Seattle, WA 3/30/99 review by Oded Mizrahi via Henhouse mailing list

hey all,
awesome show last night...
by divine right is still opening for the hip, and were pretty good once again.  the highlight had to be the lead singer saying "it's you, it's you" and then apologizing about having to steal someone else's schtik :)

the hip rocked, opening with something on, followed by fully completely... don't have a setlist, so i can't give you an order of songs... the highlight had to be the encore - first they played thompson girl, then announced that someone was joining them on stage - none other than steve berlin playing saxaphone.  for those of you that don't know, steve's a member of los lobos, and he helped produce phantom power....picture this - so hard done by and then new orleans is sinking accompanied by sax... pretty cool... gord was at his usual ranting self...

someone saw the setlist and said they were supposed to do a second encore of let's stay engaged, the rules and fire in the hole.  after the first encore, the lights stayed off for about two minutes while the techies fixed the mike stands, etc., so we were all expecting a second encore - no idea why they didn't come out...

oh well...
three days until spokane :)
oded
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Something's On
Fully Completely
Grace, Too
Bobcaygeon
Gift Shop
Springtime in Vienna
Poets
The Luxury
Courage
Nautical Disaster
Ahead by a Century
Escape is at Hand for the Travelling Man
Greasy Jungle
At The Hundredth Meridian
Encore:
Thompson Girl
So Hard Done By
NOIS

--
Rev. Rob


You all know the feeling:  morning of the show an awakening that has you up at 5:30 a.m. and you can't go back to sleep.. "It's true... It's you.. and You!  It's true, it's you.."  Gord rambled at the end of Something On, the set opener. The Paramount was full to the brim with Hip fans and were treated with special guest appearances by the bannana and Steve Berlin.  So Hard Done By was a show standout due to the added sax of Berlin.  He also played on NOIS to close the show.  But the highlight of the show was the new song, Insomniacs during 100th Meridian.  Gord has the vocals almost worked out and the guitar part is amazing.. It  has evolved into a much faster/funky song than it started out a few years ago.  This song will appear on the next album... you can count on it!  The sound was extremely loud, too loud.. It may have been the venue but the worst sounding Hip show I've been to. Usually the ears ring and the next morning fine, no problem.  But my ears rang the next day.  The stage was a good 15-20 feet from the front row, so it seemed farther back than the eleven-deep row (L )I danced in..

Portland:  The best show I've ever seen in my life, easy, no question about it.  The sound was perfect, the setlist was perfect, the venue was perfect, I met Paul before the show at a phone booth (in the dewy grass of our youth). Very nice guy and genuinely surprised that my girlfriend and I were American fanatics following them show-to-show.  I said " we're your biggest fans from
the States", and my girlfriend added (thinking it was a stupid comment), "you probably hear that all the time", Paul replied "Actually no.. I don't hear that at all". Blow at High Dough, Twist my Arm, Lionized, Little Bones all had the wood platform floor bouncing several inches.  I'm not kidding, the 1000 people had the floor moving up and down.. It was just awesome.  Now that is the sign of a good show.. My buddy from Portland was really in awe of the atmosphere of the" whole Canada element"..  He went on to say: everybody in the place was talking to eachother and it seemed to revolve around three subjects.  What part of Canada you from?  How many Hip shows you been to? Why aren't they big in the States yet?  Now It's all over and I'll have to
wait until the next Hip adventure... Insomniacs, good night....