11-24-2004, 05:54 PM
Sounds like they enjoyed the show, but read down and see who they compared Gord to. What the hell?! Can Sweatin' to IBE be far down the road?
WINNIPEG -- To paraphrase an old saying: the Tragically Hip aren't just getting older, they're getting better.
The Kingston, Ont., quintet have been spreading its definition of Can-rock for 19 years and if last night's concert at the MTS Centre was no fluke, this is a band at the peak of its powers.
The Hip have nothing left to prove to anyone -- not to themselves, their adoring fans or critics -- yet they show no signs of not giving anything less than all they've got.
They are so into what they're doing and deliver it with such conviction it's hard not to get caught up in it. And the 11,000 who attended last night's concert did. Fully and completely.
The whole night felt like an event. There was something special in the air, and it wasn't just the first marijuana smell in the new arena to drift up to the press box.
It was the first big rock show at the MTS Centre; the first big stage set -- two video screens flanking the stage, a wrap-around screen behind the band and three semi-circular lighting rigs; the crowd were pumped about seeing their heroes; and a delegation from the Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (CARAS) was at the show to check out the facility for next year's Junos and announced the band's induction to the Canadian Music Hall of Fame.
It was all of that. And it was The Hip, man.
The band opened with Vaccination Scar, featuring Rob Baker on pedal steel guitar, which gave the tune a touch of twang while vocalist Gord Downie strummed on the acoustic. The new song from their latest album, In Between Evolution, got the requisite huge roar for a first number, but it was Grace, Too that got the party started.
The second number of the night turned into a huge sing-a-long and was the first of Downie's well-known rants during the instrumental break.
The show was paced almost perfectly, with older singles like Poets, Ahead By a Century, Courage and a revamped At the Hundredth Meridian mixed in with newer fare like Summer is Killing Us and Gus the Polar Bear From Central Park, which are as strong as anything in the band's catalogue.
Downie looks like he is possessed by some lab-created offspring of Richard Simmons and Michael Stipe -- made with bones of rubber, given the way he twists and contorts his body at the front of the stage.
The guy is a blast to watch, but each band member contributes a little something, from the melodic guitar work of Baker to guitarist Paul Langlois' backup vocals to the steady, if not overly flashy, rhythm section of bassist Gord Sinclair and drummer Johnny Fay.
At press time the band had just launched into Music at Work. more than an hour into their planned two-hour set.
Ex-Thrush Hermit leader Joel Plaskett and his band The Emergency opened with a solid 45-minute set of retro garage-pop that fell somewhere between The Kinks and U2. But something was lost in the vastness of the arena. This is a band best seen in the intimate sweaty confines of a bar. You just can't take some bands out of the club.
WINNIPEG -- To paraphrase an old saying: the Tragically Hip aren't just getting older, they're getting better.
The Kingston, Ont., quintet have been spreading its definition of Can-rock for 19 years and if last night's concert at the MTS Centre was no fluke, this is a band at the peak of its powers.
The Hip have nothing left to prove to anyone -- not to themselves, their adoring fans or critics -- yet they show no signs of not giving anything less than all they've got.
They are so into what they're doing and deliver it with such conviction it's hard not to get caught up in it. And the 11,000 who attended last night's concert did. Fully and completely.
The whole night felt like an event. There was something special in the air, and it wasn't just the first marijuana smell in the new arena to drift up to the press box.
It was the first big rock show at the MTS Centre; the first big stage set -- two video screens flanking the stage, a wrap-around screen behind the band and three semi-circular lighting rigs; the crowd were pumped about seeing their heroes; and a delegation from the Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (CARAS) was at the show to check out the facility for next year's Junos and announced the band's induction to the Canadian Music Hall of Fame.
It was all of that. And it was The Hip, man.
The band opened with Vaccination Scar, featuring Rob Baker on pedal steel guitar, which gave the tune a touch of twang while vocalist Gord Downie strummed on the acoustic. The new song from their latest album, In Between Evolution, got the requisite huge roar for a first number, but it was Grace, Too that got the party started.
The second number of the night turned into a huge sing-a-long and was the first of Downie's well-known rants during the instrumental break.
The show was paced almost perfectly, with older singles like Poets, Ahead By a Century, Courage and a revamped At the Hundredth Meridian mixed in with newer fare like Summer is Killing Us and Gus the Polar Bear From Central Park, which are as strong as anything in the band's catalogue.
Downie looks like he is possessed by some lab-created offspring of Richard Simmons and Michael Stipe -- made with bones of rubber, given the way he twists and contorts his body at the front of the stage.
The guy is a blast to watch, but each band member contributes a little something, from the melodic guitar work of Baker to guitarist Paul Langlois' backup vocals to the steady, if not overly flashy, rhythm section of bassist Gord Sinclair and drummer Johnny Fay.
At press time the band had just launched into Music at Work. more than an hour into their planned two-hour set.
Ex-Thrush Hermit leader Joel Plaskett and his band The Emergency opened with a solid 45-minute set of retro garage-pop that fell somewhere between The Kinks and U2. But something was lost in the vastness of the arena. This is a band best seen in the intimate sweaty confines of a bar. You just can't take some bands out of the club.
