Gesù – Centre de Créativité
Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Friday, September 11, 2009
Section Centre, Row L, Seat 16
$55.87 CAN
It's taken me so long to publish this entry. A month after the festival, the organizers at FMPM announced that the festival would not be continuing. I'm kind of amazed that I made it to fully half of their festivals, as Montreal is far away and expensive to fly into. I loved visiting Montreal and I loved going to a prog festival in an urban center like this, with the hotel, venue, tons of restaurants, and touristy things all within walking distance. I'll want to go back to Montreal some other time, if only to have another duck breast crepe at Jardin Nelson!
I enjoyed the FMPM festival in Montreal when Roy and I went in 2007. I wasn't expecting to go again this year, but we kept tabs on the bands that would be performing. Roy noticed that Saga was headlining the preshow, and he hadn't seen that band in a long time. I was curious about Mystery, whose singer, Benoit David, sang on Yes' In the Present tour. But we didn't seriously consider going this year.
Then something incredible happened. Some minor band canceled, and the replacement was a huge deal. Three members of Gentle Giant had reunited, calling themselves Three Friends. At the time, it was their only scheduled North American show. Roy and I decided to go the day we found out. We got our tickets before the performance sold out. We were doing it. By the time of the festival, it was announced that they'd be playing Nearfest next year. And since then, one of the Gentle Giant members dropped out of the project. Nearfest will only be getting two friends.
This led to a crazy couple of weeks. We were going to ProgDay over Labor Day weekend. This was the very next weekend. Roy decided to take off the days in between the two trips. Roy is a big tennis fan, so he spent those days off at the US Open. After ProgDay, I flew home, went to work for a few days, and then flew up to Montreal. Roy flew to New York and saw some tennis. Our friend Linda was also coming to FMPM; Roy met up with her and they drove to Montreal together.
I kept seeing all these people going to the festival. Waiting for my flight to Montreal, in a layover in Chicago, I met a couple who were obviously going there. In line at customs, I saw people I knew from the prog world, as the line snaked around, Buster in front of me, Jason behind. One of the FMPM organizers, Robert Dansereau, was outside security waiting to meet some other attendees. Jason and I shared a cab to the hotel. I didn't know when Roy would arrive; he hoped to be there in time for the night's concert. I left him a note and went off to explore the city.
I got lunch, walked up to the venue, scoped out the area, tried to get my bearings in the city. I found the street where we stayed last time. I went back to the hotel before the concert to freshen up. Roy was there, half-asleep. I hadn't seen him since Monday. He hadn't gotten any sleep the night before, had to stay up late for tennis and wake up early to meet up with Linda, so he slept on the drive up to Canada. He needed to sleep some more, and then he'd come to the show. I left him my directions to the Gesu and headed off to the show.
The doors were supposed to open at 6pm, and the concert was starting at 7pm. I got there a little before 6. There wasn't a grand opening of the doors or anything at 6, but I went into the lobby then anyway. The venue wasn't ready for people yet. The bar wasn't open and the vendors weren't set up. I didn't see anyone I knew, but I had a really good time.
I saw someone whose face I recognized from pictures on the Yesfans site. Daniel posts more than I do on Yesfans, and it was clear he didn't recognize my name. But he was an amazing host. He bought me a drink, introduced me to some other people from Yesfans, introduced me to Michel St-Pere, the guitarist from Mystery, and Richard Lanthier, the bass player from the Close to the Edge Yes-tribute band. Daniel and I realized that his seat was directly in front of mine, and he even offered to switch seats with me if I had trouble seeing.
Roy hadn't arrived by the time Mystery started. They were scheduled for an hour-long set. There would be a break at 8pm, and Saga was to start at 9. Through the early part of Mystery's set, I was worried about Roy. He planned to wake up after 6, and I expected him to be there by this point. He really wanted to see Saga. Should I run back to the hotel and get him during the break?
It kept me distracted from the show, but I enjoyed it regardless. When we realized we were going to FMPM this year, Roy and I bought the latest Mystery album, Beneath the Veil of Winter's Face. I recognized about half the songs they played. They did a couple older ones and one newer song that has not been released yet. Benoit alternated his stage announcements, sometimes doing them in French, sometimes in English.
I was wondering if Mystery would do a cover song. I had seen Benoit five times over the last year singing with Yes, and a Yes song would go over well with the crowd. He announced that they would be doing a cover song from a legendary progressive rock band. I wildly applauded and half-expected them to go into Tempus Fugit. It surprised me when they started playing Rush' Tom Sawyer. I love this song too. I was bopping around in my seat, singing along.
Then, things got spectacularly bad.
Oh, nothing the band did. I saw Roy arrive partway through Tom Sawyer. Our seats were on the aisle near the back. The venue was a nice little amphitheater, with tiered seating, and small steps separating each row. I got up to let Roy in, moved to the aisle and tried to go down a step to clear the way for him. I either tripped or lost my balance, and fell over. Roy tried to catch me, couldn't brace himself, and fell over as well. People were looking and the usher came over to make sure we were okay. Neither of us were hurt, but I was kind of shocked. It took me a little while to be able to concentrate on the music again. I was very careful all the other times I had to enter or exit my seat all weekend.
If I had one complaint about Mystery, it was one I noticed in a number of bands this weekend. There was too little variation in the band's sound in each song. One of the last songs they did, Travel to the Night, finally had some lead keyboard lines, some dynamics, build up of the music. It went over really well and got a standing ovation from some of the crowd. I thought Mystery put on a good set. I like their music, Benoit obviously has a lot of experience on stage now, but the rest of the band put on a good show as well. I heard from Daniel that they would be playing RosFest next year, and that was confirmed the next day. I'm glad more people will get a chance to see them.
After the show, my goal was to meet Benoit. The bands usually come out to sign autographs, sometimes organized at a table, sometimes milling around. I introduced Roy to my acquaintances from Yesfans. The lobby was really crowded, too small for the number of people here. Roy and I stood by the wall, keep an eye on the Mystery vending table. Some of the band members were there. Daniel came to the rescue again, coming over to tell us Benoit had come out to the lobby and show us where he was.
Benoit was chatting with a couple people. He looked happy to see us, giving me a hug and kiss on the cheek and giving Roy a handshake. He asked us if we liked the show and if we were going to see Saga. It was nice, but kinda quick. He went back to chatting with someone in French. I was going to wait to talk to him some more. But the lights flickered to signal that Saga would be starting soon. The lobby cleared out, and more signals came. I couldn't even eavesdrop on the conversation, because it was in French. I didn't want Roy to miss Saga, so I figured we'd catch up with Benoit another time, and we went into the auditorium. It figures, that was the only time I saw Benoit all weekend and the show still didn't start for another ten minutes. I could have waited longer. I'm kicking myself over that.
I wonder what will happen to Benoit in the future, if Yes will continue like they've been or if Jon will rejoin. I'm happy with Benoit in his understudy position, singing on tour while Jon can't handle it, but I'm not ready for him to be lead-singer-of-my-favorite-band. He seems like a genuinely nice guy and he has provided a way for Yes to continue.
The next band Saga had a lot of experience. They got started in the 1970s, had songs and albums that charted, got videos played on MTV, and have a song that even still gets played on the radio in St. Louis. They don't tour often in North America now, and Roy hadn't seen them since two times in the 1980s. They have a new singer, but I wouldn't have realized it. I thought he sang the songs as if they were his own and put on a great show.
I liked the band's music, but didn't love it. But I very much enjoyed their live performance. I would group their sound along with AOR (prog-influenced) bands more than progressive rock itself, with only their strong keyboard sound pushing them into prog. Whatever the sound, their songs are good, and the band had a level of excitement and polish that would have filled an arena. It went over very well. They held my attention the whole time, even though I only knew one song, the encore of On the Loose. They played a lot of newer songs, and Roy bought their new album after the show. They met his high expectations.
After the show, we said goodbye to Daniel. He only had a ticket for the preshow, so he wouldn't be back the rest of the weekend. Roy and I walked down to Rue St. Denis and got dessert at the same little creperie we stopped at last time we were in Montreal. It was good to see him again.
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