Amidst the haze of smoky skies, the combination of the cool evening breeze and a 45-minute delay in the headliners taking the stage temporarily dimmed the excitement of the crowd.
However, as they say – good things come to those who wait, and when Third Eye Blind finally took the stage and the first chords of “Thanks a Lot” rang out, the crowd’s patience was instantly rewarded. With energy and enthusiasm, the band weaved through their catalogue of hits, conjuring waves of nostalgia and without a doubt igniting memories in the minds of many of the people in attendance.
Lead vocalist Stephan Jenkins seemed determined to bring some energy to the evening, telling the crowd that it had taken 15 hours of travel to get to Vancouver and that they wanted to “turn it up”. Despite the chilly start, the crowd responded emphatically – erupting into a sea of enthusiasm as the band launched into chart toppers like “Narcolepsy”, “Tropic Scorpio”, and “Graduate”.
With the lights turned down, Jenkins hit centre stage with an acoustic guitar for “Shipboard Cook” and attempted (somewhat successfully) to encourage some meaningful connection – asking the audience to turn to a stranger in the crowd and say hello.*
At the end of the evening, the challenges of the delayed start were long forgotten and seemed to have been replaced by appreciation from both band and fans in a mutual celebration of the music.
*Author’s Note: I’m still relatively new to the city, but attempting to get a Vancouver crowd to interact with anyone other than the people they arrived with seems to be a particularly difficult thing to do, so I’ve got to give the guy props for trying.
