Still on an adrenaline rush from last night’s Portland show, I hopped in the car after brekkie and hit the road. The first stop was Tacoma, WA to pick up Adam, a new friend that I know from conversations on the Pete and Bas Discord server, but whom I’d never met in person. Giving him a ride to/from the show saved him from navigating the bus and having to get a room in Seattle (because the show would be finished after the last bus ran). So I roll up at his house about 2.5 hours later and meet him and his kitty Peregrine.

Then off on a side quest to Snoqualmie, WA. Along the way, I heard Adam’s backstory and how Pete and Bas got him through some rough times in his life, too. I’ll leave the details private, since that’s not my story to share, but I did find it interesting that two very different people with very different things happening in their lives both found inspiration to keep going by following two geriatric rappers on YouTube.

We arrived in Snoqualmie and stopped in at Twede’s diner for a damn fine cup of coffee. That’s literally what it says on the menu.

Now, you’re forgiven if you don’t get the significance of that. Back in the 90s, there was a quirky TV series called Twin Peaks and this diner was one of the main filming locations. Even now, all these years later, they still have menu items themed around characters from the show as well as T-shirts for sale. Fans of the show still come here solely to have a damn fine up of coffee at “Norma’s Double-R”. I picked up two of those t-shirts, one of which is simply green with the words, “I only have time for coffee”. Even if nobody but me knows it’s a Twin Peaks shirt, that phrase is so “me” it wouldn’t matter.

Then it was off to Seattle for the show. The damn fine coffee had created something of a washroom emergency, so we popped into a little bar across the street from the venue for a cocktail before we got in line outside The Crocodile, the concert venue. We met nice people in the queue, just as I did in Portland, and everyone has a different take on why they would pay extra to meet these two guys before the show. There’s a certain “something” that Pete and Bas have that seems to genuinely affect people.

Who should walk by while we were waiting, but DJ Queenie! She gave me a big hug and thanked me for the shirt I brought for her yesterday. She said she was planning to wear it at the show tonight.

We get in and everyone is lined up to get their poster autographed (I didn’t need a second one), but I handed the boys a bag. I told them, “you’re going to be back in the Commonwealth in a few days and you CAN’T wear those “USA” blazers at the Canadian shows. Trust me. So I brought you some Canadian hoodies you can wear instead.” Then after everyone got their autographs, they set up for photos. I told them that this time, I was going to suck in my gut after seeing yesterday’s picture, “because I made Pete look skinny.” Well, Pete was having none of that!

DJ Queenie started pumping up the crowd, doing a blistering live remix of “Whirlybird” that morphed into all kinds of other things. I wish I’d videoed it, that would’ve been on my playlist later. And yes, she was wearing the shirt I gave her.

Then Delivery Boys came out and did the same set as last night, but they were really pumped up tonight. They raised the energy level in the room considerably… which is their job. All four of them recognized me from yesterday and they all reached out to shake my hand at some point during their set.

Unfortunately, that familiarity and recognition from the guys made the incredibly drunk woman behind me believe that I was somehow associated with the show. She kept leaning into me from behind, reaching over my shoulder to try to touch the singers, and telling me, “I’m drunk, I hope you don’t mind my boobs pressing against your back.” Actually, yes I do fucking mind, thank you.
When Pete and Bas came out, she started yelling, “I love you, Pete! I love you Bas! (which she pronounced, ‘boss’). Then she asked me which one was Pete and which one was Bas. Then she asked what hotel they were staying in. I said I didn’t know, why would I know that?

Bas starts a show in full suit and tie, then sheds layers as he gets warmed up. After each layer was shed, the woman behind me would scream “take it off, Bas (‘boss’) and then “Take your clothes off now, Pete!” and then she tells me, “Tell Pete to take his clothes off.”
I turned around and said, “firstly, Bas rhymes with jazz. You’ll do better at getting his attention if you pronounce his name correctly. Secondly, I don’t know why you want to know where they’re staying, because you ain’t getting any of that. They’re both family men and they’re not gonna hook up with you after the show, sorry.”
That didn’t stop her from reaching out for Bas’ hand (over my shoulder with her boobs pressed into me), and then licking his fingers when he reached out expecting a handshake. Gross.

Now, you might remember my review of the Newcastle show where Pete was wiped out from a chemo treatment the day before. Last night in Portland, he had a bit more energy and was on top of his game as far as his vocals. But tonight, Pete was having an absolute blast up there on stage. Full of energy, laughing, dancing (so much dancing!), joking with the audience… it was a joy to see it. I was really worried about him surviving this tour, so I was thrilled to see him in such good spirits…. and he was wearing my shirt again tonight. I’m glad he liked it.

I mentioned in the writeup on the Portland show that Bas would occasionally glance over at me to see if I was singing along and kept grinning at me as if to say, “yep, he knows that one, too.” I was more toward Pete’s side of the stage tonight and I caught him doing the same thing. At one point, during “Quick Little Freestyle”, he looked right at me when he got to the line, “Got a thingamajiggy, I’m re-jigging it quickly, and I’m adding all sorts of attachments.” I kept up with him word-for-word, and he smirked at me like, “I thought I was gonna get you on that one.”

Nah, Pete. If it’s your lines, then I’ve studied them. When I was preparing for doing the rap song about handbells that I wrote for the Classic Bronze festival, 90% of that preparation was studying your flow, cadence, punchlines, and rhyme schemes. Besides, that “thingamajiggy” bit is far from your trickiest set of lines. So yeah, I kept up.

It’s common in their shows for them to bring people up from the audience to help them sing, or to dance, or whatever. They tell you right up front that the show is ‘interactive’. I got to sing “Bish Bash Bosh” with them in Newcastle and it was an absolutely amazing experience. You get up on stage, and someone either hands you a spare mic or you just lean in and sing with either Pete or Bas when their verse comes up. This guy in the pic below got pulled up on stage to sing “Get Low”, which he absolutely did not know. That’s why you sing with them while they’re singing… just in case you blow it, the song still gets sung by the boys..

“Get Low” is a very repetitive song, so I thought the guy might pick up on the chorus eventually…. “Get low! Let the neighbours know if you come ‘round here, we can go toe-to-toe.” But no, he seemed really happy to be up on stage with Pete, but also terrified. He mostly just danced a little.

Quick FYI: Pete’s shirt as well as the lyrics of a bunch of their songs would have you believe that he’s a stoner, but in reality, neither of the boys do drugs at all. Other than downing a pint or six, they’re squeaky clean.

A few songs later and we’re nearing the end of the show. They started “T-Pain” and it’s just a thing that when they get to the line, “sing for me T-Pain!” that the audience does that line. When it came up this time, Pete stuck the mic in my face and I sang (actually, more like yelled) it into the mic. Fun. Then DJ Queenie stopped the music after a couple more bars and Bas tells the audience that they need some help. They invited several women up on stage to be their dancers. While the ladies are coming up, Pete comes back over to me and says, “you sing.” HELL YES, no problem, bossman.

I climbed up on the stage (with the help of Adam and a couple other audience members) and noticed that Queenie wasn’t preparing a spare mic, which meant that I’d be singing into the mic with Pete. Fantastic! I walked over to him.

He handed me his mic and walked away. He was planning to dance with the ladies on stage. Ok, then. The significance of that didn’t really sink in at first… he asked if I wanted to sing, not to sing WITH him, but to sing FOR him. He trusted me to carry his verses on my own without his backup. I’ve never seen them do that at any show, either live or in videos. If there was any greater honour that he could’ve given me, I can’t imagine what it would be.

I absolutely idolize this man, for being my cancer-fighting inspiration, for his lyrics writing, his surgically precise vocal delivery, his ability to morph from one cadence to another with ease, for being a genuinely good person with a solid moral compass, and a thousand other reasons and he’s trusting me with his audience right now? Fuck yeah. You go dance, Pete, I got this.

The rest of the show was good, but it would never top what had just happened. Not even when Bas was doing pushups with some British lady for some reason…

…or when Pete decided he would show off his tats and toss that ‘high times’ shirt into the crowd…

…or even when Bas nearly lost his pants after shedding his suspenders to take his shirt off.

There was an encore, of course, and the show wrapped up nicely. This show and the one before are probably my two favourite concert experiences of all time. Portland was the better-performed show (and had better sound), Seattle was the better party. Both were an absolute blast. It’s a bit bittersweet, knowing that they’re not likely to tour much longer and they will almost certainly never tour this close again, so this is probably the last time I’ll ever see them in person. But the memories will last forever and I’ll cherish them.

UPDATE: They wore the hoodies at both the Toronto and Ottawa shows, as well as out-and-about sightseeing. They even name-dropped me at the Seattle show, thanking me for the hoodies. Class acts, those two.