We just arrived home from our show in Myrtle Beach, S.C.. What an awesome
       show! The Hip played @ the House of Blues, a very small intimate venue. The
       area in front of the stage was a 40' by 40' square with an elevated bar on
       three sides. A small loge balcony was above. We arrived in time to be first
       into the show and took a spot in front of Gord Sinclair's mikestand. While
       waiting for the show to start we met many cool Hip fans from Montreal,
       Toronto, Windsor, Buffalo and New York. We are from Detroit. What a diverse
       group of fans. Wayne started promptly at 9:00p and ripped through a 45 minute
       set that primed everyone for The Hip. A number of us were surprised that this
       small theater was only half full and that we were so close to the stage. When
       The Hip blasted on stage at 10:00p the place was suddenly at near capacity
       with 1500+ rabid Hip fans. I had every intention of writing down the setlist,
       but did not due to the fact that I was mesmerized by the band's intensity.
       Gord and the guys were right on all night. Gord S. and Robbie were playing
       off each other and really rocking out. Johnny Fay was beating his skins
       ferociously and smiling on a number of occasions. Paul's vocals were awesome
       and Gord D. was so expressive. The Hip played nearly two hours of hard
       driving and somber rock. The crowd was really into Courage. We heard three
       rarely played songs; Daredevil, Long Time Running and Lake Fever. The show
       almost ended abruptly when one guy stage dove off the barrier and another
       jumped on stage and rushed up to Gord D., who calmly walked away. Then the
       guy goes over to Robbie, when the roadie with the leather cowboy hat and a
       security guard grab him. At this point he struggled and elbowed Robbie in the
       shoulder. The band left the stage. I thought our great night was to be cut
       short because of two jerks. But the fans were not to be denied. Cheering
       loudly for The Hip, the crowd coaxed the band back on stage after just a few
       minutes for a great encore. The show ended at 12:00. Rory, I was inspired by
       your update of the Montreal shows to meet the band. I've always heard they
       were fan friendly. Security which had been cool during the show suddenly
       became pushy and rushed everyone out within 20 minutes. While standing
       outside we saw Wayne and told them their set was good. At this point my wife
       and I looked for and found the tour bus. There were about 10 fans waiting
       there by a rope line and two security guards with attitudes. They told us to
       leave and that the band would not sign autographs tonight. Some left, but we
       refused to believe it and stood there peacefully ignoring them. They
       threatened to call the cops on us but we didn't believe them. The cops showed
       up shortly thereafter and told us to move on or else. Unrelenting, we moved
       back 100' from our original spot and waited with the cops eyeing us. At 1:30a
       Robbie came out and headed directly to the bus. We called out to him to sign
       autographs and he hesitated as if he was going to walk by, then suddenly came
       over to us. Gord D. came out a few minutes later and our small group was
       talking to our heroes. The cops realized we were no threat and left. Robbie
       and Gord signed all autographs and took pictures with some. Gord was very
       gracious and somewhat shy. Robbie was very down to earth. He casually spoke
       with us for 15 minutes and seemed in no hurry to leave. My wife was hanging
       on his every word and he realized how much she liked him. He had to remind
       her that he had a wife and daughter. My wife left to talk to Gord and I saw
       Paul try to slip by onto the bus. I excused myself from Rob and went over to
       get Paul's autograph before he got away. Then I went back to Robbie and told
       him my wife had a crush on him. He seemed to relax seeing that I was not
       uptight about this. My wife came over again and they really hit it off. At
       one point, knowing that we were big fans, Robbie offered to put us on the
       Atlanta show's backstage list the next night if we could get tickets. How
       tempting! We had to say no thank you. We never saw Johnny or Gord S.. They
       must have jumped on the bus quickly after the show. The bus pulled out at
       2:00a. Again, what a great show and overall experience. THE HIP RULE!!!

       Best Wishes,

       Hugh

Wheat Kings
Tore up
Blow at High Dough.

Rob and Gord S seem to be having an awesome time lately. Both were all over the place. Rob seems to be looking into the crowd alot more and making eye contact. Gord was ranting lots and I swore I would remember the things he said, but of course, I don't.

The other note is that the HOB is really, really strict about no photography. Don't try to sneak the cameras in, unless they're plastic. They use the same wands as at the airport!

Great show, great trip! Hoping for another tour in the spring!
Lorelei