Lukas Rossi in Ottawa, Ontario - Nov 24 and 25, 2006

I love Lukas Rossi. I loved him before I ever saw him or even knew who he was. Sounds weird? Well, not really when you know that I was with Barb when she called Lukas from SXSW and convinced him to go audition for Rockstar Supernova. I was so excited because I had someone to actually root for on the show.


Fast forward 8 months and the world knows that Lukas actually won the whole thing. I was really excited to be going to Ottawa to see him play.

He played to shows on Saturday. One was part of a larger show with Josh and Phil from the show. Lukas played with two members of his old band, Rise Electric, Jay and Dom. They'd rehearsed for the first time on Friday night, and it was a really great set which included a solo performance by Lukas of "Living On A Prayer" which he'd done on the show.

This photo was from that Friday night rehearsal. Lukas may be all rockstar in public, and was pretty much a spoiled brat at the VIP party, but in person he was amazingly nice. Much taller then I imagined, maybe 5'10", and very warm.

Of course, his actual quote upon seeing this photo was "I look like a crack whore....COOL!"

Ok Go - November 5, 2006 at Neumo's Crystal Ball Reading Room, Seattle

Ok Go are my favourite band. I don't think I've said that anywhere else on this rather long blog, so you know it's the truth. Sure I have many other bands I love and adore, but I love and adore none more then Ok Go.

The very first time I ever saw them was opening for The Vines at Richards On Richards. They totally stole the show with humour and music and yes, dancing. Damian Kulash, in surprizing marketing savvy, hung out after the show handing out stickers and selling CD's.

Fast forward a couple of years, and now they are brinked on NEXT BIG THING success. Unless you living in a cave, Ok Go has become famous for the dances. The Backyard Dance and the Treadmill Dance to be specific. Hell, even my MOM sent the video, so I don't need to see the actual statistics.

The show at Neumo's was an amazing. Damian Kulash has a real rapport with the audience, making everyone feel like they are part of a big party but never letting them forget that it's his show. After a rousing, accidently bassless version of "Here It Goes Again" he commented that they weren't going to play the "big hit" again then followed with a bit about Seattles music history and Kurt Cobain's status as music wealtiest dead rock star. When a woman in the audience yelled out that Kurt would have played the song again, Damian never missed a beat and shot back mischievously, "Weren't you listening to me bitch? I said we weren't playing the song again!" Then with boyish insincerity apologized for saying bitch and vowed to not say it again.


Never one to miss big moments in a show, Damian spent a couple of songs singing from the audience floor.

After one such jaunt, he was stopped in his tracks by the presence of young boy. "Dude! I have to say you are one seriously small dude. I'm not used to seeing little people at our shows." then he invited the boy onto the stage, where he put him on his shoulders and introduced him to the crowd!

That's an Ok Go Backyard Dance teeshirt the boy is wearing by the way.

Other highlights included a short acoustic set at the back of the room featuring "A Million Ways To Be Cruel" and an amazing punk rock cover of the Damned's "Neat Neat Neat!


When they came back fot the encore, Damian mentioned that it must have been a surprize to anyone who'd seen them before because he'd always expressed disdain for the encore. "I'm a fucking hypocrite!"

He mentioned at one of the shows I saw that that was one of the reasons they'd started doing a dance in the first place.

The first encore song was what I'm sure was a new song. The sound at that point was awful, so I can't really make a good judgement call at all. Maybe someone reading this can tell me more about it. The very last song was the "Do What You Want" which was exactly what the crowd wanted to do at that point. The insane jumping around by the crowd reminded me of the days of the springy Commodore floor except I don't think Neumo's have springs in their floors!

Last but not least, I can happily report that although they didn't bring the treadmills "We brought my backyard"! A still photo of THE backyard was the new backdrop to the infamous Backyard Dance which I can also happily say, still looks as fresh and as fun as the first time I saw it live at SXSW.
I'm also happy to report that Damian still puts the fans first by coming out after the show to meet the fans!
Here he is with Deb and Glen! I am so happy right now.