Supertramp at Molson Amphitheatre – June 12, 2011

Yeah there was a lotta “odd” music on the radio in the day too but it was different.  It was meant for teenagers and adults.  And teenagers were cool.  They knew everything.  They wore Kiss t-shirts. They were all tough guys. My babysitter had awesome big boobs that I “accidentally” bumped into several times a night. They smoked and hung out at the pool hall. They were allowed to swear and they could do anything they wanted.  And they knew what music was the coolest.  Queen, Heart, Aerosmith, Nazareth, ELO, April Wine, Led Zeppelin, Thin Lizzy, Foreigner, the Eagles, AC/DC, Boston… man the list was endless.  So much awesome music and Supertamp was right there in the middle of it all.

I pulled into the Molson Amphitheatre parking lot half hour before showtime, figuring I had plenty of time to screw around, check out the scenery and pick up my reviewer pass.  The line up stretched from the Will Call booth all the way back over the bridge that crosses Lakeshore Boulevard and it moved so slow a snail would have moved faster and that’s no word of exaggeration.  I just took one look at the line up and laughed.  I sat down and watched over the next half hour as a chick dressed all in purple moved about 20 feet towards the Will Call booth and I couldn’t help but think what kind of a show this was.

Whoever’s idea it was to sell 9 shows for $99 online, and then only open ONE booth to service people picking up their tickets, should get a good kick in the nuts.  Note to self:  Be in the parking lot of the Molson Amphitheatre at least 2 hours before showtime.  Note to the 4000 people who bought tickets online and then showed up half hour after doors opened to pick em up:  If you don’t have the ability to print your tix when you order them, DON’T.

There was no way I was gonna jump into that line up.  So I thought to myself, I can hear the show just fine from where I am. How about I just sit here with these poor saps and go in at the very end of the lineup to get my review ticket.  I did it just to see how much of the show these people were gonna miss.

I sat down at 7:30 and waited til 9:30 before I shuffled into the back of the line to pick up my pass.  It was at this point that I FINALLY recognized one of the songs Supertramp played!  “Give A Little Bit” and then two songs later, “Raining Again”.  And thank God it didn’t rain cause one of the last times I was at the Molson Amphitheatre for the Scorpions, the skies opened up and literally drenched us photographers as we made our way into the venue.

So I got to my seat just in time to start hearing all the cream of the crop of Supertramp.  Now I have to admit, I only ever bought 2 Supertramp albums.  “Breakfast In America”, which I barely touched, and one of the “Greatest Hits” albums that I spun so often my girlfriend at the time dumped me.  So I really only knew the tunes that were played on the radio constantly, and Supertramp handed em right to me on a little platter complete with orange juice and a tin o’ kippers.  What the hell are kippers?  Well I don’t know but apparently we all have em for breakfast cause we’re all millionaires.

Rick Davies, the only remaining half of the original duo Hodgson/Davies writing team, seated behind his signature Wurlitzer piano, announced that there was a bit of a kerfuffle on Lakeshore Blvd. and that it was all blocked off.  He went on to say that a crowd of disgruntled Blue Jays fans were blocking the road and that we’d have to “Take The Long Way Home” to which the band broke into beautifully.

I don’t know if you’ve ever seen a Wurlitzer close up but it is quite the funny sight to be honest.  It looks like the lamest excuse for a piano ever invented, largely because of the 70’s looking metal kitchen table legs they’re propped up on.  Seriously, the damn thing looks like if you took away the piano and slapped down a piece of veneer covered particle board, you’d be sitting at your old kitchen table with the over sized wooden fork and spoon décor hanging on the paisley papered walls of the 70’s.  But the sound is so distinct it really was the heart of Supertramp’s signature sound.

The band conjured up another old favourite, “Bloody Well Right” as long time saxophonist, John Heliwell, held up a megaphone with the words RIGHT emblazoned on one side and QUITE RIGHT on the other.  This was about the most spectacular scenery to behold, other than the age old beach chair and umbrella setup as the show really lacked any visuals worth speaking of.  You have to realize I am totally spoiled when it comes to concerts as I’d recently seen Kid Rock blow the roof off the Air Canada Centre and had my scenery sensors set to overload at the Alice Cooper show I’d attended not even a month ago.

The band soldiered on through a Wurlitzer breakdown during singer/keyboardist Gabe Dixon’s version of “The Logical Song”, which by the way I thought he pulled off very nicely despite the breakdown of ole Wurly.  I guess that’s what happens when you rely on 40 year old equipment to drive your tunes every night.  Thankfully the crew was right in there with another one and before the song was finished, Gabe bounced from the broken piano, to a giant white grand, back to the replacement Wurly without missing a beat.

The band appropriately fired up “Goodbye Stranger” before they took a bow and left the stage.  After 5 minutes, they came back to a roaring ovation for the old faves, “School” and “Dreamer”.  Another couple of classic tunes that stand the test of time.

They finished off with “Crime of the Century”, which was played completely in the dark and the band disappeared backstage before the house lights came on.

All in all, it was a good night of old school music played by an extremely talented bunch of, dare I say, boring old guys and one smokin’ hot backup singer.