The show was simply incredible, highlighted with a few Hip tunes I had yet to hear live. Boots or Hearts was magical. The show's intensity grew as they played, and the boys were having so much fun. I have never seen Gord Sinclair so energized, smiling and grooving in all the shows I've seen.

The show simply whiped me out.

But all shows must end, and that one did as I always hoped it wouldn't. This is where the fun began.

Due to the heavy snowfall in and around the Brandon area, all the highways heading east towards Winnipeg were closed, including the Trans-Canada.
Shit...
After many phone calls, much thinking...and I use the term much loosely after driving for over 3 hours, and enduring a physically, and emotionally draining Hip show...we certainly found we were Stranded in Brandon.

What makes this story great is that there were a couple thousand more peggers stranded there also...all caused by the desire to witness The Tragically Hip live experience.

Many found hotels, many didn't...we didn't. So there we were, a few car loads of peggers,  attempting to sleep in our cars in the 'Humpties' parking lot, off the Brandon exit to the Trans-Canada. We would start our cars ever now and then to get the chill out of our bones, and turn on the stereo and listen to Hip tunes as we waited.

The hours past, and realizing I wasn't making it into work the morning after the Hip show, I felt a wonderful feeling of what I had experienced and why I had experienced it.

Finally, at 8 am, 9hours after the Hip show, and 8 hours and 45 minutes after I thought my Brandon-Hip experience was over, the Trans-Canada opened and off we all left for the journey home.

The legend of The Tragically Hip experience continues...and it will not be Stranded in Brandon like us peggers, and I think The Hip themselves.

I've just returned home, and am quite exhausted (like many people-I don't sleep well in cars), so understand the unprofessionalism of the above writing.
I'm going to bed, and rest upon the incredible experience I had just lived.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it...

Comments and other feed back on the Stranded in Brandon Hip Experience welcome...

Ponch
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OK, I've just gotten caught up on my sleep, so I think I can properly recall the events of Tuesday, November 28th in Brandon, Manitoba. For those of you that don't know, I was lucky enough to be chosen, out of many, many entries, to represent JAM! Music as their videographer for the Brandon show. This may be long, so bear with me.
We (my roommate and I) arrived at the Keystone Centre at 2:15. I was supposed to meet Ross Walton, the JAM! guy, at 4:30, with my brother, who left Winnipeg at 1:30 with my parents. So, since we were a bit early, we decided to go in and check out what was happening, maybe take our own tour of the complex. The main rink, where the concert was taking place.
Downstairs were two more rinks. There was a mini-rink for kids to skate on. A curling rink. Oh, and two barns. That's right...barns, complete with funky smell. That smell carried backstage, by the way, which I'll go into later. Fast forward to 4 PM. My brother and I go inside the front doors, to wait for Ross in the warmth, when who walks down the concourse to use the pay phone right in front of us? Mr. Paul Langlois. He gives us a quick smile and nod, and proceeds to use the phone. It looked like quite the important phone call, which I'll also get into a little more, later on.
So it's 4:30, and here comes Ross. He says, "Hi. Are you guys from Winnipeg?" I say, "You must be Ross. I'm Rory, and this is my brother Bob." So he gives us our all access passes, and he takes us up to the dining area/banquet room to get a beverage, mainly because Ross needed a coffee, and we exchange some more pleasantries, getting to know each other. He takes us down to the basement, where his "office" is, in the backstage area. On a table, he has the digital video camera, and the still camera, and a few other things strewn all over the place. We discuss what will be happening tonight, and decide that I'll be shooting the video, and my brother, the still shots. He notices my personal recording gear, and we talk about that for awhile. He makes sure that me moving around won't affect my recording, and we take all of our gear into the seating area, to catch the soundcheck. This is where my bro and I test out the cameras, and get familar with them. The boys come out, one by one, for the soundcheck. Gord D. is wearing a thick winter coat, with a toque, and a hood. Paul has a simple leather jacket, Gord S. in a comfy-looking fleece hoodie. Robbie in jeans, and Johnny in a sweater and toque. The soundcheck was very sleepy and laid-back. They started with Membership, and continued with Toronto #4. I don't remember, at this point, what else they played. I think they just jammed for a bit. Billy Ray, Paul's guitar tech, played a few chords of Get Back Again after the boys left the stage. After the stage was empty, Ross took us onto the stage! He showed us all of Paul and Robby's guitars (holy crap!), and Gord's banana and maraccas. I stepped up to Gord D.'s mic, and stared out into the crowd, thinking, "This is what he sees every night!" We took a close look at Johnny's drum kit, and at his synthesizer. He has a few songs marked on there, including Tiger, TO #4, Thugs, and Sharks.
From there, we head back to the office to watch what I've produced. By then, Gord S. has written the setlist, and Ross leaves to get it, so we can figure out which songs to film. From the first set, I choose Fully Completely (which turned out to be the best one), Greasy Jungle, and Ahead by a Century. From the second set, I chose Wild Mountain Honey, and Locked. After that, we head up to the banquet room to get some chow. By this time (7:20), the band has already left, so it's just us three, and a few roadies. BBQ Ribs, teriyaki chicken, two types of soup, steamed veggies, wild rice, roasted potatoes and every drink imaginable. A really good feast... OK, show time. You've seen the setlist, so I won't go throught that. Shortly before we go out to get set up, Ross asks me if anyone else is coming to the show. I tell him that my parents are coming, along with my roommate, and another friend from work. So, he goes to Barb, a member of the crew, and gets two more Zone tickets! My mom and my roommate join me and my brother in the Zone, and the smile on my mom's face was indescribable! My roommate Dave filmed the entire show with his elbows resting on stage, with his own video camera.
So Ross rigs me up with a soundboard feed, and connects it to the video camera. I step in behind the security guards, and the WorkPlace barrier, and Fully went off without a hitch. That's the one that'll be on the site. During the 20-minute intermission, the three of us go backstage, to the office, and watch our handywork.
We come back out, and enjoy the rest of the show from the WorkPlace. I stood off to the side, right in front of the speakers, so I could get the best sound possible for my minidisc, and boy, am I glad I did! It's almost soundboard quality!
So, after the show, our group of seven meets up at the side of the WorkPlace, and we make plans to meet up outside the arena in a short while, because we have to find a hotel room. The highway was closing. This is when Ross pipes up tells everyone that they, too, can come backstage!!! What a great guy! So we all head to the office backstage. Chris Brown comes in and returns some packing tape that he borrowed from me, and he introduces himself to everyone. I type up my review on Ross' notebook, and he gives me a VHS tape of everything that I had recorded, and he gives my bro the disks with all the pics. Everyone takes off but my bro, and Ross asks us if we want to meet some band members. We head over to their dressing room, and Bea, their tour manager, comes out. Ross asks if there is anyone left, and she disappears from the doorway, back into the room/. She re-appears a few seconds later, and says, "Well, aren't you guys coming?" So we go into the dressing room!! We turn the corner, and there's Paul, with a few bags slung over his shoulder. We say a quick hello, and he's off. He has to head back home, and meet the rest of the band in Chicago. It seemed as if he had an emergency, hence the phone calls before the show. Chris and Kate are sitting on the couch on the wall in front of us, and to Kate's right is a table full of food, red wine, and beer. Ross introduces us (we had met Chris earler). Then another guy walks around the corner. Mr. Downie. A huge smile on his
face, he says, "Hi boys." Ross introduces us, and he shakes our hands, and stands right beside me. We chat for awhile, the six of us. I thank Gord for a great NYE and NYD shows. He asks me if I drove, and I say yes, much to his evident surprise. He asks me which show I thought was better, saying, "The second show was better, right?" I told him that both were great, of course, but the second show was better for me personally because that was the first time I heard Lake Fever. Ross tells him that I'm the "Rory" that has the website with all the reviews and bootlegs. He tells Gord that I have 352, and Gord says to me, "352 SHOWS??" I answer affirmatively, and then he asks me:
"So, on those shows, how is the sound? Can you hear what I'm saying? Because Mark (Vreeken) can't, and I was just wondering." So here I am, talking with Gord Downie, about the technical side of recording a concert! So we chit-chat a little while longer, about the funky smell backstage, and about the tour up to that point. I ask him if he gets tired after playing
2.5 hours, night after night. He syas that he isn't getting tired yet, that it's still an invigorating experience. Chris gives me a copy of their upcoming live album, and I tell Gord that  have to go, so as not to keep my family waiting too long outside. He thanks us for coming, and "it was a pleasure meeting you". I tell him that the next time they are through Sask. and Manitoba, or Minneapolis, that I'll definitely go and see them. He says he'll be sure to look for my hat (it's a very distinctive looking Superman hat). So, we shake his hand one last time, say goodbye to Chris and Kate, and we're gone. Ross walks us to the front doors, and just like that, it's over. He tells me that he definitely picked the right guy for Brandon, and we say goodbye.
And that was that...
Wow! What a day! What a night! What a Gord!

Rory
Winnipeg
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Before I start, I just wanted to tell you Rory, how much I hate you.  After all, I figured Brandon would be MY best chance to do something like record the show for JAM, and who do they get?  The infamous Rory, from the 'Rory's Page' links on www.thehip.com.  Sheesh.  How can just a regular Hip fan compete? (grin)

Alright, show time.  I'm psyched, because not only is this the shortest distance I've ever had to travel for a show(seven blocks from my couch to the show), it's also only ten weeks since I last saw the boys at the free show in Winnipeg.  Going from War Child with 80,000 folk to the cozy Keystone Center with it's 5,200 in only a couple of months is a real treat.  Add to that the fact that when in the 'Peg for War Child, our wake-up call at the hotel had been my buddy's girlfriend calling us to tell us that we had third-row, center tickets!  This concert had some good karma going into it for me.

Here I was expecting Grace to open, but they pulled a Poets.  Great choice.  I love Grace,  but it's used almost too much nowadays.  Poets into Music set a great tone for the evening.  They are two of the boys' strongest live songs off the previous two discs.

Okay, I've got a beef with one of the songs that makes the playlist every night on this tour:  Tiger the Lion.  I personally enjoy the song, and the light show was cool that went along with it, but it came right after Fully, which itself followed Membership.  Those three songs in tandem didn't work well to me.  The pacing was off.  Tiger especially.  It's a cool song, but if not placed properly in the set, it throws off the crowd.  That particularly showed here.

Rebounded with Courage.  A great song.

New songs in the first set I really enjoyed:  Putting Down and Freak Turbulance.  Both have a kicking sound to them.

And boys, THANK YOU FOR YAWNING OR SNARLING!  I love the song, and I've never seen it live until Brandon.  Thank you, thank you, thank you.  Kate even sang the second verse and it created a great mirror to Gord's verse. "It could have been anything...."

They closed the first set with New Orleans.  I understand why some wish it retired.  I've heard it four times, and with the exception of a seven-minute long rifting section during the Winnipeg Arena Phantom show, I've heard it the same every time.  Come on guys, every Canadian cover band plays this song, and when some are starting to play it better then the original band, that's disappointing.  I realize that it has got to be boring and distasteful to play the same song over and over and over for twelve years, so don't play it every night anymore.  Pull it out once in awhile as a treat.  No one will hate you for it.

Break time.  Bathroom time.  Beer time.  Oh yeah, during the intermission I got talking with a member of the Manitoba legislature.  Great to see even politicians enjoy the boys as much as the rest of us.  Maybe they aren't all out of touch.....

Back with Wheat Kings.  In the home of the Wheat Kings(the local junior hockey team is where the boys took the name of the song).  That's good karma, and how often will people be able they saw it played where it was meant to be played?

BOOTS OR HEARTS!  BOOTS OR HEARTS!  BOOTS OR HEARTS!  Once again, thanks gang.  This was another one I was hoping to see once.  Made better by the fact that my buddy promised us that his girlfriend would flash Gord if they started playing it.  (She did.)  Also, this is Chris's best song.  The piano comes through great here.

Hadn't heard Looking for a Place to Happen live yet.  Done.

Fireworks.  Now there's a song that had to work to make me a fan.  But when it finally succeded, damn, what a great tune.

Meridian.  My favorite song.  The other "Brandon" song.  Even when travelling the States, we get a mention at the beginning of this song.  It was an interesting version played here also.  Not as good as the eleven minute opus played at the Phantom Arena show, but still interesting none the less.  For once, the "Get Ry Cooder to sing my eulogy," they *didn't* fly into the chorus.
Instead they played on another thirty seconds before they finally did.  I can't wait to hear the boot to hear what was said during those thirty seconds.

Post-Merdian:  Chagrin Falls.  I love this song.  Should be a concert staple.

LOCKED.  Another gem I hadn't heard before.  This, Courage, and meridan turned me onto the Hip, and seeing it live reminded me why.  The boys should be playing this one more.

Closed the second set with Fire.  Its a better song when you can jump up and down to it.

Encore:  Bob and Little Bones.  Nothing special here.  Coulda used a third song.

Overall, I liked the show, but it's fourth of the four shows I've seen, which disappoints me.  Part of that is because it's an arena show with no rush seating.  Part of the enjoyment I get from a show is getting to jump up and down to songs like Meridian, Fire, and Bones.  The one thing that compensated for this was the fact that I found the set list to be more mellower then usual, and for those songs, a more passive audience is better.

Here's my biggest beef with the show, and I hate it because it rests solely on Gord's head.  WE CAN'T HEAR YOU!  WE WANT TO HEAR YOU!  Outside of the actually lyrics, we can't make out two words.   Yes, we know they are probably incohierant, but we want to hear them anyways.  It would be the closest thing to fan intergration in the show anyways.  They were terrible for communicating with the crowd tonight, and for the life of me, I don't know why.  Sure, it was a smaller crowd, but then it's not like they never play small crowds anymore.  Hell, you would think that the smaller crowds are better.  Plus, here's something that upset me.  Your in the home of the Wheat Kings.  You're about to play Wheat Kings.  Do something, ANYTHING, to acknowledge that.  A simple line of dialoge would have made the crowd roar!

Back to the mumbling though, seriously guys, why do you think that Double Suicide and Killer Whale Tank are two of your most downloaded songs on Napster?  Because you're telling cool stories and jamming.  The fans love that.  What would it kill you to keep the mic going and allow everyone to hear what's being said instead of everyone bitchin' afterward about how you
could see him talking but have no idea what he was saying.  We know many songs come from the live jams.  Wouldn't it be nice to pick up a new disc, and sit around picking out lyrics that we may or may not have heard during a show?  From Rory's post, we know that Gordie himself doesn't think we can hear him.  Then why not speak up?  We would all enjoy it that much better.

One last thing:  Would it kill you guys to pull out Highway Girl, Smalltown Bringdown, or Last American Exit once in awhile?  Many longtime fans have never heard these live, and it would really be a treat to your loyal fans that have every album.  Many friends of mine still think the LP was a better disc then the later work.  Some days, I can't argue with them.

These are relatively minor things, but as a long-time fan, they bug the hell out of me.  There's no reason that these couldn't be corrected.

Lousy bands put on great shows because they give the crowd reasons to get excited beyond the music.  Some think that approach is wrong because it should be about the music.   The Hip's my favorite band, and damn if I'm not going to like the show either way, but for forty dollars, I want to see the music done differently live then on the disc.  Otherwise, I can simply put the albums on, listen to them all night, take my forty bucks and buy a case of beer.

The show was good.  But from The Tragically Hip, I expect great.  A "Hello Brandon" might have helped.  Course, he probably said it, and we just couldn't hear it.

Luc Lewandoski

PS: If you want to chat about the band, my email is luc_lewandoski@hotmail.com.