Petes Diary: A view from the WSSF main stage
Ever wanted to know what its like to be a rock star? Do you wonder whats going through the bands heads as youre watching from below? Well Pete from WDC took up the Pique challenge to fill us in. Here is his from-the-heart, first hand account of what its like being at the worlds feet during the DKNY Jeans Free Outdoor Concert Series.
Check out WDC any Thursday or Friday at Moe Joes and Sunday nights at the Crab Shack. And if you feel like a city sojourn, theyd love to see you Friday, May 9 at The Royal in Vancouver too. Keep up to date on their travels at www.WDCrocks.com
By Pete Couillard, of WDC.
April 11, 2003
I've walked through the village a thousand times, but I can't help feel that quiet, natural high that everyone in a band gets when they walk into a full-festival production. You look at the stage and feel the same vibe you got when you walked into your first major concert venue as a kid. Everything is big, complicated and cool. Sound check is still about four coffees away for me, but the excitement starts building early. Festivals mean making as much noise as possible. Gut-pounding, shake-yer-foundations noise it's such a rush.
The core of my Whistler coffee posse is typically three to six friends, but today it has swollen to more than a dozen by noon. The Longhorn patio is filling up fast. The bands are hanging out on the patio too. Nobody talks about music on a day like this. The guys in the bands are just out to watch the shows like everyone else. But between you and me, I think we all like to show off a little in front of our peers. It's not competitive but it's a great feeling to see those guys subtly nod their heads and grin when they know you rip. Our morning coffee-posse is now a beer-swilling hoard of 50.
There's a great crew of people working the WSSF, so load-in and sound-check is totally smooth. We rip through a monitor check just as the rain starts up again. The crew covers all the expensive stuff with plastic tarps and there are the typical jokes about electrocuting the talent. Everyone is satisfied we're ready to go on on-time.
The show is a blast. Noise bylaws made a full sound-check impossible, so the first few songs involve many mix adjustments and some fine-tuning, but the WSSF crew is right on top of it. We relax. The job of the opening band is to build an audience, so we lay back and play nice and solid... nothing goofy. The audience is building and there are smiles everywhere. People are beginning to dance and the Longhorn patio is making as much noise as possible between songs. The sun is shining brightly now, so I pull a page from my book of rock-star poses and turn my amp up another notch. More noise is more fun in my books. Looks like everyone in the crowd is thinking the same thing. One more notch and I can really feel it in my gut. People smile. What a wicked day.