My Concert Ticket StubsTom Waits - Hummingbird Centre - 1999

So you have probably the worst seats in the house,but then after the show you feel as if you had been front row center...that's how I felt after seeing Tom Waits....on my all-time best concert top 10 list.

Joe Cornelisse-SMM

My Concert Ticket Stubs ROLLERCOASTER HALLOWEEN CONCERT – SKYDOME – 1992

     It was Halloween and what better way were we going to spend it then with The Jesus & Mary Chain, Curve, Spiritualized & Pure at the Skydome in Toronto. I remember it was General Admission, the floor was open and so were the seats, you could just go anywhere you wanted but the bands were the main attraction. 

Joe Cornelisse-SMM

My Concert Ticket Stubs - PRINCE - 1984 Purple Rain Tour

     I was 13 years old and hoping a bus to Toronto with a friend to see PRINCE....this is the one that started it all.
   This is a new feature so keep checking back for more, I have almost 30 years of ticket stubs so it will be an interesting for both of us.


Joe Cornelisse-SMM

Beck takes on Bowie's "Sound and Vision" and Wins

Unbelievable

Mind-Blowing

Beautiful

     Beck; together with a "band" of more than 160 diverse musicians takes the concert experience to a whole different space as they give us David Bowie's classic "Sound and Vision" and magnify it to 9 astonishing minutes. We the audience experience the concert with 360-degree cameras and binaural microphones and coming soon we will be able to experience the full 360-degree show from any seat in the house, just check back to the website HERE.

  Now put your headphones on and enjoy

Joe Cornelisse-SMM

The 10 Most Annoying Concert Behaviors

From Rolling Stone Magazine

 

   Going to rock concerts has always meant dealing with a bunch of unruly people, many of them very drunk – but it seems like lately things have been worse than ever. Attention spans are at an all-time low, and the ubiquity of smartphones has resulted in a huge percentage of the audience at any given show barely paying attention to the action onstage. Here are the 10 most annoying behaviors at rock concerts:

1. Taking pictures the entire freaking show.

I get it. You want to show all your friends on Facebook and Twitter that you saw a cool concert. Fine. Take a photo. Take five if you want! But please, don't take 77. You always manage to hold your camera right in my line of sight. You don't even look like you're enjoying the show while you're doing this. All your attention is on the photos. And you know what? Those photos are all going to look like shit. Every single one of them. You're too far away. You'll probably never even look at them. Also, you see those guys right in front of the stage with the giant cameras? They're taking great professional pictures. There's really no need for yours.

2. Checking e-mail, Facebook and Twitter every couple of minutes.

Unless you're a surgeon or a firefighter, everything can wait. Live in the moment. Enjoy the show. You paid good money to be here. You can e-mail your friends when you get home. Also, that cellphone emits a very harsh and distracting glow. For the love of God, just turn it off.

3. Incessantly talking to your friends.

You might not like whatever song is playing. You may be bored with the show in general. You may have been dragged here against your will. But you've been chattering the entire show, and I can hear every word. It's driving me crazy. Please shut up. Please. I can't tell you how many shows I attend where the two people in front of me are yelling in each others' ears the entire night. Not only is my sightline blocked when their heads come together, but I can hear them. Maybe go to a coffee shop when the show is done. Lie under an oak tree and talk until the sun comes up. I don't care. Just quiet down so I can enjoy the show.

4. Yelling out requests.

Look, I hope Morrissey plays "There Is A Light That Never Goes Out" also. That would be cool – but stop screaming for it. Most of the time the set list is pre-determined, and you're screaming in my ear. They're going to play what they're going to play. Go along for the ride. And to the guy screaming for a super obscure B-side from 15 years ago? Nobody thinks you're cool.

5. Yelling out "Freebird!"

This request deserves its own subcategory of irritation. This joke has never been funny. Not once. Just stop. It was lame in 1981. Now it's just infuriating.

6. Pushing your way to the front.

If a concert is general admission, the people in front earned their spots. They got there early and laid claim to their space. The people all the way in front might have even spent all day camped out by the doors, so when the lights go off and you shove your way to the front, you're being a huge asshole. Don't do that. If you show up late and there's only room in the back, you've just gotta deal with it.

7. Getting so drunk you puke.

At pretty much any big concert, you'll see a janitor emerge after a couple of songs with a big broom and a bucket of sawdust. It means somebody puked. It's a bummer for the puker, but the people all around have to deal with the aftermath. Don't be the vomit guy. There's no worse kind of person to be at the concert.

8. Loudly complaining after the show because the band didn't play your favorite song.

Not all artists take the Rod Stewart/Billy Joel/Tom Petty approach of "nothing but the hits." Performers like Neil Young or Van Morrison are unpredictable. This is actually a good thing. Try to enjoy the show you're getting as opposed the one you wish you were seeing. Besides, haven't you heard "Brown Eyed Girl" and "Southern Man" enough?

9. Filming the entire show on your iPhone.

This distracts people even worse than taking pictures, and usually results in an equally horrid product. The sad irony is that people tend to film their favorite songs, but the smiles on their faces are gone when all their concentration goes into capturing these moments on film. Tomorrow morning, YouTube will be cluttered with crappy cellphone videos of every song from whatever show you're seeing. There's no need to add to that. You paid good money to see a show, and you're joylessly watching it through a tiny screen on your iPhone. It just doesn't make any sense.

10. Yelling "Sit down!" at people who are standing up.

This is a real problem at theater and arena shows that attract fans over the age of, say, 40. Nobody can quite agree when to stand or when to sit down. Inevitably, there are some people standing right in front of people that wish to remain seated. Between songs, someone will scream "Sit down!" The stander either obliges, or yells back something like "Go fuck yourself." The person in the seat just seethes with rage, and the tension seeps through the whole section. Often the person is standing only because someone in front of them is standing. It leads to chaos, and grumpy old people spending the entire show miserable. This has to stop. Here's a simple rule of thumb: If you can't see, stand up. It's very easy. Inversely, if everyone in front of you is seated, sit down. Go with the flow and just relax. We're all in this concert together.

By Andy Greene

Radiohead drum tech Scott Johnson killed during Stage Collapse in Toronto

    The BBC is reporting that a relative has confirmed that Scott Johnson a drum technician for Radiohead was the individual killed Saturday at Downsview Park in Toronto when the stage collapsed just hours before Radiohead were to take the stage for a concert that evening.   

    Johnson, 33, from Doncaster, south Yorkshire was killed when the top portion of the stage collapsed on him.

    680 News reports  Ontario Ministry of Labour investigators will be at the site Sunday to try and determine what caused the collapse. 

Joe Cornelisse-SSGS

One person dead as Stage Collapses ahead of tonight's Radiohead concert in Toronto

 The stage that was being used for tonight's Radiohead concert at Downsview Park in Toronto has collapsed , and according to Toronto EMS one person has been killed and three injured .

   My thoughts go out to the family and Friends of the person that was killed.


Joe Cornelisse-SSGS

PRINCE Funks Out Toronto on his Welcome 2 Canada Tour Stop Air Canada Center November the 25th 2011

         
     Finding things wrong with a PRINCE concert is like finding a needle in a haystack, all most impossible…well with last night's first show of a two-night stand at The Air Canada Center in Toronto Prince's Welcome 2 Canada Tour left me and 99.9% of the others that were in attendance with little to complain about..except maybe not playing that certain song, but that's just a fact of life at every show I go to.

   Funky, Sexy, Cool….we got it all and more last night, from D.M.S.R. (Dance, Music, Sex, Romance) through to Take Me with U , onward we were graced with cover versions of The Cars "Let's Go"  to Michael Jackson's "Don't Stop Till You Get Enough" …the hits were fired off left right and center like nobody's business..Let's Go Crazy, Delirious, Little Red Corvette, U Got That Look, and Purple Rain, during which confetti cannons were shot off showered us all in purple and gold.

   "His Royal Badness" treated us to no less than six...yes six encores, he was on fire, just when you thought it was over he was back for more and the audience ate every little bit of it up.

  The first time I experienced Prince live was 27 years ago while he was touring for the album/movie Purple Rain and the 53 year old guy who stood in front of me last night worked longer and harder than his 26 year old self…..the kid was back and badder than ever.

Joe Cornelisse-SSGS

Below are pictures that I took of the show last night..enjoy