Sarah McLachlan’s Summer Sessions concert, Sept. 12, 2009, Ambleside Park, West Vancouver

I can’t remember if Sarah McLachlan specifically said, “The stars have aligned for this event,” but they actually did in many respects.  For one thing, a shooting star skidded across the sky at dusk, between sets, eliciting a burst of applause from the audience.  I only caught the tail end of it; my wife said it was a long comet.  The portion I saw looked like a trail of fireworks not unlike something from the Nights of Fire celebrations.

Later in the evening, as I was listening to Neil Young’s set, my gaze travelled up and I noticed that the stage was perfectly placed under the Big Dipper.  In the city, star constellations are generally a bit dim but the Dipper was easy to spot.  Only the top attachment point of the cup to the handle was obscured by atmospheric haze.

The last sky-related item was the passing overhead of the International Space Station.  I’ve heard radio announcers say lately that they’ve seen it pass overhead. My eyes have followed the slow arcs of satellites through dark night skies in the past; this slow-moving speck in the sky was a lot larger and brighter than any satellite I’ve seen.

But of course, the stars Sarah was referring to were the scheduled line-up for the day and evening performances.  We arrived in time to hear Luke Doucet.  I “ iTuned” his latest release “Blood’s Too Rich” at Christmastime, just minutes before we had to leave for the airport to catch a flight to Winnipeg.  The flight was delayed and I listened to that CD about 3 times that evening (and that was just in the airport).  I really like it.

I didn’t know of Melissa McClelland prior to the show, but it turns out that Luke and Melissa are married. I have to say, I was impressed with Melissa’s bluesy style. She has a really good voice. The set Luke and Melissa performed was acoustic, just the two of them with guitars, and it was a nice blend of each one complimenting the other’s songs. Both have CDs out. One part in particular stood out for me, because I’m familiar with Blood’s Too Rich. Melissa vocalized the notes to a guitar riff for one of Luke’s tunes.

Sheryl Crow was the rocker of the night. She performed a string of her hits, one accompanied by Sarah McLachlan, putting to rest early any doubts that Sarah’s voice wouldn’t be up to snuff after a bought of laryngitis this past week.

Neil Young’s set was a bit late to start but well worth the wait. This is the third time I’ve been to one of his concerts and there are definitely two styles: rocker and “intimate session”. It’s almost like two different performers. Of course, I never saw him perform until recent years so I probably missed his hard rocking prime. I’m sure he wasn’t crowned “the grandfather of grunge” for nothing. But this Summer Session was like singing campfire songs with your favourite, though somewhat non-conversational, uncle.

Banter between songs was very minimal, and sometimes inaudible because Neil was reaching for a guitar, or busy plugging one in. I guess that’s all part of the draw of a front row seat. He spoke about Sarah McLachlan briefly to say she had been very supportive of the school that Neil and his wife, Peggy, were involved in running. “You’ve got a good one there,” he said when speaking of Sarah.

It struck me that it’s almost like a spiritual experience to see Neil Young; a pilgrimage of the faithful to witness the culmination of forty-some years of rock and folk wisdom dispensed by a veteran of sixties culture. It was quite fascinating to sense the vibe of the crowd during Neil’s set. The word that seems to fit best is ‘reverential’. It was a service conducted by Reverend Neil, and it seemed especially fitting that it was an outdoor service. Somehow that seemed to make it all the more congregational .

Neil was the top draw for a substantial portion of the audience. His stage set-up was to sit in the middle of a circle of various guitars and one banjo. Most of the songs were played with one of those guitars, or the banjo, or guitar with harmonica, and one selection he played on the piano. He was accompanied by Peggy on vocals, and a fellow musician on the slide guitar.

I wasn’t sure what to expect when Sarah’s turn came. I like her music, but to be honest, I thought it would be a bit too mellow for such a large outdoor venue. I was wondering if it would be only Sarah and her piano. That turned out to be the case for her opening song, but after that she continued with Sheryl’s back-up band for a few faster paced songs (plus a duet with Sheryl), then some quieter songs with Luke Doucet and Melissa McClelland helping out with guitar and vocals respectively. She even did a cover of a Beatle’s tune.

All in all it was a very enjoyable afternoon and evening of diverse musical talent.

And yes, the food was expensive, but at least the barbequed burgers were large and tasteful. And your three bucks got you a twist-capped plastic bottle of Pepsi instead of merely a can. I’m no event organizer to be sure, but it seems to me that it can’t be cheap to set up three temporary camp kitchens on a grass playing field, truck in all the supplies, get permits, rent portable power generators for electricity and refrigerant, rent tents and cooking equipment, assemble a serving staff, employ trash removal services, rent portable toilet facilities, etc, etc. So lets lay off the “Gee, the food was so expensive!” Live entertainment, refreshments and sanitation services cost money.

The end of the evening came after Sarah’s two song encore; then everyone packed up their things and filed out of the fenced concert area. We headed for the East gate to follow the bike trail to buses parked at Park Royal mall. As we approached we could hear a DJ that had set up at the smaller stage. Mo-Town tunes were pumping and there was a small group of people dancing to the groove. Then I noticed the fire jugglers (two of them), and a fire breather of all things! It felt like we’d stumbled upon Burning Man; a real carnival-like atmosphere to be sure.

After watching for ten minutes or so we continued our walk along paved pathways lit by generator-powered flood lamps. To top it all off, when we arrived at the water’s edge, there was the Lion’s Gate bridge, with its gracefully arched cables outlined in lights and the uprights brightly backlit.

It was indeed a summer session.

p.s. I wanted to 'fess up about the grainy photos that I used in my post. I used the "hyper" digital zoom on my camera, with no tripod, at dusk (and even later), from a distance of 1/2 a soccer field away. Oh yeah, and I photgraphed the huge jumbotron screen, not the actual performers themselves. I tell ya, that camera is magic! Plus it fits in my pocket. I'm the kind of hobbyist photographer that's all over getting the biggest digital technological wonder that will comfortably fit in my pocket.