Spontaneity can be fun...

Monday afternoon, I'm trying to come up with a idea for what a good activity would be to do with a friend of mine who recently moved back to town. I'm thinking we'll probably just end up going to a movie or something. Then she calls me and asks me if I'd want to go to a concert in Calgary. It was very last minute (we had to leave in less than an hour), but it sounded like fun, so I agreed. We ended up getting 4 of us piled into her car and we drove to Calgary to see Evanescence. The timing of this was actually really good. While I'd known of the band, and a few of their songs, it wasn't until last week, when band leader Amy Lee appeared on The Hour (great show on CBC, George knows how to speak to our generation) that I really gained a deep respect for her talents and her music.

Anyway, we get to the concert, and not only did we have tickets, but they were for floor level. I guess the only downside is that we didn't have seats, but we didn't need them anyway as we were happy to stand just a few feet from the stage. I have to say that this was an incredible concert. I may not be an expert on concerts, but I've been to a few different ones. While there have been bands that I liked better, I don't think I've seen/heard many better performances. I don't know if anyone reading this is even familiar with Evanescence, but if you are you should know that she (Amy Lee) really doesn't rely on the studio to give her good quality vocals. This girls is simply an amazing singer. (And not a bad pianist either; turns out she's classically trained on piano.)

One other thing that we found was that she was perhaps more "normal" than most of her fans. Aside from perhaps a tiny bit of dark makeup around her eyes, and a strange skirt thing, she had a great appearance and was very modestly dressed for a "rock chick". Also, I didn't hear a single bad word from the stage with the one exception of when she almost tripped over some cords while walking backwards, and later commented how she almost fell on her a**. But that's pretty mild for a rock show.

Her audience, however, was a completely different story. Apparently the band appeals to the Gothic crowd, and so there were white faces with black lips and eyes, and lots of ripped stockings and leather and chains and the like. Strange hair also seemed the order of the day. It seems the goal here is to spike as much hair as you can, and then shave the rest. But this is all ok, as it wasn't the audience I went to see.

All in all, the concert was a great show, and much better than just going to a movie. Ah, what a fun adventure.