I couldn't have been more wrong. Not only was the concert amazing, I came away with an even greater appreciation for the band, their sound, and their songs. I knew I liked them before I went in the doors; when I came out, I was a huge fan.
Opening band Glasvegas was about the only low-light for me. They kicked off the night with what I considered a dark and dreary set. And I SWEAR I could be their drummer - anyone could do what that chick did, it was like the easy level on Rock Band. Nothing they did impressed me. Not one of their songs was my kind of thing. Seriously, Jumpin' Jimmy at the Barley Mow's open mic night (where we had dinner) was more entertaining.
But that didn't matter, 'cause when KOL hit the stage with an eerie opening performance of "Closer", Glasvegas were already out of my mind. They killed it with their southern-rock with its very own unique flavour. Whether hearing new songs that I now can't get enough of, like "The Bucket", "I Want You", "Four Kicks", and "Be Somebody" - or getting lost in the songs that were already my favourites, like "Sex on Fire", "Fans", "Notion", and my ultimate #1 "Use Somebody" - I was never disappointed.
I also was introduced to their song "Cold Desert", a slow-moving, climax-building tune that had fans on the floor crowd surfing - I just can't stop listening to it. Love it. Love it.
Doesn't hurt that band members the Followill brothers and their cousin aren't too hard to look at, either...
So that awesome Thursday night concert kicked off what was to be an even more awesome weekend, as the Quyon COMBAT Flyers, fresh off their win to advance to the GOFL finals, were taking part in the Challenge Cup tournament in McNab/Braeside on Saturday and Sunday. The winning team would secure an early berth at the 2010 ISC II Tournament of Champions, slated to run next August in Midland, Michigan.
The Flyers ended up gaining the benefit of a schedule change when their first-round opponent Napanee bowed out of the tournament at the last minute, earning Quyon a bye through to the 11 AM game versus their league rivals, Carp I4C Victory. The handled them easily, taking it 7-1 with Chad Hargrove getting the win on the mound.
That jumped them right into the 'undefeated game' at 5 PM against the North Fred Kings (from the Kingston area). Buzz around the ball park was that North Fred appeared to be the team to beat, as they had already defeated two of the best teams in the tournament, Team Easton and the Donnacona Blue Sox. Regardless, the Flyers again made it look easy, with the final being 5-1 and Drew Hathway was the winning pitcher.
That win advanced the Flyers to the finals. As the undefeated team in the tournament, they had to be beaten twice to lose the tournament, a double-knockout format. Once again, the North Fred Kings were their opponent, after they had gone on to defeat Carp to make the finals.
Two games weren't needed to crown the Flyers as the champions - in fact, only 3 1/2 innings of the first game were necessary, as North Fred seemed to finally run out of gas. One of their players was ejected from the game, and all of their substitutes had been used, so they were forced to end the game with the Flyers ahead 7-3, and pitcher Joran Graham got the W.
So next August, the Flyers will be headed to Midland, Michigan, and they have the honour of being one of the first teams to qualify for the 2010 ToC! Congrats, guys!
Things sort of came crashing back down last night, however, as the Flyers lost the opening game of their best-of-5 GOFL finals to the Stittsville 56'ers. They actually jumped out to an early 1-0 lead in the game, and they held that lead for a few innings before Stittsville discovered their bats and ended up mercying them after 6 innings, with a final score of 7-1.
Hoping for better luck on Thursday night in Quyon, game time 7:30 - come out and cheer on the hometown team!!
