Wow! What a tour that was across Canada! So many highlights! We took our hockey equipment with us, and we actually got to play quite a bit. We played a show in Quebec City in front of over 20,000 people at the Red Bull Crashed Ice Event. It was about -20C and I couldn't believe how many Quebecers(Wah! C'est nous sa! LoL) braved the cold to be the first in front of the stage....like 6 hours before we went on! It wasn't the easiest of gigs, but we fellow Canadians were up for the challenge. They put heaters on stage, but during soundcheck, we noticed that the change in temperature was throwing the guitars out of tune, so we had to shut down the heaters...so for the show, we couldn't really feel our arms and legs, but at least we were in tune! We had to put on a killer rock show...frost bite or no frost bite. For any of you that saw the event on TSN, it was even more intense live. One of the organizers asked Adam and I if we were interested in trying out the track (For those that don't know what the Crashed Ice event is, it's basically a full contact downhill derby on an icy luge track through the streets ofQuebec City, raced by guys in hockey equipment). We were up for it, but after the organizers checked with their lawyers, they decided that there was too much liability to have the two of us get injured on the track hours before we had to get onstage. Sad From there we headed west...through extreme cold, but the shows were amazing!! I love touring my home country...the fans were so into the show, that it blew us away. We spent two days in Lake Louise, which is a mountain ski resort in Alberta. I skied both days and played hockey with the guys on an area of Lake Louise that actually had been shoveled off for a hockey rink. Barry went on a day long snowmobile trip with a bunch of the crew guys into the mountains. The pictures look awesome...we're gonna post some pics of the Canadian tour shortly. The skiing was great...I've never skied powder like that before. I wanted to try snowboarding, but I figured that I should stick to what I know and not get hurt right before this huge US tour. I've been known to be a little accident prone at times.
We also had back to back shows in Vancouver, and we were there for Superbowl Sunday...what a game! Nothing like a big upset in the moment of truth. (To our fans in New England...sorry about your loss). Vancouver was a nice break from the blistering winter of the rest of the tour. It was really mild weather...but no rain, which Van is known for. What a great city...like nowhere else in the world.
Thanks to everyone that came out the shows...you made it a very memorable experience. We've got a few days off at home in Toronto. I'm staying in shape by shoveling snow....we have a ton here! But I'm excited for the fact that I'm gonna drop off my hockey equipment and grab my golf clubs since we're about to head into the deep south...see you in Florida!!!
Neil
**Désolé, j'suis trop lâche pour vous le traduire xD**