No setlist for now... Just highlights...

IOD
Blow
Daredevil
Eldorado
Three Pistols

Sure, they were all great. But probably the most memorable part of the show was the entire lightshow dying on the band during IOD, and they just kept on going for 3 songs with flashlights and whatever could be scrounged up. And then they died again for a bit of Gift Shop. They found it pretty funny, we found it pretty funny.

Two more sweaty nights. Whoo.
-Rob B.


Tragically Hip shows fans its true colors
 

By Jonathan Perry, Globe Correspondent, 7/27/2002

SOMERVILLE - Gordon Downie knows a good line when he hears one - or yelps one. Like R.E.M.'s Michael Stipe, the Tragically Hip singer-lyricist's affinity for spinning obtuse, imagery-soaked lines from poets (Wallace Stevens on ''The Dire Wolf'') and implicitly name-checking short story writers (Raymond Carver on ''Use It Up'') is matched only by his band's fiercely loyal audience, who are clearly willing to follow him down any darkly lit lyrical path and have sold out all three shows.

 But the darkly dramatic singer doesn't just allow his muse to praise famous men. On ''It's A Good Life If You Don't Weaken'', the first single from the new ''In Violet Light,'' the Hip's ninth studio album and its first for the Cambridge-based Zoe/Rounder Records, Downie even taps his road manager's credo for the tune's circumspect title.

Though they've never made a huge commercial splash in this country, the Hip are nothing less than a beloved institution in their native Ontario, Canada. Judging from the swarm of red-and-white Maple Leaf-themed flags and jerseys that greeted the veteran quintet when they took the stage and dove into ''Use It Up'' and nearly two-dozen other numbers from their still-swelling songbook, more than a few of of them were on hand last night.

Although always musically capable and, at times, ferociously inspired, the Tragically Hip's focal point - both on record and onstage - is clearly Downie who remains an enigmatic, mildly menacing cherub possessed of a tremulous, sour quaver of a voice and a deeper, angry sadness. In other words, he's perfectly suited to the band's densely churning material, and his favorite topics: fear, death, paranoia, and knowing less about life and himself than he did the day before. ''I don't know what to believe - sometimes I even forget,'' he sang with rueful resignation on ''Gift Shop,'' whose melodic sweep and guitar-freighted melancholy made it one of the evening's highlights.

The rest of the band - guitarists Robby Baker and Paul Langlois; bass player Gord Sinclair, and drummer Johnny Fay - supplied flesh, muscle, and sinew to the brain matter of Downie's narratives. Although on disc, the band sometimes can fall prey to its limitations - turgid arrangements wrapped around mid-tempo, generic melodies that don't quite sink the hooks in deep enough - both band and material came to kicking, roiling life in performance, where many colors other than violet gleamed from the shadows. It was a night where even a momentary failure of the stage lights seemed to underscore, rather than diminish, the brightness of the band's staying power.


She was the one tripping the breaker for the lights! Tallulah Bankhead was a regular performer on the same Somerville stage in her heyday. Someone should have known before the show where the fuse was. The lights where out for 4 or 5(?) songs. Don't get me wrong though, I enjoyed the unsuspected obstacle for the guys to endure which they did with COURAGE. One thing I did not enjoy was the sound mix especially upstairs. Other bands in the past had PA speakers pointed up towards the balcony.
Still glad I went and got a good dose of hip!
-paulyjoe

Great first night at the Somerville Theatre!Ý Sure looking forward to the next 2 nights.....Ý Here is the setlist for all those that weren't there....

Use It Up
New Orleans
Chagrin Falls
Fully Completely
El Dorado
Silver Jet
IOD (Lost the lights!)
Courage (By flashlight!)
It's A Good Life
Poets (Got lights back during Poets)
Puttin' Down
Dark Canuck
100th Meridian
Ahead By A Century
Dire Wolf
Gift Shop
Blow At High Dough!!

Lake Fever
Are U Ready
3 Pistols!!!!!!

Will give you the setlist tomorrow as well.......

Bob, Fran, Sonny and Dave....

The Bananna Shaking Mainiacs!!!!


Boston's an awesome city, and it's great to get down there and see the city - let alone catch a couple of fantastic Hip shows... but, we're all about the Hip, so here goes:
Show 1:
In my estimation, this show just rocked.Ý My favourite of the 3 shows, but it's a close call.Ý We were seated about 5 rows up in the balcony... not the best seats in the house, but they're all great at Somerville.

One of the highlights of the show was definitely the lights going out, and staying out for a song or two.Ý The lights went down during IOD... and I could make out a little bit of the stage in between flashbulbs giong off - but I lost sight of Gord... found him a couple of seconds later, laying on the floor in the corner of the stage, huddled around a little flashlight or something, in the fetal position.

Courage (next song) started with Gord kneeling in front of the light, and then he started walking around, carrying the little pen light around to the rest of the band!

Loved hearing El Dorado & Puttin' Down.... And 3 Pistols to cap it off.Ý After the first set, I'm thinking to myself... what else could I possibly want to hear?Ý Maybe 3 Pistols would be great... nah.... But I got it!

Honestly... I was a little disappointed with Silver Jet.Ý I found the rendition of it a little off... it might have just been the sound in the balcony, but Silver jet (on this night) left me wanting.

ABAC was awesome... Johnny was throwing in some extra beats during the second verse.Ý I can usually do without this song (just because they ALWAYS play it), but the drumming definitely made it a version to hear...

And 100th Meridian was fabulous, too.... Gord stops singing, they go into the middle part, and Johnny just starts hitting the drums double-time!Ý The rest of the band was grooving hard just to keep up, and totally getting into it... Gord looked like he was having seizures with the frenetic pace (even moreso than usual!).
-Ian B.


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