Daily ticket stories
The Higher Ground people are famous for their tight security at the door and it always takes longer than you think it will to get it, no matter how many times you (or in this case, I) go through the process. And for some reason it’s always (always!) much colder waiting in that line than you think it will be…
April 4th, 1991 was my first time seeing the great, great Paul Simon. The show was relatively small, taking place in the 9,000 seat Ottawa Civic Centre just a short stroll from Carleton University’s campus where I was living in one of the school’s residence buildings…
When Metallica hit the stage they did so in a blistering cavalcade of open-E palm-muted sixteenth notes absolutely synched with Lars Ulrich’s double kick drum flams. Out of the gate they were undeniably the tightest band my young ears had ever heard and I was hooked in for the next two hours…
My only brush with The Doors came on March 30th, 1993 when Robbie Krieger played a very unlikely venue in Gatineau called Houblon. I went with my good friend Jojo and we had a whale of a time…
On March 21st, 2012 I drove thirty kilometres or so to my local arena to see Van Halen. I had seen the band in Montreal about five years previous and had a great time at the show so I was anxious for another chance to see Van Halen (almost) as they were intended to be seen…
On March 15th, 2015 I went to the wonderful Capitol Theatre just this side of NYC to celebrate the 75th birthday of my favourite living bass player – Phil Lesh – with a concert by…Phil Lesh…
Big Sugar mounted the temporary stage and turned the boring, accordion-walled conference hall into a barrelhouse barroom with a guitar-driven blues-tinged slab of sound that was a mile thick…
This is the last concert I saw. Covid was just ramping up when I attended this wonderful show featuring Angela Hewitt playing the music of Bach, and while I enjoyed it immensely I sure am looking forward to seeing another concert sometime soon. Not since I started going to concerts at the age of fourteen have I gone a year without sharing a live musical performance with thousands of strangers, and I’m dying to do it again.
I was in line for a Jack & Coke when the music started. I could hear that it was Derek Trucks and Warren Haynes playing the great Duane Allman instrumental track Little Martha. Drink in hand I flew up the stairs and caught the last bit of the opener as I was finding my seat…
Right around the time I was starting to scramble for a Secret Santa gift for my guitar-playing friend Dave I received an email announcing Ottawa’s upcoming annual Chamber Music Festival…
Todd Man Out 