Becca Jane St Clair

If you live under a rock, you might not know that my favourite band of all-time is Canadian rock group, Barenaked Ladies. BNL and I have been through a lot since I first listened to Gordon in my (then) boyfriend’s car in 1996. I have gone on road trips, cruises, slept in my car, camped out, squeezed 8 people into a hotel room, driven all night, held tailgates, snuck into meet and greets, threw panties, bras, and monkeys, held up signs, wore strange antennae on my head, and wore cat ears for this band. Yes, we’ve been through a lot together.

fortunately, they DO tour in the UK on occasion, so I wasn’t going to be BNL-less when I moved. My other favourite band, Carbon Leaf, has yet to show up here. BNL was performing at Glastonbury and Hard Rock Calling and added two other shows to their short trip – one in Glasgow and one in London.

Of course, I don’t live anywhere near either of those places. When they toured in September 2010, Tim and I took the train up to Glasgow and stayed in an inexpensive hotel and hung out with the BNL UK crowd. I had decided NOT to see BNL on this trip, as I wasn’t feeling Glasto, I didn’t want to spend £125 for Hard Rock, and I didn’t want to get a hotel room on my own in Glasgow, since Tim would be at his training down near London.

Wait, did you say London?

Tim’s training was in Watford, which is actually on the Overground and Underground. On a fast train, it takes less than 15 minutes to get to London Euston. BNL’s London gig was at Koko, off the Northern Line of the Underground which even goes directly to Euston. And there were trains as late as 1:30 in the morning, too.

I decided to buy a ticket at the last minute and I headed down in the morning after letting a few of my friends know that I would be there. The doors weren’t opening until 7PM, but any good fan knows that if you want to be front row, you have to queue. Some of my friends were already at the venue when I arrived at noon, but I still managed to be eighth in “line”. We passed a pleasant afternoon in the sweltering heat, chatting, drinking, and having fun until it was time to be let in. And then, I had a problem.

Because I had ordered my ticket online the night before, I had a will-call ticket. Despite the fact that Koko’s box office window had been opened all day, I was not permitted to pick up my will-call ticket until the doors opened! My friends promised they would hold a front row spot for me while I sorted out my ticket, but they didn’t have any luck and I wound up in the second row, behind one of our tallest friends. Okay, second row might not be a big deal to you, but it was when I had queued from noon! When we were at Glasgow, Tim and I were about 15th and 16th to arrive for queueing and I wound up standing sideways so I could squeeze into the front row. The London crowd was not budging to let anyone in. I got upset and annoyed. I texted my friends I had been waiting with (because they couldn’t even see me!) to tell them I was stuck in the second row, and my friends Lou, Kirsty, and Liam were AMAZING and somehow managed to find me a spot in the front row….and it also happened to be center stage right at Ed’s mic!

The show was fantastic. Spot on. Everything I love about this band and then some. Everytime I go to a show, it feels like they personally picked songs for me, and this night was no different. Summertime, Blame it on Me, What a Good Boy…the list goes on. I was sad they didn’t play Jane (my blog’s namesake*!), but it was still a fantastic show.

What a Good Boy, as shared by Kirsty on YouTube:

Link: http://youtu.be/Fjx2rbIcbHU

Blame it On me:

Link: http://youtu.be/mmJJFWQ7hK8

Photos:
[apologies for the fuzzyness. The smoke machine made it difficult to take photos, and then I discovered I had a smudge on my camera. Photos taken with my Olympus Mμ 3000]

After the show, we hung around and I managed to get a photo with Ed, but I had to head off to join Tim at Watford….I wound up on the slow train, so I didn’t get to the hotel until nearly 2AM. Then, I woke up in the middle of the night with horrible leg cramps, so Tim had me stay an extra day with him.

*The girl works at the store sweet Jane St Clair. My first name is Rebecca, and my middle is Jane, hence, BeccaJaneStClair :D.

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