What an incredible day. I made the drive down from Toronto with some friends of mine. We got to the Stranahan Theatre at about 4:00 p.m. and saw Gord Downie rollerblading in the parking lot. Apparently he had lost a screw to his blade an hour earlier. We asked him to play a bit of "Get
Back Again" during the show at some point. He responded by saying "just scream up to me and remind me". More on this in a bit. We went behind the theatre where the Hip's tourbus was parked. We spoke with Bea, the tour manager and a guy named Jimmy who was head of the stage hands. Both of them were very nice individuals. Anyways, we went inside and caught the last song of Damnations, TX. Not bad, but preferred By Divine Right. The Hip came on at their usual time and opened with Fireworks. A great opener! They moved on to Fully Completely. During the intro to the song, Gord starts rambling: "What's the deal with your dad...."!!! He said the first 5 lines from Get Back Again. Finally, after so many shows I heard some of it live!!!! That made my night. They continued on with a great show. The set was as follows:

Fireworks
Fully Completely
Grace, Too
Membership
Gift Shop
Lionised
Poets
Courage
Emperor Penguin
Ahead By A Century
Greasy Jungle
Bobcaygeon
100th Meridian
Something On
New Orleans

Chagrin Falls
Fire In The Hole

Esacpe Is At Hand
Little Bones

All in all it was a great show. No big surprises. Bobby Baker shaved his beard and moustache. Some cool sound effects at the beginning of "Escape Is At Hand" - never heard them before.

We hung around outside after the show. My buddies and I were all wearing Toronto Maple Leaf jerseys and I had Gord Downie sign mine. He drew the Boston Bruins "B" symbol and signed his name above that saying "this will be the conference final matchup".

Can't wait to see them July 31st in Michigan!