Beach ... beer ... pool ... margaritas ... TTH ... this is the life! :) However, since Hurricane Mitch is doing his best to make sure that I don't come home sunburnt, I've got some time to do e-mail.

ABSOLUTELY INCREDIBLE! This was the best show I've seen yet. The band came on to a good sized crowd and all the guys seemed incredibly energized. Gordie was fabulous. He was dancing and grinning all night long. The HOB stage is huge, so he had tons of room to move around. Gord S. had a grin on his face all night and was really getting into it. Paul and Robbie also looked like they were having fun and were really tight. Highlight was definitely Blow! Luxury and Lionized were great as well and Twist, 100th and NewO rocked.

Set list ... pseudo-ordered.
fireworks
twist my arm
ahead by a century
courage
lionized
nautical disaster
emperor penguin
the luxury
poets
something on
springtime in vienna
bobcaygeon ("Try this anthem...")
100th meridian

Encore 1
springtime
chagrin falls ("This is a song about Warrensville, Ohio.")
new orleans

Encore 2
the rules
blow at high dough

The crowd was fun, except for the young, drunk Canadians who insisted it was their right to be up front (though others were already there and had been since the doors opened) and screamed "Gordie" all night. We were duly impressed by the number of people lined up waiting for the doors to open at 7p, however, in the 3,000 capacity HOB we rattled around in there for a while. Derek Trucks was amazing and the crowed filled up in time for The Hip. Crowd surfing was minimal, but picked up towards the end and during the encores. Being up front, I could hear some of Gordie's mumblings, but don't remember enough of any of them to quote him here.

Time to see if the sun's out yet...

Sharon
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House of Blues, Lake Buena Vista, Florida  November 4th, 1998 review by Julie! via alt.music.tragically-hip

Figures that the night I'd finally get to see the Hip, I'd have to drive through a tropical storm in order to get to the venue. But it was well worth it.

All-in-all, I'd have to say that seeing the Hip live was everything I thought it would be. Especially Gord Downie. I can now understand why people prefer him without the guitar. When it's just him, roaming the stage, making faces and playing with the mic stand, there's no way you cannot be transfixed. But when he straps on the guitar, he's nailed in place. It's just not the same.

Yokes described Gord onstage as "an undulating gelatinous orb." That pretty much sums it up.

I came away with a Phantom Power necklace thingie and a neat looking promo poster that I ripped off a guardrail. Yokes got hit in the neck by Johnny Fay's drumstick.

But anyway ... here's the setlist, although I don't remember the specific order of anything but the first couple of songs and the encores:

Fireworks
Twist My Arm
Ahead By a Century
Courage
Lionized
Nautical Disaster
Bobcaygeon
Vapour Trails
Emperor Penguin
Poets
Luxury
Something On
100th Meridian

Encore 1
Springtime in Vienna
Chagrin Falls
New Orleans

Encore 2
The Rules
Blow at High Dough

Notes: No Grace Too, which surprised me. Everything was wonderful, but especially Nautical, Vapour Trails and 100th Meridian. Gord brought out the banana during Luxury, and after dropping his little hand-held cymbal thing (I don't know what it is exactly) twice during Springtime, he picked it up using a hackey sack move. I never liked the studio version of Blow at High Dough, but
live it was amazing, despite the fact that I took an elbow to the chest when the guy in front of me got pushed backwards.

I couldn't really hear any of Gord's ramblings, which was a disappointment. I don't know if the mix was bad or that's just the way it is, since I'm used to hearing the Hip on bootlegs. Gord did break into a few lines of Crowded House ("Into Temptation") and Jesus Jones ("Right Here Right Now") songs. The Jesus Jones song was being mocked, so it was amusing.

Here's an idea for anyone thinking of crowd surfing: Just watch the fucking show.

Mercifully there wasn't any of this during most of the set, but towards the end the Canadian Pavillion Kids who work at Epcot (heretofore referred to as the CPKs) that were up front decided to start lifting each other. I was close enough to the front that I'd have to take my focus off of the band in order to keep my eyes on these people, just to make sure no one fell on my head.
Youthfullness and drunkenness are not excuses as far as I'm concerned. It's rude. I came there to see the Hip, not some idiots make a spectacle of themselves. Once or twice per person is bad enough, but one little blonde twit saw fit to crowd surf 5-6 times. Including during The Rules, if you can imagine that. After the third or fourth time I was praying that she'd either A) fall on
her head or B) come close enough to me so that I could punch her in the kidney. Unfortunately neither happened.

The best line of the night (at least the one I most easily remember):

"Yeah, *that* was heartfelt."
          -- Gord Downie to the CPKs when they chanted "Der-ek Trucks! Der-ek Trucks!" after Gord thanked that band for opening. Gord must have seen these same kids turning their backs to the stage as Derek Trucks played, not to mention chanting "Hip! Hip! Hip!" during the poor guy's set. How very classy.

Although I was really hoping to see the Hip twice on this tour, the Orlando show more than made up for Jacksonville being cancelled. There was a good turnout, too, around 1,000 or so. I think a lot of people were probably just there because they also happened to be at Disney World, it was pouring and they were looking for something to do. But the floor area was packed with fans. Saw a lot of Roots stuff, some hockey sweaters and various other shirts with the Canadian flag on them. My night was made complete when a saw a girl ... with a flag ... on her knapsack.

Julie

May not seem like much to you, but it was like pulling teeth. She doesn't
like the Hip (gasp, I know, I shudder to think), even after all the audio
tapes I have sent her in the past. She even bought Day for Night (as it was
one of my faves at the time), but she quickly disposed of it. Okay, so
fine...you can't force someone to like das hip.

But what really surprised me was when she asked me to send her some video
footage of the boys, as I have told her over the years Gordie puts on one
hell'va live show. I sent her a compilation of things, and she was totally
mesmorized by the band live. Said they are completely different than on a
record (well I think that goes without saying). She was quite intrigued,
and got her ticket right away.

Shocked the hell out of me. She's actually looking forward to it. I'm
impressed, and had to share! :)

Kari