There's still love at the end of the world~

Here are a few pics for your enjoyment, more to come after I get back from Pemberton (with review and pics)

Just to let you know, Sam Roberts has decided to take our relationship to a new level. Tonight I saw him at Edmonton's Capital Ex, (even though I'm going to see him in two days at the Pemberton Music Festival - yes, I'm obsessed).

I brought along a homemade sign with "Taj Mahal" written in big, bold letters. I had been planning this for months, if not years, hoping he would remember me. (See post below)

And it worked! Which isn't too surprising, because throughout the whole concert I was waving it around like a maniac. At one point I was on the billboard so I knew Sammy must have gotten my hint by that point...

I knew it would be after encore, just as the band waits for the crowd to get riled up so they can discuss the closing mini-set. As soon as I made eye contact with the Egyptian pianist once they returned to the stage I knew my moment had come. (Later on a girl told me how the set list had "Oh Maria" instead of "Taj Mahal"). He pointed at me and my sign and nodded, and I got my camera ready. As soon as I heard the Egyptian pounding down on the keyboard, I jumped up onto a strong set of shoulders and waved my sign around like a maniac. The camera caught me screaming "I FUCKING LOVE YOU" and everyone around was looking at me...but I wasn't embarrased. Me and Sammy were having one-on-one action. He looked at me as he sang and I was singing the lyrics right back at him trying not to tear up. I managed to shove my camera into the hands of someone in front of me, so luckily I had the whole song taped, even at the end when Sammy blew a kiss. (Our first one!!) And I returned the love.

Afterwards I sneaked backstage and managed to talk to the Egyptian (Eric Fares) I gave him a huge hug and he asked me my name, and I told him how I was going to be at Pemberton and how much I liked "Detroit '67." The drummer walked up to us and I didn't recognize him at first because I was looking around for Sammy, and he just stared at us, wasted out of his mind. Eric promised he'd bring my beloved Sammy to me for a picture, but some Nazi whore told me to leave because I didn't have a pass. (She didn't even let me get halfway through my improv speech about how I have a media pass but I left it at home...damn the [wo]man) 

Yeah so Sam and I are pretty much boyfriend, girlfriend now, even though we didn't get any real alone time. But onto the concert...

All of the songs were a lot slower, probably thanks to the intoxicated drummer. Sammy started off with "Love at the End of the World" (good choice, Sam!) and then went into "No Sleep," "With a Bullet" (yay!), and "Bridge to Nowhere."For some reason "Higher Learning" was one of my favs of the night even though it has never been one of my favourite Sammy songs, but "Brother Down" was magical, as always, and Sammy and lead guitarist Dave Nugent play a wicked "Mind Flood." It was awesome to hear some of Sammy's new tracks as well, like "Fixed to Ruin" and "Detroit '67." I was pretty shocked he didn't play "Rarefied" because that was always a crowd favourite, or "Don't Walk Away Eileen," (another good choice, Sam).