Saturday:
My sister-in-law's workplace was hosting a Grey Cup breakfast Saturday morning and we were all invited to attend. The meal was amazing and there is something about starting your day with beer, orange juice and champagne, or Irish Cream laced coffee that really gets your day rolling. The hotel this breakfast was hosted at just so happened to be the same hotel the Riders were staying in. As we walked up to the entrance, who should we see but #41 Fred Perry! One of the "angels" just so happened to be wearing a #41 jersey so we had to stop for a picture.

#41 with Angel #41

We also managed to get a picture with Eric Tillman as well. Apparently, had we arrived earlier we might have been able to meet a certain Mr. Kent Austin as he had apparently been out in the lobby just shortly prior to our arrival. Oh well, maybe next Grey Cup!

Afterwards we headed to Riderville. I had been able to score advance tickets to Riderville through the U of R Alumni Association. The tickets had said we could by-pass the line and head straight in through a VIP door. When we got there we found that security was rather surly and they forced us to get into the rather long line to get in. Have a look for yourself:

The line to get into Riderville

Naturally, as we are 10 people from the door -- someone from inside comes out to check the line for people with VIP tickets so we got to bypass the line after waiting in line which I found kind of irritating. Planning/organization was clearly not Riderville's forte.

Once inside we made a beeline to the stage as I had been tipped off that Jason Plumb and the Willing were going to be performing inside. He was excellent! I was a bit disappointed that the crowd was not more into his set -- it was very very good.

Afterwards we headed back to our place to grab a bit to eat and freshen up. We had concert tickets to see Spirit of the West, Lowest of the Low, Great Big Sea and Emerson Drive. It was part of the Grey Cup Concert Series at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre. Our tickets said doors opened at 7PM and since we've never been to a concert EVER where it has started at the time stated we were in no rush... we figured we'd arrive just before 8 and not have missed anything. Well, we were very wrong. We arrived to hear the last song of SOTW set. They sounded amazing and I will forever be sad I missed them. We rushed to buy drink tickets only to discover that the lineups were insanely long. No lie, we actually saw a guy get two drinks and then get back in line with his drinks because he'd have finished them both before he got back to the front of the line. Earlier in the day we had come to the realization that you could have taken the dumbest person off the street and they'd have been able to pour beer faster than the staff at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre (these were the same people responsible for the terrible service at Riderville). Given that 90% of the crowd that attends these events are out for a good time -- I think the service was terrible. It felt, at times, like you were paying to stand in line. We bought tickets, got our drinks and made it to the stage area in time to see Lowest of the Low -- who were really good. N was in his glory as this is one of his favourite bands and we'd never seen them before. Here's a few clips:

Afterwards, we heard from people in the crowd that the lineup for drinks was averaging 50 minutes! As we had a bunch of tickets left we decided to get all the drinks we could -- that meant Neil got doubles!! At $9 a drink that makes a mighty expensive double.

Cost of concert ticket $58, Cost of two doubles $40, knowing you could be at home getting smashed listening to Lowest of the Low
while drinking a '40 of Crown for a fraction of the price: PRICELESS!!

Now I don't want you to get the impression we didn't have a good time... just check out this "angel" on the left. She is clearly having a great time and I think I can speak for N and the rest of us "angels" and say we all did -- but man, the way things were set up was FRUSTRATING and I think it lost organizers $$ overall as people would have spent way more money despite high drink prices if service had been better.

Next up was Great Big Sea. Everyone who has ever seen them live knows that they put on an excellent show. They sound great live and have an infectious energy that is impossible to ignore (unless you are N... he's the only person I've ever met that seriously couldn't stand them). They took the stage and put on a fantastic show!! Truly awesome!

We left after GBS. Frankly, I have no idea what they were thinking when they decided that Emerson Drive should headline the show?? I remember being annoyed that they were added at all -- I had bought my ticket as early as possible (when they hadn't been added to the bill) and then to add a country act to a pop/rock show seemed dumb -- but then I'm not really a fan of Emerson Drive.

We finished the night off by checking out Ti-Cat town and then back to Riderville where I spent the entire hour I was there in line first to by my drink ticket then to buy my drink. See a pattern here?? It was seriously enough to make my head explode. Time to head home and rest up for the big game!

Thurday night:

We headed to Riderville. We got in right away and were disappointed with the size of the room -- it was WAY TOO SMALL for Riderville. The pictures may make it look adequate but this was just Thursday night. We discovered that the wine/liquor was $9.80 a drink and that beer was $6 and that on average you'd spend 30 minutes in line for tickets (if you were lucky). Then you headed to the drink line where there was one to two bartender(s) -- so it was another long wait for your drink. We were to discover that this would only get dramatically worse over the weekend.

Merchandise was subpar -- we expected better stuff... we went ready to buy and between the 6 of us there we really didn't buy too much.

Afterwards, we headed north to the Sheraton where the Spirit of Edmonton venue was being held. It was an AWESOME venue! We arrived, the room was at least twice the size of Riderville and packed. There were lots of Rider fans! The best part was that you could get drinks for $5. Needless to say, we all agreed that it kicked Riderville's ass.

Friday:

I headed to work and it was N's turn to play host. N and his "angels" headed down to the free Stampeder pancake breakfast and then checked out the festivities in the convention centre. Highlights included meeting Damon Allen and Henry Burris! Afterwards, N took the "angels" to the Hard Rock Cafe that overlooks the Rogers Centre field. He could not have timed lunch better -- just as they sat down at a table overlooking the field, the Riders took the field for practice.

N taking the "Angels" for lunch! Lucky N!!

Friday night:

We all met back up later that evening for supper at The Keg. We had the best service and an excellent meal. We asked our server to create a "Green" shooter for the Riders and it was excellent. We named it a "Smooth Rider" for its smooth finish. A Smooth Rider is 1 part melon liquer and 1 part Creme de Cacao. Yummy!! We had three rounds and then displaying true Saskatchewan class, we invited our server to join us for a shot!!

Afterwards, we headed back to the Spirit of Edmonton. It was busy but there were short and fast lines at the bar and there were lots of Rider fans. We didn't regret not going to Riderville. Overall, a fantastic start to the weekend ahead!

Bomber fans and Rider fans were out in full force last night. Naturally, most of the Bomber fans were really deluded... I mean, really -- it seems mean-spirited to even respond to this kind of taunt knowing full well the Riders are going to cream the Bombers come Sunday. Though if any of you have any good "response" taunts, we'd happily try them out on deluded Bomber fans....

We got pictures with a few people you may recognize... have a look:

Be sure to check out
My flickr
for more pictures from last night!

The lead up to Grey Cup (for me) began yesterday when I arrive at TO's Pearson airport to pick up the first wave of friends heading into town for Grey Cup. Here we are:

It should be noted that we were trying to preserve our
Rider Green & White for the festivities to come.

I have started a new photo set on Flickr called, Rider Mania / Grey Cup 2007. Be sure to keep an eye on it as I may post pictures there faster than I can blog about events.

Picking up the second wave of arrivals this morning. Then we're headed out for lunch. Tonight: Riderville!! WOO HOO!!