*WARNING. TEN MILLION PICTURES. 56K, GO AWAY*

*** NOW WITH SET LIST AND MINOR CHANGES TO NARRATIVE ***

One thing I'll say about the Arrogant Worms is that they are addictive. I saw them back in June, and at once, I began searching for a way to see them again. I had to. After a disappointing Canada Day, where the Worms were playing six miles away from me and I was not permitted to go because of the reputed "dangerousness" of the location, I scoured the tour dates once again, looking for anything within driving distance. Hillside Festival in Guelph looked promising, but the tickets were sold out. Tickets were bought for a show in November at Hamilton Place, but I knew I had to see them before then.

Then it hit me.

ANCASTER.



The Worms were playing another free show, this time at the Fieldcote Museum in Ancaster. Well I had no idea where this was, but upon Google-Earthing it, I saw that it was a half hour's drive from my house. Half hour? That's reasonable! (I'd drive any amount for Trevor, but in this case, I'd be relying on my mom for a ride.)

Well, I was still feeling bad that Lisa, the one who was responsible for my infatuation, was not able to attend Burlington. I knew I had to take her to this one. Luckily, I gave her enough advance notice that she was able to book it off. SCORE!

Plans were set in motion. Roads were mapped, routes were researched. Days were booked off. I began to think. These guys are super fantastic, always giving a great show, even though it can't always be easy. I'm a relatively recent convert, but I knew I had to do something to thank them. But what?

Of course. Cookies! I'm a pretty good baker, and who doesn't love fresh chocolate chip cookies? No one, that's who! It was decided.

The day of the concert drew ever nearer. Tensions rose. Anxieties peaked. I'm the type of person who has to have CONTROL over things. Not in a creepy control-freak way. But when I think ahead to a free concert such as this, where there was no assigned seating, no way to be sure of anything, and no way to control the weather, I shuddered in horror each time. I prayed for good weather. Prayed and hoped and did the magical anti-rain dance.

Finally, the day of the concert dawned. What?

RAIN?

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

I knew this wasn't good. It was only drizzling, but if it started to thunder and lightneing, the show would be cancelled. (And rightly so. I love Trevor, and I was DYING to see him again, but I do not want him to be electrocuted.)

Even though I knew there was a chance the show could be cancelled, I knew I couldn't give up hope. I had to just keep believing that it would go on as planned. We'd all just get a little wet.

I made the cookies. I sampled one, for quality control. Pretty good, if I say so myself, but I wasn't the one they'd have to impress.

By ten minutes after four o clock, when Lisa arrived at my house, the rain had still not let up. Crap. We decided to leave anyway, hoping to get there for five. Did I mention the concert started at seven? It's a good thing we like each other. XD. But seriously, we got there two hours early. On purpose. I WANTED FRONT ROW!

After getting turned around a little, we finally made it to the field. I spotted the bandshell, with Chris and Mike's guitars on it. They were here. Somewhere. I looked around, and spotted someone who looked like Chris, but wasn't Chris. We decided to sit down. I got my front row. In fact, we were the first ones there.

It was an absoutely beautiful setting. The rain had let up a little, and it was a bit misty. We were in this little field with an old old museum behind us and a gorgeous stand of trees swathed in fog to the left. And we were about to be entertained by the Arrogant Worms. I really really hope this is what heaven is like.

Unfortunately, I could not entirely enjoy it. I was looking, looking everywhere for Worms. They had to be there somewhere. I suspect they were hiding out either in the museum or in the cable van.

Yeah, the cable van. This was being filmed for television. Keep that in mind, it gets important later.

We passed the time by talking and playing with my ipod. Lisa drew (she is quite an amazing artist; she's in the Bachelor of Illustration program at Sheridan College, that should tell you something!) Bored, I pulled out my camera and started snapping pics:









THis is Lisa. She took a similar pic of me, but since I looked retarded, I won't be posting it.

I was just happening to look around, when my heart stopped.

Trevor.

Just standing there by the side of the museum. Talking to Chris and Mike.

TALKING TO FANS.

I grabbed Lisa. We had to go now! I said. Give them the cookies, before it got too late and we might not have a chance after the show! Well, apparently my ipod was quite entrancing, but after a few minutes, Lisa agreed. On shaky legs, we made our way over, arguing about who was going to say hi first. We're both big chickens, apparently. I really wanted to talk to them, but if they were discussing the upcomming show or something, I didn't want to bother them.

About 10 feet away, my courage gave out and I was rooted to the spot. Oh, hell. How'd I do this on my own at Burlington? Oh yeah, I kind of sidled up to another girl and let the attention just kind of naturally drift over to me. It wasn't going to work this time. Lisa took matters into her own hands. She grabbed me by the shoulder and walked up the to group, cheerfully saying "Hi! This is my friend Jenn and she wants to say hi to you!"

I wasn't sure whether to laugh, die, or cry, but it worked. Trevor said hi and looked at me. I pulled out the tupperware of cookies and gave them over, explaining that I'd just made them that day, and they were fresh. Mike noted that they seemed to be molded to the inside of the container, and that they must have been put in warm. (That's molded, not moulded, thanks. :X) I agreed, then noticed that the top was coming off. "That'll teach me to use cheap dollar-store tupperware," I quipped. I think they laughed. I hope they did. It's sorta a blur in my memory.

Feeling mildly more confident because my humble offering was accepted, I pressed on. I asked if we could take a picture. For Facebook, I explained. I know they laughed at that, and agreed. There was a short embankment from where I was standing to where they were standing. It was slippery. I did not fall, and I was happy about that, because as hot as it would have been to fall and be caught by Chris and/or Trevor, it would also be horribly embarassing and I would probably have to commit seppuku to get over it.

Anyway, picture was taken. For Facebook.




*Sigh* I'm making the world's worst face here, but that's not uncommon for me. And yes, it is now on my Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=733825572

Well, I knew that I was bound to slip up and sound incredibly stupid somewhere, so I decided to make my exit before that happened. We walked back to our chairs and marveled over what had just occured. Well, I marvelled, Lisa drew. She's an artist.

Like in Burlington, I brought my video camera to this show as well. I concentrated on hiding it in my sweater so the real cameramen wouldn't see it. I also decided to use the side-viewer this time, because last time the tape was horribly bad. Those trees sure were interesting.

Show started promptly at 7:00. All my worrying and fears were for nothing. It was not cancelled. In fact, it was fantastic. Much fun was poked at the rain. It was wet. Set list was mostly the same as Burlington, but they did a new song from the upcoming album, and did not do the Coffee Song or Rippy the Gator. Big Box Store was sung, which made me squee because that has been stuck in my head since Burlington. Can't wait for the CD. New song by Mike, about his gender-confused son. Was quite funny. I will have set list up in the next couple of days, after I review my tape and the water-logged note I left in my trunk.

Oh yes. Note. Halfway through the show, I ran out of tape. Not sure how that happened, because I was almost sure it was supposed to be an hour long film, but yeah. I got half the show on tape. The half that was almost a direct repeat from what I saw of the Burlington show. Crap. Oh well. The camera-work was much better this time.

So the set list was follows:

1) We are the Beaver
2) Twins
3) Rocks and Trees
4) Big Box Store
5) Mixed Messages from the Boy
6) Mime Abduction
7) Pressure Washer
8) If I Were Prime Minister
9) Log Into You
10) I am Cow
11) Carrot Juice is Murder
12) Mounted Animal Nature Trail
13) Celine Dion
14) Last Saskatchewan Pirate

Remember how I said this was being filmed for television? Here comes the part where I make a total ass of myself (but it was totally worth it.) I was really, REALLY hoping they would sing Mounted Animal Nature Trail, not just because it's a great song (it IS!) but because I had a plan. A plan that would expose me as the shameless wench I am. When the line came "And the armadillo says..." I was going to scream "I LOVE YOU TREVOR!" as loud as I can. That is why I wanted first row. (Well one of the reasons. XD). I wanted Trevor to know I cared, but I also wanted to hear Chris say "I love you Trevor" in the crow voice. To me, that's the height of comedy. I accidentally cracked myself up in church when I came up with this plan. Oops. They started up the song. I prepared myself. First verse. Second verse.

"And the armadillo says..."

"I LOVE YOU TREVOR!"

I DID IT! But no! Something happened, and I was muffled! Pretty sure the only thing they heard was "something something TREVOR!" They looked suitably confused. Chris commented, "Well that's not right!" and the song continued. But the audience...the people behind us...they heard. They laughed. So if you manage to catch the footage on cable 14 (no, I don't know when it's going to be aired) you might just hear me.

Immediately afterwards, I began to feel bad. I mean, that's gotta suck, getting up on stage and doing your thing, only to have some strange girl scream that she loves you during a light hearted sing-a-long about dead animals. I had to make it right.

Show continued. Amazingly, I could predict each song they sang before it began. That speaks less to my ESP abilities and more to me having memorized the intro for each song. I was SUPER excited to see all these songs live.

And then...last song...LAST SASKATCHEWAN PIRATE! The one that brought me in in the first place, live in front of me. "Arr you salty dog...arr you salty cat...arr you salty moose...arr you salty...umbrella..." O_o

Show ended far too soon, but I think I'd say that about any show, no matter the length. : \ Surprisingly, it did not take long to pack our gear up, which was good because I wanted to visit the merchandise table and get an autograph before everyone came over. I was really hoping they'd have Dirt! but they didn't, so I bought Live Bait instead, and took it over to get autographed. ("Hi, I'm back!" I said.) Chris was first, and he had his own sharpie. Awesome, I love a man who's prepared. Next, Mike, who did not, and I dug in my purse to find a good pen. Pen was produced. CD liner was signed. I still have managed not to make an idiot of myself. Actual conversation: "Do you have a pen?" "Yeah, uh...here, I hope this one works!" "Aw, I'm sure it will" (and it did.) Last, came Trevor, who also did not have his own pen, so I handed him mine (!!). Still feeling sort of bad about MANT, I said "Sorry for shouting that during Mounted Animal Nature Trail." He looked a little surprised and said "What did you say? [during the song] I only caught the last part of it." Shamefacedly, I admitted I'd said "I love you Trevor." He kind of laughed and said it was okay, I could say that. I totally want to believe he put the emphasis on you, as in, you can say that (but no one else can!) XD. OK, I felt better. I will admit that Trevor is quite different in person than he is onstage...he's actually pretty quiet, or so it seems. And super-hot. I was quite proud of myself for actually being coherent, considering at Burlington show I could barely ask him to sign my DVD. I think it was because at this point, I knew they they were deliberately standing around signing stuff, whereas at Burlington I kind of sneaked up to him between sets. Also, I made them cookies. That's worth some points, right? RIGHT?

Note to self: May have to enshrine pen that was used by Mike and Trevor. At the very least, make sure no one ever uses it again.

We were quite thoroughly soaked by this point, as well as starving (not sure about Lisa, but I had eaten, literally, a half piece of pizza all day. Nerves :( ) Luckily, it did not take long for our ride to arrive and we went home.

Conclusions: I want these guys to be my best friends.




And here's the part you've all been waiting for. Having learned my lesson last time, I was dual weilding both a digital camera and a digital camcorder, well, until the tape ran out :\. I didn't get too many stills while filming, so most of these are from the second half. Don't as me what's going on in any of them, I got home, looked at them, and had no clue.

Enjoy.