Toronto, Ontario

I think I decided to start this blog at the perfect time. First blog post gets to be my trip to Toronto.

I came across Game Grumps a few years ago, courtesy of my husband who has a very odd sense of humor.

When you watch Game Grumps, it’s impossible to not be introduced to the dulcet tones of Daniel Avidan. This marvelous man is the lead singer of Ninja Sex Party and it just so happens that they are smack dab in the middle of their Rock Hard tour. The Rock Hard tour ended up making a stop a couple hours away from my small town. When I found out they were going to Toronto, I jumped at the chance to buy plane tickets and concert tickets. “Of course we’re going”, I had nearly yelled at my grinning husband.

So off I went to dish out a stupid amount of money on this experience.

So please, keep reading and you will see our wonderful, sleep deprived adventure in Toronto, Ontario. There will be pictures, taken of course with my potato quality cell phone camera. Enjoy 🙂

—

My husband and I both worked quite late Friday night, so we ended up just staying up all night so we could catch our 6AM flight. Trying to sleep on a plane is nearly impossible, even when listening to music. I had NateWantsToBattle, Ninja Sex Party and Andie Case on repeat to make it through the two and a half hour flight and of course, my husband slept peacefully beside me so he couldn’t distract me.

Funny thing is, I’m terrified of heights, but once it gets past a certain point, I’m actually able to handle it.

I should also add that the ‘city’ I live in nearly never does direct flights unless it’s to Toronto or Montreal. Literally propeller planes at all time. Yay. Those clouds though. As cheesy as it sounds, it sometimes felt like I was looking out into a different world. Like I could just hop out of the plane and climb the clouds. It was gorgeous.

So, when we landed we were kind of in a crappy situation. It was 9AM and we couldn’t check into our hotel until 11AM at the earliest, so of course, we got lost in the airport. Literally. We had found a smoothie stand to get breakfast and then couldn’t find the exit for over an hour. Props to our sleep deprived brains for that one.

Once we were finally out, it was fine. Minus having to spend $80.00 on an Uber because the normal types don’t actually go to the airport. Once I gritted my teeth through spending that, it was smooth sailing. We got to the hotel, checked in and took an unexpected(but MUCH needed) nap for a few hours.

That’s when the real adventure started.

At this point it was around 2:30 in the afternoon and our plan was to go get something to eat and explore for a while before our 7PM ‘Shark Night’ at the Aquarium. My husband went on Google and found the cutest Mexican restaurant called Sneaky Dee’s, which was awesome, as well as delicious. All day breakfast is a thing that all restaurants should have.

After having our breakfast, we started the long walk all the way down Spadina Ave. For anyone interested in exploring Toronto on foot, keep in mind that Google Maps is terribly misleading when it comes to distances. We thought the walk down to the Aquarium would take maybe a half hour. Nope, this was a nice two and a half hour walk at least. Of course, we also stopped at a couple places like Krispy Kreme and a classic video games store. We also had to inch our way through a festival that was blocking a large portion of the road.

That festival was amazing. If we didn’t have a schedule to stick to, I would of loved to explore it more. They had everything from food vendors to street dancing to henna tattoos, it was one of the most fascinating things I have ever seen. This was also directly in China Town as well, so every few shops were outdoor markets and people selling trinkets. I was trying to save my cell phone battery for the Aquarium, so unfortunately I didn’t get any pictures of this. In hind sight, I really wish I would of.

When we finally made it to our destination, it was exceptionally busy. Unbeknownst to us, the Aquarium is right next to the CN Tower, which is a major tourist area in Toronto.

I think the living statue was my favorite thing. Completely freaked me out at first. I wouldn’t go any closer because he was literally playing tricks on people who would walk by. If their backs were turned to him, he would poke them, or take their hat. It was hilarious to see.

After killing some time outside, we were finally able to go into the Aquarium. If you ever go to Toronto, I highly recommend visiting Ripley’s. It was one of the most amazing things I have ever been able to witness. It was pretty crowded, even at the ‘quiet’ time but it was 100% worth it.

We ended up going through the Dangerous Lagoon twice because it was that amazing.

They also sell the most adorable marine life jewelry that’s not actually too pricey for a gift shop. Each set of earrings were only 3.99 and the necklace was 7.99.

After making our way through the rest of the exhibits, petting sting rays, horseshoe crabs and baby sharks, we finally called it a day and went back to the hotel for some much needed sleep.

Unfortunately, the sleep deprivation did catch up to us and we ended up waking up way later than expected. The concert was only at seven, but we learned from the year before that people lined up super early.

Last year, they played at the Opera House which has a capacity of about 850 people, if I’m remembering correctly. The tickets sold out so quick that they ended up doing a second show which sold out just as fast. This year, the venue they booked was the Rebel which has a max capacity of 3500 people. When I became aware of that, I made the plan that we would show up at 2PM, a wonderful five hours before the doors opened and six hours before the actual show started.

It was the best decision ever. When we got in line, there were maybe 30 or so people in front of us but shortly after there were waves of people showing up. Next thing you know, we were literally corralled into sections waiting to get in. Luckily, NSP and Game Grumps fans are extremely friendly people, so even though we couldn’t meet up with my husbands brother and his girlfriend, there was a nice couple that we were able to strike up a conversation with to pass the time.

I felt exceptionally out of place at the venue. I had read on the Rebel website that they wanted everyone in ‘dressy-casual’ clothes, so that’s kind of what I did. I would of been less out of place in a t-shirt. Oops. Either way, seeing people in Danny Sexbang and Ninja Brian cosplays was amazing. There was one woman that had a dress to match Danny’s costume and it was beautiful. Another guy came dressed as DeadPool, it kind of made my night.

We went through some security checks and were ushered close to the door. You could tell the crowd was starting to get a little excited. As we stood there, dying of heat in the Toronto sun, loud choruses of ‘All Star’ by Smash Mouth and ‘Dinosaur Laser Fight’ could be heard traveling it’s way to the back of the line. It was the happiest and purest thing I think I have ever seen.

Surprisingly, no one got hurt as everyone rushed through the door that security finally opened. If I hadn’t been so excited, I would of paid more attention to how absolutely gorgeous it is inside the Rebel. All I really noticed was the blinding blue over head lights and the bars on either side of the room.

Now, some slight guilt here. My husband wanted to go to the merch table, but I could see the crowd starting to gather in front of the stage and I could see that we would be really far away if we went there first. So I made the decision to pry him away and promise him that we’d buy merch online later. Totally worth it in my opinion.

We were finally able to meet up with my brother-in-law and his girlfriend, so we chatted and listened to the old school video game music playing through the overhead until the show started. It wasn’t long before chants of ‘NSP’ and ‘TWRP’ started through the crowd. You could literally feel the anticipation at the clock ticked down to start time.

The opening act was MCChris. Now, I’m not going to lie, I had no idea who this man was. I saw NSP post that he was opening for them for the remaining of the Rock Hard tour, but I never actually got around to looking him up. Even so, I was impressed. He was very engaging with the crowd and eventually I ended up forgetting that I had no idea who he was. He seems to be quite the character.

After MCChris, a sound technician came on stage to set up for TWRP, so of course the crowd started cheering for him and clapping. It was kind of hilarious because you could tell that the guy was confused of why people were paying so much attention to him. As I said, though, the fanbase is a friendly bunch.

Everyone calmed down after a while, only to get right back into it as soon as TWRP came on stage. Now, I don’t personally listen to TWRP. Their music just isn’t the type that I actually enjoy, but them on stage is a sight to behold. The costumes, the dancing, just the presence they have makes for a fantastic show. So even though I don’t listen to them often, it certainly wasn’t a bore or a bother to watch them. I loved it. The lead singer, Doctor Sung, is an absolute riot on stage and so is Commander Meouch. Listening to him constantly call out that every song is ‘for the ladies here tonight’, somehow makes me laugh every single time.

Some people were there strictly for TWRP. Others, like myself, were there for NSP. So when TWRP’s set started winding down and they started hinting at NSP coming on stage, the energy grew even more. And when Brian and Danny stepped out on stage, the crowd absolutely lost it. Including myself. I thought I was going to go deaf from the roar of voices around me and I was sure that I was going to deafen my husband who was standing in front of me with how loud I was screaming.

Now, I have a little bit of a fangirl crush on Danny. He’s such a happy person, it’s nearly impossible to feel anything but excited and happy when he’s around or when you’re watching/listening to him. The grin on his face when he walked onto stage was contagious. Brian, of course, just walked around flipping everyone off, but I’d like to think he was doing it happily or at least grinning behind his ninja mask.

There was no concern that the concert was going to be bad. I don’t think it’s possible for NSP to play a bad show, not with the way they clearly feed off the fans and the fans feed off them. It was a beautiful mix of Danny’s voice, the crowd screaming the lyrics and Brian looking mildly pissed off while consistently giving the middle finger or antagonizing Danny.

We got some sneak previews of music videos and songs from upcoming albums, which were of course, amazing. I write this with the chant of ‘Don’t Be A Dick’ still ringing in my ears, so I definitely won’t be giving any spoilers. But I’m so looking forward to when the new albums are released and I can have more songs to constantly listen to on repeat. I don’t think there’s a song that they can create or cover that I would dislike.

Unfortunately, the show couldn’t last forever. NSP, TWRP and MC Chris have to continue spreading love and dick jokes across the USA and everyone has day jobs and responsibilities to return to. But as the concert came to end I was absolutely blown away by how happy everyone looked. Music is a wonderful thing; it can make the people who perform it unbelievably happy and it can make a room full of 3000+ strangers chant in unison. Although I was exhausted and sore from standing for nearly eight hours straight, I was in the best mood ever.

When we finally made it outside, after taking some pictures of two guys dressed like Danny and Brian, we found a quiet curb to sit on. We needed a little time to cool off and have the crowds disperse before we started the trek home (or back to the hotel room, as it was.)

As we were discussing the concert and how wonderful it was, a guy walked over and started chatting with us about the show. After a few minutes of conversation, I had a funny feeling that I knew who he was, so I asked him what his Instagram handle was. Low and behold it was ‘Lickmylenscap’. I momentarily freaked out before returning to normal conversation. This guy is an absolutely fantastic photographer that I follow on Instagram. He photographed the concert both last year and this year for NSP and does the photos for a lot of shows across Toronto.

It was a pretty awesome ending to an amazing show, having the opportunity to talk to someone who had been speaking with the bands that we had just seen right before the show. Blew my mind just a little bit.

After that conversation came to a close, we said goodnight and walked a little ways up the street before saying goodnight to my husbands brother. Being done with walking, we got an Uber back to the hotel and ordered some late night sushi before doing everything in our power to try to stay awake. The concert had ended around 11:30 and we had a 9AM flight to take to go back home. Rather than risk missing our flight by oversleeping, we just did another all-nighter. Which of course, didn’t work out and we both ended up falling asleep in awkward positions: my husband sprawled across the hotel bed fully clothed and me sitting in an office chair laying my head on my arms on the edge of the bed like I was sitting at a desk. We were quite the sight, I’m sure.

Thankfully, we woke up at a half decent time, rushed to pack up and made the 40 minute drive to the airport while trying not to fall asleep in the Uber. I think I failed on that one, I’m not sure. The flight, again, was terrible. A smoother ride than getting to Toronto but I don’t think I will ever get used to take offs and landings. It’s the most uncomfortable thing ever.

Regardless of any hiccups that we ended up encountering, the trip was definitely something to remember. I’m running on 10 hours of sleep in a 72 hour period and a diet of mostly fast food and energy drinks, but the mini vacation meant the world to me. I don’t get out of my little city nearly enough, but I have plans for future trips. Hopefully ones that will last more than a weekend and maybe some that include other fantastic YouTubers that I would love to see in concert.

Have a good week and thank you for reading 🙂

Bree