Gord and The Country of Miracles rocks Niagara Falls - Printable Version
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Gord and The Country of Miracles rocks Niagara Falls - gibbytime39 - 07-05-2010
Last nights show was outstanding. I had bought the VIP tickets which got you a place in the first ten rows along with all the food, beer, and ice cream you could handle. another perk were the awesome bathrooms. Im glad i paid for a free show as weird as that sounds. It was amusing to hear all the yells for Hip songs but i kind of thought he might play one when he started talking about fireworks and having a good laugh at the mention. The band strolled onstage and opened with Who By Rote. Then they quickly kicked into East Wind. "Hello again my friends....... what a way to kick things off.
He stuck to mostly new tunes but tossed out a few like Christmastime in Toronto, and Yer Possessed. The latter he introduced with a comical story of how he wrote it. something about being in an airport and brother is yelling that he's possessed. The one time i made a trek for beer and a bathroom break was bad timing. It was a three song journey and he was leaving the stage as i got back in position. Seeing Gord on the solo gigs is like seeing his recluse twin brother. They are two different people. he seemed so relaxed taking in the crowd and the buildings that surrounded this cool place for shows. Also, this is the first i had seen him playing an electric guitar and struck some Pete Townsendesque poses which he pulled off well. All in all if you knew you werent going to hear any Hip songs you walked away very happy with the show. The band is a lot of fun and Julie Doire {spelling} was fun to watch and the only one to slip with any swearing. When she dropped the F-BOMB the whole band jokingly mocked her. I hope to catch another show so hopefully he'll dip down in the states again this tour.
Re: Gord and The Country of Miracles rocks Niagara Falls - Tthip - 07-06-2010
Country of Miracles displays another aspect of Downie’s genius
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.buffalonews.com/2010/07/04/1103310/country-of-miracles-displays-another.html">http://www.buffalonews.com/2010/07/04/1 ... other.html</a><!-- m -->
By Jeff Miers
NEWS POP MUSIC CRITIC
As frontman with the Tragically Hip, Gord Downie is part performance artist, part poet and part rocker. Fronting that band, his closest kin is most likely post-Genesis Peter Gabriel. The Hip’s music is simpler than Gabriel’s, but Downie’s performances out at the lip of the stage rival Gabriel’s for pure theatre-as-rock.
On his solo jaunts away from the Hip, Downie seems to be far more relaxed, as if the pressure is off, and the deepest, the most primitive desire to make music with friends is the rule of the day.
Both configurations of the man’s performance tendencies are rewarding. The Hip delivers the arena-sized sense of wonder and awe. Solo Downie gives us something else — something more akin to what happens when good friends who happen to be musicians get together to have some fun.
Saturday evening outside the Hard Rock Cafe in Niagara Falls, Downie led his Country of Miracles through the lion’s share of his excellent new album, “The Grand Bounce.” Many in attendance might’ve preferred a Hip show, with all its grandiosity, but by roughly three tunes in, Downie and company had enthralled the assembled with their own roughshod “jammin’ round the campfire” charm.
The songs themselves, of course, are well-crafted slabs of what might be called “post-folk.” Like Lou Reed and Leonard Cohen before him, Downie is able to extract the essence of an abstract idea and turn it into a song with memorable melody and images that hang in the air long after the last chord has ceased to resonate.
Those songs filled Saturday’s set. “The Grand Bounce” was the guest of honor, and was treated as such. Downie and his cohorts — most notably, Julie Doiron, who acted as the singer’s onstage foil throughout — played most of that record, dipped into the excellent, and now cult-favorite “Coke Machine Glow,” and avoided all Hip tunes. Anyone who knows Downie knew he wasn’t going to go there — those tunes are meant to be played by that band. This was something else.
“The East Wind” set the pace, with its gorgeous melody and urgent refrain — it being the laziest wind, “It doesn’t go around you, it goes right through,” of course—but there was edge to the performance, too. “Yellow Days” was skewed post-punk, though such titles fall short of describing what is actually happening on stage — perhaps a just plain strange strain of folk music is the deal.
“Moon Over Glenora” brought out Downie’s observational brilliance, his ability to turn what might appear to be an obtuse notation into a hook. This is tougher than it seems, which wouldn’t matter if the resulting song wasn’t so memorable. “Retrace” was keening and slippery, and the band played it loose and gloriously sloppy; “The Hard Canadian” offered the other end of the extreme, and the band played it as written, letting its insistent melody lay the template.
This was a charming, low-key celebration of one part of Downie’s genius. If one approached it from this standpoint, then one walked away more than satisfied.
Re: Gord and The Country of Miracles rocks Niagara Falls - Tthip - 07-06-2010
This was the cover from our local newspapers Friday entertainment section previewing the show:
Re: Gord and The Country of Miracles rocks Niagara Falls - Tthip - 07-06-2010
[youtube]uLhRqfTOOVU[/youtube]
Re: Gord and The Country of Miracles rocks Niagara Falls - Tthip - 07-11-2010
This video is funny as hell.
It is for everyone that thinks that when Gord plays guitar - he is just pretending to play up there.
Everyone in this video has a little solo - and when Gord's turn comes up: nothing comes outta the guitar.
He wasn't plugged in - pretty funny stuff.
[youtube]aeYZrAjSe00[/youtube]
Re: Gord and The Country of Miracles rocks Niagara Falls - thompson girl - 08-17-2010
Seeing as how Moonslow has yet to make it to a set list, I thought I'd finally upload what I caught of it during the soundcheck for this show. Now I wish I had filmed the entire song. :nooooo Sorry about the quality, it was captured with my 'ol P & S.
[youtube]HwEp9BVzwW4[/youtube]