songs in no particular order

from ivl...

use it up
silver jet
are u ready
dire wolf.....my fav from the new album
dark canuck
good life...sounded great live

from m@w....

lake fever....gord called it sound fever
M@W

from phantom power....

poets
fireworks

from trouble at the henhouse...

springtime in vienna
 

from day for night...

grace too
 

from fully completely....

fully completely
100th....a rant in the middle about being in a room with dust and how it settles with strangers
wheat kings
courage

from road apples....

little bones
 

from up to here....

blow
new o....no rant in the middle but solid none the less
 
 

the encore went

grace, too
wheat kings
blow....great way to end a great evening
 

the sound was great and the location was great
will have another report from vernon next month from the front row

sven...

I was disappointed by the short performance.  I mean, the performance was great, the band was as tight as I remember from my previous two Hip shows, the sound was excellent, not too loud.  But they only played about 15 songs, and appeared in a rush to squeeze in as many songs as possible before 10 p.m. (when the local noise ordinance took effect).  What did they play?  In no particular order, here's the songs I remember.

Use It Up (opener)
Music at Work
Fireworks
New Orleans Is Sinking
At the Hundredth Meridian
The Dark Canuck
It's A Good Life If You Don't Weaken
Courage
Wheat Kings
Gift Shop
Little Bones
Lake Fever
Poets
Springtime in Vienna

ENCORE
Grace, too
Blow at High Dough

Well, there's 16 songs, I'm sure I forgot a couple.  "Use It Up" was a fantastic opener!  I missed hearing "Tiger the Lion" and "Lake Fever" back-to-back like they played last year at the Moore Theatre, and "Lake Fever" was not as interesting without the female backup singer they toured with last year.  I hadn't heard "NOIS" in concert before (I'm sure), nor "Blow at High Dough" (I think).  Songs I really missed were "Tiger the Lion", "Freak Turbulence" and "Three Pistols" (which I'm sure I'll never
hear in concert!).

Given the time restraints, I thought it was an excellent setlist.  The trademark "jam/rant" at the ends of songs seemed to be considerably shorter, and there wasn't much schmoozing up to the audience between tunes.  It was clear the band was trying to jam as many songs as possible into the limited time.  I tip my hat to the band members for making the most of a less-than-ideal situation.

My wife was amazed by Gordon Downie's antics.  I still am, too.  Though he didn't have a banana, he danced around like a lunatic, which is pretty cool! I hope the Tragically Hip's next tour skips this venue, and stays indoors (in Seattle, anyway).

Enough of my whining!  It was a beautiful evening, and a great show! "Wayne", the opening band, was pretty good; their singer was excellent, and they played a very short set, like 5 songs.

If anybody can improve or correct my setlist, please help me out.
-Robert Ross

Night fell and the chants began.Ý The boys came out and started right away.Ý As with most past reviews, they sounded really good and played some of the usual suspects.Ý Early in the show, someone right in front had a hockey trophy, probably about 3-4 feet in
height, and placed it on the stage in front of Gord & Gord during NOIS.Ý Looked wicked from the bleachers and Terry & I had a good chuckle. Within a minute or two, one of the roadies took it down. Gord proceeded to sing "checking out the highlights of the scenery, saw some little trophies, they looked a little like me".Ý Next was Fully and Gord introduced it by saying "there's only room for one trophy on this stage".Ý The roadie must have given it back to the guy because it came back later for a brief while, back in front of G&G.Ý Loved the light show in Weaken, the yellow lights timed perfectly with the drum beats during "in a face so full of meaning, as if to almost make it glow..."Ý Grace and Blow where my favorites of the night.Ý Blow was awesome, again with the lights, this time blue with lots of strobe effects and low spotlights.Ý All around rad show and a great way to cap off a great day. Great seeing Gina again with her new hairstyle, we chatted after the show, albeit too briefly. Met a dude from Wayne (Michael) with her.Ý Hooked up in line with Oded, his buddy with the ball cap (sorry can't remember his name), and Oren before the show, along with Mark and his buddies.Ý Met Todd Letourneau and Steven Philpott, great guys.Ý Had a fellow Barilko
jersey owner come up to me out of the blue and strike up a conversation.Ý He got the white home Hip jersey done with red Leafs-style name bar/number.

Eveyone was really cool and friendly, thanks to everyone involved for making it such a memorable day.

Tony the Lost Barilko

My belated, but 'as promised' review for the Seattle "Concert @ the Pier"
Saturday, August 24th, 2002.

Warning, this will be long.Ý Feel free to edit as you wish.Ý I'm still all giddy...

First, I'll post the whole setlist, then I'll follow with what I remember as a couple of notable moments.

Seattle, August 24th, 2002 "Concert @ The Pier"

1ÝÝ Use
2ÝÝ Music
3ÝÝ New O
4ÝÝ Fully
5ÝÝ Ready
6ÝÝ Lake
7ÝÝ Jet
8ÝÝ Courage
9ÝÝ Fireworks
10 Good Life
11 Meridian
12 Springtime
13 Dark C
14 Poets
15 Wolf
16 Gift
17 Bones
________________
 Grace
 Wheat
 Blow
 

Opening act: "Wayne"ÝÝ

Honestly not familiar with "Wayne".Ý Truth is, I'm a music lover, and appreciate any band that is able to stand up in front of a crowd, risking ridicule from us, the listening public.Ý The Musicians are up there performing, because most of us don't have nearly the talent !Ý (speaking only for myself, no offense intended to any talented people that would love being up there).

In short, enjoyed Wayne's 'sound' as I lounged in the "beer jail" (Seattle's version of a "beer garden" intended to keep people restrained/financially poor).Ý The music didn't make me want to race out and buy their CD, but as the band themselves said, "We're Wayne, and we're going to entertain you for a little while until the Hip come on out".Ý And that they did.Ý The band was
well aware of their situation, and acted humbled that they were fortunate enough to open for The Hip.Ý Being that it was their last show doing so, they thanked the Hip, and their fans profusely.Ý Essentially, "Wayne" proceeded to play some decent music.Ý At least good enough that the audience seemed appreciative of it.Ý Or maybe it was appreciation that it only lasted 40 minutes.Ý Anyway, left the "jail" and headed back to my seat.

On to The Hip. (See Tony's review for an excellent review/verbal painting of the atmosphere/feel of Seattle's outdoor waterfront concert venue). My seat was located just right of the sound/light board, and about 3 rows up into the bleachers.Ý Tony "The_Lost_Barilko", formerly known as "Nick The Islander" (relax Tony, I'm messing with you) was on the main floor just
right of the sound booth, and was a stones throw away from me... but alas I didn't have a rock, ha, ha.Ý (Tony and I met, coincidentally, for the first time, just after the show ended).Ý After an excruciatingly long 20 minute wait for previous bands equipment removal, (with the usual build up of suspense, and the rising cadence of "HIP, HIP, HIP"), the boys casually strode across stage to their respective positions, and nonchalantly started into "Use it Up", as if they were just out for a drive in their favorite car, with their stereo on and the windows open.ÝÝ Downie is "with guitar" at the open (and for many others), and the band is looking very relaxed, obviously just stretching, loosening up like a big hungry Lion, waking from an after-lunch nap (knowing of course it's going to go hunting soon for a kill).Ý The band is already in form, the head bob is going, the hair is swinging around, hand motions, and the drums are already worried about the beating they're going to take later.Ý

"Use" is a great mid-tempo opener, and makes a good platform to launch from, as it sets an early mood and pace that just begs to be "pushed".Ý Such as in this case, being followed immediately with "Music".Ý The main floor was already on their feet from the start, but "MMAW got the rest of the place standing for the remainder of the evening, (except for the usual ones, people you wonder why they attended in the first place).Ý 3rd song in, treated us to 'New O', and the Hip groove was definitely "hitting it's
stride".Ý The trophy Tony refers to in his review appears on stage, and there are comical moments when it is whisked away by a stage technician, and then reappears again shortly for awhile.Ý 'Fully' comes at us with all of it's blistering glory, followed by 'Are You Ready', and at this point, the place was going ape shit.Ý It was just one mass of humanity on the main floor in front of the stage, and the people looked like, well, from my vantage point, like watching wind blowing rhythmically across open fields of
tall wheat, to the lights and sounds of the Tragically Hip.Ý Truly unforgettable.ÝÝ Next is a great moody rendition of "Lake Fever" followed by Silver Jet, which as many have already said, sounds wonderful in person.

Downie is getting pretty worked up at this point, pouring himself into song after song.Ý Courage and Fireworks keep things going at a breakneak pace, and the light show, which is all synched to the drum beats, is strobing between the obvious Violet at times, to yellow, to intense white light. Sometimes a little to much so, for being able to keep track of what's happening on stage.ÝÝ The pace subsides only for a while during the beautiful 'Weaken' as the stage is bathed in Violet.Ý Coming out of this, Gord D hits the 'lunatic Gord' stage and goes into one of the longest, most intense rants I've seen, and WHAM they hit us with Meridian with just wicked speed ranting in the mid-break, with the whole band ceasing to play as Gord rants all the way through and into "get Rye Cooder to sing my eulogy" before rejoining him.Ý 'Springtime' follows, and we all know what that's like...(sadly, the rants for me were mostly drowned out by the people in front of me).Ý Only thing I was able to pick up on is the "Swim reference that keeps emerging, this version being something about swimming across the Puget Sound.

Probably my favorite for complexity off the new album, 'Dark Canuck' for those that are familiar with it, starts out with Downie casually sitting on the monitor singing, "this one's for you, it goes on and on and on", as if he's telling us a favorite bed time story.Ý 'Dark Canuck' is INCREDIBLE, with Downie really emphasizing the musical shift that happens about 3 minutes into the song, (where all of a sudden it sounds as if we're in Eastern India).Ý Poets starts out with a R & B type riff on guitars, and
everyone is looking puzzled at each other wondering, "what the hell is this" and Downie is trying to imitate a duck walk on stage before they dump out into a killer version of 'Poets'.Ý I remember reading other posts that was talking about the fake intro thing, but had honestly forgot about it, and everybody, including me, fell for it.Ý The band does the Grateful Dead-like 'Direwolf' followed by 'Giftshop', which of course has everyone set up nicely for the KILL !ÝÝ On comes ' Little Bones' and the place just
exploded.Ý The bleachers are getting pounded by stomping feet, and the whole Pier is starting to feel like we're all on one big ship rumbling along at full power.ÝÝ Then, sadly, it stops.Ý Ride over.Ý But wait, you know there's an encoreÝ !

Your thinking it can't get any better than this, when, first song out for the encore, it's 'GRACE' (sweetness).ÝÝ And for the soft chewy center we get 'Wheat Kings'.Ý Awwww, if your counting songs, they're winding down and only going to do one more.Ý Then it turns out to ONLY be 'BLOW' and the sound system is finally cranked up to potential while the Pier starts detaching
from the Seattle's waterfront.Ý (" I had this dream where I relished the fray and the screaming filled my head all day" and in this case, one night on the Pier in Seattle too.

Most Notable moments:Ý Downie is VERY animated, joking around alot with the audience, and actually "introducing" songs occassionally, almost as if they wouldn't be recognized down here otherwise.Ý Asking the audience "Are You Ready ?Ý Are you ready, Are You, ARE YOU ?" before launching breakneak into it.Ý Heavy representation from IVL, with 6 of 20 from that release.Ý I've read this on other's reviews, and have to agree, the new material is SURREAL in the Live setting.Ý Having said that, I'm still amazed so many around me claiming to be hard core Hip fans, then confessing they don't yet have, aren't familiar with, or don't like the new material as well as old, etc. It's their loss.ÝÝ

The absolute ultimate highlight of the evening, I'm calling "Revenge at the Moore Theatre" security guards in 2000, during the MAW/Evening With Tour". Seattle has got to be one of the most anal cities I know of with respect to crowds.Ý We all saw how they treated people during WTO.Ý And at the Moore theatre in 2000, the security guards were being absolute morons, not letting
people dance in the aisle, shutting down recording equipment, etc.Ý So imagine my immense pleasure as I'm watching the neatly and precisely aligned rows of white FOLDING steel chairs being, you guessed it, folded up one by one and passed out to the outside rows over the tops of everyones heads, one after the other, as the security personnel could do nothing but become
"seating specialists" because they kept coming at them faster than the security could do anything about.Ý I laughed my ass offÝ as I watched the ingenious Hip crowd, slowly and methodically dismantle the neatly aligned rows, and crowd surf all the folded chairs over head to the outside rows, and proceed to make the whole front third of the main floor into a gigantic 'Hip dance floor' where none previously existed.Ý It was...PRICELESS

I apologize for the length, but if you're lucky, I won't remember any more of the evening !Ý For the rest of you that have them coming your way, I'm insanely envious.Ý You'll love it.Ý And for Christs sake, go buy the new album and LISTEN to it.Ý It really is good.Ý My only disappointment is, like the concert, it's too short !

Enjoy,

- Steve (the "Wordy One")ÝÝ

Its well-focused shows, thoughtful lyrics wear well

Monday, August 26, 2002

By GENE STOUT
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER POP MUSIC CRITIC

As the setting sun turned the western sky into a rainbow of color, Canada's Tragically Hip introduced Seattle to its newest album, "In Violet Light."

Saturday night's sold-out concert, which drew a boisterous crowd of Canadian and U.S. fans, was the last show of the season for the "Summer Nights at the Pier" series at Pier 62-63. And it proved another flawless night in what has been an extraordinarily rain-free series.

The 18-year-old Ontario group, led by singer Gordon Downie, kicked off its 90-minute set with "Use It Up," a new song from "In Violet Light," featuring lyrics based on writer Raymond Carter's maxim, "Use it up! Use it up! Don't save a thing for later." The noisy crowd, rising to its feet, responded to the lyrics by dancing, clapping and howling approval in a frenzy of Maple Leaf mania.

To the uninitiated, The Tragically Hip sounds like a generic old-school rock band of the '80s. But the five-member group's tight, well-focused shows and Canada-centric themes have helped make The Hip one of Canada's most popular acts. It sells out large venues in its home country and attracts fans who view the band as a national treasure.

In the United States, the group usually draws smaller, but no less passionate, crowds. The group's current U.S. tour began June 26 in Philadelphia. Founded in Kingston, Ontario, in 1984 as a cover band playing songs by the Rolling Stones, Yardbirds, Monkees and other groups, The Hip know how to keep an audience entertained. Even its ballads are pedal-to-the-metal.

Downie's trademark twitching and flailing kept concertgoers amused as the band whirled through 20 songs spanning its nearly two-decade career. The crowd exploded for "My Music at Work," "New Orleans Is Sinking" and "Fully Completely," among the band's most popular songs.

Concertgoers, preferring to dance and groove to the music than sit, began passing chairs over their heads to security people near the front and sides of the stage. Downie introduced "Lake Fever" as a song about "what happens when you spend large amounts of time on large amounts of water." The hard-rocking "Silver Jet," from "In Violet Light," was greeted with the same enthusiasm as many of the group's older songs.

The new CD, the group's 10th album, was produced by Hugh Padgham, who has worked with Sting, Genesis and David Bowie, among others. It captures the group's vibrant live sound; many of the new songs sounded immediately familiar, even though the album was just released this summer.

The soaring ballad "It's a Good Life If You Don't Weaken," the album's first single, drew a big cheer from the crowd. "Oh for the good life, we just might have to weaken," Downie sang, "and find somewhere to go/ Go somewhere we're needed/ Find somewhere to grow/ Grow somewhere we're needed."

"The Dire Wolf," a new rock ballad inspired by Wallace Stevens' "Sea Surface Full of Clouds," sang enchantingly of "the Dire Wolf's lair/ On a Newfoundland's paws/ Close to nowhere/ And halfway across." Providing Downie with solid backup were guitarists Robby Baker and Paul Langlois, bassist Gord Sinclair and drummer Johnny Fay.

The Hip closed its set with "Gift Shop" and "Little Bones," but soon returned for an explosive encore that opened with "Grace, Too" and finished with a raucous "Blow at High Dough" that had fans howling for more.

Opening the show was Wayne, a band from Birmingham, Ala., that shares The Tragically Hip's penchant for thoughtful lyrics and solid musicianship. Wayne sounds like Alabama's answer to R.E.M.

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