Just returned to Halifax from the show in St. John's, Newfoundland last night, and what a day/night it was!!!
Let's start with 4 in the afternoon. I get to Mile One Stadium, and they are just finishing loading in the gear. The boys show up a few at a time for the soundcheck: Paul, Gord S and Johnny in one van; Robby in another, about ten minutes later; and Gord D. in a van with Bea Lorimer twenty minutes after that. I can hear them start the soundcheck, and I notice that the backdoor isn't locked, so I slip in and find myself right behind the stage. Standing there is Ricky Wellington (head of security), Bea, and Jake Gold is also walking around. Ricky kinda just nods at me, so I lean up against the wall, and I stay for the soundcheck. Of course, I scramble to get my recorder going, and here's what I captured, right from the start of the soundcheck:
Lake Fever
Leave (!!)
Chagrin Falls
Long Time Running
Fight (!!)
So long story short: the boys finish their soundcheck, and are apparently off to do some media interviews. Bea (their road manager) asks me if I work with the crew, and I say no. She asks me what I'm doing here, and I tell her I'm just a big fan, and I slipped in to hear the sound check, hope that's cool, blahblahblah. She says, "I guess that's ok!" :) I tell her that I met Jake Gold in Halifax, and I wanted to say hello. Just then, Jake walks by and Bea calls him over. He shakes my hand, and asks how I'm doing. I thank him for the Halifax setlist. He tells me that he'll say hello to the boys for me, as "they know who you are." Big smile on my face now, as I say my goodbyes, and walk out into the bright sunshine of a St. John's afternoon.
Ok... onto the actual show...
Sarah Harmer was fantastic opening. She had Gord come on stage again, and sing Silver Road. Gord would return the favor later.
The show:
USE IT UP
M@W
NOIS
CHAGRIN
DAREDEVIL: A real crowd pleaser, and the boys looked like they were enjoying playing it, too...
SILVER JET: Deafening roars of approval when Gord sang the line "Clayquot Sound to Cape Spear"
COURAGE
FIREWORKS: By this time, Gord D. was really getting concerned with all the crowd surfing. The floor was general admission, and during the song, he repeatedly asked the girls in the front if they were ok, always keeping an eye on them.
WEAKEN: Once again, as with Halifax, this song got a great ovation.
MERIDIAN: A fantastic crowdsurfing rant (improv? :) in the middle.
SPRINGTIME: A great gord quote before the song starts: "I gotta say, I gotta talk to Jake about live GA."
WHEAT KINGS: Gord invites Sarah Harmer on stage to "do a couple songs". A beautiful version with Sarah's voice.
DIRE WOLF: No doubt the crowd was waiting for this one. The crowd drowned Gord's voice out at the mention of Newfoundland in the song. Very magical. Sarah sings harmony.
GIFTSHOP
POETS: A very energetic version. Faster than normal, maybe??
ARE YOU READY: Was hoping to hear this one. This song has come a long way in a short time. It sounds so perfect now. Gord forgot the words at the start.
BONES
Encore:
GRACE: The best moment of the show. The band comes on stage and starts the bass and drums for the start of the song. Gord D. walks to the very front of the stage and, with his hands on his hips, paces back and forth across the stage, staring at the first few rows of people on the floor, like an old schoolteacher. He then grabs his mic stand and starts paddling the stage, mentioning something about taking the stage out into the harbour. Fantastic moment!
BOBC: Another Newfie tribute from Gord before the song starts. He gestures to Robby and says: "Robby is playing a Garrison guitar, made right here in Newfoundland." The crowd goes nuts again.
NAUTICAL

All in all, a good show. Gord was extremely concerned with all the crowd-surfing, and some idiots on the floor even started to mosh and slam-dance during Bones. From the view I had beside the stage, I could see that a lot of people passed out, and had to be lifted out of the crowd. Many times, Ricky Wellington would go to the front of the stage and pour water down the throats of the people in front. Gord S tossed a few bottles of water into the crowd as well, gesturing to the person who caught it to "spread it around".
I did record this show as well! It turned out great!
So there's the show in a nutshell!! And so ends my Summer 2002 Hip Trip...

Cheers!

Rory

I figure that I might as well submit a review of the St. John's show, so here it is.

I arrived at Mile One Stadium at about 7:55pm and made my way around the venue to get to me seat. I figured that I would have bad seats since I couldn't get tickets until a week before the show, but the seats were surprisingly really good, with a perfect view of the stage. Sarah Harmer started her set a few seconds after I found my seat and she put on a great show. Gord D came out to
sing his part on Silver Road, which got a big applause from the crowd. After about 40 minutes of playing, Sarah finished her set with my favourite song of hers, Lodestar.

Then for about 10-20 minutes as Sarah's equipment was taken from the stage and the Hip's was prepared, some of The Bends by Radiohead was played. Then, violet lights covered the stage and the Hip walked out to a huge ovation. They went right into Use It Up, which sounds great live. During Music@Work, Gord D looked like he was really getting into the performance already as he would make his hand into a pistol and shoot at the crowd. Definitely good stuff. After New Orleans is Sinking was played, Gord D said something like "Let's see if you guys know this one...it's summertime, it's Chagrin Falls, Ohio". I was pretty excited about that since I didn't expect to hear Chagrin Falls played at all. When they played Silver Jet, the mentions of Cape Spear went over very well and very loudly with the crowd enjoying the hometown reference. Before playing Courage, Gord D sang in a sort of joke-opera style something like "you all need some courage...you all need some courage". The 100th Meridian was done to
perfection tonight. Gord D was at his most intense when he sang(or rapped) the lyrics, and added a sung crowdsurfing rant in the middle of it. From where I sat, the crowd didn't look too bad, but I also wasn't down on the floor, so I couldn't really tell for sure. I did see a fair amount of body surfing. Once one of the first body surfers of the night went up, Gord D said something about body surfing and ending up on a stretcher. All throughout the night Gord D was telling us to take care of each other.

One of the many highlights of the night for me came next when they played Springtime In Vienna, but it was after that song when they brought out Sarah Harmer for a few songs. She sang parts in Wheat Kings and The Dire Wolf, both of which sounded absolutely amazing. The crowd went insane at the mention of Newfoundland in The Dire Wolf, as expected. When they played Poets, they started it with the drumbeat of the song, then had a short new guitar intro to it. This was my first time seeing the Hip live, so I'm not sure if that's how they usually start off Poets, but I thought it was good. At the start of Are You Ready, Gord D seemed to forget or mess up his lines, but the song sounded really good live. It hasn't been one of my favourites on In Violet Light, but it really does sound so much better live.

After Little Bones, Gord D told us goodnight, and surprisingly, a lot of people started to leave around where I was. I know a that there aren't that many bands that come out this far east, but I was very surprised with how many people didn't seem to be aware of what an encore is. So, after a few minutes of the crowd clapping and chanting "Hip! Hip! Hip!", the boys came back out on
stage and played a great sounding Grace Too. They followed that up with Bobcaygeon, and like Sarah Harmer, then closed their set with my favourite song of theirs, Nautical Disaster. Hearing Nautical Disaster was a huge moment for me. That's been my favourite Hip song ever since I first heard it, and it closed the show perfectly for me.

Overall, the show was great and I definitely plan to see the Hip again.
-Steve Bonus

I arrived at Mile One shortly before Sarah Harmer started. I noticed that the stadium was just over half full for her set. Too bad, she put on a great show and really seemed to enjoy herself. Of course, Gord got a big cheer from the crowd when he joined her for Silver Road. Anyway, on to the Hip...

The boys started off with Use It Up, which I think is a perfect opener. It sounds so much better live - you can really feel the energy so much more than you can on the record. I had a greater appreciation for all of the IVL songs that were played this night for two reasons; they simply sound better live for some reason, and hearing them mixed into a setlist with non-IVL songs shows
how much colour they have, and what great songs these truly are.

Use It Up was followed by My Music at Work, where Gord gave his first little line - "This is a protest, etc...". M@W was followed by NOIS - 3 great rockin' songs to get the crowd into it right away. I was pleasantly surprised to hear Chagrin Falls after that - one of the real highlights of the show for me, followed by Daredevil, another pleasant surprise. Silver Jet, my favorite IVL song, sounded awesome.

Courage was next, which I thought had the loudest crowd participation (from where I stood on the floor). It was real obvious when the crowd sang "time" before the third verse and Gord held off a little so that we were off a little. "Oh your timing is bad. But your muscle - it's good. So your timing is good, because muscle is what we need at the moment. Come in Courage, what can
I get ya."

Good Life for me was the best sounding song of the whole show - it really stood out to me, and still does, listening back to the show now. The crowd really ate this one up, and if you ever see it live, with the violet light, you'll know why. Such an eerie mood to this song.

At the Hundredth Meridian was awesome - sped up a lot at the end, and of course there's the crowdsurfing rant - "Crowdsurfing is so 1988."Ý Then came Springtime, and Sarah Harmer helped out on Wheat Kings and the Dire Wolf, which made both songs sound beautiful. The crowd was deafening at the mention of Newfoundland in the Dire Wolf. I always assumed that was in reference to a Newfoundland dog, though, so I found it kind of funny.Ý Poets had a bit of a tempo-boost and Gord's voice sounded particularly intense which made for the best version I've heard so far. I think Are You Ready was sped up a little too, and after a bit of a delayed start, it sounded really good. Then came Bones before the encore.

Grace, Too (my favorite Hip song) was awesome. Gord D. was really animated during this song. I believe it was during Grace (But it could have been Nautical Disaster) when he noticed the huge shadows projected all along the sides of the stadium by the lights. He stared up at the shadows like someone watching a UFO coming down for a landing in his backyard, and then proceeded
to (attempt to) make shadow puppets. I don't know what the hell he was trying to make, but he shouldn't give up singing any time soon if he's considering shadow puppetry as a career choice.

Bobcaygeon sounded especially great with the Newfoundland-made Garrison guitar ;-) and Nautical Disaster, which I never would have thought would make a good closer, was the perfect one. Kind of going out with a bang.

The thing I love about the Hip live is that they never seem to look bored. Every one of them is completely engrossed in the music at all times. Well, whenever they're not trying to make sure no one gets hurt from crowdsurfing. I saw them perform in 2000, and while I noticed that Gord D. wasn't as physically active tonight (he may just have played more guitar), he had a bit more intensity, which I also noticed of Johnny. The guitar work was great, and the sound was better than the last time I saw them.

Overall, this was a great concert, a perfect performance, and a night I won't soon forget.

John