Finally saw Loreena McKennitt
I just got back from Guelph’s Hillside festival. It was quite the event in the middle of nowhere. I never would have gone, unless Loreena was there.
She was here in Waterloo in the fall 2007, but I was an idiot and didn’t go. I don’t know what I was thinking at the time… “Oh, she’ll be back. In this dinky little town.” “It’s too expensive!” Not only am I considerably poorer now, but it was further away this time as well. Durrr. I’m also surprised that my family hasn’t made a bigger effort to go see her when she was around Ottawa. The whole family, dad especially, have been fond of her since I was little.
The performers before Loreena were interesting as well. One guy had a didgeridoo, and there were more random instruments being played. It was pretty energetic compared to ’sit down time’ later with Loreena. There were also a lot of… sketchy smells. Mostly weed. I wasn’t surprised at the amount before Loreena came on, but then I found myself thinking: Who smokes up for Loreena McKennitt? That’s why I’m tempted to call this more a Hippyfest than the Hillside festival. The advertising makes it look hippy-ish though anyways.
When the lights dimmed and the random filler music stopped playing, I definitely started tearing. I was finally seeing Loreena McKennitt! (You’re all thinking I’m a giant loser now.) I definitely was crying/tearing through the entire first song, which was one of her oldest, “Stolen Child”. Q.Q I’m not sure why I was crying… I could have just been the crazy stress crap that’s been going on, or the fact that I was ‘moved’ or something. The show was awesome! Her band is and extremely talented bunch, on some super cool instruments. For a while I thought the cello was some mysterious thing I’ve never seen before, but then the player was introduced with the cello. She was just so pro that she was always on the A string. Another special treat was a guest fiddler who could really play. The band’s fiddler and the guest played a song together and were dancing on the stage. It was a bit of a context switch to go from slow celtic songs to fast Irish dancing things. After that, a couple more songs, and a ‘unique experience’ in her career. She got a little flustered, I think because of the low bass coming from another stage. She stopped “Caravanserai” to complain about it a bit, then started “Old Ways” – which to be honest, I’d much rather have than the new stuff. I like her newest album, but I find it too different from all the older stuff. That was pretty much the show, and it was awesome. Well worth the money and time to get there. :)
In other news…
Work term is almost over, and school is starting again soon! I’ve already had some sneak peaks of the classes I’ll be taking, and they look pretty interesting. It will be more work than last terms, that’s for sure. I don’t mind though, since I think I need to be busier to actually work effectively. As soon as I have free time, I start finding excuses not to do work.
Over the summer so far, I’ve been volunteering at a library reading to children, taking a couple trips to Ottawa, having another HPDM binge, attempting to exercise (I’m trying out for varsity rugby in the fall, I’ve decided), and other things. There are a lot of things I should be doing, but I haven’t really felt motivated enough. Even for this work term: not motivated enough. (Though apparently I’m still doing well?) Blehhh life is just boring. There have been plenty of drama things recently to make it less boring though…
Whoa new layout? Yes! As stated on my hiatus page, the previous one (which I still like a lot) had been up since last November. I thought it was time for a change. This time, I don’t have to write epic long entries to make the page look good. I’m going to try and start blogging properly now, and not just have a ‘monthly digest’ thing every… month or more. This is the last one – I swear. The current thing you see is horribly incomplete, but I really wanted to post this entry now.
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2 responses to Finally saw Loreena McKennitt
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Rebecca on July 28, 2009 at 15:30 (368 days ago)
sounds like it was a good concert. Good on you for volunteering and stuff, the work term is almost over though, and 8 months of school ahead for you, haha
Harry Cheng on July 31, 2009 at 18:57 (365 days ago)
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