This was the first concert I ever saw; and I was definitely impressed. For starters, the timing worked out excellently. The Hip were supposed to play Halifax on the 11th; and my stats exam was the next morning. As it turned out though, rough weather kept the band's gear stranded on the Rock, delaying the concert by a day.

Our seats were in the lower bowl, close to the stage, on the side near guitarist Bobby Baker. Since I wasn't on the floor, I spent my first rock show sitting down all night, which is a far cry from my later moshing fun. At the time, though, I didn't know what I was missing, so all was good.

The Hip were touring in support of Trouble at the Henhouse; but, of course, they played some classic material, too. I remember being happy with the set list, especially with the selections from Road Apples. Gord Downie was in fine form, interjecting his poetic rants in between songs; although Jason told me that the performance was a notch below older Hip shows that he had seen.

All in all, it was a solid show and a good first concert to see.

By ANDY PEDERSEN --The Daily News

It's easy to forget, judging by the records, that the Tragically Hip were born and bred in
out-of-the-way roadhouses up and down the south Ontario sprawl. Listening at home, it's Gord
Downie and those clever lyrics that seem to command your ear.

But from the very first song of their Metro Centre concert last night - pushed back a night
because rough weather in The Cabot Strait earlier this week left their concert rigging stranded
in Newfoundland - the band asserted itself.

Some will argue the Hip is essentially Downie with long-haul accompaniment. Maybe so. But even as
accompaniment, the Hip musicians showed last night they are head and shoulders better than the
last backup band through town, Neil Young's Crazy Horse. It's no small matter, either, that a
band featuring two of rock's ugliest haircuts can still sell the hockey rinks out.

Opening the show, the band torqued up Gift Shop, breathing stadium-rock life into what is, on
Trouble In The Henhouse, a genuinely contemplative tune. It brought most of the 9,000 restless
youngsters immediately to their feet. (Fashion note: it must be true what they say about ball
caps falling out of style when the vast majority of Hip fans leave them at home.)

Guitarists Paul Langlois and Bobby Baker whipped the song into several lights-up crescendos - a
strategy they stuck to through most of the two-hour show. Bassist Gord Sinclair and drummer
Johnny Fay were relentless. Fay, who wore shorts (apparently out of necessity), laid a
pile-driver pummeling on his drum-kit all night long.

From Locked In The Trunk of A Car to Butts Wigglin'; New Orleans is Sinking, the four players
cranked out a steady stream of foot-stompin' anthemic rock.

Though lost in the mix several times, Downie was, on balance, irrepressible. A strange
laser-light show - tracing screen-saver-style electronic psychedelia on to a rear-of-stage banner
- was no match for the Poet Laureate of Canrock. Taking the Michael Stipe approach to baldness
(as my seat-mate said), Downie wailed away.

He drew liberally from the latest record, and the crowd was singing along. The first arena-wide
scream of approval came during Ahead By A Century when he growled, "the disappointments getting
me down." By the time he made it to the biggest of their hits, Little Bones, the crowd was
out-shouting the P.A. You could hear the entire room scream "Two" as Downie headed into the "Two
fifty-five a high ball and buck-and-a- half for a beer," chorus.

The concert's lighter song arrived when Downie introduced Scared. "It's about fear," he said as
the obligatory sea of small flame ignited around the darkened arena bowl.

He crashed the mob mentality more than a few times, however, practising his poetry on the spot.
Throughout the night, Downie peppered the songs with off-the-cuff polemics on things like the
band's weather problems, being snubbed by strict bartenders and - no surprise here - the
frustration of being knighted Canadian heroes.

But knighted they are; all the more deservedly after last night's two-encore performance.

        Having seen them in '90 & '91, I had to tell my girlfriend, who
was seeing her first live Hip show, that Downie had calmed down and
wasn't as wild as he used to be. I still remember in Mocton in '91 him
saying(in the middle of New Orleans Is Sinking) "One day I'm just gonna
quit...because I don't give a shit...yeah,I'll shoot off into the
dark-like cheap Semen" And "This town is special to me. It was in this
town that I became a man. Yes, it was in this town that I saw for the
very first time a women's panties." Anyway, we could see him clearly
grab his groin, though! That brought a smile.

        As for the vocals and music, they really rocked 100%, they were
in fine form, the best I've seen them. Loved "Put It Off", "Scared" and
the new stuff. The new tunes sound like a new bit of twist on their
sound again, they sound unlike anything they've done before.

        Man, almost 2 1/2 hours! I hope the live album is next out. I
hope it is at least a double CD! Maybe 3! It has to be double, at
least-one CD just won't do justice to what a live Hip show is like. If
Smashing Punkins(who i like) can put out a mini box set of B-sides &
stuff for about $59-$69, the Hip can do the box set thing.

        Can't wait for the next one. Hope it's soon, hope they include
Halifax in their next Roadside Attraction(if their is one), and hope
their guests are rockin'!

                                        Dazed