Tag Archives: News

Review: The Globe & Mail on 2006-10-17 – Toronto

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globeandmail.com: Tragically Hip: New album, fab show

BRAD WHEELER

From Tuesday’s Globe and Mail

THE REP

The arena band from Kingston, Ont., hasn’t been cool in a while, its wild popularity in Canada working against it in the hearts and minds of those who show no love for music’s Goliaths. But then, the band’s last albums have been relatively unsuccessful. The overdog is now the underdog, with a new record that is thought to be its best in years. Can the Hip — members of the Canadian Music Hall of Fame — now gain the favour of the oh-so musically savvy?

THE LOOK

Singer Gordon Downie, the band’s crucial and tall performer, feels “feverish and fluid.” He is jittery and on the verge, with a reedy tenor that is intense and a manner that is gesturing. Not known as fashionable, he wears clothes that could be seen as either workmanlike or mod, black from cap to shoes. A red handkerchief, employed as a bullfighter’s cape or more often as a sweat rag, is the sole decoration. Four bandmates play fiercely, but don’t distinguish themselves visually.

THE ROCK

Sunday’s appearance at the Phoenix Concert Theatre is the first of four sold-out Toronto shows, the smaller venue part of a promotional tour that heralds World Container, the band’s 11th studio album. The disc is a departure — the melodies are less muscled, the sound more layered. The album’s Queen-like title track comes off as brawny cabaret, and Pretend is downright Burt Bacharach. Other new ones include power-pop single In View and the urgent show-opening The Lonely End of the Rink. After hockey-themed oldie Fifty-Mission Cap, hosers yell, “Go Leafs Go,” to which Downie responds, “They held a rock ‘n’ roll show and a hockey game broke out.”

THE REALITY

After the uber-blues of Blow at High Dough, the droning rocker Family Band closes the set. The song speaks to the band’s camaraderie, as well as its relationship with its fans. At times, the stage lights extend into the crowd, showing wide grins and gladness from ball-capped and jersey-clad supporters who wouldn’t wish to be anywhere else. Downie sings about music that plays big in the towns but fails to grip the cities, referring perhaps to metropolitan audiences who prefer buzz-music trends to homegrown stalwarts and maple-leaf nationalism. Band and audience — exhilarated all evening — exit beaming and grateful. Is this hip? No, just enduring and genuine. The Tragically Hip continue at the Phoenix tonight and tomorrow, with dates in Calgary, Vancouver and Montreal to follow.

Hugh’s Review: 2006-10-23 – Toronto, ON

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The Phoenix Theatre was filled with excited Hip fans anticipating the 9 pm start of a nearly two hour rock show. The temperature was quickly rising along with “The Hip” chants, as our boys from Kingston took to the stage to play every song from their new album. The new tracks were intertwined with many long time favorites. Fans old and new, were singing along to many of the new tracks, but the seldom played Pigeon Camera and Titanic Terrarium were the suprises of the night.

The show started with Family Band and went into the classic Courage. Gord battered his mikestand back and forth throughout the song, finally sending it crashing to the floor. He then walked over to the dislodged mike, grabbed it between his feet and used a common soccer move to kick the mike backwards over his shoulder and into his hand. A few songs later Gord asked the crowd if anyone remembered Gus as he roamed from side to side on the stage like an angry polar bear, just before the song began. This was followed by Poets and an animated Downie who strutted back and forth like a rooster/peacock, fluttering his red handkerchief behind him like a tail. Gord ended the song by holding the base of his mikestand to his crotch and extended it like a giant penis out over the crowd. The fans responded by screaming wildly at him.

The Hip are always a hard working band, but I noticed that each band member’s shirt was as sweat-soaked as Gord Downie’s this night. The 100th Meridian was awesome as Gord danced wildly next to Robbie as he ripped through his solo for that song. I was impressed by Johnny Fay’s drumming all night, but he was more than exceptional on Titanic Terrarium. Johnny brought the song to a loud cresendo and back to a quiet beat with his drumming. He was switching back and forth between his regular drumsticks and his padded toms. In fact, the song ended with him using one of each.

The Hip played a 20 song main set, then returned for a two song encore which ended with Fire in the Hole. Gord D. is always very entertaining to watch because of his on stage antics and the emotion he puts into the delivery of his lyrics. During the last song, he did something I have never seen him do before. We are all familiar with his mikestand battles and how he deftly kicks it back and forth. Last night he “stickhandled” the mikestand using only his feet. The mikestand was just like a hockey stick as he manuvered it from side to side, never losing control for over a minute, never touching it with his hands!

Overall this was a great show. I really enjoyed how all the World Container tracks sounded great live. It seemed as if the band really enjoyed playing them. It was also good to see all the fans singing along to all the new songs less than one week after the new release.

Review: The Hip visits Canoe’s HQ

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Here’s what canoe.ca have to say about the live chat with Rob & Paul:

The Hip visits Canoe’s HQ
By ANDREA MILLER — CANOE Live

The Hip announce ’07 Cdn. datesHip’s Downie praises RockDownie, young son connect in Hawaii

Baker, Langlois on the new disc

They came, they answered, and they left.

The Tragically Hip members Paul Langlois and Rob Baker dropped by Canoe’s headquarters for a live chat yesterday (Oct. 23), and feverishly sifted through hundreds of submitted questions from fans all over the world.

The most typical ones sent in for the guitarists were tour queries, but among the favourites was a hair-related question that elicited a clever response from longtime long-stranded Baker.

“I’m not going to cut my hair into a mullet anytime soon,” said Baker in response to a fan’s question about following in the “hockey hair” tradition. “When I was 11 years old, I got David Bowie’s ‘Diamond Dogs’ and I knew that hairstyle was my destiny. Soon after I was sporting a Kentucky Tophat. But back then it wasn’t called a mullet – it was called really f*****g cool.”

Who knew the Hip were so funny?

The Canadian icons took part in a live session to answer fans’ questions about “World Container,” their latest and largely polished effort produced by Bob Rock, the man known for his work with harder-sounding arena bands like Metallica, Motley Crue and Bon Jovi.
Baker and Langlois don’t see the record as overtly commercial, despite the poppy sound of “In View,” the first single, and explained their work with Rock as one that occurred organically.

“It was obvious on the first day that we were like-minded and that we could do this together,” said Langlois. “Bob was a bigger help to us that we’ve had before in a producer,” he added when asked by a fan what it was like to work with the revered producer.

“He’s really good at identifying the hooks in something,” said Baker. “Sometimes when you’re playing, you get so involved in what you’re doing that you can’t step back and be objective or listen. And that’s all we’ve ever really wanted in a producer – educated and objective ears. And Bob would listen.”

Between recounting stories of meeting with a dazed Jimmy Page while on tour with Page and Plant in 1995, or revealing what it was like to shoot a video with the Trailer Park Boys (“That movie is fantastic. My second time, I took my 12-year old son, who is now swearing like a sailor – I’m so proud,” deadpanned Baker), they maintained that every record they make is an achievement in its own right.

Playing a string of club dates in Toronto, Calgary, Vancouver and Montreal, die-hard fans can expect a full dose of new tracks (including Langlois’ current favourites “Luv (sic)” and “World Container”) along with the usual set staples, until the Hip branch out for a Canadian tour in January and February, with more dates to come this summer.

Read the full transcript of the chat right here.

2007 Tour Dates released

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Just posted to thehip.com are dates for a Winter 2007 Canadian Tour. Ticket go on sale tomorrow for Hip Fan Club members.

THE TRAGICALLY HIP: LIVE 2007

  • January 8th, Save On Foods Memorial Centre, Victoria, BC
  • January 10th, Interior Savings Centre, Kamloops, BC
  • January 12th, CN Centre, Prince George, BC
  • January 13th, Canada Games Arena, Grande Prairie, AB
  • January 14th, Rexall Place, Edmonton, AB
  • January 16th, Enmax Centrium, Red Deer, AB
  • January 17th, Enmax Centre, Lethbridge, AB
  • January 19th, Brandt Centre At Ipsco Place, Regina, SAS
  • January 20th, Mts Centre, Winnipeg, Manitoba
  • January 22nd, Fort Williams Gardens, Thunder Bay, ON
  • January 23rd, Steelback Centre, Sault St. Marie, ON
  • January 25th, Barrie Molson Centre, Barrie, ON
  • January 27th, Sudbury Arena, Sudbury, ON
  • January 29th, Memorial Centre, Peterborough, ON
  • January 31st, General Motors Centre, Oshawa, ON
  • February 2nd, Scotiabank Place, Ottawa, ON
  • February 5th, John Labatt Centre, London, ON
  • February 6th, Copps Coliseum, Hamilton, ON
  • February 8th, Air Canada Centre, Toronto, ON

    • Review: Buffalo News on World Container

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    Buffalo News – Music Discs
    3.5 out of 4
    For the Tragically Hip, the live setting has always been the medium of choice. Though the band has delivered a half-dozen timeless studio efforts, rarely has the sense of daring, risk-taking and delicate inter-band chemistry the musicians deliver on stage been fully captured in the recording studio. “World Container” changes this paradigm significantly.
    Pairing the Hip with uber-rock producer Bob Rock, renowned for his work with Metallica, struck one as odd, initially. The Hip’s Gordon Downie is a wonderfully emotive singer, and just as wonderfully strange, to the point that the Hip has come across as an astute alternative band. Rock is a hard-rock and metal producer, and he doesn’t seem a natural choice for the Hip.
    “World Container” delivers one pleasant surprise after another, however, and the first one you’re gifted with is the taut precision of Rock’s production, which thickens the presence of the rhythm section, beefs up the guitars and creates a completely pleasing ground for Downie to stomp around on. This is, by Hip standards, a very accessible record, full of immediately compelling hooks – hear “The Lonely End of the Rink” and “The Kids Don’t Get It” once, and you’ve got two new friends for life – and tightly arranged structures. Downie is glorious within this framework. To hear him baring his soul during the title track, as the anthemic chord progression swirls around him and guest pianist Jamie Edwards lends to the grandeur, is to realize that the Hip is hitting a new peak 20 years into its career.
    – Jeff Miers

    It’s Moving Day!

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    All of this additional traffic on the tracker has really put a drain on the server, so we are being moved to a higher performance server. There may be intermittent periods of downtime over the next few days while we get the kinks worked out.
    Please bear with us as this is only temporary and we’ll be back better than before shortly.

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    Review: Eye Weekly on World Container

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    Eye Weekly – On Disc – October 19, 2006

    On Disc

    THE TRAGICALLY HIP

    Three Stars out of Four
    World Container (Universal)

    Refine the tried-and-true or reinvent the wheel? That question has dogged every Hip album since 1998’s Phantom Power, the band often struggling to agree on a direction. World Container sees them take another few steps forward and a few back. Despite pairing them with producer Bob Rock, it’s not the set of radio-ready rockers one might’ve expected. Instead it’s split between fairly standard fare (the opener “Yer Not the Ocean,” the Road Apples throwback “The Drop-Off”), sudden blasts of exuberance (the single “In View,” the even better “Family Band”), orchestral-rock overkill (the title track) and a few stabs at hoser-fied reggae-punk (“The Lonely End of the Rink,” “The Kids Don’t Get It”). Included in the latter, the declaration “I’ll be the antlers and I’ll be the elk” belongs on any fan’s list of favourite Downie-isms. Though most old-timers will be happy that what isn’t broken doesn’t get fixed, World Container’s best moments suggest that the Hip are overdue for a more comprehensive overhaul. JASON ANDERSON

    THE TRAGICALLY HIP PLAY THE PHOENIX (410 SHERBOURNE) OCT 22-23, 25-26.

    Review: NOW Magazine on World Container

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    NOW Magazine – Music in Toronto, OCTOBER 19 – 25, 2006

    THE TRAGICALLY HIP World Container (Universal) Rating: NNNN

    I think the most off-putting thing about the Hip is the farcical patriotic nonsense that’s attached to their music, as if you’re more Canadian if you identify with their casual references to Bobby Orr while driving to the cottage or something. Screw that. On their 11th release, the Hip distinguish themselves by their songwriting more than anything else, and they do so with a graceful ability to blend rockers like The Lonely End Of The Rink with arena ballads like Yer Not The Ocean, the title track, and Pretend – possibly the closest the band will ever get to classic soul. While the Hip may have a spotty track record and several so-so albums, World Container is one of their most accomplished and engaging to date.

    The Hip rock the Phoenix Sunday (October 22) through October 26.

    Evan Davies NOW | OCTOBER 19 – 25, 2006 | VOL. 26 NO. 7