Day 281 – July 31st

Today, I went to see Coldplay………..this is a band who I have been itching to see again since first watching them perform on the X&Y Tour at the Bell Centre in Montreal……….back then I was impressed but left wondering how much better the British quintet would be performing in front the of an English speaking audience…….now 3 years later I know for sure…….they would be awesome.

 

So much so that if I had witnessed this concert prior to the end of the last year it would have ranked in the top 5 list I published here……..at the end of this year I may revise my top 5 list but for the time being this review will have to suffice.

 

The evening immediately started well as there was a camera positioned in my original seat and after a quick visit to guest services I was moved to seat that was both closer to floor level and the stage………to add to this I was sat between two couples who were not only friendly but knowledgeable with the band having also previously seen the boys live………and so on came the opening act.  I am not sure as to the name of the band but they were entertaining enough with there mix of reggae and dance beats………..in Britain the term ska band comes to mind and although I wouldn’t say the band was great they had a refreshing attitude of genuinely being thankful for the opportunity that Coldplay had presented them with, and if there job was to warm up the crowd they did it admirably as by the time the “real” show was ready to begin the joint was jumping.

 

Before I list the positives of which there were many, let first list the negatives of this otherwise outstanding show, firstly the choice of the opening two songs “Life in Technicolor” and “Violet Hill” tended to put the crowd into a more calm and appreciative state as opposed to a flat out frenzy and with some technical issues (I have no idea what had changed between now and the sound check) marring the first 5 or 6 minutes I wondered if this would live up to the spectacle of Montreal.  Fortunately the sound staff were outstanding and whilst clearly visible on stage they moved around so as not to disrupt the performance and by the close of Violet Hill everything was functioning correctly…………however the concert was still waiting to take off……….and then came Clocks.

 

Clocks is a song that a) Is one of my all time favorites and b) When performed live with a front man who is effortlessly moving from vocals to keyboards and often both at the same time is impossible not to like.  Add in the fact that the signature Coldplay light show (Predominately Red this time as opposed to green) was now in full swing………the show that had certainly stumbled out of the blocks was now not only up and running but was firing on all cylinders.

 

It was around this point that I noticed there were no “big” screens projecting images of the band at the side of the stage, and instead images were projected onto “globes dotted” around the arena that not only was something I had never seen before but had the effect of bringing the band closer to the audience especially those seated towards the back of the arena…………….I say seated but in reality the entire crowd was on it’s feet from this point forward until the end of the night.

 

I am not entirely sure when the “big” screen actually arrived, somewhere just after the opening salvo I believe but again when it did this was something I had never witnessed before, as opposed to the standard 8 by 10, this was a full on IMAX size screen that provided a backdrop to the entire stage.  Whilst a screen of this size is impressive in it’s own right, the mixing was incredible……..I have no idea who was mixing the live images together (maybe a computer) but it was pretty much perfectly in time to the pace of the song being performed and the mood of the audience.

 

Whilst Coldplay is obviously a 4 piece band, a band is only as good as its front man, and in terms of what I witnessed Thursday night Chris Martin is one of the greatest “live” front men of all time and acknowledges his mistakes.

 

Obviously he is not Freddie Mercury, but compared to other band front men he is probably the best around in terms of what I personally have witnessed and only Michael Hutchence of INXS would be on a par with him.

 

For almost two hours Martin treated the audience to a “show” knowing instinctively when to draw back (Strawberry Swing) and when to unleash (Speed Of Sound) all the time surrounded by a dazzling light and video show that if marketed correctly could have been an event all of its own.  In classic Coldplay fashion on two separate occasions the band literally immersed themselves into the crowd on mini-sound stages dotted towards the middle and rear of the arena…….and it appeared destined to be possibly the greatest concert I have ever seen…….but then something else I have never witnessed also occurred……..the band performed “Death And All His Friends” and whilst the band left the stage to loud but not deafening applause…….everyone saving something for the inevitable encore………there was no encore and much as it had started the concert ended with a whimper as opposed to a bang.

 

Never in my life have I been to a concert with no encore, maybe something happened, maybe it didn’t but 10mins after the band had left and with all arena lights on and the clean up crew already removing the seats and garbage from the arena…….those people who had stayed (about a 1/3rd) left the arena as perplexed as I was.

 

All in all an 8 out of 10 and as such that will be my mood for the day…….and excellent concert but one that had the potential to be something truly magnificent but came up just a little short.

Day 281 – July 30th

Not much going on today other than beach volleyball……….so here’s my match report.

After a week off to enjoy the Tennis with my mum, I was eager to get back to the beach and reconnect with my team mates to help them try and sustain the momentum they had carried over from dismantling there second opponent of one week ago.   

Balanced precariously at a match record of 2-2 it was now time to either surge over the mountain top or begin to lose our grasp and tumble into the valley below…….it was week 3 and to steal an expression from golf “It’s moving week”. 

Things immediately started well, as we have not one but two new recruits on the team, furthermore they are both women, they both appear to have “skills” and if that isn’t enough they are both Asian………they are both Asian…….I will ponder that a moment to allow the ridiculous grin on my face to subside. 

Clearly news of this influx of new talent to the squad had sent shockwaves throughout the league, and as a result our first scheduled opponents didn’t even dare to step foot on the court.  Whilst rumors that our opponents had been spotted crying uncontrollably in the fetal position are unproven I have no reason to believe this was not the case. 

Following a 45 minute intra-squad game, where I battled to remain focused on the ball instead of my new teammates it was time for match number 2, and fortunately for us our opponents at least had the nerve to show up.  As the match began it became obvious the intra-squad had somewhat upset our rhythm and rotations and as a result we made a number of unforced errors to allow our opponents to gain early advantages in the both of the first two games.   

But this is not the team of 6 weeks ago, this is not at team that gets down when things appear to be slipping away…….this is a team that will stand up and fight……and as a result despite our “inconsistent” play we headed into game 3 tied at 1 but with momentum on our side.   It was during game 3 that everything started to fire, the new teammates were now fully integrated into the rotation, the movement, the setting, the blocks everything was working……..those on the sidelines cheered and encouraged prior to effortlessly stepping back onto the court without the team missing a single beat.   

To put it bluntly a beat down of epic proportions was administered in that final game and as a result we now stand at 2 games above .500 for the first time in team history and from our lofty position in the standings are now looking down on the majority of teams in the league.  I enjoy the view from this position, I enjoy the view my new teammates provide………but we can not rest on our laurels.   

Whilst we have scaled one mountain, there are other larger more challenging peaks still ahead……and whilst we have now transitioned from pretender to contender the path to playoffs remains tricky……..but I for one am confident we will succeed. 

 

"Shades in the Sand"

 

 Mood for the day 9 out of 10.

Day 280 – July 29th

A unique event took place today, one that should hopefully result in me being able to not actually have to write a post for the day at all………why, because someone else will write a post for me and include a photo to boot.

Mood for the day 7 out of 10.

Day 279 – July 28th

Not much happening today as it was my first day back at work after a week off so things were obviously a little difficult as I struggled to remain both focused and keep my eyes open (I’m not sleeping well at the moment).  Got home and spoke to Julie for an hour, she is a joy and has an ability to keep a conversation flowing, I will be meeting her again Friday……..better yet she will be arriving straight from a wedding rehearsal so will have a dress plus all her hair and makeup done…….I am foaming at the mouth.

Mood for the day 7 out of 10.

Day 278 – July 27th

Today my life returns to somewhat normality after two weeks of being more focused on the enjoyment that someone else is having and as a result tailoring my actions to ensure that is the case.  So what does normality mean……not much as it happens, called Julie but failed to connect, watched Nadal win the Rogers Cup, and Mike Weir come up short in the Canadian Open Golf and also went to watch the movie “Young People Fu**ing” for the second time…………man that is a funny movie.

Mood for the day 7 out of 10.

Day 277 – July 26th

Today was my mother’s final day in Toronto and whilst I whilst I could write about things that happened such as waiting out yet another July storm down by Toronto waterfront or watching Nadal dismantle Murray on a TV at an airport, I will keep this post brief:

I will state however that even though I have never been a parent myself it must be incredibly difficult for a parent to leave a child and travel 3,500 miles away and know that a prolonged period of time will pass before meeting once again.  From the child’s perspective (I say child even though I am 34 years old) it is also difficult but I think the real emotion belongs to the parent…………..I say that from the look in my mother’s eye when 17 years ago she dropped me off at university, 13 years ago when she dropped me off to work at the other end of country, 8 years ago when she dropped me off at the airport with a one way ticket and each time she departs through security after her vacation’s to Canada.

There is certainly a bond between a mother and daughter but I have always believed the bond is stronger between a mother and son and on the reverse side of the equation the bond is stronger between father and daughter.  Obviously being a non-parent this is simply speculation and unless one is in a position of having both a son and daughter one will never know for sure and even then regardless as to if the parent is more emotionally attached to one of the siblings they will usually say that they like them both equally.

Mood for the day 4 out of 10.

Day 276 – July 25th

No tennis today and as a result a much needed rest as I didn’t stagger out of bed until around 11am, in fact not much of significance happened at all until I took my mother to a matinee showing of Batman the Dark Knight.  The movie is in a word “astounding”……..usually in the summer blockbusters the movie simply kills time between the 2 or 3 major action sequences contained within.

This is not the case with Batman, whilst the action sequences are there, every single scene is great and is integral to the plot of movie…..so much so that I remember sitting there thinking when will a poor quality scene arrive and by the end of the movie it hadn’t.  If there was one flaw with the movie it was the appearance of two-face as in my opinion the character looked comical as opposed to frightening, but that was just a minor irritation in an otherwise great movie.

Finished the day with the Jays game and man was that boring…..so much so that we left after less than 7 innings.

Mood for the day however remains 8 out of 10.

Day 275 – July 24th

et more tennis and first up was Djokovic who is as entertaining live as he comes across on TV…….followed this is up by watching Rodddick have complete racket smashing meltdown and crash out of the tournament…….off to the outer courts to again watch Murry progress and then back to center to watch a piece of James Blake. Back out again to watch Davydenko whilst my mother goes to watch Federer practice……she would have been desperately disappointed not to see him play and given he was out of singles, doubles would be the only chance.

To accomplish this I sat out a 1hour rain delay in the back row of the grandstand court that peers our over the tiny court that Federer was due to compete on and ended up with a great view of the Fed himself although unfortunately this week he is a shadow of what I have seen on TV constantly dumping volleys into the net and he and his partner we ousted from the doubles competition. My genius idea of where to watch the Fed from even got a mention in the Toronto Star……not me specifically but this was the quote:

“There was the bizarre sight of Federer playing doubles on a remote court bounded on 3 sides by tarp and seating for about 500 on the 4th side. Fans clambered on to the sides of the stands to hang on for dear life, while others more knowledgeable with the complex journeyed to the top of the nearby Grandstand Court for the perfect bird’s eye view”.

Stayed on the grandstand to watch my new favourite player Gasquet defeat Ferrer in a great match and eventually left the stadium around 11:30…………to anyone who has not been to this tennis tournament I would highly recommend it and if you do go check out the play on the outer courts as it is often the more interesting and certainly gets you closer to the players.

3 days, more than a few hours of rain but in terms of the players witnessed, Nadal, Federer, DJokovic, Davydenko, Ferrer, Roddick, Blake, Murray, Warinka and of course Gasquet isn’t a bad collection. Not sure what’s happened to Hewitt, maybe someone more knowledgeable of the game can answer that one for me.

Mood for the day 9 out of 10.

Day 274 – July 23rd

Rain, Rain go away……………today I sat in rain for approx 5 hours waiting for Tennis to begin, it wasn’t all bad however as the Rogers Cup has plenty of other activities to keep people amused during rain-delays…..everything from virtual tennis, to fitness tests, to how best to protect your skin from the sun.

I am pleased with most of my results, despite my pasty white skin my face hasn’t been sun damaged too badly, probably as a result of the fact I’m nearly allways wearing a cap……as for my Body Mass Index I’m at a 23 that’s considered healthy, my body fat at 14.6% is also good given someone my age should be between 17 and 23% and my OHS score (Determines how easy your bones are to break) was at -0.22 the higher the number the more likely you are to receive a fracture…….a -1.0 is classed as low risk a -2.5 is high risk, so it looks like I’m reasonably good.

At around 4pm the day time session was officially canceled……this means that I get a free ticket to next year so that’s a good thing, the even better thing is despite most of the people having left, things cleared up and Nadal came out to play and simply crushed his opponent who to be fair put up a good fight. Figuring Volleyball would have been rained out I stuck around to watch some of the play on the outer courts and given the rain the outer courts were stacked. So I watched The Murrys, Ferrer, Davydenko, Gasquet and eventually left at around midnight to get home.

Despite the rain it was great day as I got to watch 4 of the worlds top 6 players in the world and landed a pair of free tickets to next year…….it’s a beutiful thing.

Mood for the day 8 out of 10.

Day 273 – July 22nd

Today was my first day of the year at the Rogers Cup no upsets but some good players on show non the less, watched Roddick, Hass, Gasquet, Moya and British Player Andy Murray……..not only Andy but his brother as well in a great doubles match……..good to see a bit of British success.

Got home and there is a huge electrical storm brewing……..and unsurprisingly another failure although this time a draw for TFC. A nice email from Julie so all in all a pretty good day.

Mood for the day 8 out of 10