Review: Tragically Hip show a tale of two bands
By MIKE DEVLIN , Times Colonist June 20, 2009
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It's almost as if there were two Tragically Hips last night at the Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre.
The lesser-rocking version opened the night with an 11-song set, complete with intermission, a full hour of music that was restrained to the point of being somewhat unexciting. But the saving grace was the second installment, a buckshot blast back to days when the Hip set the nation ablaze with a string of recordings that have, two decades later, gone down as certified classics.
Chalk these up beside Neil Young, Joni Mitchell and the Band. They're that good.
Despite the slow start, the latter set saved the evening. It was a killer mix of gems (new, old, and lesser-known) better and badder than any other: A sinewy rendition of Nautical Disaster, an angry version of Springtime in Vienna, a reeling and stumbling Gus: The Polar Bear From Central Park. Call me crazy from the heat.
"This next song has been miscast as a hockey song," frontman Gord Downie said at the outset of The Lonely End of the Rink, one of the better cuts from World Container, the band's 2006 return to bar-rocking form. The spirit of songs such as this -- tunes that recalled the band's blue-collar origins -- were highlights of the night, no matter what age you were or tax bracket you claimed on your T4.
"Now we're on the same page," Downie said after a free-flowing passage. "Now, the struggle has a name." It would have been a serious statement if the song that followed Downie's proclamation, Now the Struggle Has a Name, hit like a hammer. Instead, the song's so-so result left the crowd wondering if the band still had the goods.
The Hip does kill, let it be said. But there's divided camps, to be sure. The folks nearby us seemed to love the early stuff; others within earshot wanted rarities. Sadly, few wanted to hear new songs.
Such is life as legendary Canucks with a massive catalogue now nearly a dozen albums deep. Following a version of Coffee Girl, a new tune that was slow as molasses, Downie remarked, "Victoria, come out, come wherever you are."
The crowd, a modest 3,000 or so, wouldn't show its colours until the latter half. Lulls were evident, but let's lay the blame at the feet of the band for that: The old Hip would have stuck the laconic crowd with a virtual cattle prod in the early going. The Hip circa 2009 seemed content at meeting the audience half way, at least during the first portion.
The second half was amazing, so all sins were forgiven. The band returns to the arena tonight (Saturday) for a sold-out concert. Expect the unexpected, folks, which means Downie and Co. will be up to the task. They're legends, after all. It behooves them not to be anything but.
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