Place des Arts – Montreal
I’ve not played in Montreal often. I was born in Vermont and Montreal was only a couple of hours drive north. We’d go there often as teenagers. It was partly because that was the closest real city. You could see all the big touring bands there. I saw The Cars, The Moody Blues, The Who. I had tickets to see Les Zeppelin there but the drummer had to go and die. I guess we turned the tickets in to get our cash back. I’m sure I never thought at the time that in the future I’d rather have those tickets. But then again, why do I?
This gig was on September 28th and 29th, 2001. Our first gig after 9/11. I’m sure there was a bit of consternation because of that. But I don’t remember any of that. As far as a touring stop was concerned this was pretty simple. We’d just load our stuff in a truck and it was about a day’s drive away. There was a complication in that the next stop on our schedule was a two week stop at Thèâtre de la Ville in Paris with a follow on engagement in Mulhouse, France. So we had to send everything we needed for all those stops to Montreal. From Montreal it would all go into a container for shipping directly to Paris.
In Montreal we performed Summerspace and BIPED. The first a classic and the second a newish piece that was in major rotation at the time. I remember things going fairly well. The crew there is a very strong, no-nonsense IATSE crew. They were very good if a bit grumpy, as one can expect.
Outside the theater I remember wandering around the city trying to remember sites of my teenage exploits. But I honestly couldn’t remember anyplace. The Montreal Forum was the arena venue where I saw all those concerts. But it had been torn down at some point. The new hot neighborhood with converted warehouses and lovely restaurants was down by the river. I’m sure that was a no go zone when I was there.
Our next stop being Paris I thought that I would whip out a bit of my French for practice. It wasn’t in bad shape but not as good as it would get after years touring with Merce. Also growing up in Vermont I thought I could give the Quebecois accent a fair shake. During the load out I remember saying something in French and the very gruff Quebecois crew chief yelled at me “Speak English dere aye!” I did.
N.B. The photo is of the Olympic stadium not Place des Arts. We didn’t play there, it’s just a cool building. The whip creamy stuff on top is a cover for an open oculus. When the weather is nice it can be pulled up onto that arm thing.
