i am saying
1996 mlg was insane
followed by
1995 first big stadium tour
i never got to see them before 1995
than i would say
2006 tour was sick
I would have loved to have been able to see them back in '88 or '89.
Or 1990.
91 would be cool too.
And I have some great boots from 1992.
The ARA shows in 93 would have been a blast.
On the heels of Day For Night in 94.
Or opening for Page & Plant in 95.
The 20 minute long versions of Meridian would have entertained me in 96.
I've heard some cool versions of PP songs before they were released on their 97 tour.
My favourite album by them came out in 98... would love to have seen a Phantom Power support show... which could have been in 99 as well.
2000 Evening With = Epic.
you get the point.
Its a close call between 98 and 94 for me. I'm big on Phantom Power so I would say 98.
98 was when gords guitar started coming out a litte too much for me
my boots from 90 - 93 are sick and most enjoyable
i saw the last tour and thought they were good but not as great as they once have been
i thought gord now feels he has to dance a little to much and the hankies (spelling?) were a little to much for me, he wants a 40 year olds sweaty hankie when he is throwing 10 thousand of them out at the crowd. I think one of them he blew his nose into Gross!
I only saw them one before PP (on the FC tour) so I'd have to say as far as entire tour goes....PP. The Toledo Zoo show in 98 and the Palace in Auburn Hills MI were great! Check out that Palace set list sometime... Pigeon, Rules, Cordelia, 50MC, Many other great tunes that night....
2000 Evening with was cool...yes Epic...
Two TATH Tour shows at the old Memorial Stadium. Hearing Thugs, Cordelia, Opiated, Everytime You Go,etc. was staple of my teenage years. The group of guys that took that show in with me were awesome and we were so fucked up, and i was crowd surfing and shit like that. Now as a father of two I look back and remember how crazy those shows were.
Saw them for the first time in support of Day For Night. Opened with NOIS and ended with Locked. Incredible!
Attended 4 shows on the IVL tour including two shows in the "hammer" and the one defining concert experience of seeing the second night at the Molson Amphitheatre.
I met them on the World Container tour and it was one of the greatest moments of my life.
All in all I find it difficult to say just one but here I go:......................as far as the concert itself goes and the setlist...........TATH Tour.
I change my answer.
If I had a time machine...
1998-07-07 - London, Ontario.
1989/90. If people could hear what they sounded like as a live band at that time they would understand why the oldtimers get pissed off about songs that have been left in the dust.
Concert Hall in summer of 91 was definitely the best single hip show I ever saw - prior to Fully Completely - it was totally insane. 3 Henhouse shows Spokane Washington, Portland Oregon and Seattle were amazing - 5 Phantom Power shows - Northampton, Mass , Martha's Vinyard Hot Tin Roof with 150 people, Hampton Beach Casino, Pearl Street in Portland Maine and Sugarbush Vermont was also amazing - though I think there are probably some people still trying to get their money back for the Sugarbush show due to the delay in bussing people to the site combined with an early start time - many didn't get to the show until the encore - it was a bit of a fiasco but a great set.
I have to throw a little love out there for the 2006 Summer Fling tour. VERY diverse set lists each night, and since it was right before WC came out, we got some previews of new songs, yet the set lists were very "old song driven".
I've been seeing The Hip for years, but that was the tour where I heard a lot of classic tunes for the first time. Not to mention, this tour marked the return of 38 Years Old.
Plus...it introduced me to the Weakerthans.
bstrauss24 Wrote:I have to throw a little love out there for the 2006 Summer Fling tour. VERY diverse set lists each night, and since it was right before WC came out, we got some previews of new songs, yet the set lists were very "old song driven".
I've been seeing The Hip for years, but that was the tour where I heard a lot of classic tunes for the first time. Not to mention, this tour marked the return of 38 Years Old.
Plus...it introduced me to the Weakerthans.
I concur the 2006 summer tour is one of my favorites.
I'm a virgin compared to a lot of you on here seeing as I only saw them for the first time in '04 but I really have a soft spot for the summer '07 outdoor show they played here at Marymoor Park in Seattle. I'm not sure if it was because it is the only outdoor one I have witnessed or what, but the setlist that night was fantastic. Dire Wolf stands out as the highlight of that show for sure. I recall Gord with a stuffed animal during 'Little Bones'..... he stuck it down his shirt or something.....I cannot quite remember but thought it was brilliant at the time....... DireWolf74 you were there, do you remember what it was??!!
Ottawa, Barrymore's, Fall of 1989. On thehip.com the date is shown as Fall of 1988 but I'm certain it was Nov, 1989 since my wife was pregnant with our daughter - even she was mesmerized by the antics of Gord. I fell in love with TheHip at that concert and have been to many shows since. Still love Highway Girl. Wish they would play some of the oldies by undersatnd why they don't.
Will be at the Sept 26th show in Ottawa (with the same wife :> daughter and 17 yr old son) at the NAC which accousticaly is one of the best venues in the world!
sean.bonner Wrote:I change my answer.
If I had a time machine...
1998-07-07 - London, Ontario.
I was at that show. Simply phenomenal. However, my favourite year of tours I went to was 1996. (12/11/96 in the Hammer). With years I was not at: 1994.
Tough to answer.
The earlier the tour (especially pre-1996), the more it felt like I was seeing some incredibly sublime, clandestine rock outfit that 99.9999% of the world was missing out on (especially here in small, mostly-empty american clubs). Gord projected himself as the 'half-insane-tortured-artist' even moreso back then, and that made shows that much more 'deliciously surreal'. Plus, the setlists were not weighted as heavily with "singles and favorites", of course, since there weren't enough to fill even half a show. So the anticipation of the "next song" seemed a little more exciting, when these days, I often find myself thinking, "the next song will either be ABAC, Courage, 100th, or Poets".
But the setlists for the DFN and TATH tours were just so effing good that I remember walking out of shows so incredibly adrealized that i didn't know what to do with myself, like I was on some some crazy amphetamine. It would take hours to come down -- literally.
1994-1996 Hip -- some of the very best concerts I've ever experienced by any band.