I've definitely got some catching up to do on the PJ side of things. Over the course of their career they've only played Calgary twice, and I was in attendence for both shows (1993 and 2005). That's way too long in between visits. Those boys need to tour Canada more often.
"I try my best to chug, stomp, weep, whisper, moan, wheeze, scat, blurt, rage, whine, and seduce. With my voice I can sound like a girl, the boogieman, a Theremin, a cherry bomb, a clown, a doctor, a murderer. I can be tribal. Ironic. Or disturbed. My voice is really my instrument."
I've definitely got some catching up to do on the PJ side of things. Over the course of their career they've only played Calgary twice, and I was in attendence for both shows (1993 and 2005). That's way too long in between visits. Those boys need to tour Canada more often.
wow! that's a big bunch o' hip shows!
hey! do you use the Personal Concert Stats thingy over at Hipbase? I find it isn't working half the time... i try to log in and it doesn't do anything... :(
anyways... yah, i'm lucky with the PJ shows... 4 of my 11 shows have been in Toronto, and 5 more within a 4 hour drive.... So far though, the farthest one has been most worth it... Dusseldorf was mind-blowing!
~~*~~ ...i surfaced and all of my being was enlightend... ~~*~~
Hey gang! Check out the video of the week at thehip.com for a crystal-clear version of "The Weight" performed with Kathleen Edwards and her guitarist Colin Cripps from the 01/26/07 show. Absolutely brilliant!
http//www.thehip.com
"I try my best to chug, stomp, weep, whisper, moan, wheeze, scat, blurt, rage, whine, and seduce. With my voice I can sound like a girl, the boogieman, a Theremin, a cherry bomb, a clown, a doctor, a murderer. I can be tribal. Ironic. Or disturbed. My voice is really my instrument."
"I try my best to chug, stomp, weep, whisper, moan, wheeze, scat, blurt, rage, whine, and seduce. With my voice I can sound like a girl, the boogieman, a Theremin, a cherry bomb, a clown, a doctor, a murderer. I can be tribal. Ironic. Or disturbed. My voice is really my instrument."
Is that one of those belt buckles they sold at the merch table a few years ago? Those things were cool.
"I try my best to chug, stomp, weep, whisper, moan, wheeze, scat, blurt, rage, whine, and seduce. With my voice I can sound like a girl, the boogieman, a Theremin, a cherry bomb, a clown, a doctor, a murderer. I can be tribal. Ironic. Or disturbed. My voice is really my instrument."
Is that one of those belt buckles they sold at the merch table a few years ago? Those things were cool.
no, its actually a tiny little pin i got a long time ago from THC the hip clup. i found it and put it up....wish i had a belt buckle like that....he he
Van '98, Sea I+II '00, Sea '01, Sea II '02, Van '03, Gorge, Van, Cal, Edm '05, Bos I+II, Phi I+II, DC, SF II+III, Port, Gorge I+II '06, DC, NY I+II '08, Sea I+II, Van, Ridge , LA III+IV' 09, Indy '10, Cal, Van '11, Lond, Van, Sea '13, Memphis '14, RRHOF '17, Sea I+II '18, Van I+II, Vegas I+II '24
that ones pretty rare. i think ive only seen it once or twice out of 7 shows this tour. GOOD LUCk1
thanks!
i know.... i've been to 4 this year, and haven't seen it yet.... i think that and Pretend are the only 2 from the new album that i haven't seen yet... here's hopin'!
~~*~~ ...i surfaced and all of my being was enlightend... ~~*~~
that ones pretty rare. i think ive only seen it once or twice out of 7 shows this tour. GOOD LUCk1
Yeah, they don't seem to play it much. I saw them play it at one of the Calgary club shows during the Canadian mini-tour last Novemver. It was incredible. Such a beautiful song!
"I try my best to chug, stomp, weep, whisper, moan, wheeze, scat, blurt, rage, whine, and seduce. With my voice I can sound like a girl, the boogieman, a Theremin, a cherry bomb, a clown, a doctor, a murderer. I can be tribal. Ironic. Or disturbed. My voice is really my instrument."
Is there any list anywhere of soundboard hip shows? I was browsing around the hip trakcer but didn't come up with much. Any help would be great, thanks!
Setlist- Mile One Centre, St. John's, Newfoundland, 09/08/07:
Rink
New O.
Ocean
Good Life
Drop-Off
ABAC
In View
Gift
Titanic (holy shit!!!)
Fly
Surrender (Cheap Trick cover)
Springtime
Meridian
Bobcaygeon
Kids
Wheat
Locked
Music
Grace
Long Time
Family Band
I think that's one of the best setlists I've seen on this entire tour.
"I try my best to chug, stomp, weep, whisper, moan, wheeze, scat, blurt, rage, whine, and seduce. With my voice I can sound like a girl, the boogieman, a Theremin, a cherry bomb, a clown, a doctor, a murderer. I can be tribal. Ironic. Or disturbed. My voice is really my instrument."
Setlist- Aitken Centre, Fredericton, NB, 09/11/07:
Rink
New O.
Fully
Dire Wolf
Ocean
ABAC
In View
Poets
Flamenco
Fireworks
Substitute (The Who)
Meridian
Kids
Bobcaygeon
Nautical
Family Band
Blow
Courage
Springtime
Grace
"I try my best to chug, stomp, weep, whisper, moan, wheeze, scat, blurt, rage, whine, and seduce. With my voice I can sound like a girl, the boogieman, a Theremin, a cherry bomb, a clown, a doctor, a murderer. I can be tribal. Ironic. Or disturbed. My voice is really my instrument."
Hip’s brave new World
Kingston quintet revitalized with help from producer Rock
By STEPHEN COOKE Entertainment Reporter
When veteran Canadian rockers the Tragically Hip named their 11th studio record World Container, they could have been referring to their own globe-spanning adventures over the past year. They’ve criss-crossed the continent a few times and following this week’s Atlantic Canadian leg of the tour, cross the Atlantic Ocean for the second time in 14 months.
But as with most things found in the lyrics of Hip vocalist Gord Downie, there are multiple meanings to be parsed, and the CD title track is no exception, putting personal relationships into a larger global context, with our individual collections of experiences and actions jostling against each other in this giant cargo hold called Mother Earth.
"That’s pretty much how I see it," says guitarist Paul Langlois, who joins his bandmates and the Sadies at the Halifax Metro Centre on Thursday, and the Cape Breton University Student Union in Sydney on Friday. "I love the image of it, that everyone has their own way of seeing the world, and reacting to it and what’s in it. I also love that it’s up for a lot of interpretation, and that’s usually a difficult process, coming up with the title for a record.
"It’s nice to have a title like that which could mean a number of things to a number of different people. And World Container is probably my favourite song on the record to listen to; it goes a lot of different places lyrically and I love the drama of it. It’s a great title, because it’s an apt title of where we’re at, and it also describes our path and a kind of consciousness."
Where the band is at is an interesting situation. Produced by noted rockmeister Bob Rock (Metallica, Motley Crue), World Container boils the Hip down to its essence, with straightforward rockers and openly personal word-work by Downie. It’s the sound of a band taking its engine apart, cleaning the parts and putting it back together following the intense career-analyzing process of assembling its 2005 Hipeponymous box set, determined to rediscover the essentials.
"I think that has a lot to do with why we were feeling so energized going into the project," says Langlois. "Working with Bob Rock was going from an idea to a reality, and we’d had Yer Favourites coming out, with the Walk of Fame and the Canadian Music Hall of Fame, and it was all a lot for everyone to absorb. . . . I think it put a bit of wind in our sails as far as saying, ‘We’re not done yet!’
Rock is known for his back-to-basics approach — he did similar duties for Our Lady Peace on the Healthy in Paranoid Times — although Langlois says Rock didn’t have to play referee between the members of the Kingston quintet as he famously did with OLP and Metallica.
Instead of wearing a ref’s black and white striped shirt, Langlois says Rock was more like a cheerleader for the album, but one who knows his way around a song and what makes them work for a mass audience.
"Bob certainly didn’t hesitate to attempt to get us to highlight the hook," Langlois chuckles. "That kinda goes against our nature a little bit; we’ve tried to keep them really subtle, and if something sounds really great, we try not to overplay it."
Rock’s desire to focus on songs that grab the listener rather than sneak up on them pays off in the brute force of the CD opener Yer Not the Ocean and Downie’s analogy between playing goalie and fronting a band, The Lonely End of the Rink, which has become the favourite show starter on the current tour.
The flip side of that sentiment can be found in Family Band, a propulsive ode to the days when the band travelled in a van, loaded its own gear, and played long-gone Halifax venues like Rosa’s Cantina on Argyle Street and Dartmouth’s Crazy Horse. The Hip’s set list changes every night, but there’s a nice symmetry on those evenings when The Lonely End of the Rink and Family Band bookend a show.
In fact, the band plays a healthy selection of new tunes in its current shows, which pleases its hardcore fans and those who’ve seen it perform countless times, but doesn’t always sit so well with the casual listener who can only name a handful of song titles off the top of their head.
"Well, people are different," sighs Langlois. "We were at a cottage recently with our family and our neighbours, sitting around having a few beers, and one guy I had just met that week — a nice guy — had definitely had a few, and he asked, ‘Why is it you don’t write songs like you used to?’ "
With a little prodding by the ardent fan, Langlois discovered the incredulous listener was comparing recent material to songs that are nearly two decades old, off Up to Here and Road Apples, and he hadn’t picked up a Hip album since 1992’s Fully Completely.
"So he just had to check back in," says Langlois. "Like a lot of fans, when you’re 22 and in university or whatever, the music you love then becomes the music you’ll always love, or you get older and move on. I don’t think we sound the same, but if we did sound the same, we wouldn’t be together anymore."
Tickets for the Tragically Hip at the Halifax Metro Centre are $69.50 for Gold Circle seats, $49.50 for regular admission. Tickets are available at the Ticket Atlantic box office (451-1221), online at http://www.ticketatlantic.com and participating Atlantic Superstores.
Tickets for the Sydney show are $49.50 at Centre 200 box office, Savoy Theatre and Caper Convenience at CBU, $25 for students (CBU only). They are also online at http://www.reservatech.ca
"I try my best to chug, stomp, weep, whisper, moan, wheeze, scat, blurt, rage, whine, and seduce. With my voice I can sound like a girl, the boogieman, a Theremin, a cherry bomb, a clown, a doctor, a murderer. I can be tribal. Ironic. Or disturbed. My voice is really my instrument."
By STEPHEN COOKE Entertainment Reporter | CONCERT REVIEW | 6:56 AM
Few Canadian bands thrive in the bloodstreams of their listeners like the Tragically Hip.
There are countless kids entering college this year who were probably conceived to Up to Here, and judging by the age range in the crowd at the Halifax Metro Centre on Thursday night, a healthy proportion of them were there.
About 8,000 fans turned out to catch the Hip at the tail-end of its Canadian tour — the band plays a smaller-scale show tonight at CBU in Sydney — before it sets out on a European jaunt, and they were rewarded with a show crackling with electricity and brimming with vitality.
While the guitar duo of Paul Langlois and Rob Baker with bassist Gord Sinclair and drummer Johnny Fay laid down the fierce rock groove, frontman Gordon Downie was a one-man, three-ring circus, a vessel of fervour and emotion.
"Smoke what you gotta smoke . . . drink what you gotta drink . . . just meet me at the lonely end of the rink!" exhorted Downie as he took the stage, singing the saga of a goalie’s life from the latest album, World Container.
One could draw parallels between playing nets and singing lead vocals — after all, Downie does both — and so much of a game or a show’s success rests on his shoulders.
For emphasis, he held his mike against his chest so the arena could hear his heart beat. A grand gesture, but also a touching one.
The Hip turned to the classics, with New Orleans Is Sinking getting the crowd on its feet, with Downie screaming the last chorus over Baker’s snarling guitar line, followed by a mix of James Brown and flamenco moves to Grace, Too.
"You wanna hear what war sounds like?" asked the singer, before obliging with a bevy of mouth noise on the mike.
Obviously the Hip are at a stage in their career when crowds are split between those who merely want to hear the hits and the diehard fans who feel they can do no wrong, and Thursday night’s set did a good job of maintaining the balance, with passionate renditions of favourites like Ahead By a Century and Courage (for Hugh MacLennan), which saw Downie lean over the front row, holding out the mike to capture the sound of the Halifax Metro Centre Memorial Choir singing along.
But the night held its fair share of new tunes with World Container tracks like Yer Not the Ocean and In View energizing the crowd with driving melodies and prominent hooks, clearly a byproduct of working with producer Bob Rock.
Downie was at his most possessed during At the Hundredth Meridian, calling out names like Clarence and Ernestine, stating, "I remember everybody, I remember all you guys . . . How do you think I dance?" earning a hearty roar of approval.
Then he proceeded to make his mike stand dance before turning it into a recliner, putting a handkerchief over his face and miming a solo passion play while the band brought the music down, before rising from the dead for an explosive final chorus.
The main set ended with a one-two punch of Family Band and Little Bones, with Downie staying on stage to thank the cheering "music lovers of Nova Scotia" before returning for an encore that included a surprise cover of David Bowie’s Queen Bitch.
Now I just wonder how many future Hip fans were conceived in the wee hours following this show?
Props also go to the Hip for having great taste in opening acts, with Toronto’s the Sadies playing dark country rock with impressive skill and a supreme veneer of cool.
Look for a new album from them next week.
Setlist:
The Lonely End Of The Rink
New Orleans Is Sinking
Grace, Too
Gus: The Polar Bear From Central Park
Yer Not The Ocean
Ahead By A Century
In View
Courage
World Container
Fully Completely
Boots Or Hearts
At The Hundredth Meridian
The Kids Don't Get It
Wheat Kings
My Music At Work
Family Band
Little Bones
Queen Bitch (David Bowie)
Bobcaygeon
Blow At High Dough
"I try my best to chug, stomp, weep, whisper, moan, wheeze, scat, blurt, rage, whine, and seduce. With my voice I can sound like a girl, the boogieman, a Theremin, a cherry bomb, a clown, a doctor, a murderer. I can be tribal. Ironic. Or disturbed. My voice is really my instrument."
"I try my best to chug, stomp, weep, whisper, moan, wheeze, scat, blurt, rage, whine, and seduce. With my voice I can sound like a girl, the boogieman, a Theremin, a cherry bomb, a clown, a doctor, a murderer. I can be tribal. Ironic. Or disturbed. My voice is really my instrument."
Setlist- Cape Breton University Student Union, Sydney, NS 09/14/07:
Ocean
Music
Grace
Good Life
Drop-Off
ABAC
Gift
Family Band
World C.
Springtime
Meridian
Rink
Bobcaygeon
In View
Scared
NOIS
Fire
Fully
Blow
"I try my best to chug, stomp, weep, whisper, moan, wheeze, scat, blurt, rage, whine, and seduce. With my voice I can sound like a girl, the boogieman, a Theremin, a cherry bomb, a clown, a doctor, a murderer. I can be tribal. Ironic. Or disturbed. My voice is really my instrument."
SYDNEY — Touring has become second nature for The Tragically Hip but even bass guitarist Gord Sinclair acknowledges Friday’s performance will be a change of pace.
“It’s been a longtime since we did a frosh week show,” he said, in a telephone interview last week as the band embarked on a short swing through Atlantic Canada. “It should be awesome. We’re very excited to come back out to Sydney. It has been a longtime and it’ll be great to get there.”
The iconic Canadian rock band will perform Friday at the Cape Breton University courtyard as part of their frosh week celebrations — and The Hip should feel right at home performing under the stars.
“We did quite a few outdoor festivals this summer. They’re a riot and we’re pretty adept at helping the riot along, I’d like to say,” said Sinclair, with a laugh.
The award-winning, multi-platinum recording group — made up of Sinclair, lead singer Gord Downie, drummer Johnny Fay and guitarists Paul Langlois and Rob Baker — formed in the mid-1980s but Sinclair said two decades have gone by in a flash.
“It’s kind of amazing how quickly the years just sort of dissolved away. Time literally does fly,” he said. “We’ve always sort of kept our eye on the near horizon with everything we’ve done with our careers . . . always looking at the next writing session, followed by the next recording session, followed by the next touring session. We’ve just always felt so fortunate to be doing what we do.”
Having criss-crossed the country countless times and travelled south of the border and abroad to perform their music, Sinclair said they’ve always maintained what he described as an “intelligent approach” to touring with lots of breaks and time off to spend at home.
“I think what breaks bands up and kills bands and harms their careers is trying to do too much, too many shows in a row to the point where you start losing sight of the fact that it’s a pleasure to be able to stand up on stage and be paid to perform music for people,” he said.
With dozens of hit songs — Bobcaygeon, Courage, Ahead by a Century, Blow at High Dough and 38 Years Old, to name a few — Sinclair said it can be a tough assignment to satisfy audiences as every fan has their favourite songs and albums. He said they’re continually rotating songs in and out of their performance set.
“Gord Downie and I sit down every night to do the set list together and, this is going to sound really selfish, but we try to keep ourselves happy first. You have to be engaged with the song in order to expect the audience to be engaged with you,” he said.
The Hip will be on the road for much of the next couple of months, touring Europe and then the U.S. before taking a break in mid-November to begin work on their next recording project.
“In a perfect world we’re hoping to have enough material compiled for a new record and hopefully get working in the spring of 2008 to get that recorded,” he said. “It’s onwards and upwards constantly for us.”
Friday’s Hip show is open to the public. CBU student tickets for the concert are $25 and are available only at Caper Convenience at CBU. Tickets for the general public are $49.50 and are on sale at Caper Convenience, Centre 200 box office, Savoy Theatre box office or online at http://www.reservatech.ca.
"I try my best to chug, stomp, weep, whisper, moan, wheeze, scat, blurt, rage, whine, and seduce. With my voice I can sound like a girl, the boogieman, a Theremin, a cherry bomb, a clown, a doctor, a murderer. I can be tribal. Ironic. Or disturbed. My voice is really my instrument."
Comments
congrats! sounds like fun!
i can't wait for the CBU show!
hip shows 7 + 1 pending
PJ shows 11
i have some catching up to do!
My stats are a wee bit different from yours:
Hip shows: 24
PJ: 2
I've definitely got some catching up to do on the PJ side of things. Over the course of their career they've only played Calgary twice, and I was in attendence for both shows (1993 and 2005). That's way too long in between visits. Those boys need to tour Canada more often.
-Tom Waits
wow! that's a big bunch o' hip shows!
hey! do you use the Personal Concert Stats thingy over at Hipbase? I find it isn't working half the time... i try to log in and it doesn't do anything... :(
anyways... yah, i'm lucky with the PJ shows... 4 of my 11 shows have been in Toronto, and 5 more within a 4 hour drive.... So far though, the farthest one has been most worth it... Dusseldorf was mind-blowing!
http//www.thehip.com
-Tom Waits
-Tom Waits
http://www.thetradersden.org/forums/showthread.php?t=44442
08/02/07 - LOLLA!!!
St John's is ready for Pearl Jam, again, any time. White Stripes, too.
Dance and Sing along with Shed Devils at http://www.sheddevils.com/
st. john's newfoundland, sept. 25/2005
Is that one of those belt buckles they sold at the merch table a few years ago? Those things were cool.
-Tom Waits
no, its actually a tiny little pin i got a long time ago from THC the hip clup. i found it and put it up....wish i had a belt buckle like that....he he
i'm crossing my fingers for "Last Night I Dreamed...."
that ones pretty rare. i think ive only seen it once or twice out of 7 shows this tour. GOOD LUCk1
thanks!
i know.... i've been to 4 this year, and haven't seen it yet.... i think that and Pretend are the only 2 from the new album that i haven't seen yet... here's hopin'!
Yeah, they don't seem to play it much. I saw them play it at one of the Calgary club shows during the Canadian mini-tour last Novemver. It was incredible. Such a beautiful song!
-Tom Waits
Is there any list anywhere of soundboard hip shows? I was browsing around the hip trakcer but didn't come up with much. Any help would be great, thanks!
Setlist- Mile One Centre, St. John's, Newfoundland, 09/08/07:
Rink
New O.
Ocean
Good Life
Drop-Off
ABAC
In View
Gift
Titanic (holy shit!!!)
Fly
Surrender (Cheap Trick cover)
Springtime
Meridian
Bobcaygeon
Kids
Wheat
Locked
Music
Grace
Long Time
Family Band
I think that's one of the best setlists I've seen on this entire tour.
-Tom Waits
rub ...it..in..
EV intro to Chloe Dancer / Crown of Thorns
10/25/13 Hartford
EV intro to Chloe Dancer / Crown of Thorns
10/25/13 Hartford
Rink
New O.
Fully
Dire Wolf
Ocean
ABAC
In View
Poets
Flamenco
Fireworks
Substitute (The Who)
Meridian
Kids
Bobcaygeon
Nautical
Family Band
Blow
Courage
Springtime
Grace
-Tom Waits
NICE!
'i was born with a plastic spoon in my mouth...'
two. sleeps. 'til Sydney!
http://thechronicleherald.ca/Entertainment/858675.html
Hip’s brave new World
Kingston quintet revitalized with help from producer Rock
By STEPHEN COOKE Entertainment Reporter
When veteran Canadian rockers the Tragically Hip named their 11th studio record World Container, they could have been referring to their own globe-spanning adventures over the past year. They’ve criss-crossed the continent a few times and following this week’s Atlantic Canadian leg of the tour, cross the Atlantic Ocean for the second time in 14 months.
But as with most things found in the lyrics of Hip vocalist Gord Downie, there are multiple meanings to be parsed, and the CD title track is no exception, putting personal relationships into a larger global context, with our individual collections of experiences and actions jostling against each other in this giant cargo hold called Mother Earth.
"That’s pretty much how I see it," says guitarist Paul Langlois, who joins his bandmates and the Sadies at the Halifax Metro Centre on Thursday, and the Cape Breton University Student Union in Sydney on Friday. "I love the image of it, that everyone has their own way of seeing the world, and reacting to it and what’s in it. I also love that it’s up for a lot of interpretation, and that’s usually a difficult process, coming up with the title for a record.
"It’s nice to have a title like that which could mean a number of things to a number of different people. And World Container is probably my favourite song on the record to listen to; it goes a lot of different places lyrically and I love the drama of it. It’s a great title, because it’s an apt title of where we’re at, and it also describes our path and a kind of consciousness."
Where the band is at is an interesting situation. Produced by noted rockmeister Bob Rock (Metallica, Motley Crue), World Container boils the Hip down to its essence, with straightforward rockers and openly personal word-work by Downie. It’s the sound of a band taking its engine apart, cleaning the parts and putting it back together following the intense career-analyzing process of assembling its 2005 Hipeponymous box set, determined to rediscover the essentials.
"I think that has a lot to do with why we were feeling so energized going into the project," says Langlois. "Working with Bob Rock was going from an idea to a reality, and we’d had Yer Favourites coming out, with the Walk of Fame and the Canadian Music Hall of Fame, and it was all a lot for everyone to absorb. . . . I think it put a bit of wind in our sails as far as saying, ‘We’re not done yet!’
Rock is known for his back-to-basics approach — he did similar duties for Our Lady Peace on the Healthy in Paranoid Times — although Langlois says Rock didn’t have to play referee between the members of the Kingston quintet as he famously did with OLP and Metallica.
Instead of wearing a ref’s black and white striped shirt, Langlois says Rock was more like a cheerleader for the album, but one who knows his way around a song and what makes them work for a mass audience.
"Bob certainly didn’t hesitate to attempt to get us to highlight the hook," Langlois chuckles. "That kinda goes against our nature a little bit; we’ve tried to keep them really subtle, and if something sounds really great, we try not to overplay it."
Rock’s desire to focus on songs that grab the listener rather than sneak up on them pays off in the brute force of the CD opener Yer Not the Ocean and Downie’s analogy between playing goalie and fronting a band, The Lonely End of the Rink, which has become the favourite show starter on the current tour.
The flip side of that sentiment can be found in Family Band, a propulsive ode to the days when the band travelled in a van, loaded its own gear, and played long-gone Halifax venues like Rosa’s Cantina on Argyle Street and Dartmouth’s Crazy Horse. The Hip’s set list changes every night, but there’s a nice symmetry on those evenings when The Lonely End of the Rink and Family Band bookend a show.
In fact, the band plays a healthy selection of new tunes in its current shows, which pleases its hardcore fans and those who’ve seen it perform countless times, but doesn’t always sit so well with the casual listener who can only name a handful of song titles off the top of their head.
"Well, people are different," sighs Langlois. "We were at a cottage recently with our family and our neighbours, sitting around having a few beers, and one guy I had just met that week — a nice guy — had definitely had a few, and he asked, ‘Why is it you don’t write songs like you used to?’ "
With a little prodding by the ardent fan, Langlois discovered the incredulous listener was comparing recent material to songs that are nearly two decades old, off Up to Here and Road Apples, and he hadn’t picked up a Hip album since 1992’s Fully Completely.
"So he just had to check back in," says Langlois. "Like a lot of fans, when you’re 22 and in university or whatever, the music you love then becomes the music you’ll always love, or you get older and move on. I don’t think we sound the same, but if we did sound the same, we wouldn’t be together anymore."
Tickets for the Tragically Hip at the Halifax Metro Centre are $69.50 for Gold Circle seats, $49.50 for regular admission. Tickets are available at the Ticket Atlantic box office (451-1221), online at http://www.ticketatlantic.com and participating Atlantic Superstores.
Tickets for the Sydney show are $49.50 at Centre 200 box office, Savoy Theatre and Caper Convenience at CBU, $25 for students (CBU only). They are also online at http://www.reservatech.ca
( scooke@herald.ca)
_________________
-Tom Waits
By STEPHEN COOKE Entertainment Reporter | CONCERT REVIEW | 6:56 AM
Few Canadian bands thrive in the bloodstreams of their listeners like the Tragically Hip.
There are countless kids entering college this year who were probably conceived to Up to Here, and judging by the age range in the crowd at the Halifax Metro Centre on Thursday night, a healthy proportion of them were there.
About 8,000 fans turned out to catch the Hip at the tail-end of its Canadian tour — the band plays a smaller-scale show tonight at CBU in Sydney — before it sets out on a European jaunt, and they were rewarded with a show crackling with electricity and brimming with vitality.
While the guitar duo of Paul Langlois and Rob Baker with bassist Gord Sinclair and drummer Johnny Fay laid down the fierce rock groove, frontman Gordon Downie was a one-man, three-ring circus, a vessel of fervour and emotion.
"Smoke what you gotta smoke . . . drink what you gotta drink . . . just meet me at the lonely end of the rink!" exhorted Downie as he took the stage, singing the saga of a goalie’s life from the latest album, World Container.
One could draw parallels between playing nets and singing lead vocals — after all, Downie does both — and so much of a game or a show’s success rests on his shoulders.
For emphasis, he held his mike against his chest so the arena could hear his heart beat. A grand gesture, but also a touching one.
The Hip turned to the classics, with New Orleans Is Sinking getting the crowd on its feet, with Downie screaming the last chorus over Baker’s snarling guitar line, followed by a mix of James Brown and flamenco moves to Grace, Too.
"You wanna hear what war sounds like?" asked the singer, before obliging with a bevy of mouth noise on the mike.
Obviously the Hip are at a stage in their career when crowds are split between those who merely want to hear the hits and the diehard fans who feel they can do no wrong, and Thursday night’s set did a good job of maintaining the balance, with passionate renditions of favourites like Ahead By a Century and Courage (for Hugh MacLennan), which saw Downie lean over the front row, holding out the mike to capture the sound of the Halifax Metro Centre Memorial Choir singing along.
But the night held its fair share of new tunes with World Container tracks like Yer Not the Ocean and In View energizing the crowd with driving melodies and prominent hooks, clearly a byproduct of working with producer Bob Rock.
Downie was at his most possessed during At the Hundredth Meridian, calling out names like Clarence and Ernestine, stating, "I remember everybody, I remember all you guys . . . How do you think I dance?" earning a hearty roar of approval.
Then he proceeded to make his mike stand dance before turning it into a recliner, putting a handkerchief over his face and miming a solo passion play while the band brought the music down, before rising from the dead for an explosive final chorus.
The main set ended with a one-two punch of Family Band and Little Bones, with Downie staying on stage to thank the cheering "music lovers of Nova Scotia" before returning for an encore that included a surprise cover of David Bowie’s Queen Bitch.
Now I just wonder how many future Hip fans were conceived in the wee hours following this show?
Props also go to the Hip for having great taste in opening acts, with Toronto’s the Sadies playing dark country rock with impressive skill and a supreme veneer of cool.
Look for a new album from them next week.
Setlist:
The Lonely End Of The Rink
New Orleans Is Sinking
Grace, Too
Gus: The Polar Bear From Central Park
Yer Not The Ocean
Ahead By A Century
In View
Courage
World Container
Fully Completely
Boots Or Hearts
At The Hundredth Meridian
The Kids Don't Get It
Wheat Kings
My Music At Work
Family Band
Little Bones
Queen Bitch (David Bowie)
Bobcaygeon
Blow At High Dough
-Tom Waits
http://www.flickr.com/photo_zoom.gne?id=1387079779&size=l
-Tom Waits
Ocean
Music
Grace
Good Life
Drop-Off
ABAC
Gift
Family Band
World C.
Springtime
Meridian
Rink
Bobcaygeon
In View
Scared
NOIS
Fire
Fully
Blow
-Tom Waits
hey i posted that "over there" hehe cool
I JUST MET THE WHOLE BAND AFTER THE SHOW!!! woooooooooooooo
06/29/03 09/22/05 09/24/05 09/25/05 05/09/06 05/10/06
LAURA JEAN GRANT
The Cape Breton Post
SYDNEY — Touring has become second nature for The Tragically Hip but even bass guitarist Gord Sinclair acknowledges Friday’s performance will be a change of pace.
“It’s been a longtime since we did a frosh week show,” he said, in a telephone interview last week as the band embarked on a short swing through Atlantic Canada. “It should be awesome. We’re very excited to come back out to Sydney. It has been a longtime and it’ll be great to get there.”
The iconic Canadian rock band will perform Friday at the Cape Breton University courtyard as part of their frosh week celebrations — and The Hip should feel right at home performing under the stars.
“We did quite a few outdoor festivals this summer. They’re a riot and we’re pretty adept at helping the riot along, I’d like to say,” said Sinclair, with a laugh.
The award-winning, multi-platinum recording group — made up of Sinclair, lead singer Gord Downie, drummer Johnny Fay and guitarists Paul Langlois and Rob Baker — formed in the mid-1980s but Sinclair said two decades have gone by in a flash.
“It’s kind of amazing how quickly the years just sort of dissolved away. Time literally does fly,” he said. “We’ve always sort of kept our eye on the near horizon with everything we’ve done with our careers . . . always looking at the next writing session, followed by the next recording session, followed by the next touring session. We’ve just always felt so fortunate to be doing what we do.”
Having criss-crossed the country countless times and travelled south of the border and abroad to perform their music, Sinclair said they’ve always maintained what he described as an “intelligent approach” to touring with lots of breaks and time off to spend at home.
“I think what breaks bands up and kills bands and harms their careers is trying to do too much, too many shows in a row to the point where you start losing sight of the fact that it’s a pleasure to be able to stand up on stage and be paid to perform music for people,” he said.
With dozens of hit songs — Bobcaygeon, Courage, Ahead by a Century, Blow at High Dough and 38 Years Old, to name a few — Sinclair said it can be a tough assignment to satisfy audiences as every fan has their favourite songs and albums. He said they’re continually rotating songs in and out of their performance set.
“Gord Downie and I sit down every night to do the set list together and, this is going to sound really selfish, but we try to keep ourselves happy first. You have to be engaged with the song in order to expect the audience to be engaged with you,” he said.
The Hip will be on the road for much of the next couple of months, touring Europe and then the U.S. before taking a break in mid-November to begin work on their next recording project.
“In a perfect world we’re hoping to have enough material compiled for a new record and hopefully get working in the spring of 2008 to get that recorded,” he said. “It’s onwards and upwards constantly for us.”
Friday’s Hip show is open to the public. CBU student tickets for the concert are $25 and are available only at Caper Convenience at CBU. Tickets for the general public are $49.50 and are on sale at Caper Convenience, Centre 200 box office, Savoy Theatre box office or online at http://www.reservatech.ca.
-Tom Waits