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November 12th, 2003 was a pretty exciting night for a lot of people, myself very much included. It was the second of four consecutive nights that saw the band I was managing – the very much up and coming jam trio called nero (yes, all lower-case) – opening up for the very well-established, undeniably top-tier American jamband moe. (not just all lower-case but yes, with the dot-née-period at the end…what a hassle that must be). This was the middle show of three in nero’s strongly-held Canadian territory – the very reason moe. agreed to having us on the bill – with the fourth being the return of the favour; an arena show south of the border in Burlington, Vermont.
But moreover this concert took place in our hometown of Ottawa, and not only that, it was in the best room in the city, the once-wonderful and still-awesome Barrymore’s. It’s not like Barrymore’s was nero’s home venue or anything, that designation would have to go to Babylon or Cafe Dekcuf in the early days and Dekcuf’s lower-level big brother Maverick’s after that, but I will always consider Barrymore’s to be my own personal home venue. It’s where I played my first Ottawa gig, it’s the room I’ve played the most (certainly over fifty times and with…let me see…at least four different bands?), it’s the room where I saw some of the best Ottawa shows ever, and a room I will always have a soft spot for.
And this particular show will always stand as one of my Barrymore’s highlights. Mostly because of the crowd. The 600-capacity room was packed, and I mean packed, and I swear I was on a first-name basis with pretty much everyone there (even if I was rather famous for forgetting everyone’s name). And everyone there was at least as excited as I was, and not just because one of their favourite well-established undeniably top-tier American jambands was in town for the first time in six years. No, they were excited for the same reason as I was; because their favourite little Canadian jamband seemed on the cusp of making the leap from up-and-comers to bona fide second (or at least third) tier jamband, and here they were making that leap right before our own hometown eyes! One thing nero truly excelled at (through their music, their dedication, and their personalities) was turning friends into fans and fans into friends to the point that everyone that came to see them was yet another captain of the nero booster club. I mean, for all my management work these guys basically promoted themselves. And here they had been featured in American music magazines, their newest cd was being played with some semblance of regularity on sirius radio, and now…could it be?!?! Was Rob really calling Dave Lauzon up on stage to sit in with them?!? Omigod, he was! And on one of moe.’s biggest songs, Plane Crash! The crowd (and I) went nuts. The Instant Live people who were following the tour and curating live recordings available for purchase immediately after the concert did brisk business too as everyone wanted a hard-copy version of the moment.
Oh, it was all so darn exciting! I was happy, Topper was happy, nero was happy, moe. seemed happy, and I tell you, those 600 sweaty neo-hippies that staggered out of the bar and straight to the nearest afterparty (40 Main, I suspect?) were pretty darn happy too.
Certainly it was another great night for me at Barrymore’s Music Hall, even if it was among my last in the once-great venue.
Todd Man Out 