Threw on jeans, grey sweater, and leather jacket. To fit the mood, I also put on my official Vancouver 2010 Olympic mittens and an old wool scarf that may have possibly come from the 1988 Calgary Olympics - I do love that scarf. Anyway, nailed a bus and got down to the Richmond O-Zone. Felt a little out of it because I was on my own, but I still took the opportunity to just look around, see the people, and just take in the fun of being in this big event going on around me.
Alright, so the O-Zone is essentially what they've built on top of the existing park and football field (artificial turf). They put up a TV tower, a big stage, and all the other stuff you can expect to see around such a place. A bit around it, they had exercise and nutrition places, shops, and even an outdoor skating area for people so inclined.
Also, the Dutch Olympic Team's house, "Heineken House", is totally in the Richmond O-Zone. Ahh, I love the Dutch . . . which leads me to a tangent now . . .
A bunch of Dutch folks - likely athletes - came to Superstore this morning. I didn't see much of them, but they brought a big video camera and must have been documenting their trip for posterity. At one point I did shout out a "goeden dag" as one group walked past my department, but I don't know if they caught it or not. In any case, I was sad to have not had more chances to talk to them - instead, the managers got to shmooze, and now they have a day of VIP access to Heineken House. Balls.
Still, I love the Dutch. And when they did the medals ceremony while I was at the O-Zone for the 1000m speed skating, there was much cheering for the Canadian gold and the Dutch silver and bronzes.
Alright, back to the story . . .
After walking around the O-Zone a bit more, I decided "alright, enough of this" and planted myself on the field ready for the stage shows. Watching Olympic recaps and such, I was slowly getting back into that "I wonder if I'll see anyone I know" feeling I had a lot of the night.
That's when of all things to happen, I saw a couple brothers I knew from kung-fu and their friend. DAMN good to see familiar faces!!! We spent the rest of the show together, so I had people to bounce laughs and words (and to rock out) with.
So first up were The Arkells. Couldn't place them right away, but then I started recognizing some of their songs from the radio. They were pretty fun, though I found I had the most fun listening to them while watching the Olympic figure skating that was still streaming on the one big monitor. Often, I found they went together pretty well.
And then we all saw the Russian guy, Evgeni Plushenko, did not win the gold. And we all kinda went apeshit again. "Holy crap! The Russian guy won!"
So good on ya, Amercs, good on ya. Your boy staged a massive upset. And then when the song started playing, a random dude and I randomly started singing a mangled version of the Star Spangled Banner as people looked at us funny. It was amusing. Then someone else countered with a rousing O Canada.
And THEN . . . Our Lady Peace took the stage with "Superman's Dead". And bricks were shat.
And Raine Maida slowed things down a bit before "the world's a subway" to talk about how great it is to be a part of the Olympics, and how we're all out here across the country getting in on this and such.
Practically the entire show was their greatest hits. Soooooo much fun, lots of singing along . . . I practically pissed myself as my buddies - these two Chinese fellows - belted out "In Repair" from Spiritual Machines.
More than anything, though, our little block of turf was just having so much fun. To my right was an older fellow who was just absolutely into rocking it out, jumping up and down and singing. In front of me were a bunch of pretty hilarious people who were always doing one thing or another. Behind me were another bunch of guys happy to sing along. And we all just had fun as strangers together with a common interest.
Also, if anyone is familiar with Raine Maida's vocal work, you understand why I now say that my throat is totally dead right now. If not, well . . . here's "Superman's Dead":
Other than just saying it was one of the best free concerts I've ever gone to (plus the part where we were all there for a very nation-wide reason), I'll just mention one hilarious story. So they were playing "Naveed" on the stage, and we were all totally getting into it, jumping to it . . . and suddenly one of the dudes in front of us is now lighting up the ground with his cell phone. He had dropped his car keys. Eep.
Being the nice Canadians we were, we all tried to search the little area as well with our own cell phones, but to no avail. As for when we decided to call off our help attempt, well . . . "Naveed" got to this point in the song . . . and while I felt guilty singing along while this guy lost his keys, well, secretly I thought it was funny as all hell.
Anyway, it's 1:30am now, I'm exhausted, hungry, and probably a little baked in the eyes from the jerkasses to my right who decided to light up. Ah, rock concerts . . .
All in all, though. Great night, lots of laughs, tons of fun, an amazing show, and Team Canada nailed a little bit more gold. Can't feel sad about that.
So this is what it's like to live in an Olympic city. I think I like it.
GO CANADA GO!
