State Theatre, Detroit, MI
01: The Lonely End Of The Rink
02: Courage
03: Yer Not The Ocean
04: Boots Or Hearts
05: In View
06: Ahead By A Century
07: Luv (Sic)
08: Poets
09: The Dire Wolf
10: Pretend
11: Puttin’ Down
12: Locked In The Trunk Of A Car
13: Wheat Kings
14: The Kids Don’t Get It
15: Grace, too
16: Scared
17: Family Band
18: Blow At High Dough
Encore
19: Summer Is Killing Us
20: COVER: “Cold Metal” by Iggy Pop
21: Fire in the Hole
The Hip played a high energy show to a sold out State Theater in Detroit. The crowd pulsed with every beat the band played. Gord D. gyrated across the stage and feed off the reaction he got from his singing and dancing. He kept wandering to stage left where the fans were particularly into Gord’s performance. They were singing along and reaching out to him.
I was so impressed with The Hip’s performance. Every member was showcasing the talents they posses. Gord D. brought us along on his roller coaster ride with great singing, dancing and his uncanny ability to act out his emotions. Rob was on fire with blazing solos. Downie announced during the show that Happy Birthday wishes go out to Robbie on this day. Gord also said Rob shared his birthday with David Cassidy. (I’m sure there was an inside joke there). Paul was solid with his own leads and backing vocals. Gord Sinclair was plucking his bass and getting some incredible twangs. He really sounded good. I was most impressed with Johnnie Fay. His drum play was unassuming, yet powerful at the same time. I think the Bob Rock influence on Johnnie’s playing is noticable. John told me himself after the show that he has found a new groove. He played his stripped down Yamaha drum set so loud, but with great ease.
The show had many highlights. The set list included nice suprizes such as Thugs and Long Time Running. During Family Band a crowd surfer made it over the barrier with his pants well below his bare ass. Gord S. and Robbie got a good laugh from that. Nautical Disaster was good with Gord paddling himself across the stage into the end speaker stack. During Springtime a bra was thrown and landed in front of Rob. Gord eventually found it and sniffed it warily. He began running back and forth across the stage waving it behind him. He eventually tossed it back into the crowd. He then casually walked over to Sinclair and wiped his brow with his white hanky. 100th Meridian was awesome with Gord boxing his mikestand and throwing it high into the air three times. It was bent and battered when he was done with it. He straightened it out and crouched down leaning against the base. He leaned back on the mikestand at a 45 degree angle. He was using it like a rocking chair. He put his hanky over his face and “fell asleep” while Robbie played esoteric riffs on his guitar. Gord began spinning with his blindfold over his face. He eventually jumped up and ranted about dreaming he was spinning.
During Fully, Completely Gord was twirling his mike and cord ala Roger Daltry style. He began twirling it horizontally, letting it wrap around his neck like a tetherball on a pole. The mike would strike his neck and he would reverse it the other way. He did it numerous times. He ended the song using his hanky like the tail on a rooster/peacock.
The encore was fantastic. During Don’t Wake Daddy, Gord and Paul sang different lyrics at the same time. Gord went over to Paul and stuck his mike in Paul’s ear and sung loudly while Paul sang his own lyrics. Gord was trying to mess up Paul. Paul was laughing, but kept his part straight. This was followed by Black Day in July. The song was great even though Gord had to read portions of the lyrics. The show ended with On the Verge. Johnnie increased the beat 10 times to end the song. He was flailing wildly and came to a sudden stop.
After the show we were invited to meet Robbie, Paul and John at the Greektown Casino for a few birthday drinks. We had a great time chatting with the guys. Paul told me how he became a band member. I knew some of the story already, but he gave me some great background on how things happened. I like all the guys, but Robbie has always been especially nice to me and my wife Carolyn. He spoke to everyone while playing video poker. Johnnie, Billy Ray, The Hip’s manager and Rick, the head of security, were hanging out too. Paul paid me a nice compliment and told me I was one of the most intense Hip fans he has met throughout his years of playing. He hoped my interest in the the band would continue. With experiences like this….you know it will.
State Theatre, Detroit, MI
01: In View
02: New Orleans Is Sinking
03: The Drop Off
04: Gus: The Polar Bear From Central Park
05: Family Band
06: Bobcaygeon
07: Yer Not The Ocean
08: Nautical Disaster
09: Thugs
10: World Container
11: Springtime In Vienna
12: At The 100th Meridian
13: It’s A Good Life If You Don’t Weaken
14: The Kids Don’t Get It
15: Fully Completely
16: Long Time Running
17: The Lonely End Of The Rink
18: Little Bones
Encore
19: Don’t Wake Daddy
20: COVER: “Black Day in July” by Gordon Lightfoot
21: On the Verge
FIVE THINGS: About the Tragically Hip
April 12, 2007
BY EMILIANA SANDOVAL
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER
Canadian rockers the Tragically Hip will be at the State Theatre in Detroit tonight and Friday. Doors open at 6:30, and maple leaf attire is welcome.
THE BAND
The name comes from a skit in Michael Nesmith’s “Elephant Parts,” and the band formed in Kingston, Ontario, in 1983. Vocalist Gord Downie, guitarists Paul Langlois and Rob Baker, bassist Gord Sinclair and drummer Johnny Fay were childhood buddies. The band is egalitarian: Everyone makes the same amount of money, and nobody’s in a position to fire anyone.
The Hip is huge in Canada, with a whole slew of Juno Awards. It’s in the Canadian Hall of Fame and has a star on the Canadian Walk of Fame in Toronto.
Fellow Canadian Dan Aykroyd is a fan and got the guys a guest spot on “Saturday Night Live” in 1995.
They love hockey and often reference it in songs.
FANATIC FANS
The band has a legion of dedicated fans called Hip heads. Some travel from show to show. The double disc “Yer Favourites” was so named because the fans voted on what songs they wanted.
Fans can post stories, called the Hip Story Project, online at www.thehip.com.
LIVE AT COBO
The 1998 album “Live Between Us” was recorded at Cobo Arena.
“We wanted to do an album that really represented us live — no cutting, overdubs,” said drummer Fay. “We wanted it completely authentic and the best night we played was in Detroit, which was funny because it was our official Canadian tour.
“I grew up listening to Yes, and they did two records at Cobo. And, of course, Kiss did one. When you’re onstage you play better in certain rooms, and Cobo is like that.”
THE NEW ALBUM
“World Container,” released in the States last month, was produced by Bob Rock, who produced Metallica and glam rockers Mötley Crüe. It was recorded in Toronto, Vancouver and Hawaii, where Rock lives.
“He did a great job of capturing the live band sound,” Fay said. “We really enjoyed working with Bob. He’s very grounded, always listened to what we had to say. He was a great coach on the drums.”
THE SHOW
Fay says the band will play stuff off the new album and some old favorites. The set lists for the tour are on the band’s Web site, and new songs “In View,” “The Lonely End of the Rink” and “Yer Not the Ocean” show up frequently. For old songs, there’s “Grace, Too,” “New Orleans Is Sinking” — written a decade ago — “Scared” and “Fully Completely.”
A hallmark of Hip shows is Downie’s rapid, evocative stream-of-consciousness monologues. Sometimes they become lyrics for future songs. The guy has a way with words — his son’s name is Tarzan.
I’ll update this as more dates get announced:
2007-06-30 – Lewiston, NY at Artpark
2007-07-01 – Lewiston, NY at Artpark
2007-07-12 – Vancouver, BC at GM Place
2007-07-14 – Grande Prairie, AB at Summerslam
2007-07-15 – Calgary, AB at Pengrowth Saddledome
2007-07-18 – Saskatoon, SK at Bessborough Gardens
2007-07-19 to 21 – Detroit Lakes, MN at 10,000 Lakes Festival
2007-09-08 – St. John’s, NL at Mile One Centre
2007-09-11 – Fredericton, NB at The Aitken Centre
2007-09-12 – Saint John, NB at Harbour Centre
2007-09-13 – Halifax, NS at Metro Centre
Wintersleep will be opening for The Hip at the following shows:
05/10/07: Indianapolis: The Vogue
05/11/07: Chicago: House Of Blues SOLD OUT
05/12/07: Chicago: House Of Blues
05/14/07: Minneapolis: First Avenue
05/15/07: Madison: Barrymore Theatre
05/17/07: Toldeo: Zoo Amphitheatre
05/18/07: Erie: Warner Theatre
05/19/07: Towson: Recher Theatre
When Dave isn’t dedicating his time to The Hip or Guster, he thinks about the guys in Wintersleep.
The Tragically Hip are on top of their game
By SHAWN TELFORD
SPECIAL TO THE P-I
Twenty years in and The Tragically Hip are playing like they’re just getting started. For the first 10 years, the Kingston, Ontario, five-piece played it cool as blues rockers. Gradually, the band edged toward country-rock before eventually settling into a straight-up rock persona that culminated in the seminal records “Day for Night” and “Fully Completely,” from ’94 and ’92, respectively.
For the next 10 years, the Hip steadily released albums driven as much by their guitar work as Gordon Downie’s maverick lyrics. Though he likes to focus on the Canadian experience, the singer’s stories run the gamut of possibility. In fact, his microscope seems to know no bounds, a feat matched only by his ability to subsume big, polysyllabic words into songs (pendulum, biosphere, vaccination), many of which have never seen a song before and probably never will again.
Yet, for Hip-heads, and particularly the lesser-known American variety, this was a frustrating time. Each of the five albums from this era suffered a professional malaise that belabored the Hip. It seemed that Canada’s Greatest Rock Band was going through the motions. The root of the problem was drummer Johnny Fay who, for nearly 10 years, would do little more than keep the beat; his lack of excitement and general laziness haunted the band, keeping their songs locked in 4/4 time.
Thank God for Bob Rock, the studio impresario best known for his work with Motley Crue (“Dr. Feelgood”) and Metallica (“Load,” “Reload” and “St. Anger”), not to mention David Lee Roth and Bon Jovi. Rock not only reawakened the Hip but he pushed them to new levels. The resulting “World Container” is the greatest Hip album ever recorded. The proof was seen in their concert Thursday night at the Moore, a spellbinding, energetic and triumphant display of prowess, expertise and most certainly, an absolute love of rock ‘n’ roll.
Quintessential entertainer and dynamic frontman Downie was soaked with perspiration by about the fifth song. By the 18th (an explosive rendition of the bluesy “Blow at High Dough”), he looked as if he had just stepped out of the shower. His aerobic interpretive dances have always made a Hip show into a spectacle, one to be seen as well as heard, but Thursday night Downie was on fire. Not even his microphone stands could handle his vivacity; he went through two and almost maimed a third.
Rarely do the Hip play songs by other bands; in fact, according to my sources, “Sweet Jane” has been the only exception, but add to the list “Jumping Jack Flash,” an apropos encore song, if not a summation of the new era for the Hip: “It’s a gas! Gas! Gas!”
Shawn Telford is a Seattle-based freelance writer who can be reached at eyeheartmusic@yahoo.com.
Corby from UniqueMotel.com just posted his capture of last nights’ performance:
From BigA:
LiveDaily Interview: Johnny Fay of The Tragically Hip
March 29, 2007 11:48 AM
by Christina Fuoco
LiveDaily Contributor
The Tragically Hip has recorded a handful of records in New Orleans, but nothing prepared the members of the Canadian rock band for what they witnessed on the way to the South by Southwest music festival in Austin, TX, earlier this month.
“You would have thought the hurricane hit yesterday,” drummer Johnny Fay said. “There were sections that they just haven’t done anything with. If you didn’t know and you arrived in the French Quarter, you would never know except lots of places are for sale because the crime rate has gone up.
“Knowing what you know, it’s kind of sad for the city. There’s been some real improvements in the quarter, but overall the city is struggling. It needs people to go and spend their money. That’s what we did. We went and took our crew out for dinner. Stayed in hotels. There’s so much music and so much history in that town, it can’t die. It would just be a shame. But it seemed like the outer-lying areas–like the Ninth Ward that was really hit bad–is just sort of sitting there. It’s not right.”
Currently promoting 2006’s “World Container,” The Tragically Hip recently toured with The Who as an opening act. Fay–who is joined in the band by singer/acoustic guitarist Gordon Downie, lead guitarist Rob Baker, rhythm guitarist Paul Langlois and bassist Gord Sinclair–said playing with The Who was like completing the holy trinity.
“We played with Page and Plant. We played with the Stones. When the opportunity came up to play with The Who, we jumped at it. Those are the big three,” he said.
Fay talked to LiveDaily about “World Container,” the song “New Orleans is Sinking” and the importance of notoriety.
LiveDaily: Your experience in New Orleans really gives new meaning to your song “New Orleans is Sinking.”
Johnny Fay: We had people in Canada and they said, “We’re not gonna play that song.” But if you did the history on that city, they’ve always been expecting a big one. They have a drink called the hurricane. You go down Bourbon Street and they say, “Bring it on. Bring it on; we’re ready for it.” Gord [Downie] wrote that in 1984. That’s a long time ago. He was just even then getting the vibe of the city and the people. They were talking about it back then. Waiting for the big one. It was done with no disrespect, obviously, if you listen to the lyrics. It’s nine feet below sea level, so it was bound to happen. And it’s very sad that it did. Gord introduces the song now as “New Orleans is Sinking and We Don’t Want to Help.” It just seems like people don’t want to help.
You’ve pretty much consistently released albums every two years. Is that a schedule that’s tough to stick with?
It’s interesting, because Bono said you don’t want to let too much time pass before you get together and at least write some songs and keep that going. When you do take time off, that’s when it gets harder. If you’re a true band and you hook up with each other at least every couple weeks, then you’ve got that thing going and you’re able to stick to it. Then you got a couple songs, then you go into the studio and you’re ignited again. That’s the most important thing.
Do you write mostly in the studio or outside of the studio?
I think it’s a little of both. We used to write in jams. With “New Orleans is Sinking,” the music was written out of a jam for a song we were playing. I forget what it was, it was so long ago. That gives you an initial spark for a song. You might hone in when you’re in the studio.
What was it like to work with producer Bob Rock on “World Container”?
It was really cool. We spend so much time going in the southern states working with Americans, it was really cool to record in Canada with a Canadian after all these years. We kind of pick the producer based on his prior work. Don Smith, on our first couple records, he worked with Tom Petty and he worked with Keith Richards. We liked his approach. Maybe we didn’t know too much about him as an arranger. We were very happy with the way those records turned out. Working with Bob, he’s awesome. He gets involved in everything. He sort of hones in on the parts. The songs come together pretty fast with him. They’re either a song or they’re not.
In your bio, it mentions you had a newfound freedom on this album. What were you able to do on this record that you couldn’t do before?
[Rock] would tell me to play out, do crazy Keith Moon rolls, and only Keith Moon can do that. He gave me direction and [told me] to have some fun with it. It wasn’t all business, and he never once came out and said, “We’re not getting a track here.” He said, “Just explore that.” It’s kind of sounding a little like the SNL, “Just explore with the cowbell.” But it was a little like that. He gave us all kinds of room to just have fun. He was really open to stuff. I think when you’re that mega, nothing really phases you. You just take it in stride. We’ve worked with, obviously, guys who have not been as mega and they’ve been really protective: “This is my sound and I have to do this.” He just let stuff happen–the happy little accidents. And also, for all the stuff that he’s been through, he was very about sounds. He’d say, “See you guys later. Be back tomorrow,” and a half an hour later, you’d still see him in the studio playing a guitar or playing the piano. He just loves music so much. It was really refreshing to see a guy who’s been through all of that with Metallica and back, if you watch the video, those records couldn’t have been easy to make. It hasn’t jaded him in any way. So it’s very refreshing.
It sounds like it was a very organic experience.
Very much so, yeah. He didn’t want us to know the songs too much. He wanted sort of rough ideas, and then none of the bad habits crept in, which is cool. We wouldn’t spend much more than six or seven takes getting a track.
On your new album, there’s a song called “Lonely End of the Rink.” Tell me about the meaning of that song. I’m a huge hockey fan.
“Lonely End of the Rink,” well, Gord [Downie]’s a goalie. Many times, he says it’s not a hockey song. But I think our songs are cool in that way that it’s left up to whoever wants to interpret it. I think there are some hockey references in it. It can be a very lonely job if your team’s good. But goalies have the hardest gig out there in hockey.
You’ve opened for a myriad of legends. What did you learn from playing with those bands?
It’s really interesting. I think the band we maybe learned the most from was Midnight Oil. We toured with them. We did a thing called Roadside Attraction. We toured across Canada years and years ago. The way they attack their songs live–they play them a little faster, a little more aggressive. They were already a heavy band. You take something away from every song like that. How they re-intrepret those old songs it’s cool.
You’re nominated for four Junos. Congratulations. Is it important to win a Juno?
No, it’s not so much important to win. When it’s fan-voted on, that’s when it’s most important. We’ve won a couple of those awards. I did watch the Grammys, and it was really crazy for the Dixie Chicks. I never bought their record. I still don’t think I would. The politicking that goes in those sort of things … we don’t invest too much in that. When it’s fan voted on, that’s what’s best.
How about being inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame?
No, no, no that was cool. It was kind of weird, but it was kind of cool. We were just about to put our greatest-hits package out. We walked down the red carpet and there’s all these young bands there. But we still got gas in the tank. It was a little crazy. The induction is kind of crazy because you think they’re putting you out of your misery; then you look and Neil Young got it, Rush have it, all those people are still playing. It’s nice. Awards in the early days were cool and now they’re for your families. I gave all mine to my mother, for instance. It’s nice to be recognized.