SLCR #358: Glass Tiger (March 10, 2022)

Deserée is bonkers over Glass Tiger. I present this information merely as context; a way of explaining why, exactly, I was at a Glass Tiger show in 2022. She was there to watch the band, and the rest of us were there to watch her watch the band.

I updated the year, but otherwise, that’s how I started my last Glass Tiger review. In my mind, this was maybe 4 years ago, but no, it was more than 7 years ago. As if I need more evidence that the past few years have completely destroyed my sense of time. Is this review late? The calendar suggests so. But as far as I can tell, I was at this concert two days ago and also late last year. I don’t know anymore.

When I got the tickets, it felt like maybe we were coming out of this. Isn’t that quaint? We’d had tickets to see Glass Tiger back in early 2020, but it was one of the first shows that cancelled when the world went to pot. And now they were coming back, Mika and I were heading out to see them, and we were… not excited, really. Kind of anxious. I can handle doing stuff (to some degree), but I think it’ll be a while before I’m really INTO the idea of doing stuff.

This marked my first trip to the casino since all the everything. They’d used the downtime to renovate, so it was a bit disorienting. Looked nice in spots, had weird traffic flows in others. Mika and I both got smacked by this old woman’s bag and she seemed real indignant that we’d dare get in its way. “Old bag’s bag” would have worked better but I’m being kind and showing restraint.

We met up with Dez and Reagan, collected as many free slot play vouchers as we could (I wound up cashing out with $17 in free money) and took our seats. I got us a table up at the front; this was deemed acceptable. A local DJ introduced the show and we were off.

The place was nearly sold out and it was weird being around quite so many people. For the most part, it wasn’t a big deal – the only standing area was off to the side behind these bike rack style barricades. The beleaguered security staff was in charge of keeping the tipsy dancing ladies confined to the designated dancing zones; this proved difficult and eventually a gentleman in a blazer had to be summoned to provide reinforcements.

For the record, if you ever want to meet a whole lot of tipsy dancing ladies who are just slightly older than me, you could do a lot worse than a Glass Tiger concert.

I also saw the guy I always see at casino old-man rock concerts, the guy who looks like Ricky Morton. Truly, nature is healing.

As for the show itself, I could probably copy and paste most of my old review and it would all hold true. I still know more Glass Tiger songs than I realize and they’re still real catchy. They played pretty much all the hits you’d expect. And once again, the sound was a bit too loud for the venue. I can only say that with confidence after reading that I’d felt the same way last time; with no big concerts over the past few years, I couldn’t tell if maybe my judgment was just shot.

They did play a few new-to-me covers – Right Here Right Now and Heroes. The latter was prefaced by Alan Frew saying that “David” was missed, leading to – as I was later told – a conversation about who this mysterious David could possibly be. I’ll let you figure that one out on your own.

The show closer, to no surprise, was Don’t Forget Me When I’m Gone. I haven’t learned where the parentheses go since last time and I’m not about to look it up now. This was the song where the not-particularly-strong-or-real dam of security guards and bike racks gave way and fans rushed up to the stage. At that point, I was pretty pleased with my decision to keep my mask on throughout the show.
Frew led a singalong and was thoroughly disappointed in the crowd’s inability to mimic a slightly longer than normal pause before the “my heart would break” part. I didn’t see what was so difficult about this and I famously can’t sing. Maybe I shouldn’t have spent all my skill points on “accurate pause lengths.” Eventually, he wanted just the men to sing “my heart would break,” at which point a stranger (presumably one of the tipsy dancing ladies, but I can’t keep track of everyone) turned to me and hollered “WE NEED YOU!” It turns out that not only do masks help stop you from getting and giving illnesses, but they also allow people to assume you’re singing when you’re merely miming for their approval. Mika seemed amused by the attention I was getting, saying “See? You’d be fine if I died.” She made me promise to include this part. She didn’t make me promise to explain it, however. Anyway, the women had to sing “my heart would break” next and the stranger was very encouraging to Mika as well. This led to more questions that shall not be answered or, indeed, contemplated here.

After the show, we waited around as the crowd thinned out, allowing Dez to get a picture with Alan Frew and an autograph on her stolen setlist. That worked out nicely for her and the other folks who were late in leaving. Maybe not so much for Frew, who probably just came out to visit with friends, but so it goes. He saw those tipsy dancing ladies, he knew the risks.

Tags: casino regina, concerts, glass tiger, music, regina, slcr