Just waking up from last night's Hip-venture to Columbus. Got to the
Newport Music Hall on High Street right at 6:30 to find about a dozen
people milling around out front. They opened the doors, and we walked in
and grabbed a table about 8 feet off the stage in front of Rob Baker's
stage spot. The club holds 1700 max. The people at the club said there were
350 tickets sold, pre-show. They didn't open up the upsatirs/balcony
section. By the time the Hip got on (9:30) the crowd was between 400-500.
        Set list, in order:
                        Gift Shop
                        Poets
                        Fireworks
                        Pigeon Camera
                        Fully Completely
                        Bobcaygeon
                        Nautical Disaster
                        Ahead By A Century
                        Vapor Trails
                        The Luxury
                        Something On
                        Locked
                        Chagrin Falls
                        New Orleans is Sinking
                        (Encore)
                        Membership
                        Inevitability of Death
                        Escape
On the Hip's set-list but not played : Little Bones, Emperor Penguin.
        All in all an incredible show, the first time I've seen them play Pigeon
Camera live in three years, Gord went into some Blond Solid action towards
the end of it. Luxury was great as well, and, of course, Locked kicked.
Also, it was just the second time I've seen them play Chagrin Falls, and
man, that song sounds great live. A very, explosive, sort of version of CF
last night. At the end Gord was singing lines from "Born Free", replacing
"so far Chagrin Falls" with lines like "as free as the wind blows, as free
as the grass grows", great stuff.
        Gord didn't utter a single word in between the second chorus of NOIS and
the "pale as a light bulb" line. Just stood there contemplatively. (Is that
even a word ?, if not replace it with "deep in thought")
        I sat next to a Nova Scotia native who's now U. of Kentucky student. His
first Hip show ever. Same for the people on the other side of me, Columbus
natives, first show.
        All in all, it was easily worth the seven hour round-trip drive. Today,
it's just a measly 1 1/2 hour drive to Cleveland, where I'm told the 2500
seat Agora Theater is close to a sell-out.
                                                Later Das Hipsters,
                                                Mark
"We can't do nothing 'bout the heat"