"We're working for the mouse."
Gord's last line before leaving the stage. Since this thing was basically at Disneyland. I had no idea. Great show. MUCH older crowd than San Diego. Cdns (or fellow Cdns-in-exile) everywhere.
ABAC was nice to hear. 700 foot. FitH was the closer, nice to see it rock out but not punk out if you know what I mean - the sound wasn't cranked to the pain level, it was pretty grooving.
Next three shows should be fun - sometime after that I'll post some thoughts on the whole experience...

Steve

Good show. Great sound. Dead crowd. Orange County is famous for the fans sucking the life out of a great show. It was great to hear locked in the trunk of a car. Scared as the middle song in the encore was very intense. The dumb guy with the Canadian flag as a cape didn't get on stage like he did in San Diego but everyone in the crew was keeping an eye on him. If anyone sees him at the Hollywood shows please ignore him. The band was sure trying to. Looking forward to Fridays show in Hollywood. I hope they don't play 50MC on Thursday at the show I will miss. It's the only song on my haven't heard list.
-Lee

The Hip at Downtown Disney, oh boy.

No idea why they even scheduled this show unless they were trying to set a record and hit all 15 HOB's across the USA.Ý This HOB's is very small compared to LA, and its right in the center of Disneyland's new Downtown Disney corridor, which was constructed a few years back to make themselves resemble Disneyworld in Orlando (it doesn't).Ý I didn't bother buying tickets beforehand because I knew the place would be dead.Ý Unlike San Diego or San Francisco which have played the Hip on the radio in the past (and might still), the Hip have never been on the radio in the greater LA/Orange County area.Ý They will pack the HOB
in LA because they're playing multiple shows and its closer to the weekend and people from around the Southwestern US will travel to see them. However, who in the hell would travel to Anaheim on a Tuesday night, besides Canadians already in town on vacation?Ý When I bought my tickets the couple behind me asked, "What's the name of this band?"Ý I would say the crowd was 60% Canadians, 30% tourists who had no idea what they were seeing, and 10% fans who knew what they were playing.

Once inside, there were maybe 100 people in total watching the opening band.Ý I stood by the t-shirt vendor for 30 minutes drinking a beer and didn't see either band sell one item.Ý 15 minutes before the show we walked down to the floor and were 5 feet from the stage.Ý I didn't even have to ask any one to move, that's how empty it was.Ý I will say that by the time they hit the stage the floor was filled up, maybe 500 people in total.Ý I prepared myself for a lackluster performance and an average setlist, expecting them to save the obscurities for the four show run in LA and SF.

I should have seen it coming though...the boys were obviously inspired in the face of adversity.Ý Here is the setlist by album:

New Orleans

Little Bones

Fully Completely
Courage
Locked in the Trunk

Nautical Disaster
Fire in the Hole
Scared

ABAC
700 Ft Ceiling

Poets
Bob Caygeon
Membership !!!

Music at Work

R U Ready
Use it Up
All Tore Up
Good Life
Throwing off Glass
Silver Jet

I haven't seen Membership on this tour yet, red lights and the unmistakable drums in the beginning were a nice surprise indeed.Ý

The first few songs were Use it Up - M@W - New Orleans - Fully Completely - Membership, they closed the set with Little Bones, and the encore was R U Ready - Scared - Fire in the Hole.Ý

The spacing of the setlist was great, it seemed like they had several great songs all in row on three different occasions.Ý

Certainly not the best setlist of all time by any stretch, not even on this tour, but certainly better than I ever game them credit for beforehand.
-CWM


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