Grace, Too
Use It Up
Fire In The Hole

-TLB

330PM
Got off the ferry at Swartz Bay around 230pm and headed straight to Victoria. After trying for 30 minutes to park, I ran to the side to of the Royal to find out that I had missed the boys by about 10 minutes! A couple of minutes later, a taxi pulls up and Paul Langois climbs out of the back, grabs his very expensive clubs from the trunk and proceeds to the side door. I asked him if he had time to pose for a picture and he said ësure!í with a big smile on his face and trademark black shades covering his eyes. After the picture, I wished him a good stay in Victoria and a great show tonight. He appreciated the gesture and proceeded into the Royal.ÝGreat guy, really nice! About 10 minutes later, the sound check started. Vapour Trails, The Dire Wolf, Lake Fever, and The Dark Canuck, only to be interrupted up the street by a dry run for the Queenís visit. All I could hear for a couple of minutes was bagpipes and drums, but after they passed, I could hear the soundcheck continue and finish.

430PM
Not knowing anyone in Victoria, I went and hung out in front of the Royal after the sound check, waiting for the show. I was trying to sell my single ticket, but there werenít many takers at that time of the day. A little while later, a guy with a Hip tour tag came out front to have a smoke and we struck up a conversation. We spoke about the tour so far and about the show later that night. Eventually, I told him I was trying to get rid of my extra ticket and get one for the next show, so he devised a novel plan to get my ticket sold, have one for the next day for me, and get these 2 other girls tickets.Ý He then finished his smoke and left for a few minutes. When he came back, he asked if his little plan worked out, but it never did. I was still trying to peddle one ticket and track down another. I thanked him anyways for the great idea he had proposed and mentioned that I wouldíve never thought of anything like that. He responded with something like ìwell you have those little ideas when youíre the manager of the band.î In utter disbelief, I hardly got out the words ìare you Jake Gold?î and it was! I talked to the guy for a good 20 minutes or so,
and never knew it was Jake Gold! We chatted some more and I asked him about the upcoming arena tour. He said there werenít many plans in place because they didnít know whether they wanted to do one yet or not. Jake said if it does happen, it wonít be until February or March, so I prodded him to get the boys to come back to Prince George one last time. He said he didnít know, but that he would take it into consideration. I had called him Mr. Gold a couple of times before he said ëdonít call me that, thatís what my Dad is, just Jake is fine.î He had to go back in so I left and had something to eat and stuff, killed more time, and came back to the Royal. Jake was out front again, so I asked him how to go about getting a setlist for tonightís show. He pulled a folded piece of paper out of his shirt pocket and said he had it right there! I told him I didnít want to see it to ruin the surprise, so he asked what row I was sitting in and said to track him down after the show and he would give it to me. That blew me away because he must be very busy and in no way did I ever expect to be able to find him after the show, but it was really nice for him to say that. After that, he went back in and I got ready for the show.

700PM
Coming in the doors, there were come clowns and mimes wandering around the theatre, greeting people. I think it had something to do with the ëtheatre extravaganzaí tour theme. The show itself was great for a night #1 show. The boys were spot on all night
and Sam Roberts put on an excellent show. His band has a ton of energy and definitely was better than Wayne from the Seattle show. Sam tried a few times to rev up the crowd, but no one really reacted. The boys opened up with Silver Jet, which was my first time hearing it as an opener, and it really got the crowd going. Jet has been getting a lot of airplay on Island radio stations. The band seemed genuinely happy to be back in Victoria after seven years. As soon as they came out, Gord D had an ear-to-ear grin that Iíve never seen on his face in all of my shows, and it didnít fade until near the end of Jet. Fireworks was a song for Alan Eagleson. At the start of Courage, Gord had to wait for Gord S to re-tune his bass, so Gord proceeded to sing ìCourage, HA! No that wasnít right. Ha! No, not that, hoooooooo Courage. Nope. Courage, HA!î Right then the rest of the band kicked in, the timing was almost perfect. Vapour Trails was awesome, I havenít seen that live since the Phantom Power tour. ìThrow away the rubber? What rubber? I donít have a rubber!î At The Hundredth Meridian included Life Is Forgetting. Locked In The Trunk Of A Car was wicked! I totally didnít expect it and it really got the crowd going after The Dark Canuck. Ahead By A Century was a pleasant surprise and Fire In The Hole was a rocking way to finish the night. During Fire In The Hole, Gord mentioned something about Terry Fox, but I couldnít make it out.

The stage show now has a ìnight skyî added to it, a black drape behind Johnny with hundreds of lights imitating the stars in the night sky. It really added to songs like Lake Fever, Springtime In Vienna and Gift Shop. The rest of the setlist didnít change much
from the US tour. There was the NewO-Fully-Ready-Fever block at the start. Weaken-Meridian-Springtime in the middle, and Wolf, Gift, & Bones to close out the main set. I was on the left aisle for the show and during the first encore song, Grace Too, who come's up to me in row 4 but Jake Gold himself. He calmly hands me the setlist he promised me and walked back up the aisle as quickly as he showed up. I was taken so off-guard by it that I forgot what it was he handed me, until I opened it up. I was able to see the rest of the encore ahead of time, but I was fine with that. Totally cool of him to do that and I wonít soon forget it!Ý As for the crowd, sorry Victoria fans, but it was a really lame crowd that night. When the doors opened and I got to my seat, the guy behind me asked if I was going to stand up, and I said yes for the whole Hip show for sure. He didnít like that too much. I told him I paid more than top dollar for the seat and as long as I didnít stand on it, I was okay and security pretty much laughed at him when he complained.Ý The guy across the aisle from me was ëGord-ing outí the whole show, dancing non-stop, and a lady a few rows behind him would come up and pull him down to sit down, and heíd get right back up and keep dancing. Come on Victoria,
this isnít Raffi at The Royal Theatre! This is THE HIP! Itís a rock concert! Every time something even semi-slow was played, everyone sat down like bumps on a log, like in Dark Canuck. Then when part two of The Dark Canuck kicked in, they all decide to stand back up. Like I mentioned before, even Sam Roberts was trying to get the crowd going, but to no avail.

1000PM
After the show, I waited by the side doors for the band. For about an hour, guests and roadies filtered out every few minutes.Ý Eventually Jake came out and no one reacted, nobody knew who he was, so I decided to approach him and thank him for the set list. He said it was no problem and explained that he almost didnít find me because I had changed my shirt before the show. He asked if Iíd found a ticket for the next show yet, but I hadnít. By about that time, other people had heard us talking and heard me call him Jake, and proceeded to join in and start asking him questions about who he was and stuff. He seemed a little perturbed by that, and so our conversation ended there and he walked away. It was a long day for the band, especially the ones in the Terry Fox Run, so only Gord D and Robby came out to sign autographs and briefly talk to the fans. There were only about 10 fans that stayed, so Gord and Robby stayed to make sure everyone got an autograph. Gord signed my jersey last year so I stayed away from him (one less fan swarming Gord) and went straight to Robby, who aptly signed my jersey. Someone got into a hockey
discussion with Gord, asking him his opinion on Harry Sinden and what heís done/did with the Bruins in all his years. Gord responded by saying ìI donít believe in the separation of church and state.î Classic Gord! He went on to comment on Bill Guerin, how it was shitty he left and how he wonít do nearly as well in Dallas because he wasnít with Joe Thornton anymore. Gord said thatís what you get for $9 million dollars! After that, Gord & Robby retired to their transport with the rest of the band and the fans left happy and giddy.
-Tony