PunBB

Paradiso, Amsterdam 27-nov-2009 :thumb:

Cobo Hall '96 has gotta be top 10...my 4th show and it was unreal!!! I'd also add Rochester 2000 to the discussion, and I too would the 2nd Fort York gig...I haven't seen Gord that intense since...he was possessed!

I'm not big on commenting on shows I wasn't at (but have seen on video or heard etc) but out of the 17 I have seen, there are a few that stand above the others....

7th House Pontiac MI July of 2000. 89X here in the Detroit area did a Q&A with the band and live performance for about 300+ people. Incredible!

Toledo Zoo Amphitheater: Aug 1998. Tailgating, roudy and nearly too crazy crowd, most perfect summer night.

Chene Park Detroit: Aug 1993: First show, FC tour, couldn't believe how much the 80% Windsor crowd loved the band...sung every word etc

Detroit State Theater April 2007 night 1: Gord in maximum animated mode, setlist was great (Thugs, On the Verge, Long Time Running etc). Plus I got to attend the Soundcheck with a friend.... very cool stuff.

Detroit Filmore (state theater) May 2009 night 2: Loved the Evening With on this tour better than any other. Plus the band dug so deep into the catalog (Escape, 50 MC, Pistols, Daredevil and more...)

The Palace of Auburn Hills Feb 1999: Huge snow storm sort of kept the crowd to a no-so-sell-out size but the band rocked! Real Arena Rock era hip! Only time I've gotten to hear Cordilea....

:thumb:

Tthip Wrote:Grape Jam, Grape Jam, Grape Jam 8-8-1998 it's only a snow fence

Only concert I've ever been to where you could buy a case of beer outside the fairgrounds and walk in with it right by "security". It's a miracle no one got seriously hurt when that snow fence came down.

I personally love this one:

Metropol, Hengelo, Netherlands, May 24 1991
Crack My Spine Like a Whip . She Didn't Know . Twist My Arm . Looking For a Place to Happen . Bring it All Back . Boots or Hearts . I'll Believe in You . 38 Years Old . Trickle Down . Cordelia . Three Pistols . Little Bones . New Orleans is Sinking (Dave Powell Birthday Song) . On the Verge . Ouch . Seven Days . Blow at High Dough . [FILLER: Washington, DC 1996-5-29] Butts Wigglin . Nautical Disaster . Hiccup Song . Daredevil
SBD A+ 90
NOTE: This show has been circulating for a while with "Tuxedo Buck's" or "Tuxedo Bob's" listed as the venue, but a correction was posted on the Henhouse mailing list by a resident of Hengelo who was at the show: the venue was the Metropol, and Tuxedo Buck was the Dutch band who opened. On this tape, filler is an audience recording of the unbroadcast portion of the 9:30 Club show.

thebends Wrote:

Tthip Wrote:Grape Jam, Grape Jam, Grape Jam 8-8-1998 it's only a snow fence

Only concert I've ever been to where you could buy a case of beer outside the fairgrounds and walk in with it right by "security". It's a miracle no one got seriously hurt when that snow fence came down.

Yeah I remember that snow fence comment. I don't think the organizers knew what kind of a show to expect for the hip.

Early to mid 90's will always be my favorite Hip era. I walked into a lot of the same shows as the OP.... It's hard to fabricate what could be deemed a loosely definitive Top 10 list like fans of other prominent live acts who allow taping can. There just aren't a lot of shows in circulation relative to the amount they have played. That's why there are so many incomplete setlists as well.

I can tell you one thing though... Those Maple Leaf Garden shows were a definite high water mark. Mid-90's The Hip were on top of the Canadian R&R scene and they were Big. Not trendy big. Big Big. And no matter how much we all love tunes like Bobcaygeon, Lake Fever, Nashville, Family Band et al post DFN, the fact of the matter is The Hip used to rock Hard back in the day. Whole show hard. And the fans had more patience for the rants and the jams because everyone in the building was hardcore it seemed like. There were no scenesters... Now couple this crowd with a building as storied in Canadiana as The Hip, where the crowd rose steeply straight up on all sides creating a massive wall of fans and energy with no luxury box row to diminish this. I remember how the crowd used to jump in unison (everyone) with all hands in the air during Blow and they would light that arena up with white light and everyone could see everyone. No AAC or any newer arena show ever caught that feeling for me...

Sorry for the hi-jack... those MLG shows were always something... as were the outdoor shows before amphitheatres & VIP sections... A good venue usually has a role to play in one's perception of their concert experience...

I would've loves to have attended one if the MPG shows....good insight!

#1, 93 Markham
#2 95 Markham
#3 09 Kitchener
#4 09 Kitchener
#5 09 Kitchener
#6 Fort York
#7 Krock Opening Kingston

Can't remember the year, but a top in my list of around 30 shows was in Kingston, Queen's Football Stadum, September...I think before Day for Night was released. Andrew Cash and Headstones opened, it pissed rain through both, sky cleared and Hip hit the stage. I remember a great Nautical jam in NOIS, Gord doing the walk across the monitors. Brockville theatre show as a wamrpup for the opening of the new rink in Kingston was also pretty cool.

Jack Straw Wrote:Early to mid 90's will always be my favorite Hip era. I walked into a lot of the same shows as the OP.... It's hard to fabricate what could be deemed a loosely definitive Top 10 list like fans of other prominent live acts who allow taping can. There just aren't a lot of shows in circulation relative to the amount they have played. That's why there are so many incomplete setlists as well.

I can tell you one thing though... Those Maple Leaf Garden shows were a definite high water mark. Mid-90's The Hip were on top of the Canadian R&R scene and they were Big. Not trendy big. Big Big. And no matter how much we all love tunes like Bobcaygeon, Lake Fever, Nashville, Family Band et al post DFN, the fact of the matter is The Hip used to rock Hard back in the day. Whole show hard. And the fans had more patience for the rants and the jams because everyone in the building was hardcore it seemed like. There were no scenesters... Now couple this crowd with a building as storied in Canadiana as The Hip, where the crowd rose steeply straight up on all sides creating a massive wall of fans and energy with no luxury box row to diminish this. I remember how the crowd used to jump in unison (everyone) with all hands in the air during Blow and they would light that arena up with white light and everyone could see everyone. No AAC or any newer arena show ever caught that feeling for me...

Sorry for the hi-jack... those MLG shows were always something... as were the outdoor shows before amphitheatres & VIP sections... A good venue usually has a role to play in one's perception of their concert experience...

I agree with this. My first Hip show was in 1996 at the Winnipeg Arena when I was 13 years old. That show and the one for the Phantom Power tour at the old Arena stick out for me (I'm sure the Fully Completely and Day for Night shows at the Winnipeg Arena were even better). The Hip were the biggest band in Canada at the time, not just the biggest Canadian band in Canada...think on par with Pearl Jam at the time. I remember the review of the 1996 show in the Winnipeg Free Press described the band as "intimidating" on stage which is a good way to put the aura that surrounded them at the time.

thebends Wrote:Top ten Hip shows have yet to be played.

After seein them open for Rush 20 yrs ago and seeing them last summer, (and so many inbetween) many of their best are FAR behind them ... Possibly a few yet to come... Good thought tho...

Live Between Us. 1997 Cobo Hall, Detroit. I was there. EPIC. Night before Thanksgiving so everyone had the next day off. Cobo is known for it's acoustics and it didn't disappoint. Couldn't believe they turned it into their live album a few years later. Simply sick.

I'd like to give honorable mentions to Salt Lake City February 2002

and the Camp Trillium Concerts, that became the Something On TV Special on Much Music, i really wish that was on DVD.