Bryan Adams Concert in Toronto

Yes, I like Bryan Adams. I don’t care how corny some of his songs can be, he is clas­sic. The deci­sion to make the trip to the con­cert in Toronto was a last minute one. We both weren’t too busy at work, and the weather was sud­denly warmer. Plus, we wanted to check out the Air Canada Centre.

Hockey Playoff Game 3: Ottawa Senators vs New York Rangers

What bet­ter way to readapt to Canada than to go to a hockey game?
The Ottawa Sen­a­tors made it to the Stan­ley Cup Play­offs, and on Mon­day night, it was game 3 against the NY Rangers. We headed to Sco­tia­bank under a dra­matic stormy sky—it was over 27°C that night (and it’s now 4°C… go figure).

Picture of the Week: On The Rink

There is a lit­tle park in our neigh­bour­hood, and each year the com­mu­nity puts up a home­made out­door ice skat­ing rink, also used for hockey prac­tice by the kids. I snapped this pic­ture when walk­ing back from the super­mar­ket, as a teen was lac­ing up his skates before hit­ting the ice.

Entertainment Week — WWE and Pearl Jam

Last week was enter­tain­ment week for us: we had tick­ets for two shows in Ottawa, Mon­day Night RAW and Pearl Jam.
When I first saw wrestling on TV in Canada, I dis­missed it right away: “it looks fake and I bet it’s fixed!” I was later informed that indeed, the fight fol­lowed a spe­cific “chore­og­ra­phy” and that the out­come was deter­mined in advance. This is not the point of WWE any­way. It has to be watched as the­ater: char­ac­ters chal­lenge each other, adopt gim­micks and por­tray roles.

Billy Talent, Live

A few days ear­lier, after see­ing The Trag­i­cally Hip, I was at the Billy Tal­ent con­cert. I fell in love with the Toronto band when I first came to Canada and took the oppor­tu­nity to see them live. I wasn’t disappointed—they rocked it!

The Tragically Hip, Live

Finally. Finally, I’m a real Cana­dian, a lit­tle bit over two years after tak­ing my cit­i­zen­ship oath.
I sur­vived many win­ters, I took my dri­ving license in the snow, ate beaver­tails, went to hockey games… but I had never seen The Trag­i­cally Hip live until last week. And every­body knows that see­ing Canada’s favourite band live is a must-do for all Cana­di­ans. The Hip are one of the stuff Cana­di­ans like. When I learned the band played at the Blues­fest in Ottawa, I decided I sim­ply had to go to com­plete my Cana­dian education.

U2 Concert in Sydney

I had never taken the boat to a con­cert but since Syd­ney offered us the oppor­tu­nity, we jumped on the ferry to the Olympic Park to go see U2.

Yes, U2.

The Wall Live

On the stage, half a wall was built with white bricks.
Roger Waters came on scene at 8 pm sharp. Fire­works lit up the place and he began singing. “So ya
Thought ya/ Might like to go to the show/ To feel the warm thrill of con­fu­sion and/ That space cadet glow”.

5 Concert Photography Tips (III)

A few years ago, con­cert pho­tog­ra­phy was pretty much off-limits for ama­teur photographer—unless you knew the band. Nowa­days, it seems that most venues gave up on ban­ning cam­eras.
The last few years, I was able to get in with my DSLR and a cou­ple of lenses. Suits me. It allowed me to exper­i­ment with con­cert photography.

Hockey Day In Canada

Last Sat­ur­day, Hockey Day In Canada took place through­out the coun­try. You basi­cally had two option: 1) the lazy option, which was to watch the triple­header of NHL action fea­tur­ing the six Cana­dian teams on T.V 2) the brave option, which was to take your gear and go play hockey in the street.