Toronto Bombs - NHL, CN Tower and Ossington.

Saturday night brought my first ever visit to a NHL game. Ice hockey was the in thing for a bit in the mid-90's, with Roller Blades being the big fad but I never strapped on a pair of those stupid things and I certainly never went to a match at the arena either. My prior knowledge of the sport was pretty much limited to playing NHL'97 for the PlayStation and even that made me ill with motion sickness, so i was pretty much going in blind. Lots of fights and it being a bit like five-a-side football on speed pretty much summed up my pre-match thoughts.
We stopped off for a few drinks at Real Sports bar on the way before heading into the Air Canada Centre for the match - Toronto Maple Leafs were the local team and are bizarrely the most valuable franchise in the league, and that's despite not winning anything since the 60's. Another equally odd stat is that every home game has been sold out just as long, so the fans loyalty certainly can't be questioned here with the team being so shit.
The arena itself is a really good venue - good facilities, not too massively ridiculously priced for food and booze (you can buy from your seat even) and the game was pretty much what I thought it would be - fast paced and easy entertainment, especially compared to other North American sports with their massively long running times, and we couldn't have got better seats. I didn't quite grasp any positional play or tactics, nor could I understand the perennial substitutions (the team's players just change constantly at will) but I still very much enjoyed it, even with the disappointing lack of fights. I think the match finished something like 4-0 to the Maple Leafs in the end, a rare recent home win for the team and it definitely made for a good atmosphere the rest of the night. Always amazing how a good sports team result has such an effect on a city's night life after. Alfie didn't disappoint either, with the 20,000 seater Air Canada became yet another place on his long list of nap venues. Unreal. It wouldn't quite be North America without some odd crowd interaction stuff throughout the game though - they basically tell the crowd when to cheer, make constant announcements and promos, play silly video screen games to see who's the wackiest person in the crowd (they're all worthy of that title) and my own personal favourite bit was when they brought out a former player to sing happy birthday to him, stalling the game. The players literally had to stand and wait on the ice until the crowd had finished singing Happy Birthday before the could start playing again. I was half expecting Cliff Richard to come out and sing Summer Holiday, that's how fucking weird it was. That aside, t'was really good and i'd definitely go regularly given the chance. Don't think my bank account could afford the insane ticket prices though.

Once the game was over we jumped on the street car (a tram) and headed straight over to Ossington for a big'un. A nice little area with plenty of bars but not too busy to the point where they attract the mass arseholes you find in the more populous places. The first bar we 'stumbled' across turned out to be a pretty amazing burlesque bar, at least I think it was, I really wasn't 100% sure, but suppose if you're letting girls get their tasseled boobs out on the bar for a good ol'shake, then you're not going to be anything else. For some ridiculous reason we decided it would be the best plan of action to order two drinks at a time, jaeger bombs and whiskey ginger no less, not that I've ever had whiskey ginger before and that combination soon made the rest of the night a blur. It really is ridiculous how much and how fast we drink at times, then wonder why we can never remember getting home the next day.  To be honest, I can barely even remember going to any other bars after we started hitting them double double's quickly, the only real memories of the night were a bit of G-funk era and Cypress Hill getting played in the burlesque bar, KanYe's Runaway being played in Sweaty Betty's, us both looking for the DJ so we could tell him how shit he was only to be met with a  person with a macbook (always a sign you've had too much, that one), and finally us becoming temporary friends with some randoms.  I imagine we were talking absolute shit by that point, as except for the tasche and the photos, I couldn't tell you anything about them.  Class night though.

The rest of the week was pretty relaxed before I headed off back home. I managed to get some presents for people back home at the Eaton Centre, including an amazingly cool bear suit for Sonny. I had to ask if they did it in adult sizes, since it looked like the single most comfiest thing of all time but unfortunately it was a no go. I did manage to save about £60 on a pair of jeans from Sears at least, so not too bad work. We also went for a couple of nice meals - Khao San road restaurant on my last night was a lovely slice of nostalgia from my time in Thailand and a much more visually appealing setting than the actual place, the food was nearly up there with the street markets but not quite as proficient at making me look like I'm weeping, no Mushroom Shakes either. The latter is probably a good thing mind. Hot Wings was even better though, all these sushi, Italian, and curry houses are all well and nice but a fuck off slab of BBQ meat is much more my scene and they certainly didn't disappoint on the portion size there. The rack of ribs was up there with the biggest I've had but still didn't last long. Amazing. Other highlights included a man casually knitting in subway (you don't get that in South Shields), watching The Rock showing everyone else how it's done at Survivor Series, Afie cooking a cracking Sunday Roast and I had a nice walk around the University/Government buildings in the North of the city.

I had intended to visit Niagara Falls but wasn't that bothered when the time came, and those type of things are never the same by yourself. I did want to go up the CN Tower though and Alfie hadn't been yet, so we made the trip up there, which was definitely well worth it. The lifts up the tower reach quite the speed so you fly up there in no time. The first viewing level was quite good but the mesh fencing there is a bit intrusive. However,  the higher level 'SkyPod' was much better and the view of the lake, Rogers Centre and city from there was incredible. It would easily have the beating of the Empire State Building if the city was as vibrant as New York. You couldn't last too long outside, with the wind being so strong at such a height that it almost makes you feel like you're in the middle of a wind tunnel. They've also installed a glass floor on one of the platforms, enabling you to look straight down to the city underneath your feet, which is quite cool if stomach turning at the same time, didn't hang about on those bits too long. Especially when grown men are lying on the floor around you taking photos. Once again, definitely worth the dollar spent.

Not much to add to wrap it up except that Toronto joins Melbourne and New York on my favourite cities list and I had such a good time there. I'd definitely love to go again, and i think it'd be even better in the summer. So definitely two macca thumbs up from me

Song for the Day - KanYe West

Toronto Rock - Lykke Li, Poutine and spin.

I don't have the chance to get to many gigs back home, what with working evenings and people generally being apathetic hermits these days, so I made sure to give the Toronto gig listings a peruse before I came over, in the hope there would be a few things worthwhile on while i was here. It didn't take too long to do so really, as the listings hardly mirrored the Melody Maker's in its prime and there weren't many live acts on but Lykke Li at the Sound Academy and Jay-Z/KanYe immediately stood out from the usual house bands. Alfie didn't let me down in his reactions to both suggestions - 'Lykke Li? Never heard of the cunt......and I'm not going to see that fucking idiot (KanYe)'. Thankfully I managed to persuade him to attend the former, although did he assert after listening to her that he needed to get smashed before the gig, as it was 'music for heroin people'. Right up my street then.
The venue was right on the edge of Lake Ontario and a great little place, very reminiscent of the student unions back home. I'm always whinging about the lack of gigs in those places, they always provide such a better atmosphere, so was pleasantly surprised to discover this and the sound was great too for such a small venue. We managed to catch the last few songs of the support act, First Aid Kit, a Swedish dream folk band and they were pretty good themselves. They all looked incredibly young for this stuff and completely out of it on Acid half the time, but those can never be construed as bad things really. A definite better than average support act.

Lykke Li herself was brilliant too. I didn't know what to expect as a lot of performances i'd seen from her were stripped down acoustic sessions but she brought a full band (complete with two drummers) and they really turned the material up for the live setting; the sparse lighting, smoke machines and strobes really added to 'The Show' aspect too. Aside from a few mic problems, her voice was completely controlled at all times and the duelling drummers really brought an urgency to the tracks. The set was balanced with material from both albums, along with covers of 'Unchained Melody' and KanYe's 'Power'. The former was slightly unnecessary but the latter, aided by a speakerphone, was ace and really got the crowd going. I'd say 'I'm Good, I'm Gone', 'Love Out of Lust' and 'Youth Knows No Pain/POWER' were amongst my favourite tracks, Alfie even thought it was alright too, and that's VERY high praise for him.

We stayed on for a few drinks afterwards and a shockingly nice bouncer informed us that we could stay there until we could drink no more, wich was nice. However, moments after, a more familiar arsehole style bouncer told us in no uncertain terms that we must move to another area immediately and there was no time to waste GODDAMNIT. Odd. We moved on accordingly, although as why it needed to be done with such haste was a mystery and quickly found ourselves talking to an incredibly chatty Mexican-American couple. I think both of us were a bit freaked out by how they besieged us but it's only because people are so nice, friendly and approachable here, you're not used to it at all. You kind of forget how to act to just genuinely nice, always thinking ‘What’s going on here?...What do they want?’ because you’re so used to encountering aggressive arseholes back home, who more often than not have an agenda or are just plain dickheads anyway. The guy was a Lil' Wayne fan mind and there's no excuse for that either.  Closing time was soon upon us so we moved on closer to the apartment and stopped at the Dog’s Bollocks on Queen St. I think their thing is meant to be that they’re a traditional style english pub but it’s just the same of everywhere else really- lots of TV screens showing sport and plenty of tables. And that's good enough for me any day of the week, so we had a few pitchers and watched whatever game was on that night there before heading back. Another rather good night. 

One of the many perks of visiting the Atkinson's is they both know their food, and to a high standard, so in addition to getting top notch home cooked meals, they also know all the good places to hit in the area. Now I'd never heard of Poutine but apparently its kind of Canada's national dish and rather nice too. One day we get hit by a downpour of rain, so hid in this cool little diner Alfie recommended, and I decided to sample the local dish while we were there - It's basically fucking cheesy chips. Nothing more, nothing less. And i really must tip my hat to Canada for getting away with such a poor facade. I'm sure they'll say it's not, it's this and that and tart it up but it's basically cheesy chips. Don't let them fool you.
One place where you can't be fooled is the Sushi restaurant on Queen St called Aji Sai. I always enjoy Sushi but it never ever fills me, causing me to just get a big fat greasy burger anyway, making the Sushi eating pretty much pointless, so my interest was certainly perked when Katie said how good this place was and the fact it was also all you can eat. It certainly didn't disappoint with the regards the latter. The stuff just kept coming and I certainly couldn't eat no more come the end. Top notch stuff off the menu too, unlike most of these buffet type places. Much like Mother's Dumplings, I'd definitely say it's worth hunting out if you're here.
The week was rounded off with another visit to Football at the Soccerdome (they again drew), but the highlight for me had nothing to do with the game and was in fact the 'Soccer Mom' sitting next to me going absolutely MENTAL at the referee. She was acting as if her son was like 8 in the West Park league and not 27 years old - 'C'mon ref, move!..... ARE YOU SEEING THIS?......THAT WAS A FOUL YOU HACK....Oh so you call that one?....... dick!....PLAY THE GAME, STOP FOULING YOU GUYS' and so on and so on. She kept switching between languages when at her most angered too and that was absolute comedy gold to me.
We also went for a quick few games of Table Tennis and Alfie absolutely schooled me. Them playing Arcade Fire's 'Funeral' on a permanent loop softened the blow but I only won one game out of about 9 and i could tell he wasn't going all out either. Well, not until i hit him in the face, accidentally i of course but i was rather out of reach before even that. My skills have certainly dropped since ruling the tables of Thurston back in the '90's.....

Once again though, Toronto is just an amazing place and  everyone must go, next up -  my first NHL match at the Air Canada Centre and the CN Tower!

Song for the Day - Lykke Li