My sister and I are the queens of cheap. We love to go to concerts/festivals and we rarely let the fact that we live on an island get in our way. The only complicating factor about the island thing? Well it means that to go to the mainland we have to take the ferry...which runs about $75 a way. So it adds about $150 to the excursion. Now add the fact that the ferry schedule is a bit limited so by the time any concert gets out we are SOL for getting home the same night, you're also looking at a hotel. That's if you're not my sister and I who are the self proclaimed cheap concert queens. We decided a long time ago that if we were to go to all these concerts (a LOT...not so much recently but in past years yes) that we were going to have to find a way to cut corners on cost and well hotel was cut.
Let's do the math shall we?We decided that by the time the concert was over around 11:00/11:30, you would probably get to the hotel around 12:30 (gotta have post concert munchies and such) which means that you're not getting to bed till about 1. The ferry leaves at 7:00, which means we have to be there around 6, meaning we would have to leave the hotel at 5:30 or so, meaning we would get a grand total of 4.5 hours of sleep AT MOST for the price of about $100 give or take. Seems like a lot of money to spend on four hours of sleep....so we decided to screw that noise and sleep at the ferry terminal.
Last night was one of those such nights. Over a year ago the Asscountant and I decided we wanted to see the Michael Jackson Immortal Tour put on by Cirque Du Soleil. Other than Frank Sinatra, Michael Jackson was the only other musical artist in 10 years of dating/friendship we could agree on. Me being as invested in music as I am, and him being such a huge stick in the mud, it was almost impossible to agree on musical outings so the idea we could both go and enjoy something, was a huge selling point to get the tickets. Well, a year later he and I don't talk and I was left with these tickets. Now I did have insurance on them so I could have returned them but that Asscountant be damned I was going to this show. So my sister offered to come along, and in return I told her if she paid for the whole ferry we would call the ticket price even.
Off we went to Vancouver, hopped on the ferry and made our way to the downtown core. My sister and I travel really well together, we usually just go with the flow and this trip was no exception. Upon arrival to downtown we knew we immediately needed to get a good meal in our bellies. So we grabbed burger and beers at the LampLighter pub in gastown and man was it an unexpected delight! Awesome beer selection (just wish it had a few more imports but it did have Magners on tap so I was THRILLED...until they told me they were out...so Kronenburg it was). Their menu was pub-fare-esque but not boring (Chicken and Waffle sandwich anyone???) and the fries tasty (yummo!).
After dinner we wandered into Rogers Arena for the show. I knew the show would be sold out so I was super excited to be a part of the experience. I don't know what it is about being at a concert when the house is full, the energy is just incredible and you almost get wrapped up in the ambience of the arena that you forget why you're there. You feed off everyone else energy.
The show started and it was ok. I've seen a couple Cirque shows in the past, including O in Vegas which in itself was an amazing acrobatic aquatic feat. So to go from O to the immortal tour was a bit of a let down (shockingly enough just like my ill-fated relationship with the Asscountant!!). Don't get me wrong it was an awesome show! But it was just that, a show, more of a dance performance than an acrobatic/circus show. I showed up expecting to see Cirque's take on MJ, and well it was mostly MJ's "This is it" movie done by Cirque's dancers, which was fine, enjoyable and entertaining even, but a bit of a downer (again...much like my relationship with the Asscountant....I'm starting to see a pattern...are you?).
I don't mean to be cynnical. If you are an MJ fan whose seen the show and really enjoyed it then I have no desire to wreck your high, but it just wasn't what I was expecting. It felt like a concert but with no lead singer. I kept feeling like MJ himself would at any random point come out and start singing, because I truly believed it would have been his vision. I saw the "This is it" movie, and the Cirque show was a lot like a tribute the to concert that would have been, and it made me with that much more that I could have seen it. But I wanted death defying stunts and crazy acrobatics to MJ music. Which sort of happened. Anyways.
So we saw the show (which for the record my sister thinks I'm crazy for not being awed by in case at this point you've kept reading but are super annoyed at me for hating...which usually I wouldn't give a rip about but I have a very strong belief that one should NEVER mock the dead). After the show we made the realization that it was Daylight Savings. Which means that we would gain an extra hour of sleep. In the car. In November. This perhaps was the monumental flaw in the plan on my part. I didn't realize how cold it would be in the car. And I only brought one sad pathetic blanket and thin yoga pants. My sister brought two blankets, Ugg boots, sweatsuit and a down coat to sleep in.
To say the very least it was a rather chilly night at about 4 degrees. With me and my sad excuse for warm clothes. I did have my skating clothes so I had an extra fleece layer and skating tights which I did throw on in the middle of the night but MAN ALIVE my cheapness froze my ass last night!!! Most annoying thing? I know for damn sure the Asscountant would have sprung for the hotel. Ass-hole.
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