- Boomstock (BTO, Sweet, Chilliwack, The Box, UB40) [08/24 Sobeys Stadium, Toronto, ON]
This was tonight. I went with my son and a friend and her friend. This was the first time we have ever been to this venue. It will also be the last. The venue was horrible. For starters it is not downtown. It is in the far corner of Toronto. It is close to the subway but it was a long subway ride. My friend and her friend live outside the city so they drove. Secondly, for a stadium holding maybe 8000 people they had one entrance with 2 security people doing the screening. Needless to say I missed the first half of the first act before I got to my seats. We were on the 300 level (fourth floor). They had no food up there only expensive alcoholic drinks. My son and I had Mikes Hard Lemonade. We decided to have supper after as someone had said the concert which started at 5:30 would be over by 9. It ended at 11 and we did have supper when we got home. Exiting the stadium was also challenging as everybody got funnelled onto a single tiny staircase or 1 slow elevator.
The big issue for the stadium was the sound. This is a tennis stadium. They just started doing concerts here this year. The big issue is that the walls on each side of the stadium are solid. They have no sound absorbing material on them at all. The result is we got a constant and near consistent echo/reverb of either the voices, the guitar or the drums or all 3. Very annoying.
That being said, the concert was excellent. It opened with The Box and I did catch their 3 recognizable songs in the songs they played while we were in our seats. They had a restriction of 30 minutes. They did a heavily abbreviated setlist. Favourites they did: "My Dreams Of You", "Ordinary People", "Closer Together".
Next up was Sweet. They also did an abbreviated setlist of 35 minutes. Favourites they did: "Love Is Like Oxygen", "Fox On The Run", "Little Willy", "Ballroom Blitz".
Next was Chilliwack. They did an abbreviated set of 40 minutes. Last time I saw Chilliwack was with my wife so had some emotional response. Favourites they did: "Lonesome Mary", "Whatcha Gonna Do", "Arms Of Mary", "Crazy Talk", "My Girl (Gone, Gone, Gone)", "Fly at Night".
Next was UB40. Coming into this concert, I would say to me they are 1 hit wonders. I know exactly 1 song and it's a Neil Diamond song at that. And they did that song. And a lot of others. I would say 3/4 of the songs were covers but I gather from people's reactions, they are covers that they have released. They also did some songs from their new album. I can't say I really know any more UB40 songs now but I really enjoyed the concert. They had a lot of energy and did a very very good show. They did almost an hour of music only dropping a couple songs from their normal setlist. My son said they were his favourite.
I have been mentioning time here a lot. Between The Box and Sweet there was a 10 minute gap. Between Sweet and Chilliwack there was 15 minutes. But each subsequent break became longer. The first 3 bands shared the same setup including drumset with only adjustments done between sets. This was highly unusual. As far as I can tell drummers are extremely particular about their drums. But in retrospect, if the first 3 bands had not done this, we would still be at the concert or they would have had to start it at noon. Before UB40 and BTO there was considerable delay as the previous stuff had to be removed and new stuff moved into place.
The final performer was BTO (Bachman-Turner Overdrive). They did a lot of Guess Who covers as Randy Bachman was a part of the Guess Who. They also did Tal Bachmans one hit "She's So High" (Tal is now playing with the band). This song came out in 1999 and was while I was dating my wife. Another emotional response.
Behind the band on a screen they had old videos of them doing the same song they were singing but in the 70s. During one of the songs they also played the Simpsons clip where they guest starred. Video only of course. I liked BTO best when they did the BTO classics: ""Roll On Down The Highway", "Let It Ride", "You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet" and "Taking Care of Business". The second last "song" they did was a mash of several songs. They did a verse or 2 of each. It was a lot of fun. The songs:
- "Hey You"
- "All Right Now"
- "Rock'n Me"
- "You Shook Me All Night Long"
- "Honky Tonk Woman"
- "Can't Take My Eye's Of You"
- "Bang a Gong (Get It On)"
- "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction"
- "It's Only Rock and Roll"
- "Old Time Rock and Roll"
- "Hey You" (reprise)
The overall concert was sponsered by the local FM radio station which I listen frequently. Each act was introducted by a DJ from the station (except for UB40 which had no intro). This is also the reason for the name "boomstock".
boom 973 plays 70s 80s 90s music that takes you back to the good times when life was simple with out worry. Turn it up, have some fun and let us help you escape stress.
www.boom973.com
The abveviated format had some benefits. There were no encores. There were no drum solos and instrument solos were very limited. There was also no issues with any smokers tonight. Given the length of the show that did surprise me although I did hear someone say that unlike other venues, you were able to come and go at this one.
Upcoming Shows:
2024:
- twentyone pilots [09/27 Scotiabank Arena, Toronto, ON]
- Creed [11/27 Scotiabank Arena, Toronto, ON]
