Well what can I say? Another show and event under the belt and it was a good one. Despite not totally selling out the SOEC, and me also not selling all my tickets (three left), I was determined to have a grand old time and must say this event was the best one out of all the ones I have done (5 now!). Sometimes you just got to push forward and roll with it. For this trip, I changed it up and offered door to door service before AND after the show. I paid dearly for it with my sleep time as I didn't get home until about 2am after driving back from the show in Penticton and making sure each patron was dropped off safe and sound.
This trip we had a total of 13 patrons (including me) that we're all a very eclectic bunch. Most of the patrons we well into their 40's and above however we had four young chaps we we're probably not even born when BNL first became popular. I started picking up the patrons at about 10am and we were off an running to Penticton. After a short pit stop for lunch in West Kelowna we arrived in Penticton at about 2:30 pm. Where one part of the group decided they wanted to lose their money at the casino and the rest of us went to Cherry Lane Shopping Centre which is almost a carbon copy of Village Green Centre design wise. If only I had stayed at the casino with the group I dropped off! One of the concert goers reported that BNL were out and about around the hotel and casino. I could have had a TMZ/Celebrity moment if I stayed via a picture with some of the band - but I was the driver so I had obligations.
After we met back up at the casino it was off to La Casa Ouzeria for a fabulous Greek dinner.
This trip we had a total of 13 patrons (including me) that we're all a very eclectic bunch. Most of the patrons we well into their 40's and above however we had four young chaps we we're probably not even born when BNL first became popular. I started picking up the patrons at about 10am and we were off an running to Penticton. After a short pit stop for lunch in West Kelowna we arrived in Penticton at about 2:30 pm. Where one part of the group decided they wanted to lose their money at the casino and the rest of us went to Cherry Lane Shopping Centre which is almost a carbon copy of Village Green Centre design wise. If only I had stayed at the casino with the group I dropped off! One of the concert goers reported that BNL were out and about around the hotel and casino. I could have had a TMZ/Celebrity moment if I stayed via a picture with some of the band - but I was the driver so I had obligations.
After we met back up at the casino it was off to La Casa Ouzeria for a fabulous Greek dinner.
Gotta love how the young guys add some excitement to the evening! I have no idea that he did the "Saturday Night Live" pose until I took a closer look at the picture about fifteen minutes after I took it. It was pretty funny.
After great dinner it was of to the SOEC (South Okanagan Events Centre) for the show which was only 3/4 sold and with that I realized that my chances of getting rid of my extra three tickets was dashed so chin up and into the show I went after about 45 minutes of playing scalper!
Now for the review....
Opening Act #1: Clara Venice
Although this one girl DJ/performer was good I felt that she didn't really fit in with the type of music. Although all the males loved her due to her nice skimpy, revealing outfit eventually that wears thin. She had lots of techno style beats and would probably been a better fit opening for Avicii. Either way it was interesting and funny too. What we thought were her boobs bouncing at a tremendous velocity turned out to be her pippy long stocking style pigtails. You know your getting up there when you cannot tell the difference between cleavage and pigtails. Time for glasses? ;)
Opening Act #2: Ladies of the Canyon
Interesting band they sound like a female version of a Led Zeppelin/Black Crowes cross. Kind of a slow, grinding rocker chick band. I like a few of their songs and they definitely were having a good time cracking jokes and telling personal stories in between songs.
Main Act: Barenaked Ladies
The Stage: Pretty basic with a bunch of spotlights and a large lighting array as a backdrop.
After great dinner it was of to the SOEC (South Okanagan Events Centre) for the show which was only 3/4 sold and with that I realized that my chances of getting rid of my extra three tickets was dashed so chin up and into the show I went after about 45 minutes of playing scalper!
Now for the review....
Opening Act #1: Clara Venice
Although this one girl DJ/performer was good I felt that she didn't really fit in with the type of music. Although all the males loved her due to her nice skimpy, revealing outfit eventually that wears thin. She had lots of techno style beats and would probably been a better fit opening for Avicii. Either way it was interesting and funny too. What we thought were her boobs bouncing at a tremendous velocity turned out to be her pippy long stocking style pigtails. You know your getting up there when you cannot tell the difference between cleavage and pigtails. Time for glasses? ;)
Opening Act #2: Ladies of the Canyon
Interesting band they sound like a female version of a Led Zeppelin/Black Crowes cross. Kind of a slow, grinding rocker chick band. I like a few of their songs and they definitely were having a good time cracking jokes and telling personal stories in between songs.
Main Act: Barenaked Ladies
The Stage: Pretty basic with a bunch of spotlights and a large lighting array as a backdrop.
The Set List:
The Band:
I was wondering how they would sound without the instrumental Stephen Page in the band and for the most part they pulled it off. You could definitely tell in some parts of certain songs where his higher pitch was missing however BNL were extremely resourceful using everything they had at their disposal to their advantage.
The band had great energy all night, were pretty quirky, and were excellent at getting the crowd involved in most of the songs. They moved around the stage great and really put forth an effort to call out to Penticton, it's local businesses, the Okanagan, and landmarks - especially their impromptu ode and song to Ed Robertson's "Explosive Diarrhea". Yes, Ed shared with the crowd that he had diarrhea on the bus for the drive up to Penticton to Vancouver and they made it into about a five minute song on the spot! Pretty funny.
I also thought the band was really creative in how they took Miley Cyrus' Wrecking Ball, Lorde's Royals, Wake Me Up by Avicii, and few other songs and mashed them up into a huge one song medley that lasted about ten minutes. The crowd thoroughly enjoyed it and found it pretty creative. My favourite part was Ed Robertson (singer) on drums and Tyler Stewart (drummer) switching places to perform Led Zeppelin's "Whole Lotta Love". It was great and the energy when they did it was spot on! Here is a snippit from BNL singing "One Week" which is probably their most well known song due to it hitting #1 many years ago in the US plus it's involvement in the best comedy series of modern times - American Pie.
- Limits
- Never Is Enough
- Pinch Me
- Lovers in a Dangerous Time
- Falling for the First Time
- Gonna Walk
- For You
- Keepin’ It Real
- Sound of Your Voice
- Smile
- I Can Sing
- Blame It On Me
- Brian Wilson
- Did I Say That Out Loud?
- Light Up My Room
- Odds Are
- The Big Bang Theory theme song
- One Week
- If I Had $1000000
- Alcohol
The Band:
I was wondering how they would sound without the instrumental Stephen Page in the band and for the most part they pulled it off. You could definitely tell in some parts of certain songs where his higher pitch was missing however BNL were extremely resourceful using everything they had at their disposal to their advantage.
The band had great energy all night, were pretty quirky, and were excellent at getting the crowd involved in most of the songs. They moved around the stage great and really put forth an effort to call out to Penticton, it's local businesses, the Okanagan, and landmarks - especially their impromptu ode and song to Ed Robertson's "Explosive Diarrhea". Yes, Ed shared with the crowd that he had diarrhea on the bus for the drive up to Penticton to Vancouver and they made it into about a five minute song on the spot! Pretty funny.
I also thought the band was really creative in how they took Miley Cyrus' Wrecking Ball, Lorde's Royals, Wake Me Up by Avicii, and few other songs and mashed them up into a huge one song medley that lasted about ten minutes. The crowd thoroughly enjoyed it and found it pretty creative. My favourite part was Ed Robertson (singer) on drums and Tyler Stewart (drummer) switching places to perform Led Zeppelin's "Whole Lotta Love". It was great and the energy when they did it was spot on! Here is a snippit from BNL singing "One Week" which is probably their most well known song due to it hitting #1 many years ago in the US plus it's involvement in the best comedy series of modern times - American Pie.
The Crowd:
A very fun loving crowd that syncs up with the bands quirkyness well. The crowd for most of the night sang along to most of the songs and tried their best on the newer songs.
Now to my rating for the show:
Audience Interaction & Engagement: "A"
Quality and Diversity of Music: "B"
Stage Presence of Band "A"
Energy from the Crowd: "B"
Notable Exceptions from the Playlist: Enid, Good Boy, Old Apartment, Another Postcard
OVERALL RATING FOR SHOW: B+
Although they played about 90% of their hits, I give a B+ because they didn't include some of their most their most popular songs (ie. Enid). That may be due to the fact many of them have a very heavy Stephen Page "stamp" on them and it may be hard to accurately duplicate his voice on them.
Anyway, that's my review and I'm sticking with it!
If you want to have a guaranteed good time come join us on the next concert tour. Or f you need someone to plan out your corporate and/or special event give me a call to discuss it - just no weddings please!
Life's too short so I hope to see you at the next one! Peace.
A very fun loving crowd that syncs up with the bands quirkyness well. The crowd for most of the night sang along to most of the songs and tried their best on the newer songs.
Now to my rating for the show:
Audience Interaction & Engagement: "A"
Quality and Diversity of Music: "B"
Stage Presence of Band "A"
Energy from the Crowd: "B"
Notable Exceptions from the Playlist: Enid, Good Boy, Old Apartment, Another Postcard
OVERALL RATING FOR SHOW: B+
Although they played about 90% of their hits, I give a B+ because they didn't include some of their most their most popular songs (ie. Enid). That may be due to the fact many of them have a very heavy Stephen Page "stamp" on them and it may be hard to accurately duplicate his voice on them.
Anyway, that's my review and I'm sticking with it!
If you want to have a guaranteed good time come join us on the next concert tour. Or f you need someone to plan out your corporate and/or special event give me a call to discuss it - just no weddings please!
Life's too short so I hope to see you at the next one! Peace.