LIGHTS Tour Diary #4: A Life Equation

Super-heroine and keytar queen LIGHTS is currently crossing the country on a massive tour and she'll be writing tour diaries about her adventures for CHARTattack. You can read the first three here and here and here. Check in next Thursday for an extra special bonus installment.

Here's part four:

I can't believe it's only been a week since I last wrote. It feels like it's been at least 12. I've calculated a simple math equation to help us all understand this phenomenon: 1 biggest show to date + 5 great shows + 1 night out + 1 new keyboard + too many ideas = no sleep. No sleep = longer week. Long week = 1 sleepy but industrious girl.

I'll start with the Toronto show last Thursday at the Kool Haus. Let me put it this way, if I had one gold per person at the show I could afford my dual-spec ability more than twice over in World Of Warcraft. That's saying a lot.

If you haven't yet considered an off-spec or just don't play WoW at all, then simply put, there were more than two thousand people at the show, making it my biggest so far, and a very memorable one at that.

The random boy that bounded on stage and starfish-thrashed for a minute before security tackled him added one notch in the "favourite show" column. The book of listener letters (including a deed to an acre of land in my name) carved another notch or two, and the girls dressed like Wonder Woman alongside the fact that almost every Canadian that has been involved in my career was in attendance added another couple of ticks. Overall it just made me happy to call Toronto my home.

The next day we hit the road for Canada's headquarters. Right off the bat it proved to be a day of oddity. After over an hour of stand-still traffic on the 401 due to a six-cop-car raid of two black SUVs filled with luggage, we arrived at the Bronson Centre in Ottawa late for soundcheck.

Shortly following, when we attempted to leave the hotel to go back to the venue we found our van sealed into the lot by yellow tape. It wasn't until after a tight squeeze through an "exit" that we saw what appeared to be a body covered in light blue blankets surrounded by police on the road along side the parking lot. (It could have been anything though, maybe the tiredness messing with our eyeballs, but we never found out what happened).

All of us a little tense, we set up for the show and got on stage. It turned out to be amazing. I've never seen Ottawa so enthusiastic and hot!

Which brings me to the next event involving the fire alarm going off as soon as I sat down at the piano to do the quietest song in my set. It was a sporadic, honking alarm and it wasn't even on time. Believe me, I attempted writing a song on-the-fly to its tempo and key to make light of the situation. It turned out to all be water under the bridge (or fire...) because it brought everyone in the room closer, we were in it together. It might have stolen a little of the subtlety from "Pretend," but it definitely didn't kill the show.

By the time the alarm went off again during my other quiet song on the acoustic guitar we were all unfazed and I thought, "It's pretty amazing that no matter what the hell is going on around us, we will always be able to listen to music and have a good time."

As good as the Ottawa show was, I didn't think any show would come near the Toronto greatness for a little while, but the following night in Montreal proved me quite wrong. Studio Juste Pour Rire was small but packed to the gills, and for the first time I got chills two songs into the set purely based on the crowd's dynamite. For the first time since karaoke in Regina, I felt a night out was in order. Fuelled by the buzz of the show, our haggard posse danced the night away to The Smiths and Biggie Smalls.

I'll just say it, driving from Montreal to Toronto the day after a night out is like riding a three-legged camel across the Sahara. Every service station and rest stop glowed like an oasis, and seven stops in we realized we were still hours away from home. The upside was when I devoured the first Wendy's frosty I've had in years. Dang, what else have I been missing!

The next two shows were wonderful as well. Hamiltonians were a little shy, but before the end of the set we found their voices. There was tossing of glow sticks, clapping of hands, jackets of jean and together we named the epic feedback during the encore "Davie" when he tried to steal the show.

The next day I treated myself to the new Microkorg XL, whose fatty bass patches and elegant, glittering arpeggios kept me entertained on the drive to Kingston, Ont. for last night's show. It was our first time playing in Kingston, but you wouldn't think it being at the show. The excitement was brimming and that city definitely knows how to raise their voice.

One more thing before I go. I want to reflect on how truly awesome all of this is. I find myself in the perfect environment for discovery and inspiration, learning and creativity.

Between each night that I get to witness the passion us Canadians all have for our music, I get to sit and concoct and imagine what comes next. This past week my heart started beating faster when I was delving into video ideas for whatever song will come out next, and what I felt made me realize how much I truly love what I do. Thank you for listening, reading, watching and coming to shows, as long as you do I promise I'll give my best to you.

Until next time, "I'll never let go, Jack, I promise." —Rose, Titanic, 1997.

LIGHTS.