by Dack » 7/28/2002, 2:33 am
After seeing Our Lady Peace tonight for the second time, I can still say that they are by far the greatest band to play on the face of the earth. We arrived at Nita’s Hideaway (a real dive that, ironically enough, at last year’s Spiritual Machines tour, held at the Cajun House, Raine dissed hard) about an hour before the gates were set to open. After waiting in line, we got inside the venue to find a chain link fence straight down the middle of the venue. One side was for those over 21 who wished to drink, but whatever they’re reasoning, the situation sucked. My friend Charlie and I were about 50 feet from the stage when the opening act, Greenwheel came out. They were fine, nothing special. I wasn’t motivated to go buy their CD; all I wanted was to hear Our Lady Peace. Next up was Audiovent, who certainly brought a lot of energy to the stage, but like I said, all I wanted was to hear Our Lady Peace.
Audiovent left the stage; I began to feel my excitement increasing as they brought out Jeremy’s drumset set, and began setting up Steve and Duncan’s guitars. Then the stage went black; a slow, haunting musical piece was being played over the loudspeakers as the band members took their places. Mike began to play the first few notes of All For You, and I knew it was on. The band tore through the first three songs. Everyone was obviously into it, Steve especially seemed to be a guitar playing machine, rocking out and hitting every note while doing it. The trouble started when the band began to play the Naveed/Life combo. Right before the transition between the two parts, all the power went out on stage. Raine walked off stage for a few seconds and came back.
“Well this sucks” He said, while the crowd cheered in agreement. He talked with his bandmates for a second, then said “It looks like we have enough power for the equipment but not the lights, so we’re just gonna play music.” The crowd went crazy and the band picked up where they left off. They played several songs without the lights- by the time Story About A Girl came on, Raine was obviously pissed about the situation. He walked to the side of the stage, pushed Duncan out of the way and pulled down one of the monitors, kicking it a few times while a roadie scrambled to pull it away. However, the band didn’t let the problems faze them. They continued to play their hearts out, even though their troubles weren’t over. In the beginning of Are You Sad? Raine’s guitar started cutting out. He said a few words to somebody off stage that were somewhat picked up by the microphone, most of them involving four letter words. He turned to the crowd, and with a simple “f*** this s***”, began playing again. This time, fortunately, it worked.
Even with all the problems, and the poor quality of Nita’s PA, it was still a great show and I simply can’t wait for the next time they come around. I do wish they had included some other songs, namely 4AM and Thief, that they’ve been playing at other stops, but I’ll live till I see them next time. These guys are absolutely amazing, and should not be missed live if you get the chance. I think it’s safe to say though, that their future won’t include a little dump called Nita’s Hideaway.
Setlist (In Order)
All For You
Do You Like It
Superman’s Dead
Naveed/Life
Bring Back the Sun
Story About A Girl
One Man Army
Not Enough
Is Anybody Home?
Innocent
Right Behind You
Clumsy
Are You Sad?
Whatever
Starseed
Encore:
Somewhere Out There
Birdman
The Only other thing that pissed me off was that I didn't get an actual ticket because of the way we bought them. So if anybody has one they don't want that they would give me, I'd be eternally grateful. (I'm putting together a really cool art piece/memory thing with all my ticket stubs)