Brand New, Live at MacEwan Hall

Last night Anita and I tried to blend into a crowd of young kids at the Brand New (<-- that's the band name) concert at Mac Hall, and largely failed. While waiting for the doors to open, we scanned the crowd, and could not find anyone remotely close to our age... eventually we spotted two folks that appeared to be at least 30, and we were like, "YES! We just doubled our contingent!" Our age disparity to the rest of the crowd was fairly obvious when all the kidlets would snap photos and videos on their phones and immediately share them on Snapchat/ Instagram/ Twitter/ Text, while I was taking pictures with a device that was NOT also my phone (ie: an actual camera).

Anyways, we enjoyed ourselves, despite the terrible stage lighting that essentially backlit the band as silhouettes the entire night (see the photos below for examples). The only thing I could have used a lot less of was the "All you can eat buffet" of fuzz guitar feedback they insisted on pounding our ears with. We were foolishly standing near the left bank of speakers/ amps, and 24 hours later, my left ear is still ringing. If you have something to say to me, literally, please talk into my good ear.

For fans that are familiar with Brand New, but weren't there last night, they closed their show with a haunting version of the sing along crowd pleaser, "Play Crack The Sky," and it was just so perfect.


Backlit


Backlit


Backlit


Oh look, more backlighting.


What have we here? Lighting... from behind.


And... yes. More backlighting.

Mumford and Sons, live at the Saddledome

Mumford and Sons, live at the Saddledome last night, was such a great show. Photos taken from the nosebleed seats, because Ticketmaster is the most evil entity on the planet aside from ISIS and Impark. Seriously, I hate you Impark. Just because I parked DIRECTLY in front of the giant sign that said NO PARKING for transit customers, doesn't mean you need to be a total douchenozzle about it. You compassionless parking pricks. The parking lot at Sunridge Mall has 1000+ empty stalls, because let's face it, that ghetto trash mall doesn't see a thousand shoppers in an entire year. Yes, I realize I'm mildly (completely) in the wrong, but that doesn't change my opinion about your prick-ish-ness.

Anyways, on to the photos. The little point and shoot Sony RX100 (mark I) was having a wee tough time with the lighting, but these were the best I could get from way on up in the peasant seats.


Marcus Mumford, lead singer, is a ridiculously talented dude. He has an incredibly strong voice, and plays multiple instruments. Amazing.




Smartphones - the new concert "lighter in the air"...

Of Monsters and Men - Live in YYC

Of Monsters and Men played a sold out show at the Grey Eagle Casino Events Centre last night. It was fun, it was energetic, and if you like how their music sounds at home/ in your car/ through your earbuds, you'll be relieved to learn that their live show is a very sound (pardon the pun) rendition of what you already know and love. Unlike so many bands that are unable to live up to the fullness of their vocals, instrumentation, and sounds when performing live vs. the overproduced sound on their records, seeing OMAM live was like listening to a really loud and amped up version of their album on your stereo. And their acknowledgement of our weird weather (two hail storms, flooding, and a tornado in the two days they spent in our city) certainly endeared them to the locals. Crowd pleasing, for sure.









And as far as opening acts go, local outfit SAVK, did a more than admirable job of warming up the crowd with their set.



For the photo nerds out there, all shots taken with the Sony RX100 point and shoot. It packs a 1" sensor in a compact enough body that doesn't net any attention from security. A good tradeoff between crappy iPhone shots, and much more capable (but possibly won't be allowed in to a concert venue) mirrorless or SLR cameras.

Scrambles - Yamnuska

We took a short but fun scramble up Yamnuska today. 900m of elevation gain, spread over an interesting mix of forest, a rocky chute, a lengthy trudge up steep rock face, navigating a rock wall with anchored chains, and then a run down the frontside scree slopes.


















My daytime boss!


My real boss... a much more frightening woman.
















Beer at the summit... warm beer has never tasted this good.












And the best part of this hike: running down the front side scree slopes.

Season opening tune-up: Ha Ling Peak

First scramble of the season is in the books. It's sad that it took until late July to summit our first peak, and even more sad that an old gentleman (labouring for breath the whole way, while moving at what appeared to be a snail's pace) managed to summit in less time than us. But regardless, bagging a peak is bagging a peak, even if it is the lowly Ha Ling Peak (700m elevation gain), which we have now done 3 years in a row as our season starting tune up. I used to spend the time during hikes excitedly anticipating the views at the top, but having done this one a few times, I spent all of today's hike dreaming of the pint I would have once completed. And it was GLORIOUS.




About 15 minutes into the hike, Anita looks reedy to give up.


But to her credit, she soldiers on up the steep switchbacks.






















And the reward for the day's activities: New Belgium Brewery's Fat Tire Amber Ale. DELISH.

And of course, because I can't get enough of shooting polaroids, here are few from today taken with the SX-70. I have no idea why the colours are so funky with this set.