Past weekend and Review of Melanie C concert

This past weekend has been a bit rough. There were some good parts, but mostly rough.

On Saturday, Raoul and Rupert decided to go and have lunch at Score's in West Island, in the part of town where my ex used to live... And with my luck, my ex just happened to walk outside of the car... I was not a happy camper, having to see my ex, and I didn't really have time to acknowledge him before we sped off in our car to the restaurant.

Saturday night - Iron Man, you already know that. Review in a previous post.

And on Sunday, Raoul and Rupert asked me to help print some pages on Rupert's project. They said they were going to show up at 5:00 p.m., since I had a concert at 8:00 p.m., and I had to be there for about 7:30 p.m.. They didn't show up until 5:30 p.m.. (Half an hour late), and then it took another hour to print, because they saved their document on a camera which they tried to use as a USB drive. Didn't work... I had to restart my computer many times. And then after, when I ran a virus scan, because I found it weird that my computer would act up on me all of a sudden like that, I was awarded with a trojan horse. Where did it come from? My guess - Rupert's five-month old laptop. You help print a document, and your thank you gift is a trojan horse. Lovely. Granted, it may just be my computer reacting badly to the new hardware of the camera, because after looking at the files that were flagged, I believe they were false positives. However, I am having difficulty sending the files into the company for analysis. But anyway, I took time out of my schedule to help, and I don't really feel appreciate, especially since they created more problems for me.

I thought that things would turn around at the concert. I was really looking forward to it (and luckily, because those two clowns took up so much of my time, I was offered a ride to the concert hall), which I did appreciate, although I was just shooting to get a quick ride to the metro so that I could vent to my friend with whom I went to the concert with about those two.

The concert I went to see was Melanie C. She's playing a few concerts, one in Montreal, one in Ottawa and one in Toronto. She's probably playing in other cities too, but these are the ones that are close to me (addition suggested by my friend - thank you). The venue she chose in Montreal was Club Soda. So, the tickets weren't expensive, but there wasn't really assigned seating. We went in, and we stood.

And the show was great, the opening act, I didn't quite feel, but he was nice and was chatty, so that's cool. Melanie C's show was great, she knows how to play the audience, and she has a good sense of humour. Someone held up a sign saying, "Where's Geri?", and her response was, "Who knows." and she went on with her set. She actually did forget words to one of her songs, which caused me do a double take, because she's been around for a long time, in terms of singing.

The show was good, but what followed was not so good. The concert was kind of short, she did a short set, in my opinion. She didn't start singing until about 8:50 p.m., and we were done (with the encore - about 10:20 p.m.), so it was about 1.5 hours. And she has so much repertoire that she really could have given us an extra 20 minutes... She didn't even offer any autographs. And no one would put a definitive as to whether she was going to sign for sure, or not sign for sure. The bouncers would just tell people to wait around out back, and that's what many people did, including me and my friend.

It was very secretive, the whole affair. The fans were waiting by the doors, and the people who worked with her would try to spread false rumours about her having left the building or whatever. And then finally, when she did, she left through the "24 hour sex theatre" exit and got into her bus... It was cold... And all her fans were braving the cold, hoping to either get a signature or just to shake her hand. She made us stand in the cold (from when this whole fiasco started to when the bus took off - yes the bus took off on us), for three hours. There were, at the maximum point when her fans were waiting for her, at most, fifty people. In three hours time, she probably should have been able to sign the autographs and give pictures.

I understand that she has a schedule to keep, etc. etc., but three hours sitting on the bus would have been better if you just took care of your fans. And apparently she does a lot for her fans... I wouldn't know, because I have never experienced it, but all I can say is I'm a bit disappointed. And really, she's not that famous. Her solo stuff is good, but it's not as good as Spice Girls good. I mean, she played at Club Soda! Come on! And it wasn't even filled. Usually, when you choose a venue like Club Soda, you expect to give autographs. If you don't want to give autographs, choose something like Bell Centre. But she wouldn't have sold out there, would she? And besides, if you forgot words on stage to a song of yours? I don't think you deserve the diva status of not signing autographs and making your fans wait in the cold for three hours, then driving off into the night.

One of the comments I was really peeved about was the driver (or bouncer) or someone who said, "I hear that she's playing in Ottawa tomorrow." and my retort was, "Oh, are you going to give me a free ticket? Because I can't afford to go to Ottawa and buy a ticket to see her in concert." Excuse me, I already took money out of my budget to see her, I didn't have to. I could have spent the money elsewhere. I also don't expect to be treated like royalty only because I saw her, but don't try to pawn off your fans by saying, "Oh, she's playing tomorrow somewhere", and give the illusion that she will sign autographs then because we know very well that she probably wouldn't.

I'm glad that I did wait until the very end, because all I can say is that, "I tried." I tried to get my CD covers signed, and the bus drove off into the night. I don't regret that I waited, but I am a bit disappointed. And the ironic thing is, I now feel exactly like the lyrics in Better Alone:

I understand your point of view letting me go
But I thought you had more faith
Everything I've done for you
You made the mistakes
and now you throw this in my face
And I have worked so hard for you
all of this time and you cast me aside
I understand your point of view

But I can't seem to get my head around
All the things that I feel good about
always seem to disappear
And every time I think I've got this all worked out
Something chews me up and spits me out
But there's nothing left to fear
I'm better alone my dear

You couldn't pick a better time to give me the news
Why don't you kick me when I'm down?
I'd (should be I've) always believed in you
Defended your name, but you have not been true
I gave you so much of my life
I've compromised and you tell me goodbye
You couldn't pick a better time

And I can't seem to get my head around
All the things that I feel good about
always seem to disappear
And every time I think I've got this all worked out
Something chews me up and spits me out
But there's nothing left to fear
I'm better alone my dear

I know I really should thank you for setting me free
It's really amazing the changes I'm starting to feel
It's not gonna be long till I'm fit and strong
Deliverance helped me heal still
I wonder if you ever wish you still had me

Will I ever get my head around
All the thing that I feel good about
that always seem to disappear
When every time I think I've got this all worked out
Something chews me out and spits me out
But there's nothing left to fear... I'm better alone my dear.

(Note, I took out some repeats at the end)

Yes, Melanie C, I guess I'm better alone, my dear. I don't know if I will consider myself your fan anymore.