From The Whig Standard – Ontario, CA
The Hip need your help

Posted By Sarah Crosbie Whig-Standard Features Editor

In just one week, the Tragically Hip takes the stage to play the inaugural concert at the Kingston Regional Sports and Entertainment Centre.

The lights come up.

The crowd goes wild.

And frontman Gord Downie looks into the sold-out audience of 6,700 die-hard fans, grabs his mic, and yells “are you ready to rock, Kingston!”

And then Downie, Gord Sinclair, Rob Baker, Johnny Faye and Paul Langlois begin to rock – but which song?

In an exclusive interview with The Whig-Standard that we’ll be publishing next week, Baker talks about many interesting things – the band might just be working on a new album – but one thing he wouldn’t disclose is the setlist for the band’s first show at the city’s newest concert hall.

Maybe that’s because they’re still trying to decide whether to play a classic such as Courage or Little Bones or go with something new like the single In View from their most recent album, World Container. Better yet, what about the appropriately titled The Lonely End of the Rink from that disc?

We thought it would be fun if we made the Hip’s job less stressful by suggesting a good first song for their first concert at the new downtown venue, and their first local concert since 2004’s Across the Causeway rock show.

Tell us what Hip song you’d like to be the one that christens the stage and why. E-mail us your suggestion to whiglocal@thewhig.com, with “Hip song” as the subject line.

Please include your name and a phone number.

We’ll accept submissions until Thursday.