Led Zepplica
One of the premier Led Zeppelin tribute bands hit town last night at the Red Robinson Theatre in Coquitlam. I went with my buddy Dave from Williams Lake and we went to Sammy J’s first for some fantastic food and beers. We got to our seats carrying a couple of beers each just as the band was finishing their opening song – Rock’n’Roll. They were awesome and I’d see them again in a second. They hail from California and were just completing a 17 city tour.

The singer was a replica of Robert Plant – same mannerisms, body, hair and especially the voice. The guitarist played Jimmy so well and the drummer nailed Bonhams hard hitting style. We were in the raised 4th row facing the guitarist and Dave was in awe at how well Lenny played the axe. Dave is just getting back into learning Led Zep and I think he enjoyed watching it and picked up a few pointers.

They played a lot of great songs with some of my favorites mixed in there – Whole Lotta Love, Ramblin On, Kashmir, Moby Dick, Going to California and Dazed and Confused. It felt like we were watching the real thing. After the show Dave and I went to the casino. I found a machine and dropped 20 bucks into it. After just 4 pulls, I was up $80 and I quit and we went to the bar. At the bar we hung out with Lenny the guitarist from the band – he sat at our table as we had some beers and ate our nachos at 1:00AM. He was a good guy, tired from the tour I think and looking forward to going home to see his family and 2 young kids. I think I finally hit the sack around 2:30AM only to wake up parched and hot at 4:30. Not a good sleep. Poor Dave had to drive all the way home first thing in the morning.

The Red Robinson theatre is a nice theatre with good angled seating but I wish people stood more and rushed the stage. Sitting for a show, any show, but especially this one, I really wish we were rocking at the stage.

Up next, Kid Rock at the commodore !!

Ozzy – Rob Zombie Concert
I picked up John and Doug and drove downtown to get the party started around 4:30PM. Show started at 7:30 so we had lots of time. I brought a cooler with ice cold MGD so I filled my pockets with a bunch of beers after I parked in a dodgy party of town. It was free though. Powered back some brew and we all went to the fabulous nightspot called the Cambie in Gastown. This bar consists of lousy service, big wooden picnic tables and draft beer we buy by the pitcher. I didn’t have tickets for the show so I left around 6:30 to go find Ozzy tix from a scalper. The other 4 boys stayed behind drinking. I couldn’t believe how many people were outside GM Place. The place was almost sold out and there were no good cheap singles available. This never happens at an Ozzy show. This was probably my 10th show and I’ve never seen so many. Maybe it was Rob Zombie that was the draw as well.

I struggled trying to find tickets and then met the guy I met at Godsmack who said he could get me in for free. Well I followed him through his secret way and he got in !! I tried the same thing and before I knew it I was in but had a security guard picking me up and throwing me back out. This guy was huge – remember the big black guy from The Green Mile – this was him. We never spoke words, I knew I was busted and went back to the scalpers. The show was getting close to starting and the line up to get in was huge – 30 minute wait and I started to panic so I bought a Row 14 for $100 and then proceeded to bud in line to get in. When I got to the front where my ticket was scanned, the lady there said, sorry this ticket is no good and it has been reported stolen in the mail Crap, was I just scammed ?? I found the scalper and he said, no biggie, here’s another. I budded back in line and just got to the floor as Rob Zombie had started. So my lesson is get there earlier and deal with only reputable scalpers (if there is such a thing). While I was trying to find a ticket, I dropped my cel phone and lots of little pieces fell on the ground and I tried to put it back together. I left the SIM card on the ground before going in. Between Rob and Ozzy I tried to make a call and the phone message said I didn’t have SIM card – I knew it was outside but where and how do I get out. I found an awesome security guy who escorted me around the area with a flashlight and we found it !! I was so relieved to find this little 1cm square card 2 hours later.

The show was great, Rob is so good to see live. I didn’t like the seating and being on the floor – row 14 is just too far away for me – I like to be no further back than row 4. Rob did all his hits and had a great stage and lots of pyrotechnics. He just has so much energy and really gets into bouncing around the stage and standing on speakers. Ozzy and Zakk kicked ass and Ozzy’s voice was great. He didn’t move around a lot but he was still the great Ozzy. He did some tunes from his current Black Rain CD all the way back to 3 songs from Blizzard of Ozz. Suicide Solution, Crazy Train, I Don’t Know. I loved it. The only Sabbath song he played was closing with Paranoid. John missed Ozzy’s show. He spent his time being sick and sitting outside in the hallway. Seems us brothers have a history of missing Ozzy shows. At least John didn’t need St. Johns Ambulance.

We hit another great place after the show. Not. Doug wanted more beer so we went to Dennys for beer and food. The problem was that they stopped selling beer at 11PM. We ate food and drank shakes and I drove everyone home. It was a great night out with the boys and to see 2 classic bands.

Bellingham

We went to Bellingham for the weekend – I took Friday off and the kids had a professional day and we headed to the USA for 2 nights. The line up at the border was crazy so we went through the duty free hoping to beat the lineup as we have done in the past. When we got in there, we saw a huge lineup just to get out of the duty free parking lot and merge back into the main lineup. I bought some smokes for some buddies – this duty free store offers 2 cartons for $80US or $110CDN ?? The dollar is at par – what a rip and they said they wanted to cater to their American customers. I paid in US$ to get the deal. We left and waited 2HOURS!! Just to get out of the parking lot and back into the line.

We spent 2 nights at the Comfort Inn in Bellingham. We liked it there as they have free breakfast which includes homemade waffles and they have an indoor swimming pool. The deals weren’t so great but we found a way to spend a fortune nonetheless. The drive back was a piece of cake and took only 20 minutes to cross. We had to leave Bellingham at noon to make sure I got downtown for Ozzy in time.