team however have played 3 games in a week, whilst DC have had 2 weeks off and it shows. An own goal by last weeks hero, Kevin Goldthwaite is followed up by a so-so penalty award on the 80th minute. DC scores and takes it 2-1 and we have to stop singing that they are "in last place".

Today I was back at work again for the Sunday matinee of La Traviata. Nothing much to report there, but I am looking forward to the Monday holiday before I throw myself into 11 straight days of working.

I am thankful the end of the opera season is in sight!