Oh, the humiliation...

In one ill-fated fell swoop, both my (original) hometown Blue Bombers, and my (new) hometown Stampeders will be curling, cross-country skiing or knitting instead of competing for the Grey Cup.

Life is cruel, and/or worse...

Anyhow, moving on:

"The Monday Morning Nobody-Asked-Me-To-But-Here-I-Go-Anyway Concert Review" - The Dixie Chicks!

(Or, Why I Will Never Be A Professional Concert Reviewer)

OK people, first off - Banjo Quest 2006 is back, with a vengeance!!

I spent most of last night in Banjo Heaven, as The Dixie Chicks appeared here for the first of TWO shows in The Saddledome. And what a show!!

These chicks aren't so much Dixie as they are p'd off these days, but does that ever make for a great live performance. Whatever they were sellin', the crowd was buyin'. Before they even hit the stage the crowd roared over a promotional video for their upcoming documentary "Shut Up & Sing".

When they did arrive, the crowd on the floor got up on their collective feet, and stayed that way on through the encores (one of which was an exceptional acoustic Chicks-only version of Travelling Soldier).

And, as fate would have it, we ended up on the side of the stage where Emily Robison (and her banjo) was stationed.

All I can say is that when they did "I'm Not Ready To make Nice" live, with all the genuine emotion and anger that that song addresses, the arena went a little loopy. That performance makes songs like "Cowboy Take Me Away" a little inconsequential...

The irony here is that when The Dixie Chicks first broke out, we didn't much care for them. We even missed their mainstage appearance when we attended The Merritt Mountain Music Festival on their first big North American tour.

However, by the time they released Top Of The World, we had started to listen to them, and really enjoyed what they were doing.

We certainly enjoyed what they were doing last night...

Viva la Banjo!!!!!!!!

Oh, and by the way, I was a little confused about who their warm-up act was. I had heard it was going to be Rob Schneider, which sounded to me just a little odd. I mean, I know he used to do Elvis impressions on SNL, but he's primarily known for making juvenile and entirely tasteless movies.

Turned out to be Texas alt-country singer/songwriter BOB Schneider, who did a mighty fine job as well...and as a bit of trivia, he's touring with the bass player from Los Lobos.

Chow for now!!