Hi everyone.  They finally played in my hometown, Charlotte, last night.
I'm still a little shocked and dazed and can't believe it wasn't a dream.
I'll go into the details of my adventure in a minute. I hope I don't bore
anyone.  First, I don't know if anyone has talked about the Charleston show
so I'll do that briefly.  The set list:
Fully
Fireworks
Gift
Poets
Luxury
Courage
Membership
ABAC
So Hard
Something
Bobc
Nautical
Penguin
Nois

Encore:
Springtime
Chagrin
100th

Encore:
Rules
Blow

The show itself was kinda wierd. I mean of course I can say it was awesome
as every show is.  The band was great.  However, I must be honest in saying
Gord sounded a little out of it.  This was my 16th Hip show, my 5th this
tour, and I've seen Gord forget words and stuff.  But it was really like he
was in his own world this time.  He forgot a LOT of words and totally
screwed up Emporer Penguin (my fave off the new album).  When he finally
remembered the words he just started singing them and the music was in a
whole different place and the band was scrambling to catch up with him.
That's just one example.  But everyone's entitled to an off night, and
they've been playing a ton of shows lately, so I don't mean to criticize.
I still loved it and was happy to be there.

Now for my adventures in Charlotte.  I must start with the set list because
if you're looking for a review of the show itself here, you can stop
reading after the set list.  I can't even remember the songs actually being
played b/c of all the excitement for me.

Fireworks
Twist
Courage
Poets
Thompson
Lionized
ABAC
Scared
Something
Vapour
Locked
Gift
Escape
100th

Encore:
Grace
Planet

Encore:
Nois

I must start out by saying I truly love every aspect of this band but I
have been particulary fascinated by Johnny.  I always try to get the spot
in the front row in front of him because I love to watch him.  Not just
because he's nice to look at.  I just think he's pretty amazing.  And I've
always wanted to learn how to play the drums.  So I'm in my usual spot and
after a couple of songs I notice how packed it is in this club.  Last tour
when they played here there were maybe 100 people.  This time I felt myself
getting pushed and knocked around.  I saw Johnny signal to Billy Ray and he
was telling him something and looking at me.  I thought I must be imagining
it.  But somewhere in the middle of the show (it's all a blur) Billy
signaled to me and asked me if I wanted to get out of the crowd.  Of course
I said yes.  so I watched the rest of the show from the side of the stage
where Billy works. Billy was SO nice.  He offered me a beer and had me sit
on his stool.  I was so afraid I was in the way I tried not to move.  I was
so nervous I thought I'd pass out.  Then the road manager (is her name Bea?
I forget.) slapped a backstage pass on my leg.  So then I spent the rest of
the show wondering what I was supposed to do and say.  When they came off
for one of the encores Johnny asked if I'd like to stick around and have a
beer with them after the show.  So to try to make a long story short, I
did.  When I first went back to meet the guys they were all very nice but
Gord was in a corner in his own world, not looking so good.  I hope he's
okay.  Maybe he's like that after every show.  If others of you have been
backstage and seen that, let me know.  Anyway, I ended up staying back
there till they left at 2 am. Bits and pieces of conversations come back to
me.  I tried not to ask too many Hip questions because I gather they answer
the same stuff all the time.  But in the course of the conversations I
found out a few things. They asked when I heard of the band since I'm
basically from Charlotte. When I told them I heard 3 pistols on the radio
in 91, Johnny told me to tell Paul because he wrote the music. Paul mumbled
something about maybe bringing that back and they said they might.  I told
them what I'd read here, that Gord doesn't like the old stuff and they said
they didn't feel that way (Johnny and Paul) and that they like to mix it
up.  I was asking how much input they had on opening bands and at first
Johnny said they had input.  But when I asked him if they'd ever heard of
this band who opened that night (Albert Hill) he said no.  So I don't get
it.  By the way, Johnny came out and jammed with The Derek Trucks band the
night before.  It was awesome of course. Well Im sure I'll think of more
details as the next few days go by.  I'm still trying to figure out if I'm
dreaming.  They really are nice guys.  I still can't believe they let me
hang out and stuff.  They really didn't have to do that.  Anyway, 3 more
shows to go this tour.  Thanks for listening--Naomi