There was an important gig we had been looking forward to for some time. Blackwater MC had been invited to rock out the Shipyards Plaza in North Vancouver Friday night. Two sets of original rock and roll, seven to ten pm.
Under the supervision of my roadie, I crammed all my gear into the Safari tour bus and hit the rocky road to the big city, which in itself is a terrifying thought enough. They are working on the road about half way out along side the lake so we needed to get the tour bus there at noon for the mid-day opening.
Miss that and it would be a long wait until it opened again at 4:30 then drive like hell to get to the lower mainland in time for the show.
The tour bus driver pictured here en-route might be one best described as, "...a good man in the country, but a but a lousy one in the city". As anyone who has been to the city with him will keenly attest. He's just lived out in the mountains for too long is all, and limits life threatening forays to the big city as much as possible. He can navigate his way fine, as long as he sticks to the main freeway, problems quickly arise if he should venture off the main thoroughfare for gas, or to find an address, like for a gig for instance. The City appears to be laid out strangely to him, people hurry far too much, there is way too many of them and the endless assortment of road signs go by faster than he can comprehend.
The dusty Safari attracts plenty of honking from behind too.
Shipyards Plaza, In 1894, Andrew Wallace started building small wooden fish boats on this spot on the north shore of Vancouver's Burrard Inlet. The Wallace Shipyards grew to build armaments during the Great War, the first steel hulled deep water ships made in Canada, and in 1928 built the St. Roche, an R.C.M.P vessel which was the first to successfully navigate the Northwest Passage, before closing its shop doors for good. The land was taken over by the city then developed for retail and community activities, with strong ties to the history. An adjacent vacant area has been used by the movie industry. Efforts are underway to secure funding to have the National Museum Of The Pacific moved to the site.
A long pier extends into the inlet, affording a great view of the Vancouver skyline.
The unique stage in Shipbuilder Square is constructed like a ships hull.
Several of the original shipyard cranes have been repainted and hover overhead.
Recording artist Chris Ronald opened the show solo in the late afternoon.
My roadie went looking for a Greek yogurt vendor, trusting me to move all my drums and gear over from 2 blocks away by myself, rolling out my carpet and getting all set up.
Band mates Ross Edwards and Josh Fairbrother arrived and we did our sound check.
The herd began to bunch up in anticipation as Blackwater MC prepared to take the stage for the first set of the evening.
An all ages rock show.
Ross's fan base, with an average age of 6, gathered at stage front.
We had a regular little munchkin mosh pit happening up front.
Front man Fairbrother wets his whistle between sets over at the beer garden.
Some rowdy Blackwater MC fans, whom never miss a show, thank goodness for crowd control barriers!
We got loaded up and out of there at 11, the skillful tour bus operator naturally taking a wrong turn and heading out the other direction over the imposing but well lit Lions Gate Bridge and into downtown Vancouver, going in circles and completely terrorising the late night populace before getting pointed back in the right direction.
It was an early start to the day and a late night, arriving back at the hot spring shortly before the sun came up Saturday morning.
https://soundcloud.com/blackwatermc
