This will be an interesting concert review… because I don’t remember the concert. More on that later.
Flew down to Los Angeles on Westjet. There was an older gentleman near the front in a very casual outfit. I’m terrible at recognizing people, so I didn’t think anything about it until I noticed that a bunch of the other passengers were taking his picture. Then I realized that Henry Winkler was on the flight!

Got to LAX and went to the curbside to catch the hotel shuttle. It was supposed to run every half hour, but I was there almost an hour before it showed up. While I waited, I went into my email to pull up the ticket to the show. It said, “tickets were mailed to you”. D’oh. Who does paper tickets anymore? I vaguely remember getting the ticket in the mail months ago and putting it in the filing cabinet. It was still there. In Canada.

I quickly checked to see if any tickets were still available for the show. I was able to get a General Admission ticket, but all the VIP tickets were gone. At least I’d be able to go to the show even if I couldn’t get my VIP ticket sorted out.

Got to the hotel and spent an hour on the phone with Ticketmaster getting it all fixed. Before long, it was time to go to the show.

I had the best Uber ride of my life. It took an hour, because traffic, and me and the driver had a fascinating conversation about concerts, travel, racism, life goals, cancer, and a number of other things. Really nice guy. He dropped me off at the show in a VERY sketchy part of LA.

I could hear the soundcheck going on, then the boys and DJ Queenie came out the front door to grab a bite to eat at a nearby diner. Bas was decked out in cowboy gear that he picked up at the show in Dallas last year. Was surprised (and delighted” to see the “FUCK ICE” pin on his lapel. They usually avoid anything political, but sometimes you just gotta speak out.

I met some really interesting, fun people in the lineup outside the venue. Got a couple of new WhatsApp contacts and we’re swapping photos of the show now. My friend Adam, who I met at the Seattle show last year, showed up and we had fun catching up on things.

I also finally met Suzanne Clay, P&B’s biggest fan. Now I know you all think that I’m the biggest fan, but no. She makes me look like a casual fan at best. She is absolutely obsessed with them (waaaaaaay more than me - and I absolutely will admit to also being obsessed, but this woman is scary.)

At the meet/greet, I needed one more shot for my music video - a closeup of me and Pete which will be featured near the end of the video with our names and the year that we got to ring our bell (cancer patients traditionally ring a big bell at the hospital when they finish their treatment). After the shot, Pete told me that they want an official fan club - and that I should create and run it.

I’m flattered… and thrilled. I’ve thought for ages that they should have a fan club and I’ve already thought about what that would look like, what it would offer, and how it could fill in some serious gaps in their offerings to the fans, especially the lack of merchandise. The shirt I’m wearing was bought from Temu, made by some fan. Pete and Bas even buy some of that unauthorized merch from Temu and wear them on stage. Pete even wore a shirt covered with tiny images of himself on their Scandinavian tour recently… and the photo was one that I took in Portland last year! Someone swiped my photo from social media and made products with it. They should have their own merch and get some of the profit from it. Anyway, I’m seriously considering taking them up on that offer. We’ll see what happens.

Met a nice lady who had her nails done especially for the show.

The boys loved her nails so much, they had John (their driver, who also takes the photos at the meet/greet) take photos with their phones, too. She was absolutely giddy. “OMG, Pete and Bas have pictures of me on their phones!” I told her that she could expect to be asked up on stage to dance during the show. She looked terrified and said, “oh no, I could never. No no no.”

Later, after everyone had their photos taken, I saw her talking to Pete and I walked over and said, “Pete, it’s my understanding that this lady is a really good dancer.” She recoiled in horror and said, “oh no! I’m so awkward when I dance.” I put my arm around Pete and said, “have you seen this man dance? You can’t possibly look awkward if you dance next to him.”
Pete barked at me “Oi oi, shut ya mouth!” (that’s a line from their first song)

Well…. look what happened later in the show!

I was thrilled to see that photo this morning. She’s going to remember that for the rest of her life. I won’t, though. I don’t remember the show at all. I had two pints before the show. Adam brought me two more. Then I returned the favour. So that’s six pints before the show even got going. I’m pretty sure that more happened between Delivery Boys and Pete & Bas, but I don’t remember anything after Delivery Boys’ second song. I haven’t been that drunk in ages and woooooo, I’m feeling it this morning.

And while I’m a bit disappointed that I don’t remember the show, I had a fantastic time meeting new people, seeing two of my favourite people in the world, and being asked to create a fan club. Pete also told me the date that he’s going to finally ring his cancer bell and I will absolutely raise a glass to him that day.

Fuck cancer.