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The city’s transit authority rejected a proposal on Tuesday. Instead it will proceed with its original shuttle-bus arrangement regarding the Villa Maria metro station. The orange line metro cars won’t be stopping at the station for three months due to renovations. This decision is due to costs and limited availability of extra buses in its fleet.

Because of traffic rules, the shuttle service will run northbound along Decarie Boulevard and turn right at Cote Sainte Catherine Road. It will turn south on Victoria street with a passenger stop at the Cote Sainte Catherine metro station.   Then the shuttle will head farther down for a Snowdon station drop-off and pickup before returning to Villa Maria.

The two million dollar renovations will begin on Monday.

Blackfield… coming to Montreal? It was hard to contain the excitement! Finally, this amazing union of Porcupine Tree’s Steve Wilson and Israel’s most prominent rock musician, Aviv Geffen, were coming and I was stoked.

Knowing the love this city has for Porcupine Tree, I wondered what the turnout might be like to see Blackfield, and it was impressive. You could feel the love as soon as you walked into Le National. Montreal has a strong loyal fan base for progressive rock. So much so, that they came out in droves to see not only Blackfield, but the opening act, Anathema too.

Anathema

Normally I never show up for the opening act, but this was not just any opening act. This was Anathema, and if you are like me and have an affinity for progressive rock, there was no way I could pass this up, and I was sure glad that I didn’t.

When they came out on stage, I was surprised to see just the two brothers, Vincent and Daniel Cavanagh. This band plays haunting melodies, using keyboards and violins, but the brothers came out on stage with acoustic guitars and that was it. It was how they used them that was amazing. Daniel kicked off every song with a beat that he banged out on the butt of his guitar, recorded and then playbacked to set the rhythm for each song. They opened with the song "Deep" off their 1999 album Judgement, and the crowd went wild.

This appreciation surprised the lads, as it was their first time in Canada. They had no idea how much they were loved here, and they showed their appreciation by speaking French and engaging the audience to sing along and to clap for all the songs.

They played a 7-song set, ending with the song "Flying" off the 2003 album, A Natural Disaster, and just before they left the stage they promised that they would be back with a full band the next time.

Blackfield

It wasn’t long before the lights went out and the dark figures drifted on to the stage with one wearing a red illuminated jacket. It was Aviv Geffen! The crowd lost it. My own heart skipped a beat when I saw Steve Wilson. They started with "Blood" off their recently released album, Welcome to My DNA. What is amazing about this band is that they completely tame the savage beast, or in other words, the audience, with their melancholic melodies.

Something that I love about prog rock bands is that you feel their love for the craft. Blackfield proved this throughout the show, as well as showing that they are the gentlemen of the rock world. They give and give in order to connect with the audience and it was evident by the cheers and applause after every song that it worked.

The stage was not elaborate, nor where the lights. They did not need any of this, as their haunting, and at times, heavy music seemed to be enough by looking at entranced looks on the faces of the people surrounding me.

Blackfield played continuously, taking songs from all three of their studio albums, Blackfield, Blackfield II and Welcome to My DNA. Near the end of the show, Geffen introduced the band, and spoke of how Wilson found him on MySpace and opened the world up to him. He said with great emotion that Wilson was his best friend.

They ended the show with a 4-song encore, ending it with "Cloudy Now" from their first album, with Wilson and Geffen chanting loudly, “We are a Fucked up Generation.” I suppose they are right, but I am so glad that we have bands like theirs that can take us to another place and time with their progressively numb melodies.

-Rebecca M hosts Canucks Kick It every Wednesday from 5-6pm 

News read and produced by Erica Fisher.

Stories written by Chris Hanna, Erica Fisher and Jacqueline Di Bartolomeo.

Dan Wheldon emerged the unlikely winner at the Indianopolis 500 after the leader crashed with a lap to go. Rookie JR Hildebrand had more than three seconds on Wheldon with a lap to go when he moved to the outside to pass another car. He got caught in the rough patch and lost control, allowing the Wheldon to bypass him. Hildebrand had taken the lead after Belgian driver Bertrand Baguette ran out of fuel.

Wheldon is the 2005 Indy 500 winner. However, despite his success at the Indy 500, he had been unable to find a full-time ride this season. He lost his ride at Panther Racing to Hildebrand. Wheldon then signed a one-ride deal with Bryan Herta Autosport.

Sunday’s race was also disappointing for Montrealers as pole sitter Alex Tagliani and rookie James Hinchcliffe both crashed. Tagliani was a leader for the first half of the race, but had to deal with problems handling his car.