Less Than Jake Tour Diary: Day 5 (Winnipeg)

In the heart of the prairies, Less Than Jake‘s saxophonist JR  Wasilewski reflects on his lack of knowledge of the Great White North as they play the Pyramid Cabaret in Winnipeg, MB.

 

 

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Winnipeg, MB – it seems everything that I know about Canada is based on my knowledge of hockey, wrestling and musical acts. I know this is a very limited spectrum of a knowledge base for an entire country, but what do you want from me? I was raised in a country where people are obsessed by the idea of Europe and the dream world that is Australia, when our northern brethren in Canada have a gorgeous country literally right next door.

I mean most people from the U.S. barely ever leave their state, let alone their country. But for some reason our country never focuses on Canada much at all. So my knowledge base is partially mine to blame, partially the U.S. educational systems.

That being said, when it comes to Winnipeg I know the Winnipeg Jets, The Weakerthans and Chris Jerhico and that’s about it. When we got here for our day off we made our normal trek to the mall. The mall is the same no matter what country you are in. There are people all walking, chatting and shopping. It was “Canadian Black Friday” but it was a Monday. I didn’t ask. I just went with it.

After a better than average day off, we headed to the venue for load in and soundcheck. The daily schedule for us consists of load in, soundcheck, meet and greet, find food, eat it, maybe take a nap, show time. There is a lot of time to kill so today I decided to have. Descendents listening party by myself in our back lounge. I will tell you. It was awesome.

We hit the stage after The Interrupters and Big D. And The Kids Table had gotten the crowd “warmed up” and from note one it was chaos: people climbing over people, stage diving, pits breaking out in multiple places and probably the loudest crowd of tour screaming lyrics back at us at top volume.

The Weakerthans may hate Winnipeg, but I think I love it.

Thanks,

JR

 

Remaining tour dates:

Oct 16, 2014	Thunder Bay	Crocks
Oct 17, 2014	Timmins, ON	The Victory Tavern
Oct 18, 2014	Toronto, ON	Opera House
Oct 19, 2014	London, ON	London Music Hall
Oct 22, 2014	Ottawa	Ritual Night Club
Oct 23, 2014	Montreal, QB	Club Soda

Photos by Vinnie Fiorello