First off, I want to mention all of the great peeople I met while in Winnipeg. Everyone was so nice in introducing themselves to me, and it was an honour to meet such dedicated Hip fans:
Ryan Z.
Bob
Mark Sloggett
Justin Gawaziuk
Tannis
Chad
If I forgot anyone, please forgive me...

So I had the same seats as I did for the first show. Great spot to record, and it came out pristine. Here's the setlist:

SILVER JET: Lots of ranting, and Gord was on his horse... dancing and traipsing around...
NEW ORLEANS
FULLY: A great tune tonight... Justin mentioned to Gord after the show that it was a ripping tune, and Gord said that he "tried to make it rock tonight" Gord had quite the scuffle going with his mic stand.. Gord won, with the stand ending up on the ground.
CHAGRIN: Not much crown recognition of this song until it was finished...
BOBC: Beautiful, with the constellations revealing themselves one star at a time on the backdrop...
NAUTICAL
DARK CANUCK: "Who's for the dark canuck?" Got the crowd into it with this question at the beginning.. I was personally very happy to hear this song, being my favorite off the album.
FIREWORKS: Got the crowd on their feet again
INEVITABILITY: Gord ranted a lot in this song as well, dancing up a storm
GOOD LIFE
MERIDIAN: "No... no! Not the hundredth meridian!".. crowd goes nuts...
SPRINGTIME: Gord on guitar...
SOMETHING
SCARED: Gorgeous.. simply gorgeous... Very conducive to the small theatre acoustics...
LOCKED: Gord ended up on lying on the ground by the end.. on his back , with his knees up as if his feet weere bound together... pained screams of "LET ME OUT!" .. a steaming version...
ALL TORE UP
BLOW

Encore:
USE IT UP
LONG TIME: Beautiful... spotlights on both Gord D and Robby before the rest of the band kicked in.. some lighters make an appearance...
FIRE: A soft version, not as straight forward and energetic as what I'm used to, but nonetheless, very exciting... :)

I was kinda disappointed that they didn't come out for a second encore, but then I remembered how lucky I was to even be there, where most people couldn't get tickets, or the band is coming no where near their hometown. It's a privilege to see this great band in action. I never take that for granted.

The one thing that stuck out in my mind about the two nights, was how much Gord danced around, and posed and moved. He was very active for this show, as well as last night.

Met the band after the show again, sans Johnny. This time, there were about 30 people waiting, but that number went down to about 20 as the time wore on, in -2 degree weather. Gord S and Robby were the first ones out, as usual. Very happy to sign everyhting and take pics. It amazes everytime I see them, taking time out to do whatever asked from their fans. Robby and Gord S reemembered myself and group of friends from the night before, and Gord S asked me what I thought of the setlist compared to last night. In chatting, I asked what they were going to play for Ronnie Hawkins, and for the Queen. For RH, he said they were going to play NOIS and Poets, and for thee Queen, ABAC. He remarked that the Queen has no clue who they are, and he made a disparaging comment about the British sending Canadian troops to die in the fields during WWII. A very sincere conversation... I also asked him about the current tour. He said they were looking forward to taking December off. I asked about touring in the New Year, and he said that Jan/Feb was being tossed around the Hip Camp. Gord S said that he was willing, but he wasn't sure about the rest of the band. At that point, Robby came over to our little group and shook each of our hands, and gave me a pat on the back, and thanked us for coming to both shows. We wished them a safe trip back home.
Paul and Gord D came out, and Gord was chatting about the Bruins for awhile with us. He signed everything in sight, and I got a great pic taken with him. I had all of them sign my stuff the night before, so I stayed back a bit while my other friends got stuff signed...
So there ends my newest Hip Trip... next stop: Montreal!!

R


It was indeed a great show... and it was nice to see that the Hip chant was completely absent and the crowd was very well behaved.  (Well, maybe except for that guy stoking up next to me.)

On a quick side note... you know, I really have to give credit to Sam Roberts. It's not easy from the audience's perspective to get really fired up and swept away by the opening act when you only recognize one song out of the set. However, that said, these guys did a great job. I was unfamiliar with all but "Brother Down," but that didn't stop me enjoying it at all. In fact, I was impressed enough with these guys to buy the CD at the Concert Hall and I'm listening to it now... an excellent purchase. For those going to upcoming shows, give Sam and the boys a chance.

That has to be the funnest (is that a real word?) version of At The Hundredth Meridian that I've ever witnessed, and I very much enjoyed The Dark Canuck. What a treat. :)

I noticed a few tapers in the crowd... anyone willing to help a girl out with audio and/or video from Winnipeg 1 and 2? You can reply in private if you'd like... standard routine... remove "_NOSPAM_" from the email address.

Tara
(Still smiling from the nice show)


Silver Jet- Gord was "on" from the get go. Great rants.
NOIS- Once again, glad they got it out of the way early.
Fully- Really got the crowd going. Gord did his fighting the mic stand thing that can be seen in Heksenketal in Fully too I believe.
Chagrin- I really liked this one. Not many others seemed too into it though.
Bobcaygeon- I've never really been into this song, but it was a great version. Awesome lighting.
Nautical- I was hoping they would play this for my friend Derek's sake since it's his favourite tune and he hadn't seen it live.Ý Cool nautical-type lighting effects.
Dark Canuck- During the "Need a good connection for drugs part" Gord was sitting on a speaker and looking directly at this large fellow who was in row three sitting down that was baked off his tree...very funny!
Fireworks- Big sing along.
IOD- I was really glad they played this. First time hearing it for me.
Good Life
Meridian- "Life is forgetting... I remember everything" rant again tonight. Very cool.
Springtime- I'm guessing Gord just started playing guitar on this one.
Something On- Gord did they "It's you, and you, and you!" that really got the crowd in the first few rows going.
Scared- One of the better songs of the night. Gord did a rant which escaped me right now.
Locked- Gord layed on the ground during the solo at the end. Too bad I ran out of film at this point!
All Tore Up- I was a little disapointed with this one. It didn't sound as "full" as it does on the album. I was also hoping Gord didn't play guitar on this one so he could jump around during it. I still hope this will be the third single though.
Blow- Great again.
Ý
ENCORE
Use It Up- Another great version.
Long Time Running- Gord was really animated again. It had a high school dance feel to it.
Fire In The Hole- I liked the version from the Winnipeg show on the PP tour better.
Ý
All in all a great show. I was hoping to hear "Pigeon Camera", "Eldorado", and "Three Pistols" but you can't be dissapointed after seeing The Hip two nights in a row.

I ended up meeting R finally afterwards and about 20 of us waited for autographs. The Hip ordered a pizza while we stood outiside passing time with talk of the two shows, past Hip road trips, the upcoming NHL season, and the Ron Maclean/CBC situation. All of the boys except Johnny ended up coming out just over an hour after the show. Gord chatted about the Bruins, and Bill Guerin's nasty slash. He looked really tired, but was as nice as anyone I've ever met. It was a tremendous two nights and I met alot of great people. Here's hoping they do an arena tour early next year!

- Ryan Zajac


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