The Tragically Hip (new and improved official thread)

[restlesssoul]

My review of the Burnaby show, (off the hip board)

alright, wow. so what a night.

The hip came out, Gord tied his shoes and we were off. I am always "meh" about Blow as the opener but damn it was awesome. Had to be in the 7 to 8 minute range, with the "He's a microphone and a microphone stand, IM A MAN! at the end. Grace, too got the tragically hip line, which was nice. Streets ahead was only alright for me as a new song, it was good, but not as good as Drip Drip Drip with the rain coming down. This song is incredible. The crowd was going NUTS for it, considering nobody has ever hear it before. It has the potential to be the single for sure, great highlight. Love to see the band still connecting with new music, it put a smile on my face. I was front row, and the barricades were reinforced mid show with rope because a lot of stress was being put on them with the likes of Fully Completely, Hundredth Meridian and Poets. I will say this: In the beginning, Gord was missing his cues a little, due to his antics. Example, he'd be doing something just out of reach of the mic, and start singing and have to quickly get to the mic. Also, he was definitely yelling more than singing in the start. But he smartened up. He was doing the usual hanky work. I must say he is an absolute MASTER of the Mic stand wobble with the feet now. I saw it fall at least once a show in 06, 07 and earlier, but the mic stand is his toy now, he is perfect with it. Didnt drop once. Fiddlers Green was a crowd favourite, the "Balloons all filled with rain" got a big cheer. Such a sad, sad song. Odd to see people crowd surfing to it. One girl in the middle in front, had to be pulled out, the gave her water, but she was messed up, couldnt stand, either wasted, dehyrdration or exhaustion or all of the above, it was a messed up scene, they took her to first aid. Rink was AWESOME, i was so hoping it would be the opener, but opening the encore was good enough. It was an absolute lighter fest for wheat kings. Music @ Work was great. High energy show, from the boys. We had a blast. The outdoor GA, was a great experience, crowd was awesome. I couldnt help but think of heksenketel while fully was on.

Music @ Work Ending the Show: (Camera work settles down)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FlyjhEOk92k

[direwolf74]

You guys got Rink and Fiddler's? I'm officially jealous. Great review!

[restlesssoul]

Newest of my Rare series uploads:

Highway Girl (porter)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sJUNkU8NLY0

[direwolf74]

Ahh, the old Tucson bootleg from '91. I love that one. Easily rivals "Roxy & Elsewhere" in terms of classic Gord storytelling. Great stuff!

[locked]

Ahh, the old Tucson bootleg from '91. I love that one. Easily rivals "Roxy & Elsewhere" in terms of classic Gord storytelling. Great stuff!

Goddamit Vic !
His names mark vareekan but I call him Vic!

[direwolf74]

Well, the all-too-brief summer tour officially ended two nights ago in Montreal. Someone over at the Hipbase talked to Gord Sinclair after one of the shows and he mentioned that the boys were gonna be holed up in the studio again after the tour for another writing/recording session. I was hoping for a new Hip album sometime later this year, but it sounds like they're still a few months away from being finished. It was a fun tour. The band are at the top of their game, and Gord is in mid-90s form in terms of his on-stage rants. The Edmonton show was one of the best Hip shows I've seen in recent years, and the guys look like they're absolutely jazzed to be back on stage after such a long hiatus. Can't wait to hear the new album and see the upcoming documentary!

Here's the brilliant "New Orleans/Nautical/New Orleans" medley from the Windsor show:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fkO_xhqVptA

[restlesssoul]

Here's the brilliant "New Orleans/Nautical/New Orleans" medley from the Windsor show:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fkO_xhqVptA

I love that they did this for this little tour, but the ones from back in the day, sounded more off the cuff, you know? this is like: they are playing new orleans and they all stop and know their cue to willingly go into Nautical. whereas back then the jam just sort of EVOLVED into Nautical. do you know what I mean? I still like both ways, but if i had a choice i would want to hear the latter.

[direwolf74]

That's exactly how Nautical was written. The band would jam out the middle section, eventually hitting on a specific melody or chord progression, and Gord would start improvising and trying out lyric ideas he was working on at the time. "Escape is at Hand" was written in the same fashion. Even if they wanted to make it sound "off the cuff" again, they wouldn't be able to do it, since both songs are now fully fleshed out, finished pieces of music. But I agree, it sounded more powerful the first time I heard it on the '93 ARA tour. I remember Gord would start singing the verses and my friends and I would look at each other in amazement, "holy shit, I think this is a new song!"

Hearing new Hip material for the first time never fails to blow my mind. I absolutely LOVED all three new songs I heard at the Edmonton show last month, and I think the new album is gonna be great. My favorite "new Hip song" moment was at the '06 Sasquatch Festival at the Gorge. Due to a freak hail storm, the Hip's set was cut short and they only got to play 8 songs. During their set they surprised the hell out of everyone by busting out three new unreleased songs: Lonely End of the Rink, The Drop-Off, and Fly. When they launched into the Drop-Off, I had to pick my jaw up off the ground. It was so damn heavy and intense, and they absolutely wiped the floor with just about every other band on the bill that day, including the mighty Ben Harper. To this day that's the best Hip show I've ever seen. The girl standing next to me had never heard of them before. After they left the stage to rapturous applause from the crowd and loud chants of "Hip! Hip! Hip!", she asked me which album she should buy first. She then took off towards the merch tent and came back with 3 of their albums and a t-shirt.

[restlesssoul]

The Entire

Marymoor 2007 show is coming up slowly on my youtube channel for those interested. It's great quality of a fantastic show. Couple of rarities in there too.

Part 1 of 9 is here
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5H_X2IRWr5o


Part 1, 2, 3, 4 complete, the rest to come.

My fingers go in Gord's Mouth in Part 2

Enjoy.

[direwolf74]

The Entire

Marymoor 2007 show is coming up slowly on my youtube channel for those interested. It's great quality of a fantastic show. Couple of rarities in there too.

I was there! Standing about 3 or 4 rows back in front of Paul. Thanks a bunch for uploading this show! I'm converting these to mp3s as I type this. What an excellent souvenir!

[locked]

You know I soooooo want to get back on board with this band, just made an ipod mix of my favorites live and studio Hip tunes (I call it "Scott's Favorites" aka "yer favorites") but I noticed I didnt pull one song or performnce
beyond "In Violet light" which I still contend was their peak year for live shows...

DW,
These new songs just sound bad, bad, bad to my ear...
Heard them all.. drip. drip, drip too..

what the f*ck happened to MY Hip?

They forgot how to write any good rock songs..

and Gord just cannot sing anymore, I'm sorry to say "the emperor has no clothes"

Compare:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9zxD8du ... re=related
2011 (ugh! is this even rock and roll?)

to
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=INgP4g_J ... er&list=UL
2002- best tour ever!

[restlesssoul]

comparing a song they've played hundreds of times and is one of their proven signature songs to a song like transformation which literally has been played less than 20 times and could not even make an album isnt the smartest thing to do, locked. you will be dissapointed everytime, no matter the band.

[direwolf74]

You know I soooooo want to get back on board with this band, just made an ipod mix of my favorites live and studio Hip tunes (I call it "Scott's Favorites" aka "yer favorites") but I noticed I didnt pull one song or performnce
beyond "In Violet light" which I still contend was their peak year for live shows...

DW,
These new songs just sound bad, bad, bad to my ear...
Heard them all.. drip. drip, drip too..

what the f*ck happened to MY Hip?

They forgot how to write any good rock songs..

and Gord just cannot sing anymore, I'm sorry to say "the emperor has no clothes"

I gotta disagree with you, man. I saw them three times on the '09 tour, and again in Edmonton a month ago. Gord's singing sounded great at every single one of them and the band blew my socks off just like they always have. I also caught Gord solo last year when he toured for his album The Grand Bounce, and it was some of the best singing I've ever heard from him. His voice is fine. Yea he sounds a bit rough in a couple spots on that video you posted. But every rock singer has their rough moments, and let's be honest. Gord has never been a perfect singer. Most rock n' roll frontmen aren't. I've heard a few bootlegs over the years where even guys like Eddie Vedder and Bono sound like crap or they're singing off-key. It happens to everybody. Anthony Kiedis...now THERE'S an awful singer. As for the three new songs, I think they're great. I guess our ideas on what the Hip should sound like are a little different these days. "Streets Ahead" will need to grow on me a bit, but "Drip Drip" is a terrific ballad in my opinion, especially when they launch into that beautiful chorus with Gord and Paul singing harmony. "Transformation" just flat out rocks. I really like the groove, the punchy guitars, the lyrics, and the intensity of Gord's delivery. To me it's got a real old-school feel to it. If I had to compare it to an older song, I'd say it reminds me bit of "Looking For a Place to Happen".

Listen, I'm as big a critic as anybody when it comes to my favorite bands, and I wasn't very keen on the Hip's last album. For every brilliant song on We Are the Same (Morning Moon, Depression Suite, Last Recluse, Queen of the Furrows) there were just as many mediocre/filler songs (Coffee Girl, The Exact Feeling, Honey Please). Bob Rock's glossy production polished away all the edges until they were left with a somewhat bloated sounding album with too many layers of keyboards, strings, and the like. And don't get me wrong, I have no problem with the Hip stepping out of their comfort zone and trying something different. "The Depression Suite" is a great example of the band experimenting with their sound and pulling it off brilliantly. When they opened one of their San Francisco shows with that tune in '09, it fuckin' blew my mind. But the album as a whole just didn't do it for me. I thought World Container was a MUCH better record. It was a better collection of songs, it was more focused, it rocked harder, and had more of an edge to it.

Anyways, I think they're headed in the right direction with these new songs. Not to mention I'm absolutely ecstatic that they've ditched Bob and are producing the album themselves. I understand if you're not digging the latest incarnation of the Hip's sound, and if you really are done with this band, it'll be sad to see you go. You and I have had some great discussions about this band over the last couple of years. But when a band has been around as long as the Hip, eventually they're gonna ruffle some feathers. I get that. They lose some fans along the way, and then gain new ones. That's the curse of longevity, and it happens with any veteran band. As a guy who grew up listening to the Hip, these guys will forever be my favorite band, and I don't see that changing anytime soon. They've been the soundtrack to my entire adult life, starting way back when I was just 16 and I first heard "Up to Here". Very rarely have they ever let me down when it comes to their studio output, and they've NEVER let me down live. Some albums are better than others, and they don't always hit it out of the park with every song ("Coconut Cream", anyone?). But that happens when you've been in the game as long as the Hip have. Their kick-ass performance in Edmonton earlier this summer only reaffirmed my belief that they're still the greatest rock n' roll band on the planet. You might wanna wait until the new album comes out and give it a good listen before you write them off just yet. If it's not your cup of tea, then so be it. But this band is way too good to not be given a second chance. Personally I hope they win you back. Their Boston gigs won't be the same without ya!

[direwolf74]

One of my favorite bands right now, The Arkells, just released the new video for their song "Kiss Cam". Gotta love the Hip reference in the first verse:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ro0m9nHOl0Y

I recommend all of you check this band out. Saw them open for Pearl Jam two years ago at Virgin Fest, and they were awesome (they've also played a few shows with the Hip over the last couple of years). Their first album "Jackson Square" is fantastic, and they're just about to release their second record "Michigan Left" on Oct. 18th.

[restlesssoul]

if there is one band that needs to repress and rerelease the catalog on vinyl, its this band!!!

henhouse
http://cgi.ebay.ca/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie ... 500wt_1156

little bones is on ebay too right now for over 100$!