INXS - Montreal, QC, Bell Centre, May 11, 2006

No audio-blog again tonight. Sorry for that.

Concert Review: Un concert spectaculaire

Wow. Just wow. Montreal is the best Canadian gig so far without a doubt, even though I was not on the floor tonight. The sound was simply spectacular. You could hear every note, every instrument, even each cymbal clearly. I was blown away. It’s the best sound I’ve heard yet on the two tours. And the side screens were crystal clear too.

I arrived a few minutes into Stabilo’s set, and noticed how great the acoustics sounded from the hallway outside the arena. I’ve been really enjoying their performances. And while Stabilo was performing tonight I noticed how small their drummer’s kit is compared to Jon’s. It looks like a kiddy sized one.

I was about fifteen rows up on the right side of the stands in the section closest to the stage, and I had a completely unobstructed view of the whole stage. I was glad I wasn’t in the front row tonight, because there was a considerable space between the first row of seats and the barricade. When the countdown began, there were whoops and whistles, and a sudden crowding of bodies into that space in front of the barricade. You couldn’t move down there when the timer got to two minutes.

From my seat I could see the guys gathering at the side of the stage before taking their places. They were looking great as usual. Jon was wearing a black shirt, and I finally got a chance to see the sparkly pants! They really need to come with a warning they are so bright. No wonder Jon kept his sunglasses on for most of the gig. I squeed really loudly “the sparkly pants”and Jon looked up into the stands and waved at me. Kirk had on blue jeans, a dress shirt, and a tan leather jacket. Garry was wearing a tan jacket, those lovely brown pants, and a blue T-shirt that was a little on the long side. He waved when we called out. Tim had on the Celtic cross jacket, blue jeans, and a khaki colour shirt. Andrew was wearing jeans, and a green short sleeve shirt. JD started out with a black skirt wrapped around his black pants, and he also had on a crisp white dress shirt, a lovely black and white striped tie, a blazer, and the requisite sunglasses. He waved to me too.

‘Suicide Blonde’ was explosive as usual and Andrew was in ultra drive. He was jazzed up and rocked all night long, as if someone lit a fire underneath him.

JD came down to the front to sing to the girls at the barricade during ‘Devil’s Party.’ He had a cigarette going by the end of the song. I could see April at stage left shooting some video.

I loved the start of ‘Mystify’ with JD and Andrew at the keyboards, and he said “you ready?”. Of course we were. He came back over to the keyboards and grabbed Andrew’s maracas at one point.

We had a nice little moment where JD was trying to teach the band French, saying that some of the greatest words in the world start with the word “French.”

JD did some extra deep “riding it” during ‘Hot Girls.’ This was just the start for the lucky mic stand who was in for the night of her life. The song went over well, and as it ended JD told us “You guys are a great crowd. Great.”

Before they launched into ‘By My Side’, JD read out a note he got before the show. The person couldn’t make it there for physical reasons, and he said it wasn’t going to be on the set list, but it was a favourite song of this person, so they were going to do it. We got some cool new camera angles tonight, with views behind Andrew and Kirk.

JD was building up to ‘Taste It’ Tonight. He asked the audience about a translation for tasting, and then the band launched into 'Afterglow'. During the song, JD tucked a Canadian flag down the front of his pants to cheers from the crowd. And we got a special treat at the end of the song tonight. Andrew played us some really atmospheric music to close out.

Jon gave us a big drum intro to ‘Taste It,’ and as the song commenced JD told us “My English is crappy. My French is even worse.” Then the whole band launched into a particularly raunchy version of the song, accompanied by tons of drum feck faces, and JD swivelling his booty all over the stage. But poor Garry got left out of the band intros JD gave. He took so long on the intros tonight that Andrew was already heavily into his solo when it came to Garry’s turn. Speaking of Mr. Beers, he's been kind of sedate for a few shows now. Not giving us as many feck faces or swivels as usual. But we got some exceptionally good microphone stand sex. And a large portion of it was captured intricately on the big screen. The Montreal audience seemed to enjoy the spectacle of the licking, sucking, flicking of tongue and fingers, followed by some very impressive humping. And the licking and humping went on until the end of the song. There was not much sax sex from Kirk tonight because he was on the side monitors too far away from the audience. As the song ended Andrew mentioned how beautiful Montreal is.

During ‘Original Sin’ JD was doing a lot of pogoing. He took a sign from the audience, ripped it in half, kept half of it, and held up the part of the sign that read “Thanks for being” above the Canadian flag. The crowd cheered.

JD is still having trouble with ‘Hungry’. His voice has been crapping out on that song for the five concerts I have seen. That did not happen in February at the gigs I saw. I think maybe he started off in too low a key tonight.

On ‘Never Let You Go’ Andrew was bopping away more than usual. JD held up a “Sax it up Kirky” sign while Kirk played. He did a crowd romp right into the floor seats about 3/4 of the way back, much to the joy of everyone there.

During ‘Need You Tonight’ Tim was sliding up to the audience in front. JD got an asshat from someone in the audience and put if on. At one point JD took the camera from April at the side of the stage, and took a picture of the audience, and of Jon and Andrew. He left off the “you’re one of my kind” again tonight.

Tim and JD were down front whooping it up during ‘What You Need’. Tim had the biggest smile on his face. Kirk and Tim met up at the back of the ramp, saxing and riffing together and then came back down together. And JD and Tim were doing the sliding thing.

Andrew went crazy on the tambourine tonight during ‘Kick’. And Kirk’s sax work was hot, hot, hot. Andrew, Kirk, and Tim were on fire during this number. Andrew missed tagging Kirk with the tambourine tonight, although it was an entertaining chase. JD got a “One” logo T-shirt from the audience and changed into it.

Then it was “Time to go to church” again. Amen brother. The sound was spectacular for ‘Devil Inside.’ You could hear each individual note perfectly.

There was a particularly poignant moment just before they launched into 'Pretty Vegas,' when JD said he was honoured to be standing in his home country in front of five brothers who believed in him. I got all misty eyed listening to him. He told us “Without a you there wouldn’t be an us.” During the song Kirk, Andrew and Tim were all lined up playing guitar together. And Andrew was really rocking out in ultra mode. When Jon stood up from the kit at the end of the song, the lights shining off the sparkly pants nearly blinded us in house right.

JD hung out on stage before the encore started. He lit up a smoke and just chilled. Then he sang part of the Canadian national anthem in French to wild applause

I finally got to hear the “Trust In Me" rap that ends with the line "got til Friday to figure the rest of this shit out." That was cool. I am hoping that his raps become a mainstay in the set list, because it is exquisite to both watch him deliver it, and hear it. I love poets. And JD is a lovely poet.

During ‘New Sensation’ Kirk had a Montreal Canadiens jersey tied around his waist. JD’s jersey read “0” and “Fortune.”

It was a particularly gorgeous rendition of ‘Amazing Grace’ tonight. Montreal was my Mom’s birthplace, and I started to cry during the song.

Under the glint of the disco ball, couples were embracing and kissing all around me when they played ‘Never Tear Us Apart.’ I love watching Andrew play keyboards. As usual JD’s vocals were stellar. He does this song so well. It’s become one of my favourites on this tour. Tim took off his glasses and really milked the moment tonight, getting a huge crowd response.

During ‘Don’t Change’ JD played the tambourine with Andrew. Jon went nuts on the end of the song again, and once again everyone else joined in with JD’s pogoing. At the end of the song Andrew gave his tambourine to a little girl in the audience who was in her mom’s arms.

Tonight marked the halfway point on my second leg adventure, and I am just not ready for it to be half-done. The Maritime weather did me in, and my bronchial asthma is really flaring up. That and all the late nights spent travelling by Greyhound overnight to get to the gigs on time. The number of gigs I'm going to in such a short period of time is getting difficult to keep up with. Given all that though I would do the whole Canadian tour given enough time and money.


Set List:

Suicide Blonde
Devil's Party
Mystify
Hot Girls
By My Side
Afterglow
Taste It
Original Sin
Hungry
Never Let You Go
Need You Tonight
What You Need
Kick
Devil Inside
Pretty Vegas

Encore
part of the Canadian national anthem in French - to wild applause
Trust In Me rap
New Sensation
Amazing Grace
Never Tear Us Apart
Don't Change