i'm back from both, absolutely spent and extremely satisfied, but now very depressed that it is all over.  all i can say is incredible.

check out the glowing review on CANOE:
http://www.canoe.ca/JamConcertsR2Z/hipandfriends_123199.html

had fifth row seats last night, and took some incredible pics that I hope to have scanned in soon.  a couple of observations and musings....

1)  I saw none of my fellow henhousers with their passes, but boy, others were quite impressed with the passes, and I had several people offering me money for them.  they all thought they were backstage passes, but i just smiled and said i was a huge fan.
2) the so-called live to air broadcast of the hip on cbc/abc/pbs was bogus - the hip opened with poets at around 10:40 pm, while the so-called live broadcast on television was at 11:40 pm.  it was pre-recorded, and when my fellow hipsters at home heard of this, they were quite irrate.

but i digress, what incredible shows, especially last night with 50 MC and Wheat Kings.  the new songs sound amazing, so i sit and ponder how long i have to wait till i can see them again ...

cheers,
stephanie
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Stephanie,

You didn't see any fellow henhousers last night........cause we were all in front of you on the left side "Millenium Zone" ......Too many to remember and list but 10+ I bet!
I still stunned from GRACE TOO! last night,...... Gord just picked us up & threw us against the wall.....we fell and watched in a wall-drunken state for the rest of the show!
Not to mention Rory who drove from Winnepeg, Eric from north Quebec & Rob Bertrand & his crew from the Montreal area........ Alan & Naomi from the U.S.
And  Sharon I believe ....& 2 more from Carolina or something. WoW!

JEFFRO
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hip ring in Y2K in Toronto

                               By PAUL CANTIN
                       Senior Reporter, JAM! Showbiz
     _________________________________________________________________

   THE TRAGICALLY HIP AND FRIENDS
   Air Canada Centre, Toronto
   New Year's Eve
     _________________________________________________________________

   [storymark.gif] TORONTO -- Maybe determining what is quintessentially
   Canadian is like defining pornography -- it's hard to describe, but
   you know it when you see it.
    So as we enter a new millennium together, we may be no closer to
   defining what being Canadian is, but The Tragically Hip's New Year's
   Eve at the Air Canada Centre party sure looked like the definitive
   Canadian way to greet a new era. If you know what Canada is when you
   see it and hear it, then this was it.
    When the five members of The Hip stepped onto the stage, they were
   greeted with the kind of reception usually reserved for returning
   astronauts and political conventions. Besuited Gord Downie stepped up
   to the microphone but managed barely a word before he was greeted with
   a barrage of shrieks and flashing cameras; so they kicked into "Poets"
   instead and let the music do the talking.
    Tangoing with his mic stand during "Grace, Too," juggling a
   percussion instrument during the slinky intro to "Springtime In
   Vienna," barking incoherently during virtually every instrumental
   break, Downie appeared uncommonly keyed up, even by his own manic
   standard.
    "Music At Work," "Puttin' Down" and the low-key "Stay" (which saw
   guitarist Rob Baker switching to acoustic), new songs the group
   trotted out at their secret Horseshoe Tavern show earlier in the week,
   were tried out again this night and bode well for the band's
   forthcoming album. But it was during the more familiar material that
   the show took flight.
    The show seemed to reach one orgasmic height after another: When the
   houselights came up during the "we live to survive our paradoxes"
   chorus to "Springtime In Vienna," or when Downie recited the
   millennial anxieties of "Something On," or when guitarist Paul
   Langlois ground out the greasy intro to "New Orleans Is Sinking," or
   when "Bobcaygeon's" line about constellations revealing themselves
   "one star at a time" was greeted with an ocean of Bic lighters, or
   during "Nautical Disaster," when Downie gave up on singing and
   brandished his mic at the crowd to let them take over. All this before
   midnight even rolled around.
    With minutes to go before the witching hour, just when it seemed The
   Hip may have peaked too early, they served up a soaring take on "Ahead
   By A Century," which triggered a countdown on the arena scoreboard. At
   midnight, balloons rained down from the ceiling, confetti cannons
   filled the air with mock snow and the group crashed into "Save The
   Planet" -- and even this euphoria was tempered by the chorus: "What's
   to become of us?"
    And they weren't through with us yet. During the encore, with the
   stage littered with balloons, the band played "At The Hundredth
   Meridian" and Downie prowled the stage, stomping balloons, before
   finally bellyflopping onto large clusters. "This is genocide," Downie
   explained as he abandoned his singing and cleared the stage of every
   single balloon and the group improvised an extended interlude.
    In what must be a deliberate act to flummox audience expectations,
   The Hip did not conclude with "50 Mission Cap," even though Leaf
   greats Broda, Bailey, Bower and yes, Barilko, gazed down on the
   spectacle from their banners hanging high above the rink. The honor
   for The Hip's first finale of the new century went to an unlikely
   candidate: "Fire In The Hole." That's as close as we got to a Y2K
   glitch all night.
    One of our national newspapers recently carried a story suggesting
   (with a straight face) that The Tragically Hip's day is done, and even
   made the laughable suggestion that their dominance of Canadian music
   has been usurped by those celtic frat-rock nabobs Great Big Sea. True,
   since The Hip rolled out of Kingston and onto the national stage,
   other Canadian bands have emerged to challenge their title. But it
   would be difficult, if not impossible, to imagine any active Canadian
   group that could command enough devotion from their fans to sell out
   two nights at the nation's premier hockey shed and leave scalpers
   shilling floor seats for $125 apiece, even as other big-ticket
   millennium events were being scaled back or cancelled.
    Even less likely is the chance that any other Canadian group would be
   held in such esteem by their peers that they could stock two full
   shows with primo supporting acts willing to forgo bigger paydays at
   other events, just to be a part of The Hip's scene.
    What no other Canadian act can claim, though, is The Hip's
   achievement as an entirely home-made success story. Every successful
   Canadian act -- from Anka to Alanis -- has ditched Canada to found
   fame in the U.S., before reimporting their work back into the Canadian
   marketplace through the good offices of an American label. The exact
   opposite has happened to The Hip. Although their constant touring has
   made inroads stateside in recent years, they've carved out a viable
   career touring and making records here in Canada on their own. We get
   it, even if no one else in the world does. I have limited patience for
   the dyspeptic anxiety in Canada over the group's fortunes abroad, but
   maybe the reason why we get what The Hip is all about while others
   seem to miss it is because what they do is quintessentially Canadian.
   What we should really treasure about this night and about this band is
   that they create that rarest of Canadian natural resources -- music
   that actually reflects the Canadian experience.
    So maybe the reason why a Hip concert seems so definitively Canadian
   is because when we cheer them, it feels like we're cheering ourselves,
   too.
    Call it a happy accident that many of The Hips' friends make music
   that's likewise distinctively Canadian. The acts alternating on the
   main and B-stage were, if not a who's who of Can-rock, at least a
   primer for anyone wanting to catch up on some of the best music this
   country has to offer.
    Rising from the smoking ruins of West Coast pop quartet The Odds is
   Sharkskin, a funky instrumental outfit staking their sound somewhere
   amid the rich southern soul tradition of Memphis' Booker T And The MGs
   and New Orleans' The Meters, shot through with a strong streak of
   modern rock muscle. They even dared a Stax-Volt reconsideration of
   Deep Purples's "Smoke On The Water." With their stirring Hammond organ
   flourishes and (true to their name) anachronistic sharkskin threads,
   they were a nonstop kick on the B-stage and the perfect soundtrack to
   get the party primed for the headliners.
    The Rheostatics got into the spirit of big-hall rock early on the
   main stage, transforming their song "Claire" from a delicate homage to
   The Beach Boys into the kind of scrappy rock favored by Crazy Horse.
   Although some of their more adventurous, free-form numbers seemed to
   test the crowd's impatience, when guitarist Dave Bidini asked "are you
   ready to rock?" there was enough enthusiasm left to hail a rumbling
   reading of "Bad Time To Be Poor."
    If Ottawa's Starling appeared a little shell-shocked on the B-stage
   at the back of the hall, it's probably because they were still
   recovering from their short-notice stint as opening act for The Hip's
   Horseshoe show under their other alias -- Danny Michel's Wedding Band.
   The group, which recently inked a deal with U.S.-based mini-major
   Timebomb Records, were effortlessly poptastic as they powered through
   a short, sharp set, climaxing with singer-guitarist Ian Lefevre's
   "Don't Deflate" -- as masterful a piece of pop songcraft as we're
   likely to hear in 2000, when Starling's album is due for release.
    Rightly or wrongly, Toronto singer-songwriter Hayden's reputation is
   founded on mournful ballads and deadpan delivery, so he'd be the last
   guy you'd expect to storm the main stage throwing arena-rock poses --
   and he didn't. In fact, the singer's half-hour set made no obvious
   concessions to the grandeur of the event (how about devoting a big
   chunk of his brief time onstage to curious instrumentals, or taking
   time between songs to share with his band what looked like a bag of
   chips). But he managed to impress, not in spite of his
   single-mindedness, but because of it. The highlight of Hayden's set
   was "Trees Lounge," the scorching booze-soaked anthem he wrote for
   Steve Buscemi's little-seen but much-admired film of the same title.
    The New York-based duo of Chris Brown and Kate Fenner -- both
   formerly of Toronto's Bourbon Tabernacle Choir -- brought a touch of
   smoky soul to the B-stage. Aided by a versatile bass-and-drums rhythm
   section, singer Fenner and keyboardist Brown (without a guitar for
   much of the set) made a joyful noise. When Brown did switch to guitar,
   it was for a gorgeous ballad dedicated to The Band's recently deceased
   bassist Rick Danko, delivered by Fenner in a plaintive manner that
   would have done Danko proud.
    The understated elan The Skydiggers typically display at their
   frequent club shows easily made the translation to the ACC's expanse.
   Old favorites like "Slow Burning Fire," "Radio Waves" and an anthemic
   rendering of "A Penny More" were expertly performed and warmly
   greeted, but it was two new songs in the group's canon -- The
   Skydiggers' own "Will You Ride Wide Open" and their cover of American
   singer Jesse Winchester's "Biloxi," that stole the show.
    The former, sung by frontman Andy Maize, packs a potent pop punch,
   like some long-lost outtake from The Beatles' "Revolver." On
   Winchester's debut album, "Biloxi" is a mournful piano ballad, but
   here, delivered in guitarist Paul McLeod's astonishing voice and
   rearranged as a textured guitar duel between McLeod and guitarist Josh
   Finlayson, it becomes something altogether amazing. The group has been
   readying a new record in recent months, and they'd be mad not to
   include both songs.
    There were fewer than 150 people on hand for the early-bird set by
   The Mahones. But give the tough-nosed celt-rock quintet credit for
   hurling themselves into the task of opening the festivities. The fact
   that their 20 minute set came and went with little impact had more to
   do with the mired sound mix than with the group's music, which
   imagines an unlikely pub-crawl with The Clash and The Chieftains.
   [storymark.gif]

Set List

   The Tragically Hip's set list (note, question marks indicate a new
   song, and the title is a guess, based on what could be heard of the
   lyrics)
    Poets
    Grace, Too
    Music At Work?
    Gift Shop
    Puttin' Down?
    Springtime In Vienna
    Something On
    Bobcaygeon
    Nautical Disaster
    Fireworks
    Stay?
    Courage
    New Orleans Is Sinking
    Ahead By A Century
    Save The Planet
    (encore)
    At The Hundredth Meridian
    Scared
    Little Bones
    (encore)
    Fire In The Hole

-------

Two notes:

When Gord went to town on the balloons in the middle of At The 100th, he
kept at it for a good 10 minutes, constantly changing his method of
attack.  It was *awesome*.  He concluded by saying "This isn't rock and
roll -- this is genocide!"

When he refers to another newspaper columnist saying The Hip's time is up,
I'm pretty sure he's referring to the column Lynn Saxberg of the Ottawa
Citizen wrote a couple of days ago in the end-of-year music retrospective.
Since I'm in TO waiting for the NYD show and headed to Winnipeg right
after, someone else from Ottawa might want to post that bit from the paper
on the 30th (or 31st)..

Oh, and if you don't know your way around Toronto and get lost after a
show, try not to be wearing a Habs jersey when you ask for directions.
People *will* do their best to make you more lost.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hey, guys,

        Well, I just came back from T.O. and I guess I have to settle back into the real world again. I have to admit, the more you see the Hip, the better they get, not to mention, the rowdier I get! The NYE show was simply awesome and to all those fans who think that Gordie just isn't the same because he doesn't jump aroun stage like he used to are wrong. He's just changed his style and to tell you the truth, he's funnier than ever! In terms of setlist, it seems pretty obvious that whenever the Hip play two shows in one city, the better setlist is on the second night. I know this is debatable, but this is what I think. However, it doesn't matter, because I was in Toronto to see 50 MC in Feb. so I didn't miss out.

        Everything the Hip did for the Millenium was just perfect. I mean, who saw Unplucked sneaking in there before midnight? They played that one in Montreal during the Day tour, but to close out the century with that one is just so Hip. Not to mention, start off the century with Save The Planet was a great idea, and once again, typical of Gordie! So please, "be
kind to each other, and save the planet."

(p.s. other notables- Gordie busting every balloon...fucking funny! Took some great pictures of that and hope to blow them up. We were right up against the private boxes so we got a chance to scream on top and ask for glasses of champagne at midnight. That was nice.)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Just a few comments, gleaned from a floor-seat view, of what I thought noteworthy about an enthralling performance New Year's Eve:
 
1)  I got the impression the band was prepared to perform right through the midnight countdown, without stopping to note the New Year's
occasion.  Gordie appeared perturbed, at least to me, when the ACC clock began flashing at 11:58 (in mid-tune), and when the countdown
began at 11:59:50.  The band only shut down when the 10-9-8-7 started from the crowd...  I expected the band to mark the occasion --
 
No big deal, but I thought I'd mention it.
 
2)  Has anyone heard from the guy in the second row who caught the wool hat that Gordie tossed into the crowd?  It took Gordie two cracks at
it, to get it out into the crowd, and the Hipster made a helluva great grab.   (BTW, Gordie's first throw went straight up in the air and landed only
a few feet away... what an athlete.
 
3)  Anyone frustrated about the beer regulations at Ontario concerts?  You enter the arena, line up interminably for a few beers, then find out
you can't go in to the bowl, that all drinks must be consumed in the halls.   The rationale in play here is public safety -- at least that's what the
woman at the ACC information booth told me (as well as noting it was provincial government law, out of their hands, which is fair.)  I don't buy
it, about the safety.  It just simplifies their crowd control responsibilities.
 
The beer stands should at least make it more obvious to people that beer cannot be taken inside.  I mean, I've shelled out big bucks to get in,
further big bucks for 3 beers ($4.75 per), and then to be told I can't enter????   It was especially annoying because I was with a lady who'd never
been in the ACC before, and here we are, stuck outside.  The result was we downed two beers and left one behind. (Unfortunately, we
weren't dressed in a way that we could hide the beers, although others did, of course)
 
Further on that subject, I attended the Beck show at the Molson Amphitheatre last summer, and they did allow patrons to take their beers to
their seats -- but on an experimental basis only.  How patronizing. (Anyone aware of that Molson Amphitheatre experiment, and how it went?)
 
4)  Anyone know what Gordie thinks of requests?  At one point, and only one point, a couple of guys starting yelling for ABAC and Fifty.
Gord did not seem to appreciate the interjections...
 
5)  I thought the NYE set ended quickly, not long after midnight.  Of course, the encores quickly corrected the situation, but I was surprised at
their haste in ending the main show.   Anyone agree that it started at about 10.45 and ended at 12.10, not quite 90 minutes, before encores?
 
6)  Sharkskin closed out the supporting acts with a competent instrumental set.  Then the musical interlude over the arena sound system,
before the Hip came on, carried on the instrumental theme, something from Jeff Beck's Blow by Blow album, I believe.   I'm wondering if that was
just an effort to make a clever segue, or the band is a fan of Jeff Beck's mid-80s work?
 
Rob
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The following is an outline of my trip to Toronto.

Myself and Kalyn (roommate) left Moncton, New Brunswick, on December
28th around 9am.  My '97 Sunfire was loaded to the brim with blankets,
CD's, and good spirits.  We dismissed the idea of taking the shortcut
through the US, deciding instead to stick to the more roomy and
familiar TCH.

Besides a brief pause to take a picture of a road sign telling us how
far to St. Louis de Ha! Ha! (an actual town in eastern Quebec), as
well as a food stop in Drummundville, we arrived in Ottawa around 9
that night.  Ren Bostelear was nice enough to provide us with a place
to crash in exchange for a drive to Toronto.  This was easily worth
going slightly out of our way to pick him up in Nepean.

After breakfast courtesy of the Bostelears, as well as a quick stop at
the Steve Yzerman arena, we set out for Toronto.  I resisted the
temptation to stop at the Milhaven maximum security prison and we
arrived in Toronto around 2pm.

We dropped Ren off at a hostel in downtown Toronto.  Kalyn and I
debated what his chances were of getting out of the city with both his
camera equipment and his life.  Ren proved us wrong, retaining both.
The next two nights we spent time with friends in Toronto, enjoying
such pleasures as the Hockey Hall of Fame, Peel Pub, Wayne Gretzky's
Restaurant, and Pizza Pizza (we gotta get that stuff out east).

The morning of December 31: "The sun came up, shock to the blinds.
Today was the day, and I was already behind."  The excitement was
building inside us.  We resisted the temptation to buy floor seats
from the scalpers (they were asking less than face value) and instead
took our places behind the main stage.  Not bad seats at all, but I
would later learn that there are no bad seats in the ACC.

The opening bands were good.  The Skydiggers were hard to hear but I
enjoyed them nonetheless.  Rheostatics were very funny and
entertaining.  I think Hayden had to be the best of the opening acts,
though Kalyn and Rob (concert companion) really loved Sharkskin.

Gord stepped to the mic with his familiar, "Hello."  The shivers ran
up and down our spines as he launched into Poets, much to my surprise.
I was convinced they would go with the epic opener, Grace Too, which
was next.  That was followed by a new tune, My Music At Work, which
was incredible.  I could distinctly see the ever-bobbing head of the
Rohit in the first few rows.  It's hard to miss a six foot Rocket
Richard jersey...cool.  The band closed out 1999 with a shortened jam
version of unplucked gems (great).  The crowd counted down the New
Year in unison...very cool.

Just before the band came out for encore #1, balloons were released
from the ceiling of the Air Canada Centre (anti-climatic).  Most of
them landed on the stage; I knew we were in for some Downie
shenanigans.  Sure enough, as Hundredth Meridian went on, he began
jumping on the balloons in a mad fury.  Like a man possessed, he ran
around the stage bursting the balloons, often by throwing himself onto
them.  He paused to yell, "This isn't rock and roll, this is
GENOCIDE", referring to the fact that he was wiping out the balloon
population.  This went on for well over ten minutes.  The band, used
to this sort of behavior, played on.

After the second encore (do they always play two now?), we spilled out
into the crowded streets of Toronto.  We walked the streets for
awhile, waiting for bedlam to break out, but it never did.  Unharmed
by the deadly Y2K virus, we slept soundly.

At supper the next day, Jana (another concert companion) arrived with
good news, she had won two tickets for the Phantom zone!
Unfortunately only she and Rob could go, but Kalyn and I enjoyed the
New Year's Day show from the balcony.  Once again, these seats were
not bad at all.  Despite the poor sound from the Headstones set (we're
big fans), the opening acts were once again very enjoyable.  Kalyn
complained that the Headstones should have been on the main stage.  I
agreed.  The Cash brothers were great and I will definitely look
around for their CD.  They even did a Skydiggers tune.  Julie Doiron
and the Wooden Stars had trouble...maybe it was equipment problems.

The boys did open with Grace Too this time.  As the concert went on, I
was surprised that they were able to equal the previous night's
performance.  More balloon shenanigans when someone threw one on
stage.  Gord put it under his shirt and used the mic as a sonogram,
tracing it across his belly.

One new tune sounded amazing tonight, "This is the Bastard."  Gord
said something about the bastard was "having to choose." or something
like that.  They followed this with a surprise performance of Wheat
Kings, much to the crowd's delight.  Kalyn was glad to hear Blow at
High Dough.

Gord was equally entertaining, riding around on the mic, "Now that's a
horse!", and even falling a couple times.  "I try a couple of Celine's
moves and I go down!"  I thought Johnny was especially into it this
night.  I wouldn't want to be his drum set, he beats the hell out of
those things.  Rob echoed those sentiments.

We left Toronto two very satisfied Maritimers.  These were the fourth
and fifth times I have seen the Hip and they continue to amaze me.  I
recommend driving, flying, or crawling to see this band live.  What an
experience.

Take care,

Andrew