Coco Montoya opened the festivities with a forty minute set that was WAY TOO LOUD.  Seriously, it was probably the loudest 40 minutes of music I've ever sat through.  Graciously, the volume was turned to a realistic level for the Hip's set.

I don't know how it was decided, but the Hip went on second, and third was Cracker.  Twice the week prior, I heard XRT dj's say the order would be Cracker and then the Hip.  Then come show time, it's switched around.  To cut to the chase, I'm not sure it was a wise move.  The crowd in the pavillion was predominantly there for the Hip and stood throughout.  After they were done, literally half the folks left and the emcee for the evening encouraged people to move forward, closer to the stage, to fill up empty seats before Cracker came out.  Dave Lowry thanked people for sticking around when he took the stage.

Back to the Hip: Gord D. came out in this white designer suit, not the green on green, but a whitish jacket, dark tie, white shirt.  Seriously, if anyone has thought the fire was gone from the Hip, and especially Gordon, witnessing this show would put those thoughts to rest.  Some interesting moments of Downie: using the microphone as an oar, recreating what seemed to be Washington crossing the Potomac, holding a circular wall clock over his face as he sang, calling himself "the boy with a clock for a face," and much, much, much improv during songs.

The sound for a free fest, especially this one, was good.  Setlist was great, including Grace, Something On, Poets, Planet, BobC, Fireworks, Music@, Putting, Honey, Lake Fever (with introduction about Lake Michigan), Completist, Freak, Gift, Ahead, Springtime, 100th, and NOIS.

Opener was Grace, closing the first set was 100th and encore was Gift, Completist, and NOIS.

Log my vote as pro-Kate.  She didn't take much focus at all, except for "The Completists" and that song is so much better live, I'm glad to have her.  Not once did she sing in a spot where I thought, "Oh no, just let Gord sing it," etc.

The keyboards, however, cannot be deciphered in the mix, at least to my beaten ears.

The band was all fired up and the set before the encore was brilliant.  However, Gift Shop and NOIS sound worn and tired, and there seems to be no emotion out of the band on those two tracks.  Perhaps they were worn out a bit from their effort, but perhaps they're just getting tired of them.   I could do without either.  Both tracks did make a lot of people happy, though, so I can't
argue with them.  The new material and each PP tune were really energized.  I for one would be really happy with a Day For Night and beyond show, and this came pretty close to  it.

It was a fantastic show and I can't wait for another.  Anyone who has a good recording of the radio broadcast, please email me.  I really want a copy of this.

-Greg
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july 4th chicago setlist:

grace
music
something
fireworks
down
spring
fever
bob c
poets
honey
planet
abac
freak
meridian

encore:
gift
completists
nois

ps - what a great & different view of the show from the right side of the stage next to kate.
-Mark Steffen
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Sharon wanted me to come up to Chicago to see the Hip on July 4th.  Some unforeseen personal circumstances freed up the days I would need, so I decided to go. The rental car company gave me a deal on the same car I had just brought back from my NYC trip.  I was off on Monday headed for the great city of Chicago.  I won't bore you with all the details of the trip.  It was very easy and took 11.5 hours.  After arriving at Sharon's wonderful condo, we went over to Paul's for dinner.  Paul's place is also quite nice.  The whole neighborhood in downtown Chicago was cool.  The streets were lined with trees and there were houses and apartment and condo buildings all mixed up together.  Very nice city living.  After dinner we went downtown on the train to see the fireworks.  We arrived just as they were ending, and as we walked to the lake, we were going headstrong into half a million
people headed to their cars and the trains.  I have never seen such a mass of people before.  I have never seen that much trash on the ground before.  We went through the park, and I was shown Chicago's famous fountain, which was off.  We then went and sat on the lakefront and watched the hundreds of boats cruise by.
 Their were lots of drunks around us yelling at the girls on the boats to show their tits.  Several
actually did.  There were lots of very nice boats.  It was almost like a boat show, with everything from sailboats to yachts to cigarette boats.  We headed back after a while and crashed out hard.  We headed down to Grant Park after noon.  There were people on the train talking about going to see the Hip.  We got there, and went to check everything out.  The venue was a bandshell, with a baseball park sized field. Where the infield would be, there were seats, and the remainder was grass.  A fence separated the seats from the grass.  Sharon had scored some tickets from a friend, and those allowed us early entry to the general admission seating area.  We were let in about
and hour before the regular gates opened. We went down to the second row, on the aisle.  WOO HOO!!!!!!!!!! Great seats, about ten feet from the stage.  We sat through a great set by Coco Montoya.  His blues rock was outstanding.  Then it was time for the Hip.  The sound was REALLY LOUD!!!!!!!!!!  Much lounder than in NYC, even though it looked like the same setup.  The
recording I made is very strong and powerful and you really get a feel for just how I heard the show.
Again, there were no surprises in the set.  I did get to hear Wild Mountain Honey for the first time.
WOW!!!  This was my least favorite song on M@W until I heard it live.  Rob's guitar work is amazing.  Chris and Kate's sound was audible, although barely.  The strength of the guitar and bass just blew everything away.  Several highlights of the show.  Gord again came out with a suit on, but the jacket did not stay on long.  During Something On, Gord saw a clock sitting in the flowers at the front of the stage.  He had to have it.  He jumped across the monitors and picked up the clock.  He was covering his face with the clock while singing.  Classic Gord.  I hope some of Sharon's pictures of this come out.  Gord also played like a giant Gorilla, and leaped from monitor to monitor as a gorilla might do.  He then turned around and bent over, using his hand to mimic feathers just above his ass.  I though he was imitating a turkey, as he sat there wigglin his ass for the crowd. He talked about wishing he could be a bigger target. During ABAC, Rob's acoustic broke and he had to switch to electric.  It was right before the big jam at the end, and I grinned with anticipation at what this acoutic solo would sound like electric.  Rob tried the first few chords of the jam electric, and I thought it sounded really neat.  He obviously did't like it and switched to acoustic.  The Hip even played three encore songs.  I heard NOIS for the first time with no jamming at all in the middle.  It was just like on the cd, and I found it was nice to hear, just not every night.  After the Hip finished, Cracker played a full set.  They were very good, but not the Hip.  I did not tape them because of impending rain.  It did rain a little, so it was a good thing I put everyting away. After the show we walked around the neighborhood and had dinner in a local hangout.  I crashed very early in anticipation of the long drive the next day.  I got up early and took care of some stuff in Chicago, then hit the road home.  Another painless trip(only 1 stop) found me in Greenville with the odometer at 1450 miles.   So, Tracy, it really is farther to NYC than Chicago. What a trip.  Five days of traveling in pursuit of that elusive HipTourDeBeast.  I seem to catch up with them, can never quite get enough.  I hope I can make it to the Philly and DC shows at the end of the month.

Stay Hip...

Alan