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The W - Music - SLCR #316: Arkells (August 2, 2018)
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KJames199
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Since: 10.12.01
From: #yqr

Since last post: 226 days
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#1 Posted on | Instant Rating: 8.76
This is relatively short and mostly about food but it's also three weeks late, so whatever. This was our third year seeing a concert at the Queen City Ex and honestly, I thought it was kind of slim pickings this year. Two country acts, Burton Cummings, the Regina Symphony doing Michael Jackson and Prince songs, and the Arkells. I feel like we chose wisely despite my eventual realization that while I'd heard other musicians (Hawksley Workman, Frank Turner) say good things about them, I didn't actually know any Arkells songs. Though I do confess some curiosity about how well the Symphony would pair with stifling heat, a giant plush Pikachu, and a corndog.

Mika and I went early this year, arriving at the fair shortly after 11:00am so that we could spend the first part of the day with her friend Christine and her kids. The kids rode rides and displayed passionate interest in every kind of carnival game. I sweated a lot and lost to Mika at both Whack-a-Mole and squirting water in the clown's mouth. Also, I followed up some deep fried cheese curds with the stupidest thing I've ever eaten, deep fried bacon-wrapped Reese's peanut butter cups. Eventually, we watched a scintillating performance from Doodoo the Clown, who was apparently in the movie Billy Madison. I don't remember there being a clown in Billy Madison, but that might only be because I've never seen it. The kids had fun. Eventually, full of delicious sugars and fats, we were all overheated and so they headed home. With hours to go before the concert, we also headed home for air conditioning and a nap.

Dear future James, for your reference, if you leave the fair and come back, your handstamp will let YOU back in for free, but there are no in/out privileges as it pertains to parking.

Back inside, we went straight to the concert grounds for our openers, Sc Mira. You may remember that we saw them open for Buck 65 a few years ago. That felt like an odd pairing at the time, and even more so now when I did the "who did they open for again?" check through the old reviews. They felt like a much better fit with the Arkells, which makes it too bad that basically nobody saw this set. There were seriously maybe 20-30 people there when they started and it filled up a bit as they played, but really not that much. You wouldn't have known it from their performance - it has to be challenging playing in front of a small, apathetic crowd (especially in such a big space) but they still brought it. Lots of new material and a marked increase in stage presence too.

With a lengthy break between bands, we went in search of dinner. Mika went one way to get some corn on the cob, which isn't really fair-level crazy but non-glutenous options are scarce and limited. I went the other way in search of something I'd seen earlier, but I don't know my directions got turned around. Luckily, this led to running into and chatting with Chad and his family for a bit. I eventually did find the "grilled cheese dog" that I was after, but whatever you're picturing in your mind as a grilled cheese dog is more exciting and appetizing than what I got. Poor choice, me.

Dear future James, for your reference, just get the corndog with a pickle in it. You like corndogs. You like pickles.

We met back at the concert grounds, and dang. The Arkells fans are late arrivers, but when they get there, they show up en masse. The place was packed. We stood near the back.

It's not entirely true to say that I didn't know any Arkells songs. Mika'd played one of them in the car. Two others, I recognized a little bit from... somewhere? I don't know. Being alive and often in the presence of background music? I didn't know enough to sing along with anything, let's put it that way. And yet, I didn't really care. These guys had huge energy and were a blast to watch. Singalongs, clapalongs, running through the crowd, they were never not engaging with the audience. Fantastic live performers. And I did know one song after all, since the first song of their encore was Whitney Houston's I Wanna Dance With Somebody. Which seemed like a weird fit for about 5 seconds but then totally wasn't. Would definitely go see these guys again. Worth the admission. Worth paying for parking twice. Worth that sub-par hot dog. Maybe I should listen to any of their stuff someday.

On the way out, determined to make one last bad decision, I got white chocolate cheesecake mini-donuts. The girl cautioned me that instead of your standard bag of mini-donuts, there were three of them. For $10. I was already committed to this idea so I went along with it. And I have to say, what they lacked in quantity they more than made up for in quality. These were sensational. Hot and crispy with cheesecake goo inside and white chocolate drizzle. I don't even like white chocolate.

(edited by KJames199 on 21.8.18 0042)
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