FATE-A-PALOOZA

As any music lover knows, 2022 has been one of the greatest years for live music since, well, pretty much forever. As a consequence of Covid, bands were effectively prevented from getting out on the road and had to re-schedule many of their already booked tours. In addition, many bands who had released albums in 2020 and 2021 were also unable to get out to promote and support their new efforts. As things stabilized a bit more in late 2021, the tour announcements began to gush like a rock n’ roll geyser. From long-time juggernauts like Motley Crue, Iron Maiden, and Paul McCartney to loads of smaller indie bands, the year was shaping up to be magnificent.

As a lifelong scholar, practitioner and fanatic of post-punk music, things were looking amazing. Kicking off with the Cruel World Festival in Los Angeles, the goodness kept on coming. Oddly, it seemed like there was a massive number of post-punk bands scheduled to arrive on the West Coast at approximately the same time. As I began to snap up tickets, more shows were announced and the party kept getting bigger and bigger and bigger. The timing was such that in about 2 weeks I could see a host of my all-time favorite bands, including Echo & the Bunnymen, Gary Numan, Placebo and Peter Hook & the Light!

Thus, the inaugural “Fate-A-Palooza” was born: a 14-day madcap rock and pop culture extravaganza that had me scheduled to see 6 shows by 4 bands in 3 cities and 2 countries as well as squeezing in the amazing Rose City Comic Con for good measure. It was truly a test of my travel planning skills to get planes, trains, automobiles, lodging and public transport booked in such as way as to ensure I could pull this off at the schedules were tight.

TOUR STOP 1: SEATTLE

On September 1^st, I boarded the plane to see the illustrious Echo & the Bunnymen. I’m a huge fan and have seen them on every US tour since 1985. They were playing their “40 Years of Magical Songs,” so I was stoked. My enthusiasm was a tad diminished as unfavorable early tour reports began to come in. The crux of this issue was with singer, Ian McCulloch, who had recently recovered from Covid and was also suffering severe back problems. As a result he performed the set sitting in a chair. Things were particularly dire in Los Angeles and San Francisco, where, according to reports, his voice was completely going out during the show.

Luckily, by the time they hit Seattle’s Showbox Theater, things had improved. While still chair-bound, McCulloch sounded great and Will Sergeant, original guitarist extraordinaire, and the rest of the band delivered a kick-ass set of all their classic songs. I’d never been to the Showbox, but it’s a wonderful, small venue designed in such a way that irrespective of where you’re standing, it’s a great view and the sound was mind-blowing.

It was a glorious night-out and the wind was full in the sails as I sauntered out into the evening looking forward to the next tour stop and the band I was, undoubtedly, most excited to see, Placebo. I’ve adored this band since their first album and, like the Bunnymen, have seen them on every US tour.

The principal reason for my excitement is that the band had been dormant for nearly 14 years and had just released a brilliant new album. They had announced a West Coast-based US tour and I snagged tickets for 3 of the shows. With Placebo-fevered dreams, I closed my eyes for much needed slumber and readied myself for the next tour stop.

TOUR STOP 2: VANCOUVER BC

So, one might only imagine my surprise when I awoke the next day to see this!

Placebo had canceled their entire US tour, the first in 16 years only hours before boarding the plane. To say I was crestfallen was an understatement. This was a devastating blow to Fate-A-Palooza, but I was determined to soldier on. In a bizarre bit of serendipity, it turned out that another of my all-time favorites, Gary Numan, was scheduled to play in Vancouver the night after Placebo and I had bought a ticket to that show, so I didn’t need to scuttle this leg of the tour.

With a day now full-open, I decided to take an extensive walking adventure about the city. I have been here a couple times before, but it was always a brief business-related visit with no time to explore. It was a perfect day for this with blue skies, sun and cooler climes in the low 70s. From downtown, to the waterfront to the entirety of Stanley Park, it was a glorious day out. Believe it or not, I ended up walking 20 miles that day! My personal all-time best.

When the sun went down, it was time to get ready for Gary Numan at the Commodore Ballroom. This is an iconic venue that’s hosted all of the greats. It’s a Vancouver landmark and I’ve always wanted to see a band play here. Like the Showbox, it’s very unassuming exterior facade belies the spacious room with fantastic sound and great views from anywhere in the venue.

I’d hadn’t seen Numan since traveling to London some 14 years ago when he performed the entirety of “Replicas,” his first and my favorite album. After that, I knew it’d never get better than that, but I’m glad I caught this show. Let me tell you, the energy from this 64 year-old man was positively astounding. The same from the always stellar guitarist, Steve Harris. As if they were some young, hungry, scrappy band on their way up, Numan and the band tore it up through a solid set, including plenty of classics amid songs from the new album released last year.

It was a late night and I was absolutely exhausted from the 20 miles and a blazing 2-hour set. It was a relatively early day tomorrow to head back to Seattle and I fell fast asleep.

TOUR STOP 3: SEATTLE

This second stop to Seattle was to see Placebo, but it was only less than 24-hours, so I decided to keep with the tour itinerary. The cost of flying from Vancouver to Seattle was, oddly, criminally expensive, so I got adventurous and found, what turned out to be, an exceptional way to travel – hired coach.

There was no way in Hell, I was going to “ride the Pooch” via Greyhound, but found a luxury, albeit dirt cheap, company called FlixBus. For $25 bucks I bought a seat (and the one next to mine for extra space). As I mentioned, I was a bit apprehensive, but all of that dissipated when I saw the bus pull up and, more so, when I boarded. Damn, this was legit, rock-star ground transport here. With great, super-comfortable, relaxing seats, TVs, charging ports, & WiFi, it was a good as any 1^st class situation with an airline.

The border crossing back to the U.S. was a bit congested this being the day after a holiday, so it took longer than expected. We rolled into Seattle in the very late afternoon giving me enough time to check in to my hotel, grab a bite and get some more rest for the early morning sojourn to the next stop.

TOUR STOP 4: PORTLAND

Again, I used Flix for the quick 3-hour drive to Portlandia. While this had me up and at ’em at 5:30, it was a good call for sure. I despise driving, but I certainly do not mind being chauffeured about in luxury style. We arrived shortly before noon and I had made plans to stay with a friend and relax for for 36 hours as the travel and bouncing from city-to-city was starting to catch up to me. I would definitely need it as tomorrow my other friends from Spokane were coming in for us to take on the Rose City ComiCon.

As I reported last year, my initial impression of Portland was extremely unfavorable, particularly the area surrounding the convention center where I stayed. I’m not quite certain what’s occurred, but that area as well as downtown Portland has markedly improved. While walking over 41 miles over the 4 days in Portland, it was clear that many of the homeless encampments had diminished significantly and I saw no open drug use, feces on the street and overflowing trash cans which were ubiquitous last year. The situation is still far, far from ideal, but to be fair, positive, incremental change seems to have occurred.

The Rose City ComiCon was just a great as last year. They really upped the ante in 2022 by adding programming around books and writing, including awesome panels with notable authors as well as actual writing workshops, most of which I attended. Aside from that it was the usual nerdariffic goodness of the show floor, celebrity speakers and tons of mind-blowing cosplay. From opening on Friday to close on Sunday, me and my gang hit it hard and had a blast. Can’t wait for next year!

The last event of Fate-A-Palooza was seeing Peter Hook and the Light at the Crystal Ballroom. For those not in the know, Hook is a founding member of legendary bands Joy Division and New Order. To boot, he is widely recognized as one of rock’s most innovative and brilliant bassists (also one of my favorites). He would be performing, in their entirety, Joy Division’s 2 albums and a handful of New Order’s best.

I had been looking at setlists for this tour and they were coming in at 28 songs in about 3 hours. Damn! Now that’s a show. Hook and the band delivered the goods with a total of 29 songs. It was an epic endurance test for my feet, but I made it unscathed! Closing out Fate-A-Palooza with a staggeringly killer version of, arguably one of the best songs ever in rock, “Love Will Tear Us Apart,” was the icing on the cake. And with that, it was off to bed and then to catch a plane back home to recover from a truly amazing adventure!

WHAT’S NEXT?

Last week Placebo began to announce some of the rescheduled dates for May next year. Not only does one fall on my birthday, but it looks like they will fall right between the 2^nd Cruel World festival in LA and the Crypticon horror convention in Seattle. All told, look like next year’s Fate-A-Palooza is shaping up just fine!

HOW ABOUT YOU?

Have you been able to get out and see some live music this year? As always, I’d love to hear from you.