We’ve been here a week and it just keeps getting better. The show last night was awesome. It’s refreshing to be at a show where the fans are so into it! From the minute we arrived at the venue, more than an hour before the doors opened, until we left, we knew that this was going to be a hot show. They opened with Springtime and closed with an incredible version of Blow that included the crowd singing the first verse before Gord took over. The only downer of the night was during the closer (Blow) when some dork started to crowd surf and ended up on stage. Security and Billy Ray were immediately on him, so he took a lean towards the crowd and fell into them, landing awkwardly on a young woman. Gord nearly stopped the show at this point, wanting to ensure that she was OK. I’ve got a picture of the setlist, but my camera needs charging – I’ll post it later. For now, enjoy the goodness of these three pictures that Josh (The Heron Outside on hipbase.com) took:

for the same price as a crappy motel. This is what happened to us on Day Four when we arrived in Eindhoven. The very friendly reception team told us that they gave our rooms to another group…. but they could move us to a 4 Star resort in Barlo for the same rate of 71 Euros a night. (We’ll post pics when we get some more time.)

The concert last night was incredible! We managed to get AAA passes. At the time we didn’t know what AAA mean, but we learned very quickly that it meant All Area Access. This included all of the backstage areas, the press pit in front of the stage, on the side stage, the catering tent, etc.

After figuring out our access, we made a beeline for the backstage area. We saw Gord playing acoustic guitar off on his own, and we spoke with a member of The Hip’s management team about our trip so far.

“The Tragical Hip were Marvelous, Marvelous, Marvelous!” Or at least that is what the Festival MC said as soon as their set was finished.

I concur. Here’s the setlist:

Daddy
Courage
Rink * Fantastic!
Gus
ABAC
Gift Shop
Summer
Bobcaygeon
Nautical
Springtime
Ocean
Meridian
Goodlife
Blow
Music

Gord was on fire tonight! We bumped into Paul just after their set and he even mentioned how “on” Gord was. The crowd was really into it, and I am sure that they made a lot of new fans tonight. Their set was limited by time because there were three more bands to play afterwards.
We met an incredible number of Dutch fans who are as fanatical as we are.

After their set we made our way backstage to get some food and drinks. The World Cup final was on in the backstage bar so we hung around there and watched the game. Five feet to our right were The Hip… They were watching the game and then hitting the road as soon as it was over.

Following the Italian win, we spoke briefly with Gord D and then made our way back to our Chateau. (Chateau de Raay in Barlo). That’s where we are now, and are just about to depart for Amsterdam. Pictures and more details will be posted when we get there.

We made the drive from Amsterdam to Brugge in about 4 hours (I think that’s how long it took, but as we had been up since 8am the previous day my memory is somewhat muddy!) We pulled into Brugge and then found our way out of town to continue on to Oostende. (google map). Oostende is an amazing beach town with an enormous beach. We wandered around town and felt like we were in Daytona!

Checked in to our hotel, changed clothes and headed for Brugge – about 20 minutes away. We toured around town following the signs that lead us to the festival site. Parking was free, and we found two spots about 100 steps from the entrance.

After getting our passes, we headed inside and instantly realized that the vibe at a European festival is much different and better than at a Canadian show. People were very relaxed and having fun in and out of the blue tent.

The venue for the show was a strange area with poor sitelines for those in the back. Trees and banners blocked your direct view of the stage, however large video screens provided a close-up view of the action. I was pressed against the railing 3 feet from Paul, so this wasn’t an issue for me. The other really great thing was that there was next to no pushing, shoving or jerks trying to make their way to the front of the stage.

The show itself was fantastic, although the details escape me right now. I’ll review my videos and post the setlist later. There weren’t any gems/surprises but it was a really kickin’ set and a short encore. (Rink was supposed to be played but got cut due to time issues…)

We’re in Amsterdam now, and food is calling our names. More later.

We woke up at about 8am London time on Friday, July 7. The doors opened at 7pm that evening. After the show we scrounged some food (KFC…) and then packed up our stuff and boarded a bus for the train station. After a 40 minute ride, we arrived at Victoria Station. Next up, was a train ride to Gatwick… another 40 minutes after a 30 minute wait at the station. For those trying to keep up with our time travels… it is now 4:30 am on Saturday morning and we’re at Gatwick. Check in at 4:30,and board a plane at 6:30am. A 45 minute flight after 25 minutes of delays, and a one hour time change and we’re in The Netherlands at Shiopol Airport. We had some issues with the van we’d reserved… it only had 5 seats and we needed 8! They were able to change us to two fancy hatchbacks and we hit the road for Brugge; well actually Oostende. The festival is in Brugge but we’re staying in the oceanside town about 15 km west.

We had planned on seeing some of the sights in the city, but sadly the allure of beer kept us at Belushi’s all night! Fellow hip fans Jerremy and Josh found us at the pub and helped us drink more than 100 pints of beer!

This morning we woke with the sun… at about 4am! Tried to sleep but it wasn’t happening.

Today we’ve wandered around the city – Tower Bridge, The London Eye, Big Ben…

Unknown to most of us at time of departure, but today is the one year anniversary of the London Underground bombings. At noon we observed two minutes of silence to remember the tragedy. It was eerie being in the centre of this bustling city with everyone at a complete standstill.

With only 5 hours to showtime, our excitement is reaching a fevered pitch! I’ll report back as soon as it’s over.