I moved here from Toronto almost 12 years ago - never saw the Hip live in Canada, this was just before they released Road Apples.  I managed to get a few English mates into the Hip once here and I saw them in London a few times - once at the Town and Country Club (now called the Forum), and once at the Astoria (Blue Rodeo supported, my mate tried to steal the vocals monitor!).  At the Astoria gig this guy jumped on stage and managed to push Gord Downie out onto the crowd!  I remember being struck by his boots (on the head)...  Both gigs were excellent too - the second or third time I saw them was supporting Fully Completely, great set that was

It must be 6 or 7 years since I've seen them - they don't get over here much and they get NO publicity either, so it's easy to miss them.  I get over to Canada a couple times a year so have picked up all the albums, and I have to admit not being impressed much with PP, M@W, though IVL is not too bad.  (FYI I am into Joy Division, Radiohead, Six by Seven, Primal Scream, that sort of thing - I also used to play in a band that played gigs in London)

Anyway, last night - I'm not great on remembering set lists, but you seem to have a source for these so no doubt you'll get one soon:

My missus and I arrived as they were starting, we might have missed one song, probably Use it Up since it seems that's what they open with and we didn't hear this.  The one they were doing was quite quiet, thought it was going to be Grace too but it was something I didn't recognise - something about chagrin but I don't think it was Chagrin Falls, could be wrong.   

The Shepherd's Bush is a decent size venue in London, I saw the Vines there two weeks ago (rubbish) and once The Cure - this was by far the biggest venue I've seen the Hip at, and it was quite full.  Not sold out apparently (tonight's gig is) but I can't see where anyone else was going to stand.  Obviously the crowd was 99% Canadian, I only heard one English accent and that was my wife's, though there were some Aussies there.

Anyway, after the new(ish) song, they did, not in order,Fireworks, Nautical Disaster,Silver Jet, Poets, Springtime in Vienna, Blow at High Dough, Locked in the..., Wheat Kings, 100th Meridian, it's a Good Life, - maybe I missed more than I thought - it did seem a very short gig but I'm sure they did more than 10 songs.  The encore was Lake Fever, Are You Ready, and Fire in the Hole.

So how did they sound?  Well the sound quality was not really up to standard - when we arrived we stood by the bar and you could hardly hear the vocals or any of the guitars.  We battled our way to the front where the sound got much better, but I'm afraid that Gord's voice isn't really strong enough to compete without TOP sound quality.  Certainly they are more used to a stadium set up than a club but their engineer needs talking to - hopefully they'll sound better tonight.  The sound at all the London venues is usually excellent, and The Vines were crystal clear.

However, the band were pretty much on top form.  Gord was in showman mood, pretending to be a gunslinger much of the time, and also doing a pretty good Michael Stipe impression!  There was a lot of energy up there, and I thought the drums were very good.  And best of all, for me, was that all the newer songs that failed to convince me on record - especially Poets, Fireworks, really work live.  Poets especially had a real staccato punch that doesn't really come across on record.  Being brutally frank, their later stuff is nowhere near as good as the early stuff, but there is still some quality in there.

The big favourites were Blow at High Dough (easily the crowd's favourite, this was the smallest gig I've been to where the crowd could outsing the vocalist), Nautical Disaster, 100th Meridian (quality ranting from GD), Springtime, and, perhaps surprisingly(?) Wheat Kings (when he sings "late breaking story on the CBC" there was a BIG BIG cheer).  Gord stuck pretty closely to the recorded lyrics, and he mostly sang them, not talked them.  And there were some pretty good rants too, hard to hear with such poor sound unfortunately.  One motto was "life is forgetting" (Springtime, I think), and he introduced Fire in the Hole by repeating "it's the song I hate"!

In terms of performance I was impressed with It's a Good Life (a well crafted song, good band dynamics), Springtime, Nautical Disaster, Locked, and Fire in the Hole.  I have never really liked Fire in the Hole, but live it came across as really punky and brash.

I was disappointed only with the songs I didn't hear - New Orleans, Little Bones (I didn't hear anything from Road Apples actually), Grace Too, The Wherewithal.  I'd also like them to have a stab at Yawning or Snarling, which I think would be a cult song for them, however I'm not in a position to follow them around until I hear the stuff I want so I'll have to make do until the next time they do Europe.  I also thought it finished way too early - shortly after 10PM - maybe they have bedtimes now!

All in all, it was the most enjoyable gig I've been to in London for quite some time - a real non-London crowd (Gord could have farted down the mic all the way through and everyone would have loved it, it was so non-critical!), good non-fake energy from the band, great songs.

The missus had never seen the Hip before -she really liked them, said it was her favourite gig for something like two years.  She said Gord was "funny".  If you've never had the chance to see them abroad you should try - the crowd is so friendly because it's like a big Canuck get-together, instead of a cool competition or pose-fest, or biggest Hip fan contest.

That's about it!
-Jason E.
A great night, and worth the long trip from up Norf. I thought the
band were on form even if the audience weren't particularly. But, the
atmosphere at the front was great (except for the knob dressed in what
look like a quilt taking photos at the barrier who painfully elbowed
everyone and didn't give s sh*t about anyone).
The set included Nautical which was sung by a fabulously animated
Gord. A super sped up version of 100th M, and Lake Fever in the
encore, and they finished with Fire in the Hole. No second encore and
actually a bit of a short and sweet set all round.
How was the second London show?

Andy
The audience didn't seem too bad - although the "beer in the air" during
(well, especially during) Blow was a bit much. I heard comments (and saw)
Dan Aykroyd seated upstairs..

Mind you, any negative reaction to the support act was entirely
deserved.....
-Dominic T.

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