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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