Last night Lou and I went to watch Jay-Z in concert at the GM Place Stadium (the home of the Canucks). It was the 4th time I've seen him, the 3rd time of Lou, but we were both excited like it was the first time and we weren't disappointed. Pharrel Williams's band N.E.R.D opened the concert but I have to say they were a real letdown. We'd been hoping they would start the night off really well but they were crap, and half of the songs didn't sound quite right. Maybe it was because it was a live band I'm not sure the songs seemed to lack an edge.
The show started at 8pm and we left home just after 7 so we got there with plenty of time to spare. One thing that surprised me was the lack of a lineup to get in to the show, we practically walked straight through (after being searched) which was nice as it was raining quite heavily. Once we got in we decided to have a beer but the first person refused us we had no ID. We've found that at most venues here if you look under 30 you will get ID'd (it's not the same in pubs), it's just a standard procedure they do with everyone. We thought our luck was out but we tried someone else and after telling her we didn't have any ID on us, she paused took a look at us and poured our drinks anyway - bonus. It was so hot inside the stadium I said to Lou that I wished I'd have put on shorts and brought a towel, it really was hot and humid.
Once we made our way to the seats a host came and informed us that if we had any problem with the two guys next to us we could let her know and she'd have them kicked out. We'd chose to sit in non-alcohol seating because we've found that Canadians at events can get a bit wild after too much beer (eg BC Lions!) and these guys smelt like a brewery and the staff had already picked up on that. As we made our way to the seats the guys tried to become best buddy's with us and for a split second we thought "uh oh"! However 5 minutes later one of the guys sparked up a potent marijuana joint at exactly the wrong time - the lights came back on after N.E.R.D's set and he was spotted almost instantly by the staff and they were both chucked out.
Jay-Z came on to the stage about 9pm and performed for an hour and 45 minutes, the whole set was awesome. It was pretty similar to his other shows (each one flawless) except this one was cool because he included new songs off his latest album which came out last month. The guys who got chucked out should have waited until the show started before smoking because as soon as the show was in full swing there were marijuana clouds left, right and center. I'd guess that probably 30% of people in the place were sparking up! We didn't mind really (It's not as bad as cigarette smoke) but our clothes were a bit smokey by the end of it! I have to say though that his previous shows had a way better atmosphere, the crowd just seems to appreciate it a bit more in the UK than they did last night in Vancouver. I'm not sure wether that's because they get the chance to see big stars perform more often here or because most of the people here were too high to go crazy!
At the end of his show Jay-Z performed "Encore" and the crowd finally displayed some real passion. Afterwards he spent about 10 minutes thanking everyone, picking out people in the crowd who were wearing distinguishing clothing and mentioning them specifically to show his appreciation. I thought that was a cool thing to do and it was a good move to connect with the fans. Last time in Manchester he did the same thing, it's nice to see he does it regularly and really cares for the people who come out to support him. Just as we thought the show was coming to an end he did one last song "Young Forever" (one of the tracks off the new album), it was a really good way to finish off a great show. As soon as he disappeared from the stage we practically ran out of the stadium and across the to the SkyTrain station, luckily managing to get there and onto the train before the platform became congested. We got home just after 11.
I didn't take my camera with me as I've done it at previous concerts before and the photos have always turned out badly and I've wasted my time messing with the camera rather than enjoying the moment. I did however find some online so I've included them here.
Photographs taken by Nick Procaylo, The Province. The original source for these can be found here
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