September 18, 2001
Kanata, Ontario
The Corel Centre


Thanks Sonja!

have you been to this show also?
if so send in your review!

this was my first wallflowers concert in the five years that i've been a fan, so for them to come to my backyard... it was a dream. arriving early, i watched the crew set up and do sound checks and such. my seats were kind of far off, but i do think that ben peeler was on stage the entire time. the stadium was full of mellencamp fans, and i dont think that any one else was there just to see the wallflowers like i was! the band came out amidst polite but receptive clapping and cheers and they imidiately went in to sleepwalker, letters from the wasteland, sixth avenue heartache, and three marlenas. ive listened to the albums countless times, but hearing them live, it was gorgeous... thier talent shone through bright. next came a bunch of hits that really started to get the crowd going a bit more... they played heroes, one headlight, and the difference. rami was dancing around at his organ and mario was mouthing out the words to the songs... greg was bopping along (hehe) ..mike was playing hard and singing hard.. ben was just going at it .. and jake was great, he had a serious expression on his face and sang hard, moving back from the mic to play guitar and look at mario;)... they ended off with the who's wont get fooled again, with jakob saying something like, " this is a song written by an englishman, played by americans... for canadians. it makes perfect sense." in his wry humour... everyone around me laughed. the spotlight was on rami and he kept playing the intro until he got the crowd roused up enough before they went full blast into the song.... it was a loud, rollicking version of it and it was so awesome... featuring a rocking spotlighted drum solo by mario and jake singing those words out. when it was over, i was so, so ready for another couple hours of wallflowers, but i guess the show has to end sometime! i just wish i couldve been upfront to start off all that cheering and standing up way way before the end of the show! ;) afterwards, i didnt stay for the mellencamp set because i just had to try my luck at maybe finding them.... (i know you guys would too!) if any of you have ever been to the corel centre, its a pretty huge place, and i asked about a million security guards, and none of them gave me anything to work with... or would let me back stage ;). i went out back to the loading area where there seemed to be some tour busses, but the guard there kept telling me that those were NOT the wallflowers busses, and yes, he was sure they were not. i finally convinced him to let me stand there and wait to see for myself... it was very dark and absolutly noone else was around... after 15 minutes i was sure that i was crazy and was about to leave... but then out of nowhere mike appears by one of the busses... i called him over and he was really really nice, shaking my hand, signing my postcard and chatting for a bit! i was so, so surprised that i got to meet him that it didnt really register in for a while... ;). he told me that the others should be out soon, so i waited there for a while longer, but noone appeared. just as i was about to leave for a second time, mike comes back out of noowhere and he invited me onto their bus to hang out. i guess i was so suprised to be there that none of it really registered till i got home. ;) rami was in there and he was really funny and great! mike kept offering me different food and drinks and stuff and he wanted to watch cycling... (hehe). later on mario came in and some other crew members and thier road manager. mike and rami were awesome, introducing me to each of them. i forgot every single thing i wanted to ever ask or tell them ... and now i really regret it, but oh well.. as i was leaving, mike asked me if i wanted to go and find the rest of the band to round of my collection of autographs... i was so touched at how caring he was (yay wallflowers! hehe)...he took me back in and backstage... we found ben and greg, and later jakob. i got thier autographs and hand shakes and stuff ...it was so surreal that i dont really know what to say about it ;). anyway, i left after that, saying bye to mike and greg... i cant wait for the next time they play anywhere near here, im definatly going to go to a show where they play a full set... and full of fans.. so they know how much we really really appriciate them! horray wallflowers. and thanks guys for everything!