What can I say? THE HIP ROCKED, Use it Up, Music at Work, and New O, in that order from the top. All their "staple" rocking out songs were included, Courage, 100th Meridian, Fully.

Second of all I WANT TO THANK ALL THE FANS UP FRONT THAT HELPED ME FIND MY GLASSES WHEN THEY FELL!! THAT WAS SUPER COOL,

The "Pit" up front in Camrose, was one of the most coolest, and "loving" audiences I have ever rocked with, the crowd surfers were amazing, everyone gave ample warning so nobody was injures (seriously)

Back to the Hip. The Band very well in tune with each other playing a very loose concert that absolutly rocked!! Gord was excellent, ranting, dancing, he was very animated,

IAGLIYDW is fantastic live, Wheat Kings was good to hear as well. Poets, and Fireworks.

We got in rather late seeing, Use it Up from the back, then quickly made our way to 3rd row in the festival crowd by the 3rd song New O.

Ending the first set with Little Bones set everyone into insane mode, Opening the encore with Grace, and Ending the show with Blow at High Dough....

~**Did anyone tape this?**~ security wasn't as tight as Saturday night, and they tore down the No Cameras, or Recording Devices Signs.....hmmm.....

That's a rap, I just walked in the door so for a more detailed review and 20+ pictures go to:
http://www.angelfire.com/myband/thehiptales1

thank you.
Bill

July 14th 2002, a great day to remember. What a Festival: Stage 13. The Hip came on just after 10pm and opened with Use it
up, Music at Work, and New Orleans. The Crowd was so amazing, at one point my glasses fell off and everyone cleared out
and helped me find them in the chaos. The Hip ROCKED. Gord was enjoying himself, doing a lot of dancing, compared to the
"evening with" tour. IAGLIYDW sound great, with the stars in the air. Listening to the crowd during Grace too, felt as if we
were all one family. The crowd surfers were careful, and there was much warning allocated as to, if one was heading our way.
Blow as a closer was electrifying!! Bobcaygeon and Wheat Kings fliurished with greatness. Overall the concert was short and to
the point with lots of rock!! the crowd was intense, but safe. Can't wait till they come around again in the fall.


The Warden's Extemporaneous Camrose Review
--------------------------------------------------

Wide Mouth Mason
***************
Missed 'em.  Grrrrrrrrr.

fifth season
*********
You know, I wished better for them.  The heat had made the crowd pretty listless, but then they didn't really have as tight a set as I have ever heard them do.

Holly McNarland
**************
Woo!  Did she ever rock!  It's odd, I find, to see someone put in an absolutely note-perfect performance without their sounding exactly like their CD.  Holly put in an amazing, albeit short, set that had me hooked at "Ready?"

finger eleven
**********
Not really my type of music, but they were at least entertaining.  The lead singer kind of reminds me of a creepy Gord.

Nickelback
*********
I thought they put on an excellent show.  It's been a while since I had some fire with my rock and roll.  Say what you will about the overabundance of AngstRawk at Stage 13, but Nickelback delivered in spades.

Rake
****
They were a helluva lot better than I thought they would be.  More AngstRawk, but it was well done.  They were what fifth season should have been.

Shocore
*******
Plllmp.  They at least captured my attention.  Nothing much more worthy to say about them.

Edwin
*****
You know, he was a lot better than I thought he'd be.  There was a little oomph in his songs, if not way too much over-the-top showmanship.  I liked it, for the most part.

Default
******
Sounded exactly like they do on their CD.  Not necessarily a bad thing, but it's not a great thing.  Some asshole materialized behind me and thought it would be the height of wit to hell "fuck you!  HIPHIPHIP hehehehehehehehehehe" constantly.  I moved back in the crowd a bit.

Hip
***
Tarnation, were they ever wonderful.  If that show is any indication, there is a whole new life in the boys.  The music was t i g h t.  I can honestly say that Gord has never sung better.  He's actually singing, not just saying the words; he's experimenting, and it's paying off big time.  They didn't play as much new stuff as I'd have liked, but they did play 100th Meridian -- which I had never seen live before.  Woo!  Also, Gord had this grin plastered on his face for pretty much the whole set.  Now before you start jumping in, it wasn't a "boy am I mellow" grin (potzers); it was a "boy am I enjoying myself" grin.

The crowd pissed me off something fierce, but I was thinking about it and they were actually pretty well-behaved.  They were drunken loudmouthed assholes, yes.  But they weren't hurting each other or breaking things, or doing anything other than being ill-mannered.

You dope proponents out there, I'm with you.  Smoke 'em if you've got 'em. At least you'll be relaxed and introverted; beer just makes most people into complete dickheads.

Overall, if you ever get to see The Hip in an outside venue, go as fast as you can.  I'm really looking forward to the winter tour; they're rocking like never before.

Pastry Warden


Audio wasn't great for the first couple songs, but wasgreat after that. Gord sounded fantastic and was smiling quite a bit. Approximate setlist:

Use it Up
Music
New O
Fully
Fireworks
Bobc
Courage
Good Life
Poets
Springtime
Wheat Kings
Silver Jet
Bones
All Tore Up
Meridian
Dire Wolf
Gift

Grace
Ready
Blow

-Rick W.


I was at Stage 13 in Camrose and the Hip definately delivered. It was an unbearably hot and dusty weekend, but having the Hip cap it off certainly made up for any discomfort. It was my 13th Hip show to date and by far the biggest crowd I have ever been in. There were 35,000 people actually in the festival grounds, and another 10,000 that just showed up to camp and party. Nickleback headlined on Saturday and I gotta say they are one of the worst bands i've ever seen. Even though they were a crowd favorite, I couldn't help but think how unoriginal they are, how untalented they are, and how bad the lead singers voice was.

Anyways, on to the Hip's performance. I was maybe 25 people back from the stage on the left...far enough that I wouldn't get booted by a surfer, but close enough to see well. They really had a good setup at this venue. The beer gardens were in the far back of the grounds, and at the half way point they had a jumbo screen and huge speakers. They also had a jumbo screen on the top of the stage so even if you were small, you could still see the action. The Hip opened with "Use It Up" and it sounded sweet. I am gonna try my hand at a setlist, but the order will be wonky.

Use It Up

Fully Completely

NOIS...great idea having this song early on

this is where it will get fuzzy...Music @ Work

Fireworks

Bobcaygeon

IAGLIYDW...really comes together live

Courage

Springtime In Vienna

Silver Jet

Poets...always a favorite of mine live

Wheat Kings

Gift Shop

Are You Ready

100th...fuckin awesome!!

Dire Wolf

Little Bones

Encore

Grace Too...I was praying all day they'd play this and they did...sounded great as always

All Tore Up

Blow

All told the Hip seemed to be loving the crowd and it was certainly reciprocated. There were the usual surfers, but even they were well enough behaved. I had hopes of hearing a few of my faves...namely Ahead By A Century, Vapour Trails, and Tiger The Lion, but what can you do. I was all smiles for the entire concert and the whole ride back to Calgary. Now all they have to do is anounce a bunch of shows in Alberta for the fall/winter tour and I will have things made.

Hope everyone enjoys the boys this summer!

Cheers,

Billy


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