Back to Tour96 Page Back to Performances page Regina Agridome, Oct 26, 1996Kurt Braun's Review Steve Pind's Review Daniel Magosse's Review Gerald Bayne's Mini-Review The Set List
Regina Agridome, Oct 26, 1996review by Kurt BraunFellow Rustie Steve Pind and I headed out from Winnipeg at noon on Saturday and were lucky enough to see an abnormally high quantity of road kill along the highway. (I just thought it was odd and felt like mentioning it, okay?) After a 5 plus drive we got to our motel and had supper. We headed out to the show fairly early, in case we got lost. I had the MORE BARN banner with me. Lost Dog had suggested I bring it in under some clothes in a bag or something. I didn't think they would give me a hard time about the banner, but I didn't want to take the chance. I had on my MORE BARN! T-shirt, so I wrapped the banner around me and the shirt and put on my sweat shirt over(it was very cold out) and my jacket over top. I must say it made me look pretty top heavy, but the lady who checked my ticket let me through. But then another person ran over and stopped me. She asked what I was hiding, so I quickly said it was only a banner and pulled it out. She went on to check the pockets of my jacket, but didn't care about the banner. She must have been thinking the same thing I was -- What a loser, trying to sneak in a banner. Some times I do dumb things, but at least I'm consistant. I hope most of you are laughing with me and not at me. Our seats sucked, so we stood parallel to the 6th row and on the main level flat part (what ever you call it). It was a small arena, so we were only about twelve rows off the floor and actually ended up with a great view. Being on the left side meant Neil faced us most of the show. Now, on to the show. I saw Neil in Minneapolis in Sept, but Regina was a stronger performance. I hadn't seen the Calgary setlist, so I didn't know what to expect. Every song was performed great, so I'll just comment on the more unexpected songs and events.
After all the effort to get the banner in, I never held it up. Since we were standing, there wasn't much room to hold it up. Also, it would have blocked a lot of people's view and the only song with enough light on the audience was RITFW and I was too into the song. I hope I am still a worthy Rustie... Since there was a real traffic jam to get out, we decided to look around for Neil's bus. We ended up waiting around for an hour. We found a big sliding door where one bus came out, and expected Neil's to come out too. But it never did. So we gave up and headed back to the motel. If the bus had come I had the banner ready to wave. (I had it wrapped around me to keep me warm. I hope it doesn't stink too much now. :) But I was not given the chance. On the way back home to Winnipeg (about half way), we came upon a rest stop with a bus parked. It had what looked like two tops of cars welded to the top, used as skylights. It had ZUMA on a Florida License plate. It was gray, but did not say Buffalo Springfield on the back. I'm sure it was part of his group, but was it his? We turned around and drove right beside it. We didn't want to disturb them, so we left almost right away. Who would want to be the one to have the memory of waking up Neil and getting blasted for it? I think the upcoming Winnipeg show will be a very special performance and I feel great to be able to attend it. Thanks for reading to the end! Kurt Braun Regina Agridome, Oct 26, 1996review by Steve PindKurt has already done an excellent review of this show, so I'll only add a few of my impressions. First off, how far is Regina from Winnipeg? It's four tapes from the Rock and Roll Cowboy and a bit. We got to the Agridome early and scouted it out. We realized our seats sucked and decided to try and stand, which turned out to be a good descision. Pete Droge and the Sinners were good, but a bit overbearing for the unitiated. They played at a constant full volume (three electric guitars and an acoustic) and produced an impressive wall of sound with some distortion thrown in. I don't know their material and couldn't get a real feel for it in this setting, but will check them out. I enjoyed Moist. A couple of years ago their first CD was a mainstay on Canadian 'alternative' radio stations and on MuchMusic. They played at least 4 songs that I recognized from this CD. The security was very laid back and they allowed people to come out of their seats and stand at the front of the stage -- which the band really seemed to enjoy. It eventually had consequences though, as you'll see below. Neil and the Horse were ON!! By the end of the second song, Kurt and I both decided that it was a stronger performance than we had seen in Minneapolis in Sept. The intensity was totally enveloping. It may be that the sound level had something to do with this. It was a much smaller venue and we were more directly in line with one bank of speakers. There were also some extra speakers placed at ground level on the sides of the stage that I didn't notice in Minneapolis. Whatever the reason, the sound was a few decibels up and totally entrancing.
It was easy to 'slip away' into every song. They were definately in a zone, for
at least the first hour. But the failed attempt at Music Arcade really
seemed to disrupt Neil. He strummed a few bars of MA and then just threw
his arms up in the air and walked over to talk to Larry. Arms up into the air again,
off comes the guitar. Comes to the mike and says something to the effect of:
Really fun to hear This Town to start the encore, and if I remember right he inserted "pissin' around" into this song 3 or 4 times. The moshers were having fun all night and the band seemed to enjoy them. Poncho even came over a couple of times and bent way down trying to read a sign that was being held up. However during Sedan Delivery when several of the surfers got beached onto the stage, it had an effect. The band huddled closer together and tried to ignore it as the road crew dragged the kids offstage. After this song, Neil went towards Poncho and Billy and seemed to yell something and the synthesizer was quickly wheeled out for the Hurricane of a finale. All in all, another great show, a great trip. Can't wait for tonight!!! Both Winnipeg papers have run full page spreads reviewing Neil's past history with this city. By the way, is this a first? -- the Rustfest that Kenny has arranged for in Winnipeg this afternoon was announced in a prominent insert in one of the papers, along with details about HyperRust, etc. On with the show!!! Steve. Neil In Cowtown and the Queen City
review by Daniel Magosse
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