So if anyone's been paying any attention at all to this blog, you'll have noticed that a) my timers on the sidebar expired meaning that b) I've seen Gwen, Tony, Tom and Adrian and c) I've been to Toronto!
First and foremost: PENS Win!!! I can't even remember the last time I've drank so much. Its not my fault that people kept buying me beer and shots. The only downside to this is that my cousin, in his celebratory excitement, knocked over a few beers thus drowning my phone and dropping it off a high table. The phone seems to have survived, though can't keep a battery charge now and I've had to send my pink plastic phone cover to a better place (aka the landfill) since it cracked to an unrepairable state. We did have a mini Stanley Cup being passed around and here's a picture of my Russian friend giving it some special Ruski love.
I had to get home early because I had an appointment for a mani/pedi at a place downtown. The word hangover doesn't quite describe how awful I felt. On the way downtown, I actually had to pull over on 376 inbound to get sick. Again, can't remember the last time this all happened but I obviously blocked it out of memory for a reason because it felt awful! Frankly, I haven't had a drink since.
I got my nails done and frankly, I'm not mentioning the place I went to because I'm not completely satisfied with the job. Granted, part of it is my fault because I didn't speak up but I shouldn't have to instruct my nail tech on how to treat cuticles or calloused feet. Anyway, immediately after, my Hot-as-Balls Boyfriend picked me up for a quick trip back to his apartment before the No Doubt concert later that night.
I got in a quick nap and we went to dinner at Palomino downtown. Palomino is a chain restaurant, that said--I probably wouldn't be recommending this place to anyone anyway but I made a mental note to actually deter anyone from going there. The service was slow, the staff was aloof and the price much too expensive for what you're getting. Though I enjoyed the food, when a server dropped a fork on the floor after busing a table--he just let it stay there I'd say for about 10 minutes until a fellow patron opted to pick it up and put it on his table. I think anyone in the food and beverage industry would agree that it's pretty unacceptable but what really infuriated me was that servers just walked over the thing taking no responsibility for it whatsoever. It wasn't quite so busy that someone couldn't take 2 seconds from doing nothing (because they certainly weren't refilling my iced tea glass) to bend over and pick up 1 simple fork.
What I also felt was lacking was the attention to detail. One of my favorite desserts is creme brulee so I was delighted when I saw it on the menu but it was listed as a chocolate/grand marnier combo. Not wanting chocolate, I asked if it was possible to just get the grand marnier. My very generous server asked the chef and then reported back saying, "He said ordinarily no, but since he's in a good mood today--ok. But don't count on it the next time."
Wow, ok! Thanks...
Turns out, I couldn't count on it this time either. I definitely got chocolate and grand marnier.
Unfortunately for my server (who really was quite nice, generous and a bit overwhelmed), I wasn't impressed and started getting extremely antsy when I got a text from my friend that traffic to Starlake was awful. We left in a rush.
And then we sat in traffic for literally an hour.
We parked and got through security just in time to see the last 2 songs that Paramore performed and watch the roadies tear down their set to put up No Doubt's. Pit seats for No Doubt are about the best gift I've ever given to myself (
I did buy these tickets for myself for my birthday back in March, if you recall). The play list was amazing, I got to see Gwen sing all my favorites: I'm Just a Girl, Don't Speak, Hey Baby, Hella Good, New, Running, A Simple Kind of Life... And I was right in front of Tony the whole time. Adrian came out for the finale wearing a pink tutu and a blue Sidney Crosby jersey... I was still feeling a little hung over but any nausea instantly vanished upon seeing that. Here's a few pictures (the entire albums are posted on my
facebook).
You can click on any of the pictures to blow them up to their full size but fyi: you'll navigate away from the blog. Also, I realize the quality isn't the great but its hard to get anyone to stand still in No Doubt while they're performing. If you haven't gone to one of their shows before, its INCREDIBLY high energy and Gwen is a spitfire. I don't know how she sings and moves as much as she does. Actually, I do know--she's awesome!
Finale: All 3 Bands on Stage for Stand and Deliver (a song I'm admittedly not familiar with but WOW!)
I had to semi drag my Hot-as-Balls boyfriend to this concert. By the end, I asked him up front how surprised he was and he very readily admitted that he was impressed with the band live but mostly with Gwen's energy and excitement.
Here's the setlist and review from the PPG:
Setlist: * unconfirmed, setlist corrections always welcome in feedback module below
Spiderwebs
Hella Good
Underneath It All
Excuse Me Mr.
Ex-Girlfriend
End It On This
Simple Kind of Life
Bathwater
Guns of Navarone
New
Hey Baby
Running
Different People
Don't Speak
It's My Life
Just A Girl
Encore:
Rock Steady
Stand and Deliver
Sunday Morning
Review: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
by Scott Mervis
Stefani, No Doubt give fans great party
It's hard to watch No Doubt for 90 minutes and not end up at least mildly in awe of Gwen Stefani.
The singer who gave us "Just a Girl" not only has big pipes but she seems like the kind of girl who could hold her own in a ska-punk circle pit.
She's also a 39-year-old mom with a toddler and a baby, and she somehow managed to show up for this reunion run with a perfectly flat belly and a full reserve of energy.
On Saturday night, Stefani saw to it that the thousands who endured the traffic to the Post-Gazette Pavilion got a party for their trouble. No Doubt hit the stage after spirited opening sets by the Sounds and Paramore looking like an Orange County mod squad in their gleaming whites. For the next hour and a half No Doubt bounced around the stage seeming truly excited to be finished with that five-year break.
With no new album and no new agenda, fans got the best of No Doubt, starting with the ska-pop breakout "Spiderwebs" and then "Hella Good," a club banger that had the excitable crowd bouncing as one.
Surely, the Penguins' Stanley Cup victory the night before upped the party vibe, and Stefani made early mention of it, to a roar of cheers. Spontaneous and fully in charge of the stage, she pulled a fan up for a hug, chatted with people about items they were holding up (like a picture of her husband Gavin Rossdale) and had everyone turn around while she got the fans on the lawn to jump on "Different People."
In her skin-tight clothes and pin-up platinum hair, Stefani has her own retro-futuristic style, with electric movements and facial expressions that can quickly go from smile to sneer.
The set was fast-paced with upbeat songs such as "Underneath It All," "Don't Let Go Away" and "Ex-Girlfriend," featuring the band members -- Tom Dumont, Adrian Young and Tony Kanal -- in a cool James Bond-style video. The dance hit "Hey Baby" broke into rap with vocal assists from horn player/keyboardists Stephen Bradley and Gabrial McNair.
Stefani was on top of the vocals throughout but got her chance to really shine on the ballad "Don't Speak," which also came with an intricate acoustic solo from Dumont. No Doubt pumped the energy up again with its cover of "It's My Life," a gender-bending sing-along on "Just a Girl" and the slow reggae groove of "Rock Steady."
Stefani kept commenting on the big, fun-loving crowd that greeted them. If No Doubt has any doubts about the viability of this reunion, they had to be put to rest by the response from the 17,000 in Burgettstown.
Afterwards, we sought out the only IHOP in the area for some serious pancakes. It was like seeing an oasis in the desert. I don't know why there aren't more IHOPs in Pittsburgh, but there needs to be!
I got maybe 4 hours of sleep. My Hot-as-Balls Boyfriend woke me up the next day at 6am to be on the road to Toronto by 7. This was actually pretty successful. I immediately went into Tourist Mode though and started taking pictures of EVERYTHING (!!!) this includes totally geeking out and getting excited over French signage and Canadian money.
If you're not completely up to speed on Canadian Lingo, a "Loonie" isn't a crazy person on the street, its how they refer to their $1 coin. Its not a nickname, its actually the word for the $1 CAN in Canada since a Loonie has a picture of a Loon, a bird, on it. Additionally, a "Toonie" is their $2 coin named as such because it equals 2 Loonies. Canada likes to keep things simple. This picture was taken at the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto. Its the side of a table hockey game which specifically states, Loonies Only!!
Speaking of which: here's a picture of some loonies and toonies and other Canadian change.
Clockwise from Center: loonies, toonies, quarters, nickles and pennies. Yes, I'm a dork. Also, Canada owns because its $5 bills have a bunch of kids playing hockey on the back of it.
Speaking of hockey, it was a
REALLY big deal in Canada that the Penguins won the Stanley Cup. I daresay an even bigger deal than it was here in Pittsburgh. Wherever we went, if either of us were wear
ing any piece of Pens fanware, we'd get stopped and congratulated by perfect strangers.
A waiter our first night noticed my Hot-as-Balls Boyfriend's blue Pens hat and said, "Good on ya, eh!" in the middle of a conversation about Toronto and then went off on a 5 minute tangent about how great Marc-Andre Fleury was and how he made the save "every kid dreams of making," I was amazed. The next day, my boyfriend was wearing his Talbot tshirt I got him over a month ago and was asked a few different times if he just got it after the game or if he knew the whole time that Mad Max would make the difference. Some random yuppie business man in a suit stopped us on Yonge and Dundas and just said, "Sorry, I don't mean to bother you but AWESOME tshirt, man!" The sort of attention he and I got just for wearing what any other Pens fan around Pittsburgh would wear was celebrity. We got congratulated like he and I were Marc-Andre Fleury and Max Talbot.
I equally caused a little riot at the Hockey Hall of Fame gift shop because I wore the Pens 2009 Stanley Cup Champion locker room hat I bought the day before we left at Dick's. A handful of kids, their parents and French people saw me with it on while visiting and assumed I'd gotten there instead of realizing I was a genuine fan from the 'Burgh. They were quite disappointed but very impressed that I'd already had a change to get my hands on one and a got a few compliments of my own.
We also ran into a group of people from Pittsburgh. I didn't ask where they were from but it was pretty awesome to hear a few Yinzers among the group of French kids following us around and hosers talking about how much they were jonesing for some
Tim Hortons.
In light of the fact that Pittsburgh just won the Stanley Cup, I also wanted to include the following picture in my blog:
The Hockey Hall of Fame is located in an old, converted bank. This Ring, along with the original Stanley Cup, is appropriately located in the bank's vault--adjacent to the Stanley Cup room and inductee plaques. I got pictures of the plaques for Mike Lange, Mario Lemieux and Bob Johnson. Yeah, I'm a tourist.
The TTC (Toronto Transit Commission) must take a lot of pride in its public transportation because it certainly seems like it does. Its clean, safe and extremely manageable. The transfers don't make a lot of sense to me (since you can't use them at the station you got them from) but I'm sure given more time, I'd have mastered the art of remembering to pick them up. If you go to Toronto, get the TTC Day Pass. Its $9 per person and allows you usage of the subway system, street cars and buses. Its dumb not to have it. Its equally dumb to try and use your car to get around when the TTC is available.
I could seriously go on and on way more than I already have about how great an experience I had in Toronto. Canada was great and I can't wait to go back for more than 2 hours in Niagara Falls... oh wait, I have some pictures of that too:
The Canadian "horseshoe" side of the Falls.
The American "straight" side of the Falls.
I already know what hotel we're staying at when we go back and what we're doing when we go there. If you get the opportunity to go to Niagara, go! Go for 2 days if not more. A day trip doesn't do it justice!!!
I'm ending this entry with a picture of the happy couple as we left Toronto. More pictures will be posted on my
facebook tonight if not tomorrow after I get home from work.
I got those Ralph Lauren sunglasses at Eaton Centre for a great deal since it was all Canadian $20s. WOOO! PS We're cute!
