Everybody to the dance floor! Pet Shop Boys has come to town!
There was a time in my youth when the music I listened to consisted of an abundance of Britpop bands such as Duran Duran, New Order, Bananarama, Tears for Fears, Wham! and the Pet Shop Boys. One could not go through the 80s or 90s without jamming to these hitmakers.
If you grew up in Canada in the 90s, you’d no doubt have listened to any number of Our Lady Peace and I Mother Earth songs on the radio or on MuchMusic. Bonus points for you if you also followed Edwin’s solo career after he left as frontman for I Mother Earth. (which I did)
Both bands are well known and well loved by Canadians. But I have never seen them live until now — on their reunion tour that kicked off at the Abbotsford centre. For Sean and I, it was like a stroll down amnesia lane, reliving our 90s. And I must say, I rather enjoyed this slice of Canadiana.
Sigur Rós stripped down, but still rocking their asses off. This tour around, Sigur Rós performed sans strings, sans brass sections, and sans supporting band. For the very first time! All the more to focus on the core unit of the band. This concert would be special in that they would be road-testing new music before even stepping foot in a studio to record them. Plus re-interpreting old favourites for the fans.
For their North American leg, Sigur Rós kicked off their tour in Vancouver with two shows. We got tickets for the second performance and it did not disappoint. It was as symphonic, transcendent and dreamy as ever.
The last time I saw Duran Duran on tour was in 2005, when the band reformed with all five members for their Astronaut tour. I remember it so well, going with a bunch of girlfriends who were also lifelong Duranies and all of us screaming our heads off after every song. My favourite has and always will be Roger Taylor – which made the concert extra special, as this was the tour where he rejoined the band.
This time around, I went with Sean, who’s also a big Duran Duran fan. And this time, thanks to my brother’s friend, we’d be watching the concert from one of the suites! Fancy!
View more photos of our New York trip on my Flickr album. For pics of the Manus X Machina: Fashion in the Age of Technology exhibit at the Met, view them here. Enjoy!
There’s never enough time when visiting New York. But we always try to pack as much as we can in. The main reason for our quickie trip was to see the opening of Kingsglaive: Final Fantasy XV, a movie that Sean worked on. We were lucky that we got to see and do a lot of other really cool things too like: Sleep No More at the McKittrick hotel, The Ghostbusters Experience, The Starfleet Academy Experience at the Intrepid Museum, and the Manus X Machina exhibit at the Met.
It’s complete happenstance when you find out that due to popular demand, the Met’s Manus X Machina: Fashion in the Age of Technology got extended until September 15 (from the original closing date of August 14). Sean and I found that out when we got to the Met. Needless to say, I was happy and excited.
Continuing our geek-tastic vacation, we went to the Star Trek Starfleet Academy Experience at the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum to immerse ourselves in the world of Star Trek.
