The term live blogging is most often used to represent the action of blogging synchonously with an event – such as blogging about your impressions of a conference presentation as the presentation is taking place. Today I’ll be warping that definition a little. This isn’t a synchronous entry – I doubt security would have allowed me to bring my laptop into the concert – but it is all about LIVE.

The Venue at River Cree is an outdoor dome tent facility. Sounds like it would be a cold and boring place to attend a concert but actually it was quite cozy. I’m not certain how many people the facility will hold but it seemed there wasn’t a bad seat in the house. The sound was awesome. No grating or popping – even when the music seemed to be pounding straight through you (Lakini’s Juice anyone?). Granted, we were only 17 rows back and smack dab in the middle of the room with a great view of the stage.

It was hard not to feel sorry for the poor overworked memorabilia salesman. He manned the booth by himself for the duration of the night and was run off his feet. He was still setting up when we arrived but was juggling setup and selling at the same time. There was a wide variety of items for sale – including autographed lists of the song sets (we didn’t pick one up) and a great set of t-shirts. The prices were incredibly reasonable for a concert and a good 10-15$ cheaper than shirts we bought at other concerts in the past. Robin somehow managed to get the only copy of the Awake CD/DVD they were selling that contained only the song CD and not the DVD videos. The sales dude was awesome and quickly replaced her copy for the proper one.

The concert was filmed and notices abounded that your image could be captured on film and used without notice or compensation. Actually, according to the notices, entering the Venue was considered consent. If the images projected on the video screens during the concert are any indication, I won’t have to worry at all. My ugly mug doesn’t appear to have been caught on tape.

Those who chose to attend the concert were such a wide mix of ages and cultures. I think it’s a sign of how successful a band is when they cross not only generations (age) but also cultures.

Frontman and guitarist Ed Kowalczyk was bang on last night. His voice pure. He has one of the most expressive faces I’ve seen in a long time. Too often there was an impish gleam in his eyes that translated into a beautiful smile while he egged on the crowd. As always, lead guitarist Chad Taylor and bassist Patrick Dahlheimer were sublime. Drummer Chad Gracey was in a class of his own.

There was no opening act and the concert started on time. LIVE played a good mix of the popular tunes and their less known ones. Near panic struck the crowd when they ended the evening after an hour and fifteen minute set without playing Lightning Crashes and Lakini’s Juice. After the standard 2-5 minute screaming for more, they did return to the stage and play another 4 song mini-set that included both of the old standby’s. Despite a natural odd yet polite tendency for local concert attendees to sit (if seats are provided) during shows Heaven, The Dolphin’s Cry and I Alone all had the crowd up and dancing. Singing too. I think the butt in the seat thing is so we don’t block anyone’s view of the stage who happens to be behind us. Most likely re-inforced with shouts of “down in front” from the cranky group of guys behind us…

There’s really no way to improve upon the original man in black but LIVE’s version of I Walk The Line was superb. Just dark enough to capture the imagination and loud enough not to be drowned out by all the singing concert attendees. There was a sense of emotion and power in the concert rendition that isn’t captured in the recorded version on CD.

River Cree threw an after party at the Lounge but we decided to skip out on that after reviewing the line up. Well, that and I’m not really a clubbing type of girl these days. Since Live was apparently making an appearance at the club I may have missed out on a minute chance to meet the band but I think I can live with that. They’d have been swamped by the band bunnies beautiful people anyway.

When Live was in Edmonton opening for Nickleback a few months back they stole the show. It’s no surprise that they delivered an awesome concert experience last night and it was one of the best concerts I’ve attended in eons.

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