I stand corrected. Yesterday, the fireworks were for a baseball game. The real firework display was tonight. So I walked down to the river valley, well in advance, to get a good spot to see it. Along the way someone handed me a ticket to get into the Armoury pub for free. Good for tonight only.
The fireworks were spectacular. They are still trying to make up for two years ago when they had a budget of $30. It helped that there was a beautiful lightning cloud in the background adding its commentary every so often.
Afterwards, I headed back, but I decided to check out the Armoury. Today is the first day that the smoking ban for all public places comes into effect for Edmonton. I’ve been looking forward to going into a bar and breathing deeply for some time now. The Armoury seemed to be trying to do the transition slowly by having a fog machine smog up the interior. The bar seemed to be 80% guys so I didn’t like the prospects there. It’s not even a gay bar, not that that would have helped.
I didn’t stay long.
Interestingly, I’ve heard “Summer of ’69” three times today. Mostly in bars.
The Barenaked Ladies concert was good. I showed up at 6:00, so I was also able to see Randy Bachman. I’m a bad Winnipeger because this was the first time I’ve ever seen him. I wasn’t impressed. It took about half an hour to get to a song I recognized, and I despise “American Woman”. I should have come later.
It rained half an hour into the show. I was nearly in the perfect spot. When the rain started only my feet got wet, and the rest of me stayed dry. After the wind shifted, that would have been true only for the row behind me. It didn’t last long, and it has been clear since.
I’m still waiting for that thunder cloud from the fireworks to show up though.