Event: The Roots @ Flame Central (Calgary)
Several years ago when I was in Chicago I had discovered that one of my favorite hip hop groups was playing the night I flew in. When I landed I hurried up to try and hit the event, yet alas it was sold out. Thus when I heard the Roots were paying a visit to my hometown I was pretty eager to depart with my money to see them!
Tonight I hunkered down and paid close to $80 to see them at Flames Central. For those that are unfamiliar with this venue it used to be called the Palace back in the day and is right on Stephen avenue (the heart of downtown). Having never been to Flames Central I expected the worst, ie: Flames crap all over the place. Needless to say those expectations were met, but I persevered.
Showed up at 7:30, waited in Will Call to pickup our tickets, then went for coffee as they were expected to play a few hours later. On our return to the venue the place was beyond packed. I swear it was “hey I’m over 6’5″ day” at this show, because there was pretty much no where to go to find a place to see the show. Well not no where, as eventually we did find a place on the 2nd floor (sounds cool doesn’t it?), standing on a couch (not all that cool).
The show was in full force, and I was getting pumped hearing some classic Roots tracks. Watching their live Tuba player was also very entertaining for some reason (that guy was awesome). Granted the show in general wasn’t all that great. Why?! I had been waiting forever to see these guys, I should be lappin’ it up!
I’m really racking my brain here, as it was so bad I left early. To say the least I wasn’t comfortable where I was, and the sound was plain awful (perhaps due to all the reflective surfaces of all the flames logos everywhere) on the 2nd floor (not too sure about the 1st) . The Roots were doing a good show, no question there. But why the suck? God.. Why?!
After much deliberation I have concluded that it was the vibe. I was embarrassed by our own Calgary crowd at the event. Perhaps it was because we were all squashed in there like sardines, but people just didn’t seem interested in what was going on, chatting idling, watching the show through their phones or cameras, texting, or plain ol’ starring around at anything but the show. Seriously! The show was GOOD, but people were BORING.
Was it the venue? Maybe..
What am I myself doing watching the people and not the show? Well I think the people at the show make a great deal of the overall experience. Have you ever been to a show where the venue was shit, or the sound was deafening, but you endured regardless? A few months ago I got the chance to see J-Live at the Cherry Lounge and that was completely different story.. Super small venue, with garbage bins for speakers, but the crowd was going ape at this show and it was a wicked awesome time. This “vibe” was foreign tonight.
I’m sure you’re thinking, “David, why do you gotta hate?”, or “You didn’t even see the whole thing, how can you have an opinion on this!”. As some may already know (or can tell already), I have a pretty strong opinion about most things. But when I pay good money to see a group that I know is awesome, and the venue aggravates me to the point that I leave before the show is over there’s gotta be something seriously wrong. My guess here, the show was oversold for starters (I dunno how any of the ladies saw anything), secondly I’d say only about 5% – 10% of the people there were digging the vibe (I mean, even nodding their heads). I’ve been to my fair share of shows, but I’ve never see anything quite like this.
Anyways, I’m over it now, thanks for listening. I’m now going to finish my evening by listening to more of the Roots in my living room now, thank you very much.
