Use It Up
M@W
Blow
Tore Up
700 FT.
Pigeon Camera
DD
S Jet
Courage
Daddy
Good Life
Poets
Greasy
Wheat
Gift
Wolf
Locked
Ý
Thugs
Planet
New O.
blow in early last night. Crowd loved it!!
pigeon camera... gord completely forget the lyrics, whole 2nd half
of song was blown. he kept asking the aud for help.
Daredevil was great come back.
Very strong poets!!
Greasy and wheat together was sweet
Locked closed the first set to everyone's surprise!!
Thugs was awesome. gord played with big moth on his shirt the whole
song.
-Jeff T.
Incredible 3 day trip with the band.Ý I am still on a huge natural
high.Ý We had seats in row 4 first night, third row the second night andÝlast
night found us up against the stage.Ý Since we had front row seats and
the crowd gathered early we staked our claim early on.Ý I was right in
front of Gord Downie the entire show with Bob right beside me and other
friends gathered around me.Ý I was very nervous about being up there after
seeing theÝmorons up there SaturdayÝbut it was totally cool.Ý (one girl
in the second row got a metal chair smashed into her face on Sat.night!)
No pushing and out of control people near us at all.Ý Never once was I
pushed against the stage.Ý It was sweet!!Ý I won't post the setlist since
you have already seen it.ÝÝThe only change from the original list was Freak
T changed to Save the Planet.Ý I was sure one of us was going to get those
drum sticks from Johnny Faye, but he gave them to someone else.ÝÝ Bob did
manage to get Gord D's set list with cords listedÝon it.Ý
Ý
Stage 2 of the night brings us out to the bus where we proceeded to
wait for the band.ÝÝ We waited for 2 hours total but it was worth it.Ý
Johnny Faye came out and a few people managed to get autographs from him
including Sonny, Bob and Dave.Ý Then Bobby and Gord S came out and it was
so cool.Ý They hung with the people for quite some time just yakking it
up.Ý We were able to get pictures with them and autographs.ÝÝ While hanging
out around there one of the roadies came off the bus with a drum stick
and handed it to Bob and said it was from Johnny Faye.Ý Amazing!!Ý These
guys were SO nice and SO real.Ý There weren't very many people left at
this point and even fewer as it began to rain with lightening.ÝÝWe stuck
it out with a few other brave souls and were finally rewarded with the
site of Paul and Gord D coming out at last.Ý I got Gord D to sign my shaker
banana and he wrote on it "No Fruit This Tour" as we commented that he
didn't have any of his fruit shakers this time around.Ý Bob and I had left
our MAINE hockey jersey's that we wore to the show in the car once the
show was over and so we were surprised and pleased when Gord D looked at
us and said "the people with the Maine Black Bears shirts".ÝÝ Sonny and
Dave got posters signed and Bob got the set list of Gord D signed by all
the band members.Ý We went home very happy people indeed!!Ý
Ý
Bob took a ton of pictures during the show so hopefully we'll have
some good ones forthcoming...
Ý
Peace and Happy Touring!
Ý
Fran
Now Rory, you have to understand my expectations for night #3 in Somerville...How
are they going to top last nights performance? After all, the Hip have
been known to noodle around with some low tempo numbers like 'Escape" and
Flamengo" on night number three, right?
Plus I'm solo tonight and forced to sit at the Joshua Tree bar by myself
like a pathetic loser with all you good Canucks whooping it up around me..
doesn't look good, right?
Wrong!!
I've seen the Hip fourteen times, all the tours from 1993 to the present
but (I can't believe I'm going to write this) the 7/28 show was the best
f**cking perfomance I have ever seen!I don't know if it was because I was
on the floor this time (12th row center on the aisle) but the Boys were
ON this night...
Perfect vocals, perfect sound, Amazing renditions of each song, Gord
was in his best "maniac mode"
Robby's guitar was strong and loud....you could hear Gord's rants,
and the crowd was stoked!
Also, the light show from the floor is utterly amazing!!!
Highlights:
Blow!!! (This set the tempo for the night with an explosive rendition,
the floor was vibrating up and down through the whole song)
Silver jet (rising beams of white light as Gord sings "way over head!")
Pigeon camera: Gord forgot the words to the second two verses and had
to ask the crowd for help, they ended the song early he got so disorienated!
very funny! He sang the lines " I'm embarrased" twice to emphasize the
situation.
Coming back from the encore break he quoted the "missing lines" as
if to make further fun of himself (Ironically the lines he couldn't remember
were "where's my pigeon camera? by now they could be anywhere, and after
all that training"....)
Wheat Kings (does this ever fail to give you chills?)
Good Life (Three part harmonies by Gord, Paul and Gord are beautiful
in concert!)
Poets (hard edged version with Robby letting loose on the guitar breaks!)
Locked!! to end the set (I won't take credit for "locked" appearing
two nights in a row but please recall my comments to Gord S. in my 7/27
review ("you never know ...?") Tonight's version was even darker than last
night (featured Gord's "runway pose" mannerisms during the intro, and built
up to a strobelight explosion during the peak "let me OUTTTTT!" Whole place
was bouncing! I could barely keep my camera steady)
Thugs - haven't seen this one since the Somerville show in 1995 (Rory,
remind me to send you the Boston Globe review and setlist for the 1995
show since it doesn't appear on your list of reviews) Johnny and Robby
have a funky intro to the opening riff
and then Johnny has some neat double times throughout... Great re-working
of that song....!
A couple of other digital camcorders were in the audience...
I just reviewed my own tape of the 7/28 show and , damn ,it will be
hard to beat....
My work here is done...
Scott in Boston
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 3:
What can I say... another great show?Ý Of course!Ý I was really looking
forward to this show... they were our best tickets, 5th row, right on the
aisle... other than a couple of people already taking up our seats, the
crowd was pretty good, although we were a little concerned - it looked
pretty rowdy from the balcony the night before....
Great seats, right in front of Robby... got a ton of great pictures...
Pigeon Camera was memorable... as part way thru the song, Gord all of
sudden - isn't singing!Ý He's walking around the stage apologizing for
forgetting the lyrics!Ý "I forgot how this next line starts, does anybody
know the next line?"... Gord's walking around the stage asking the audience
for the next line!Ý The band keeps playing, Gord remembers how the song
starts, and keeps going... the next verse starts - and he does the same
thing!Ý So we got over half the song instrumental!
Daredevil was awesome to hear & Silver Jet had another great night
(2 out of 3 nights great - I'll take it!).Ý Poets was cool... got a great
laugh at the end with a 'laminar flow' reference... "C'mon and swim...
not to her... not to him... you've got to use that laminar flow!"Ý - or
something along those lines....
Wheat Kings was great - always is... I was surprised though... 3 days
without Scared, which I'll take if I'm getting Wheat Kings and Long Time
Running the night before....
The show ends, and as we're getting ready to walk out, my sister comes
over (she'd been standing against the wall at the end of the row), and
casually says, "Hey, look what I got".... Turns out, she'd been talking
to a guy who's friends with the band, and he gave her 3 'guest' passes!
We weren't sure what this 'got' us... but the guy told us that if we
hung around the side of the auditorium, the band would come out in a couple
of minutes... sure enough, after about a half hour of waiting, and watching
the stage tear down, Gord Sinclair comes out!Ý He took some time to chat
with each group of people out there, probably chatted with the 3 of us
for 5-10 minutes!Ý Sweet!
What a great guy... told us how he was totally enjoying the shows, and
having a great time, and that they were heading home that night... they're
looking forward to the tour out west.Ý We joked with him about the Hip
doing a casino tour thru Ontario - get your tickets for Casino Rama now!
Great story - throughout the show we'd seen Gord & Robby sharing
looks and smiles, as they're playing off each other's rifts... we were
watching them through-out the show and commenting - look how much fun they're
having!Ý After the show, we're talking and Gord says "yeah, we screw up
all the time, y'know, you forget which song you're playing, or where you
are in the song - so i'm always looking over at Robby - Hey, you just screwed
up! - and he's always catching me"... here we were thinking they're exchanging
looks, enjoying each other's playing & really, they're just catching
each other's mistakes... maybe they're not that much of a jam band after
all!
Anyways... Gord said the rest of the band was backstage, "listening
to records", and that they'd be out soon... after about a half hour, we
went out back behind the theatre, and Robby (& Gord) were out there...
we talked to Robby a couple of minutes, about what he'd been doing in town,
and got a picture... Pretty cool.Ý You hear from everybody about how great
the band members are - and I've met Gord D. before - but it's still amazing
when you get a chance to talk to them and just see how cool they really
are....
anyways... that's about it... Great couple of shows... got a bunch of
great pictures that I'll put up for everybody to see.... (if you're still
reading).
Ian
Hey Rory,
Just got back from Beantown.Ý Here's my belated reviews of the two shows
we saw.Ý It's a little long, so brace yourself.
7/28/02, Boston, Somerville Theatre:
We actually didn't have tickets for this show, but we decided to head
out to the theatre anyway and see if we could scrounge some up.Ý We had
heard the show was sold out, but when we arrived at the theatre, we found
out that the box office was opening up at 6 PM to sell an extra 50 tickets
or so.Ý We wound up being second in line and snagged two tix for the last
row on the floor.Ý There was a big gap in between the front row and the
stage, so as it got closer to showtime, the gap started filling up.Ý My
buddy and I grabbed our cameras, ran up the aisle, and by the time the
boys went on, we were right up against the stage.Ý And to think, an hour
earlier we didn't even have tickets. Amazing how things work out, eh!
I wasn't sure if the Hip could top the previous night's magic, but like
always, they proved me wrong. The setlist was entirely different except
for 4 songs. They opened with the now familiar one-two punch of Use it
Up and MM@W.Ý Highlights on this night were Greasy Jungle (incredible!),
All Tore Up (rockin!), Wheat Kings (angelic!), Thugs (mind altering!) and
a stunning version of The Dire Wolf-- a song that has rapidly climbed the
ladder of my all-time favorite Hip songs.Ý And of course I have to mention
the hilariously improvised version of Pigeon Camera with Gord forgetting
just about all the words.Ý The band just kept jamming while Gord asked
the audience for help:Ý "fuck, I'm in trouble.Ý Anyone know the next line?"
Finally he said "I think I better just stop", and the band ended the song.Ý
"It's a damn good thing it's only music" he said before the they kicked
into the
next song.Ý Later on during the encore, he remembered the line he initially
forgot and recited it to the crowd, illiciting huge laughs and cheers from
everyone on hand.Ý It was a fun moment.
All in all, both shows were awesome, and the crowd was very well behaved
which was nice to see.Ý There were a few folks wearing Team Canada jerseys
and I spotted a couple of flags, but there wasn't any of the annoying "Captain
Canada" behavior that I've seen at previous shows.Ý It was a wonderful
two nights of music and everyone involved had a great time!Ý Too bad I
missed the Friday show.
Cheers,
Casey
Holy smokes!Ý My first Hip show ever!Ý What a way to start!Ý I have
to be truthful and tell you I was a little more than skeptical of what
I was getting myself into.Ý I was familiar with the Hip but I owe it to
my friend Derek, longtime Buffalo resident now Granite State transplant,
for immersing me in them this year.Ý Many a drive into work have I become
familiar with Gordon Dowie's rants.Ý A true artist.Ý Although initially
the Hip did not come across as a particularly good live band, I have since
realized that there is a world of difference between listening to some
ever-skipping bootlegs at 7 a.m. and a first hand experience in an intimate
theater such as Somerville's.Ý To recap:Ý Our posse of 5 began our evening
with dinner and many cocktails at Johnny D's after a warm-up dance at the
open mike blues jam we were off across the street to the theater.Ý What
great atmosphere!Ý I don't know what section we were in.Ý Most likely it
wasn't the right one.Ý Didn't matter.ÝÝ All around us seemed welcoming
and just happy to be there (was there even a bad seat?)Ý The boys launched
into Use It Up.Ý Great opener (I love songs about the love of music).Ý
From that moment on I danced the hardest and longest I have for a long
time.Ý Though I think I need a chiropractor from the number of times I
snapped my head up and down.Ý Actually I ended up headbutting the guy in
front of my in the elbow.Ý Or he elbowed me in the forehead.Ý Hard to tell
which it was.Ý I was a bit anxious as to how this interaction might progress
but a quick hand shake and we were back to the groove.Ý By the time Wheat
Kings (magical!) came we were high-fiving each other at every opportunity.Ý
In short, the fans were great, the theater was great, the music was outstanding,
and I will forever remember Gordon in a Bruins cap!Ý Attaboy!Ý I was hoping
to hear Twist My Arm and (evidently) I just missed Long Time Running.Ý
But who could complain?Ý Maybe next time.Ý Wicked awesome show!
Cheers,
Andy
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