A Long Time Coming

It’s 22 years and a long way from Brabourne Stadium (Aid Bhopal, Bombay 1985) to the Metro Toronto Convention Centre (Grey Cup Festival, Toronto 2007). And now I’m the only person in the whole wide world, who can safely say this…

I’ve performed at both!

Practically a lifetime in between. A beginning after an ending. Or perhaps another ending. But it doesn’t matter... all that matters is that I was there!

Ok… I'll stop with the wordy foreplay now.

After weeks of preparation and slightly nervous anticipation, my band, The RetroGreats, and I made our two-song appearance at the Grey Cup Festival last Saturday, 24 November.

It turned out to be everything Terry promised us… some of it more so, some of it less (but not for the lack of his trying). The sheer size of the event was mind boggling. The hall we played in was cavernous… over 200,000 sq feet in size with 35 foot ceilings!

Ok, so Lenny Kravitz played to a bigger crowd on Sunday at half time… a shade under 20,000 in attendance, said the news. So what? He’s Lenny Are-You-Gonna-Go-My-Way Kravitz. And he played three songs. We’re The RetroGreats, for Pete’s sake, and maybe 50 people in that room of a few thousand knew who the hell we were. (We heard they were expecting 5,000 people… they could have had that, but not all of them were in the hall at any one time.)

Gotta put things in perspective here, you know.

So… here’s what’s stuck in my mind from that day, as we started out at 10:00 for a sound check (that never happened because the stage managers ran out of time).

Hanging around backstage...


Long walks up and outside for smokes; getting caught in the middle of a green and blue sea of loud Bombers and Roughriders fans on the escalators going back down; free breakfast and coffee in a well-appointed dining area, with guys in black jackets and bowties behind the counters; very official looking ‘performer’ passes hanging on lanyards around our necks; running into my young friend Brittany.


Going to see the outdoor Canadian Armed Forces exhibit with the lovely Leslie Gibson from Us5; checking out the CF-18 exhibition plane, the Bison armoured personnel carrier, trying on a flak jacket and helmet, freaking things weighed a tonne, chatting with the boys in uniform; listening to the Forces band belt out Mustang Sally; so very Canadian, the whole thing… even in camouflage, these folks manage to look completely homespun and non-threatening.

Standing in a long line to get beer tickets; and then standing in another long line to get the beer.

The cheerleaders… oh my sweet baby Jesus, the cheerleaders… they were everywhere… hundreds of them, in their microscopic skirts and even smaller tops; Marysia telling us to wipe the drool off our collective manly chin; Joe from Attica Rox pacing, psyching himself up, not looking at the girls.

Hanging out in the lounge (leather sofas, no less) earmarked for Great Big Sea, who’re playing later that evening; Terry and Topher herding us together to get the low down from the stage manager; a drum battle as Michelle from the LOR Allstars, Adrian from Dark Angel, and I whack the crap out of the padding of a hapless chair for about five minutes; Larry clowning around, pretending to pull the splintered piece of a broken stick out of his neck.


Marysia changing into a dazzling pink top, making a passing stagehand’s jaws drop… he walks by muttering to himself; Steve and Pauline, as cool and collected as ever.

Waiting nervously sidestage as Dan Clancy introduces LOR and Dark Angel, who take the stage to open our segment of the show. These guys are so cool, I bet people have difficulty believing this is a band that rehearses once a week, if that, and does not perform regularly. Mike’s solo on Rocky Mountain High must have raised blisters on his fret board… let alone his fingers.

We’re announced.


I settle down on the drum throne and Steve counts Refugee in. Panic sets in as I realize that my drummer’s mike is not hot enough and I can barely hear the guitars. Pauline’s bass is nowhere near as loud as I need it to be to drive me. But, it’s too late to fix anything. I’m playing blind.


I lose the beat, but recover as the sound engineers race to balance the on-stage sound… the rest catch up. Even before I know it, the song is over. I remembered all the lyrics… halle-effing-lujah… I’d forgotten them in three consecutive rehearsals leading up to the show and had generally freaked myself out. The others were too polite to say anything. It’s amazing what one can do under pressure.


The sound is better now. Marysia goes up and chats to the crowd, introduces us and the next song… her’s… Crazy on You.


I can feel us speeding up, but… to hell with it. This is live… this is urgent… this is here and now. Who cares if it’s a tad faster than it should be. I see us on monster multiple video screens across at the far, far end of the massive hall.


Even before we know it, it’s over. We grab our gear and get off stage as fast as we can for the turnover. Topher comes over and bear hugs Marysia and me… he says we did ok. Makes me feel better about our performance. The Animators go on... and absolutely nail it.


Us5 is up next, and pull off a wicked rendition of Whole Lotta Love. Leslie throwing her head back and letting loose in the vocal break in that song… that's an image that's going to be stuck in my head forever...

Joe struggling with the sound again as Attica Rox take the stage, but the band recovers and proceeds to put on a stark, in-your-face display of rock ‘n roll swagger. Tony looking and sounding like the business end of some kind of warped industrial rock machine. Gotta love those guys...


An hour zips by. And we’re told we’re out of time. They won’t let the LOR Allstars go on to do their set. WTF? But we clear the stage.

Later, I hang out a bit front stage with friends and other LOR members for a while. Grab another beer with Leslie. Surprised to run into some colleagues. Some of us are in a company band that’s competing at Baystock 2008.

An emptiness settles into me… even surrounded by the thousands still milling around in the hall.

What now… what next?



Photos and video courtesy Terry Moshenberg/League of Rock, Mitch Moshenberg, Topher Stott, Tony Louriero, www.molsoncanadian.ca, and video grabs from Matt.