First of all, these three shows brought my grand total to 60 (as those of
 you who follow this newsgroup already know), and therefore there is a lot of
 expertise going into the following statement...

 The Tragically Hip have never, ever been better!!  Their live shows at
 Wetlands were reminiscent of the old days when Gord was at his frenetic
 best, sweating through his shirts, dripping from the elbows, and telling
 powerful rhyming stories during songs.  They have not been this good live
 since after Fully Completely.  They are as tight as ever and Gord was at his
 absolute best.  Engaging and powerful.  Maybe its just the fact that they
 were playing in a small, sold-out, club in NYC that were going crazy for
 them, maybe its the connection with the audience that they feel in a small
 venue, maybe its New York, maybe its that they haven't played out in a
 while...who knows...but they absolutely rocked!!

 Whoever is having any kind of doubts about the new album must simply see
 them live.  The new songs from Phantom Power come to life when performed
 live and have a strength to them that isn't captured on the album (much like
 most of their songs) and I am now left asking myself if this is their best
 album?  Songs like Poets, Something On, Save the Planet, Bobcaygeon, Vapour
 Trails and especially Fireworks absolutely KICK ASS LIVE!!

 I was having far too much fun to write down the set lists from the past
 three nights and my memory is understandably hazy, but here are some
 details.  The club is a small venue with GREAT sound.  Holds about 400
 people very close to the stage and very close together.  It was incredibly
 hot all three nights and everyone left the bar with soaked t-shirts.  Gord
 made many comments about the heat and even sang a song referring to it
 "We're in the forest...And its night time...we can't stand the heat...we've
 got to do what we can...we all gathered around the fan...etc..."  They came
 on at about 10:20 each night and finished around 12:00.  All three shows had
 2 encores per night.  The first night they started with "Something On", the
 second night "Poets" and the third night...Ooops forgotten...maybe
 "Fireworks."  They played pretty much every song off of Phantom Power and
 the old songs included Giftshop, Ahead By A Century, Springtime in Vienna,
 Don't Wake Daddy, 700 ft. Ceiling, Flamenco, So Hard Done By, Nautical
 Disaster, Locked In The Trunk Of A Car, 100th Meridian, Daredevil, New
 Orleans, Little Bones, Inevitability Of Death (AN ABSOLUTE HIGHLIGHT!!!).
 If I can think of any others I'll let you know.

 Take care all.  Here's looking forward to Old Bridge, NJ in September.

 -Brad