Jason Collett & Peter Elkas - Wednesday, March 26, 2008

There is nothing like being at Amigo's on a "school" night. Before the show started, I saw many people checking their watch for the time and mentally calculating how many hours of sleep they will get before they have to get up for work/school in the morning. Then we all say to each other, "Oh, I hope it starts soon... I have to be up at [ridiculous time of the am] tomorrow!" Last night I replied with "I was up at 5am to do Green Eggs and Ham this morning. I'm so tired!" It's the regular dance at Amigo's during the week.

However, all the thoughts of time and tiredness melted away as Peter Elkas took the stage and won us all over. That guy can SING. I was not familiar with Mr. Elkas before the show, but a friend of mine came to the show just for him. So I stood at the front despite not knowing the words to his songs and smiled at the wonderfulness that was Peter Elkas and his fans. However, the sound guy (who was not Ryan Drabble, Amigo's amazing sound guy) had some difficulty for this first set and made numerous errors. Every time it happened, I said to myself, "Drabble wouldn't have let that happen." But I'm like that. The music itself, though, was awesome. Needless to say, I bought Peter Elkas' CD.

Last time Jason Collett was at Amigo's was also in the middle of the week, but he packed the place then and he packed it last night as well. I love middle-of-the-week-Amigos crowds - they are friendly, not overly drunk, polite, considerate, and really there for the music. Jason came on stage wearing a red and black plaid flannel button-up shirt, tight pants, and his obviously used guitars. However, somehow he gives off an air of being a big rock star. Some people don't like his arrogance, but I like the contrast of how he looks and how he acts, and afterwards I talked to him for a bit and he seemed very down to earth. During his set, he played a great mix of songs off of his new and old albums, including Hangover Days, Parry Sound, I'll Bring the Sun, Pavement Puddle Stars, Pink Night, and These are the Days from his 2005 album. Off of his new album, which I'm not completely familiar with [yet], he played Sorry Lori, Out of Time, Henry's Song, Not Over You, and probably more.

The band that Jason Collett shared with Peter Elkas was a lot more relaxed with Jason than with Peter. Peter said that they had jammed together a few times, but this was their first show together (I think that's what he said, I was blinded by his good looks to completely listen to him). However, the band looked extremely comfortable with Jason and they were really tight with him. I'm sure he demands nothing less. Also, I thought it was great that Peter came on stage and played slide guitar for the whole set with Jason. Ahhh, collaboration.

Of course the crowd wouldn't let Jason Collett stay off the stage after his set, despite the "I have to get up early tomorrow" conversations that they had had not even two hours before. When Jason came back, people started shouting out songs and then I did something that was very out of character for me at shows - I shouted out "We all Lose One Another." He looked at me and smiled and I said smiling, "Plaaaay it!" So he did! It was awesome. Definitely a highlight for me.

The whole show was great and I thoroughly enjoyed both acts. This show is going on my Potential Top 10 Shows of 2008 list.
Crystal's rating: 8.5/10

P.S. Thanks to everyone who came up to me to say that they liked my radio show on CFCR. It is always nice to know that people are listening and appreciate community radio!

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