[direwolf74]

I was very disappointed in the Vancouver NFPA show, in the sense that they hardly played any of the new music. (Gord was also in 'screaming' mode at that point, so that didn't help, but my main problem was the reliance on the old staples). My thing is, I've heard the old classics live many, many times. I don't particularly feel like dropping $150 to hear them again, unless I can expect the old chestnuts to be re-interpreted in some interesting way - which has not typically happened.

Re-issues don't trouble me, I just won't buy them in the absence of significant unreleased 'bonus' tracks.

I think the Hip ARE a nostalgia act in the specific sense that the fans coming to the shows are overwhelmingly middle-aged people going to see the band in order to re-live the Greatest Hits from their youth. There's a reason the set-lists are so bland; that's all that the broad majority of the crowd wants to hear. In other words, the paying customer thinks of them as a nostalgia act. That puts huge financial pressure on them to operate as a nostalgia act.

I've always felt the Hip did not really have the fan-base they deserve, which is to say a fan-base that is actually interested in music. Most Hip 'fans' are casual FM radio listeners, the 'AC-DC' crowd that just wants power chords and safe formulas. The result is what you see: a band whose new music remains pretty good - NFPA was an intense, urgent, mature record - but whose new music is only of interest to die-hards like people on this board, and therefore tends to get devalued, because it's not what's driving the bus.

If I were running the Hip, I would make an explicit and well-publicized break with the old patterns. E.g., I'd do an all-acoustic tour, fundamentally re-interpreting the old songs, letting everyone know that if they come to the show they will NOT be hearing kick-ass power-chord rock. Put out a country-tinged album in the 'Blue Rodeo' vein. Or whatever; something that genuinely changes the channel on fan expectations. This might allow for a re-set and find the band some new audiences. (And no, 'World Container' did not constitute a genuine boundary-changing album - all it did was layer grotesque strings, and Bob Rock's Classic Rawk piano and cheesy production values, atop the Hip's basic formula. Adding layers of '70s rock tackiness is NOT what I have in mind).

Excellent post! I agree with pretty much all of this. It's strange how quickly their shows morphed into the boring, hits-laden sets we're seeing today. As recently as 2009 they were still the golden standard for mixing it up from night to night. The We Are the Same tour was one of the best they've ever done in terms of the setlists. I also really enjoyed the short acoustic sets they were doing at that time. It feels like that was the last tour where the band really challenged themselves and made things interesting. Then suddenly around 2011-ish, it all changed. I know they handed the setlist duties over to Rob Baker around that time, and maybe they hired new management and their business plan changed. Whatever the case, it totally sucked the life out of their live show. Of course Gord's recent vocal problems haven't helped either. Personally I'm not interested in seeing them live anymore unless they start mixing things up again, which sadly might not happen at this point in their career. However, I still think they're great songwriters. As long as these guys continue making new music, I'll keep buying the records. Just fix the live show and all will be right with the universe.