Blue Rodeo, Burton Cummings, Ivana Santilli @ Malden Park, Windsor ON

You could just sense the excitement brewing for this one. It's been a year and a half since Blue Rodeo made a visit to Windsor, and we were all excited. Most of Sarah's family decided to join us for the show, but only Sarah, Heather and I were up front.

Well, Ivana Santilli started off the show in Windsor, and actually introduced it as a Stardust Picnic, although it wasn't really officially one. Hopefully it will be next year :) The only thing to note about her is that early during her performance (kinda Latino dancy soul stuff), we saw a van pull up in the fenced-in area backstage... and Kim, Jim and Baz hopped out with takeout from Burger King. A few people noticed, so they kinda waved and cheered and Jim turned around and waved back, then headed for the bus doing this little dance to Ivana's song... priceless! :)

Now to settle the confusion as to the whole "headliner/opener" debate. I think the reason the radio was advertising Burton ahead of Blue Rodeo was because they were playing the commercial on both Canadian and U.S. radio stations. Especially the classic rock station in Detroit, so it would only make sense that they'd emphasize Burton over BR. However, when it came time for the actual performance, Burton came on BEFORE Blue Rodeo -- for several reasons. For one, he only had his keyboard, that was all the setup he needed, so it was easier to have everything on stage already for Blue Rodeo than to have to take it down before Burton. Second, Burton played a pretty relaxed set... it was just a piano and him, so it was more of a sit-down show, even up front where we were. Plus it was around 8:00 when he came on stage, so it was still daylight out... by the time Blue Rodeo came on, it was probably around 9 and it was starting to get dark, and of course, everyone had to get on their feet, 'cause there was no way I could sit down for them! :)

So then a little bit more excitement as they were setting up for Burton. The woman from the couple sitting behind us went up to the backstage gate when she saw Kim, and waved him over. He said hello, they seemed to know each other, and she pointed out the guy sitting behind us, and Kim came out from the backstage area to talk to him. So Kim ended up kneeling right behind us chatting with this guy... it was cool :)

Burton played a really great show... I have to admit, I'm not as familiar with his stuff as much as a lot of other people, but I really appreciated being able to see his performance. Unfortunately, he played No Sugar Tonight by himself, which meant we wouldn't be hearing him doing it with Blue Rodeo. :(

As for the woman who was flashing the band... she also flashed Burton at one point, who said, "Wow, nice, how much did you pay for those?" :)

Now, onto Blue Rodeo. They played a great show, despite the drunk and rowdy crowd. The setlist went a little something like this.

Til I am Myself Again
Better Off As We Are
American Woman (with Burton)
Shakin' All Over (with Burton)
5AM A Love Song
When Will You Rage Again?
It Could Happen To You
Girl In Green
Dark Angel
Photograph
You're Everywhere
Sad Nights
5 Days in May
Hasn't Hit Me Yet
Lost Together

Encore:
Falling Down Blue
What Am I Doing Here?
Trust Yourself

Burton joined it after about two songs, for American Woman (WOW WOW WOW!!) and Shakin' All Over. Greg had the honour of performing the guitar solo in American Woman, and both Jim and Greg looked like kids in a candy store with Burton on stage... it was the coolest thing :) After their two songs, Greg said something along the lines of "Well folks, that's it, you have a lovely bridge [referring to the Ambassador Bridge, which you could see from the park], thanks a lot, and good night!" as if there was no way the show could get any better after that point. Fortunately, they managed to keep it interesting... :) Just a fabulous, fabulous show. As to what the guys were wearing, it later occurred to me that Jim, Greg and Glenn reminded me of rainbow sherbet. Jim was wearing the yellow shirt, Greg, a light green shirt, and Glenn was wearing the purple shirt. The other funny thing was that both Jim and Greg were wearing faded black jeans, and both of them had their shirts unbuttoned a bit and the sleeves rolled up to the elbows... do you think they plan this stuff out, or does it just happen??? :) Oh well, still cool :)

And of course, after the show, most of us went back to the car and drove up to Toronto for the Stardust Picnic...