Supernatural Con – Vancouver CA : August 28-31 2015

What an interesting and entertaining 3 days up in Vancouver over the weekend. This was not like any other convention we have been to, it was much more intense and subversive into the the whole vibe and “family” of the show and fandom. The fans were certainly all involved and thoroughly engaged in everything that was happening and the show organizers had things planned from early in the morning until late at night. The days were full with of course the panels where all the stars of the show took questions and told very funny stories of themselves and the show . They had karaoke night on Friday night and a late night concert with the house band Loud and Swain.

Most of the weekend was with the starts getting close to the fans the of course the personal autographing sessions, photo ops and meet and greets. We didn’t tale advantage of any of the photo ops or meet and greets, but we certainly spent a fair amount of time in lines waiting for autographs. The first night Nicki and I waited from around 5:00pm until after 9:00 to get Osric Chau (who played Kevin), Gil McKinney (who played Henry W.) and Tyler Johnston (who played Alfie). On Saturday, Toni and I waited from around 5:30pm to around 9:30 to get autographs from Misha Collins (who plays Castiel) and Mark Sheppard (who plays Crowley). We didn’t want to wait an extra hour plus to wait in line to get Theo Devany (who played Gavin MacLoud, so unfortunately missed his signature. I was however able to get Ruth Connell (who plays Rowena) who was super cool and was in my opinion one of the major highlights of the weekend. She was just so perky and fun. It was her first convention, but I know she will be back as she was certainly a crowd pleaser. The third day was busy with Sam and Dean (Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles) with a morning panel just for the gold ticket holders and their full panel in the afternoon and autographs in the evening. I was also able to get Richard Steight Jr (who plays the Trickster/ archangel Gabriel). Richard was by far the highlight of the whole weekend in my opinion. He was the master of ceremonies and put on a great panel with Matt Cohen (who played young John Winchester) and Rob Benedict (who played Carver Edlund/ Chuck Shurley)..I got his signature on Sunday as well. He has such a great sense of humor and kept everyone laughing and engaged with everything he said.

All in all, this was a real fun show.

Bullet for my Valentine – Vancouver CA : August 24 2015

Great show up in Vancouver. I was able to meet the guys from Bullet for my Valentine which has been something I have wanted to do for quite a while. These guys are one of my most favorite new bands and I have seen them at least three times. Their new album (Venom) had just released about a week ago and they played No Way Out and Army of Noise which were great to hear live and then my favorites of the set Tears Don’t Fall and Your Betrayal. The concert was call Summer’s Last Stand with Motionless in White, Bullet for my Valentine, Lamb of God and headliners Slipknot. Both Motionless and Bullet only played 7 song sets, but really tore it up. We only saw Lamb of God perform their first 2 songs before we had to leave, so we didn’t get to see Slipknot, but as the crowd was getting rowdier and drunker, we thought perhaps it was a good time to leave, and as we really came to see Motionless and Bullet, we were good with leaving and heading out to have some food before heading back to hotel.

Rod Stewart – Las Vegas NV : August 15 2015

What a great show tonight with Rod Stewart at the Colosseum at Caesars Palace. Toni and I had seen Rod Stewart before, so we looking forward to another great performance and stage show and we weren’t disappointed at all. He had a full band including all the ladies playing the horns and strings. The setlist was incredible including early songs such as I’m Losing You and Maggie May. I think one of my favorites of the night was Your in My Heart.

Rod did all of his regular show antics with kicking soccer balls into the crowd, walking through the crowd while singing and ending with a huge balloon drop during the final song Do You Think I’m Sexy.

Fun night in Vegas!

VANS Warped Tour – Seattle WA : August 9 2015

 

The last day of the 2015 Warped Tour and all the bands seemed to be genuinely bummed that the tour was over. I suppose that after spending so much time traveling and playing with such a great group of bands, that they all must have had a great time and getting back to reality must seem a little strange to think about. We saw the tour on their June 20th, Mountain View California show and could probably have seen every show in between. There is just so much good music and energy at these shows, that you never want them to end.

We found that we do like the Whiteriver Amphitheater better than Mountain View as things seemed to be just a bit less confined and better played out to enable you to go from stage to stage without seeming to be trapped in a sea of bodies.

I was really looking forward to seeing Escape the Fate this time as we missed them in Mountain View due to their set being at 11:00am, right when they opened the doors and we had;t even gotten to the parking lot. We weren’t disappointed, they were incredible! The only problem was they only played four songs. Of all the bands, they were my favorite, with Blessthefall coming in second. Ryan’s favorite band of the show today was Candy Hearts, where Toni and Nicki’s favorite of the day was Icon for Hire and New Years Day.

All in all it was a great day of music, and it is sad that the tour is over, but we’ll be there next year for sure.

RUSH – Seattle WA : July 19 2015

A great show last night at the Key Arena in Seattle. As usual, Rush put on an absolutely incredible show. They opened up at about 7:45pm with The Anarchist and played until nearly 11:00pm, ending with Working Man. In between they played songs spanning their 40 years of making great music including Far Cry, Roll the Bones, Subdivisions, Tom Sawyer, The Spirit of Radio, Closer to the Heart, Anthem, Xanadu and 2112 parts I, II, IV and VII.