Downsview Park roll call

[don't even know who Kathleen Edwards is, so she doesn't rank]
[justin is #1 on the list for shitting-on-the-audience punk value]

My list would be something like

AC/DC (I want cannons.)

Kathleen Edwards

Rush (I'm being honest. I still think it would be cool to see them again. I'm hoping to hear songs they didn't play last year like "Closer to the Heart" and "Freewill" and "Fly By Night". And I'm curious to see how Rush-hating friends will respond to a live performance. I wonder if they'll still do stuff like "Cygnus" for a crowd like this. My roommate needs to see them as an essential part of his year in Canada.)

Justin Timberlake (I'm truly expecting this to rock and will be disappointed if it doesn't. I hope he brings a choir and orchestra. It would have been a million times better, though, if they could have got Christina Aguilera to come.)

Rolling Stones

Sam Roberts

Flaming Lips

I don't know the Isley Brothers. The Guess Who and Sass Jordan are total turn-offs and I hope they can't make it for some reason.

Im getting a couple hundred, hotel and food in the deal so I think I'll go up north if its offered formally.
Doesn't the music become secondary once your dealing with a crowd of this size. I mean the seeing the shots of the papal mass up there was freaky.

I don't like to be too negative but in order of bands I don't want to see it would be:
Guess Who
Sam Roberts
Sass Jordan
Justin Timberlake
Rolling Stones

Don't know:
Isley Brothers
Kathleen Edwards

And would only really be interested in:
Flaming Lips
AC/DC
Rush

And it ain't worth dealing with the crowd for that. Though the allure of almost being able to walk Downsview in the time it will take to catch the subway that day is attractive. Of note it might almost be quicker to try and catch the 41 Bus from Keele station (or the connection with the 32 at Eglinton and Keele)

Bottom line for my hesitation: bad case of vitaligo + 8 hours of blazing sun does not = a great idea.

I think Sundar dareth to mock me...

And no umbrellas or blankets allowed--what kind of madness is this? (I love how the newspaper report I read today was like, "no blankets, umbrellas, video recording equipment, and drugs or alcohol will be allowed in to this event..." as if "video cameras" and "drugs" are, under normal circumstances, allowed in such events.)

Its being done by the House of Blues so of course the rules are going to suck major ass. They've tried twice to steal my camera away from me.
"goers will be allowed to bring beach towels, binoculars, cellphones, raincoats (ponchos), sleeping bags, snacks, soft drinks, and soft-sided coolers."

But still no "weapons". Damm, there goes that idea.

I'm with Kim, any event with that many people would be sucko on so grand a scale it's not even funny. I mean, I think seeing the Lips there would be surreal too, but it's not worth spending 4 hours trying to get home afterwards on the three buses they'll be running. (Yes, I am exaggerating, but still.)

Speaking of beer, I went to see the Lonesome Organist tonight. meh. A Northern Chorus were miles better as per usual.

Anyway, we arrived at a spot where we could actually hear something just as the Isleys were ending--so missed most of that. Saw Blue Rodeo--they were Blue Rodeo, and fine ("Hasn't Hit Me Yet" is probably my favourite of theirs, so I'm glad it was one of the 3 songs they did). The Belushi-Akroyd thing is best left un-talked about. Forever. I didn't mind Justin Timberlake, actually. It seemed like he tried to cater his show a bit to the crowd by focusing on a kind of soul-revue feel, and from where I was, it actually sounded okay (though "Cry Me a River" was probably the weakest of the bunch). Weirdly, we watched him on the video screen and couldn't even tell that people were throwing stuff (though of course we could hear boos)--it wasn't apparent how negative the reaction was until I saw him on TV at home last night. We started to head out after Justin, which means we still heard most of the Guess Who anyway, given how long it took us to get to the gate. The visual contrast between GW and JT was certainly striking! (They sounded good anyway.)

I've been talking a lot with my friend this week about something you brought up: I'm surprised that no one in the Toronto media (to my knowledge) even mentioned what a whitebread show it was. I'm not one to go on about quota-fulfillment for events like this, but c'mon--the show was billed for weeks on end as a major boost to the city's morale, "bringing Toronto together," and featuring a "diverse" lineup. And yet, there was not a single hip-hop or r&b artist on the bill? Gosh, I wonder why?