N.E. Heartbreak

As I'm writing this blog, my boyfriend's sister is planning to go to the Guvernment tonight to see New Edition's make up concert. As for me, I'm staying my tail home -- I'm gon' watch Girlfriends and 24 and call it an evening.

But, this is a blog about yesterday's events.

If It Isn't Love

Yesterday, I was hyped -- actually, I had been hype all week long knowing that I was going to see one of my favourite groups, New Edition. Now, I have wanted to see NE in concert since 1989, so when I heard they were coming to town last night, I said, 'buy me a ticket!'

Sigh.

If you didn't already know, New Edition was supposed to perform at the Hummingbird Centre yesterday evening. 'Supposed to' is the most important term in the previous sentence 'cause my boys didn't arrive due to the weather.

Now, the concert was supposed to start at seven o'clock, so when I arrived at the Hummingbird Centre at minutes to seven and I saw one of the opening acts, In Essence, pulling up, I knew something wasn't quite right.

I just assumed that, like many concerts, this one was going to start late.

Unfortunately, I assumed that it was going to start.

The doors never opened until well after eight and once everyone was seated, with no help from the Hummingbird staff, Farley Flex of Canadian Idol fame said, "Sorry about the delay, but I've got good news: New Edition is in the air."

I leaned over to my boyfriend's sister and said, "Did he say they are here?"

"No, Urban Sista, he said they are in the air."

Air? In the air? What are they doing in the air? At eight-thirty, an hour and a half after their concert should have started, all five of their backsides should have been backstage chilling, warming up their voices. Not in the air. Chupse.

"Because of the lateness, you can get a full refund or you can wait. The opening acts will be on stage shortly."

So, we stayed -- we were angry and annoyed -- but we stayed. If it wasn't love for New Edition, I would have packed up my georgy bundle, like a lot of people who couldn't be bothered to hang around, and headed home. Rumours were flying: New Edition was on their way. New Edition wasn't coming. New Edition had been beaten up by Boyz II Men 'cause someone had beef with Biv... nah, that wasn't one of the rumours, but the thought of that made me chuckle ;)

At around nine p.m., Canadian content Ray Robinson was excellent. That boy can sing and he did a good job getting the crowd, that was already miserable and riotous, to calm down and enjoy themselves. Next up, about forty-five minutes later was more Canadian content, In Essence. Those boys were jokes and they livened up the audience for real. Their personalities and their rendition of Sam Cooke's A Change is Gonna Come, made up for the crowd's dryness.

Folks like myself had arrived at the Hummingbird Centre on time and were still waiting for NE to arrive -- not perform, just arrive -- almost three hours after the concert was supposed to start.

So, the promoter? host? whoever the heck that idiot was came out to inform us that New Edition still had not arrived. But he told us not to worry, Case was in the house and we'd have a performance by Jemeni. If Case's four hit wonder backside could make it to Toronto in plenty of time to perform, why couldn't New Edition? Then again, what has Case done in the last three years? Really? He probably had plenty of time to spare. Tee hee.

Around 10 o'clock, with many boos and hisses, Jemeni came out on stage and told us: "I saw New Edition backstage."

Riiight.

That's why this morning, she and Mark Strong were telling us why they didn't arrive. Jemeni performed a great poem -- she's still in my bad books for getting my hopes up. Sista, why'd you have to deceive the people like that? Huh? Why?

Jemeni came off the stage and we sat. It was about 10:15 pm and I was getting tired, miserable and frustrated. I wanted Johnny Gill to stick his head out from backstage and say, "Don't y'all worry, we're here." Then, and only then, would I feel happy and content. But, no, that didn't happen. We sat, the boyfriend made friends with some people around us, I chatted with Lady Abena who was also at the concert. And we waited some more. I ran to the washroom -- I don't know why I ran because the way this concert was going, I knew I wasn't going to miss a darned thing.

At 10:34 pm, I called my sister to blaze the promoter, because obviously buddy didn't know what he was doing. One of the most important parts of event management, is keeping your clients informed, so they can make informed choices. The promoter continued to wave the promise of NE in our faces and we, like fools, believed and stayed.

Touch Me, Tease Me

Finally, at 10:45, Case came on stage.

Case: Toronto! How y'all feeling!
Toronto: Booo!!! Hisss!!!
Case: What can I do to make y'all feel better?
Toronto: Bring New Edition!!!

Shame.

Case looked sad -- and bony, the man dropped off 'nuff weight. "Well," he said, "I can't do nothing 'bout that, but I can make you feel good!" Or something equally as corny.

He did one song, Happily Ever After, and the crowd started to warm up to him. I was singing along, enjoying myself, until he called up some poor young woman up on stage. No word of a lie, Case is one nasty ass Negro.

The girl looked like it was her first concert... ever. She was wearing her glasses and some sequined top and tights. She was cute, but she looked like she was out of 1989... maybe that's why she was at the concert. Nevertheless, someone hoisted her up on stage and Case put her to sit on a stool.

So far, so good. The music started and he started singing, cool, and getting really close to the woman. Fine. Suddenly, the man dropped to his knees and put his face in her crotch and started simulating things that should not be simulated in front of an audience -- unless you're an adult entertainer. I couldn't bare to watch, must be my conservative, Christian beliefs, but many of the concert goers started carrying on bad. Lickin' shots.

Lickin' shots in the Hummingbird Centre.

Sheesh.

Case couldn't end it there. Oh no, why stop now? He put his face in the woman's backside and started simulating some more things that really, I didn't need or want to see at minutes to 11 o'clock.

Once the dirt was over, I had to give Case props. My man jumped off the stage and ran through what was left of the crowd, 'cause it was dwindling, guy. Lady Abena got a hug up and a picture (which, unfortunately, didn't turn out). He did get the crowd on its feet and he did a good job with his portion of the concert. But, I don't think I'll ever, EVER, see Case live in concert. He too well and nasty.

Can you stand the snow?

Waiting, waiting and more waiting.

Finally, we don't see anyone, but we hear someone. Toronto began to boo vehemently and with much passion and hatred.

"You can boo all you want," said the promoter.

Excuse me? Boo all you want. What kind of rude announcement is that? We didn't sneak in the concert. People paid good money to be here. I'm finding more and more that when dealing with these situations, people think that you're begging them to be there. No one begged, people pulled out their credit cards and paid Ticketmaster anywhere between $50 and $100 to see New Edition.

And, seeing that it's 11:30 pm, I'm believing less and less that NE will make an appearance.

And if they do, I will be fast asleep in my home in Scarborough, 'cause this is getting ridiculous.

"New Edition will be here tonight. The are circling at Buttonville Airport, trying to land. The weather is really bad."

Circling Buttonville Airport? At 11:30 at night? To perform that same night? You must be mad! How is that going to happen?

Buttonville Airport is in Markham! A good 45 minutes away from Hummingbird Centre, downtown Toronto. Look, New Edition didn't just hear they were performing in Toronto yesterday. They knew since time they were going to be here. So, why didn't they plan to be in Toronto by one or two in the afternoon? Aren't there sound checks, lighting checks, etc. etc.?

I knew the weather was going to be questionable, don't you think New Edition's people didn't realize the weather was going to be bad? And wouldn't they plan accordingly? So, I believe that was a load of crap.

I understand the weather's bad, but if you are scheduled to perform somewhere at seven, don't be on a plane at eight-thirty trying to get to your destination. And, if where you were coming from was a hot mess due to inclement weather, wouldn't the promoter be advised early in the day that the weather conditions weren't conducive to travel and the guys were going to have trouble getting into town?

"You can go if you want, but New Edition will perform tonight, whether it's 10 people or 50."

That's when people got really vexed and began to curse the promoter.

There comes a point when there's a situation like this -- when you have to decide if it's worthwhile to chance it and stick around or cut your losses and get home in time to get a decent night's rest before work? I voted for the decent night's rest and bounced.

When we got outside, the snow was up to our ankles and, in true T.O. fashion, no snow plows were on the streets. So, we slid, skidded and crept home in some of the worst weather I've faced in Toronto. So, I can understand that NE couldn't get into town because of the weather, but the attitude from the promoter was disgusting.

Let's say NE had landed at Buttonville at 11:30 pm, by the time they got off the plane and cleared customs, on a good day, it would be 12:15 am. Then they would have to head down to Hummingbird Centre -- from Hummingbird to my place was an hour, tack on another one because of weather -- that would have us at 2:15 am. Next, band set up, let's say it's 45 minutes -- I know it's longer, but for the sake of argument -- that's 3 am Monday morning. Sound and lighting checks, 30 minutes. That's now 3:30 am.

So, what was NE going to do at 3:30 am? Chill out with some groupies and catch a nap, 'cause these guys aren't amateurs and they weren't going to perform at 3:30 in the morning for the 10 people who hung around.

Whatever.

This morning I listened to Flow 93.5 for an update. Well, it seemed, surprise, surprise, that NE did not perform this morning at 3:30. I wonder why?

This afternoon, I was sent an e-mail announcing this free make up concert at Guvernment. I hope they actually make it to the venue.