| Skyreach Place On The Road With MaggieMay... I hated to leave Vancouver. Well, more honestly, I hated to leave my hotel. You get used to your bed turned down, your clothes thoughtfully folded and your toiletries laid out in a neat row like dentist's tools before a root canal. It was hard to leave their coffee, full-bodied but silky, soft and warm in your mouth but with a bite. ; ) Some wax poetic over a desirable member of the opposite sex, some over a tranquil mountain view. For me, it's COFFEE. The coffee in Vancouver is now just a sweet memory. Sigh... I really enjoy my taxi drivers. I've had several this tour whose command of the English language has made conversation impossible and one whose worrisome behavior made it ill advised, but today's driver was a very interesting Figian. I hadn't met anyone from Figi before and we avidly discussed the legacy of British Colonialism. I leave those cabs with regret that the drive to the airport wasn't a little longer. I had a bad experience at Vancouver airport 2 years ago and was reminded of it when we pulled up and I realized there was no curbside check-in. My driver hopped out and grabbed a cart and loaded my luggage on it. EVERYONE in the terminal had a cart. They're free and they must have thousands of them! Westjet check-in was painless with a short line and a pleasant clerk. I was waved toward security and discovered it was rather different from my usual US travels. They don't want your shoes, but they want every bit of electronic equipment you own: laptop, cameras, cell phones and CD players. I own it all and they wanted to SEE it all. sigh They were unsmiling and humorless, making the experience seem even longer. There's nothing you can do but grin and bear it. 
Kelowna airport is a joy. It's very small and requires little effort
and the people are friendly. I was whisked to The Grand Okanagon (named
after the area's 70 mile long lake) and while the building and common areas
are very nice, the rooms leave something to be desired. If this is the
ritziest hotel in Kelowna, then they have a way to go. THE VENUE Skyreach Place is a hockey arena. When configured for 3/4 bowl concerts it has seating on a flat concrete floor, around the sides and club seats. There is no level above the club seats. What *I* like about Kelowna is that you enter the ring around the arena and walk straight onto the floor. In other arenas you have to walk down a long, steep flight of stairs. Skyreach Place is smaller than most hockey arenas, but quite an amazing place to have in a town of 60,000 people. I was told it draws from all over the valley. The temporary stage was the usual setup. The stage was pretty high, faced with the standard black material. The large speaker unit was flying on either side and I noticed two front fill speakers on each side: one facing the floor audience at an angle and one facing the crowd on the side. The three funky "fan" things on poles were there again on Paul's side. I've got to find out what those are. 
What makes Skyreach Place special *isn't* the venue itself which is pretty
regular as hockey arenas go. It's the view of the hills, the cute town
and the lake as you walk in. It is beautiful! It's not Tahoe,
but it is very pretty and relaxing. Their entry sign had a list of no-nos
and cameras were included, but no one asked and I didn't offer them up as
sacrifices. No purse searches. I saw a guy a few seats down get
nailed while using a digital and I kept mine out of sight (and out of use)
until the very end. THE FASHION REPORT GE - Red car shirt with guitar first half, hula shirt second, black slacks JL - White long slvd "bib" shirt with ruffle first half, black on second, leathers, boots JH - Pink long slvd shirt with ruffles first half, thin white shirt second, black slacks Paul - White long slvd shirt with tan stripes Gordon - White shirt with black design, white slacks Bernie - White outfit with patterned red belt 
I can't remember what Norda was wearing, but noticed she didn't have her
MR pendant on and was wearing a different beaded necklace. Why I can
remember THAT and can't remember her clothes is a mystery. I really
like the white shirt JH has worn recently. It's very simple, understated,
elegant. And very thin! ; ) The pink and blue ruffled
shirts this tour remind me of a high school prom. LOL!!! Hey,
it's a look. THE CONCERT It was as far back as I've been in quite a while. My second row right seat almost in front of Paul wasn't bad, but I would guess that it was 30 feet from Justin. You could see them though and they look great from a distance too. It was a different experience. The Kelowna crowd was almost entirely locals and they visited, joked and caught up before the concert. A couple of women sitting behind me did it DURING the concert, too. It was a group of middle-aged people who like to have fun, that's for sure. The 2003 setlist was performed with a 20-minute intermission. 
The Actor was notable tonight - a very fine job, and I got chills at the
drum crescendo during IKYOTS. However, the knock out song of the
evening was Nights. It was the most magnificent performance of Nights
I've ever seen! I've never seen Justin perform it this way. It
was incredibly strong, passionate and sweetly painful. It almost brought
me to tears. I was flabbergasted. I had no idea he had that in him! It made the trip to Kelowna WELL worth it. It was definitely the performance of a lifetime! At least, *my* lifetime. It was a concert moment I'll think of fondly for a very long time. MaggieMay I love you, yes, I love you, Oh HOW I love you! Photos courtesy of MaggieMay (Ed: So, there were too many photos of Mr Lodge in the reviews, and not enough of the lead guitarist, eh? Well, you see what she sent me THIS time!) 
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Calgary