[NWOntario]

In fairness to Rob, the US NFPA tour was fantastic for setlists!

Just scrolled through some of the dates on the 2012 tour, and you're absolutely right. Some pretty great setlists on the U.S. leg.

...and on the flip side, the 2007 Canadian tour (Gord S setlists) was all sorts of "meh." There was the one unique cover per show thing, which was cool, but beyond that they weren't spectacular. Still a lot better than 2013, mind you...

[sean.bonner]

When I saw them back-to-back in 2011 (Moncton & Charlottetown), the main set was identical, with different encores for each show.

2009 back-to-back in Montreal was fantastic. I felt like I was the only one loosing my shit when Throwing Off Glass started.

[gsmacleod]

I saw them back to back in '99 in Halifax - they repeated 12 songs but the order was completely different and it felt like two very different shows.

On NFPA I was really excited to hear the opening notes of Titanic Terrarium - surprised to see it again in Halifax during the Fully Completely tour but still great to hear.

Shane

[sean.bonner]

I saw them back to back in '99 in Halifax - they repeated 12 songs but the order was completely different and it felt like two very different shows.

On NFPA I was really excited to hear the opening notes of Titanic Terrarium - surprised to see it again in Halifax during the Fully Completely tour but still great to hear.

Shane

I thought it was an odd choice as well two Halifax shows in a row (as it's rarely played). I would def not complain about a rare tune being repeated though.

[Moof_Milker]

I felt like I was the only one loosing my shit when Throwing Off Glass started.

That's a great deep-cut pull for sure.

With their live shows, The Hip have to walk a fine line between appealing to the masses and appeasing the hardcore fans. The reality, as a Canadian band, even as popular as The Hip are, is that they likely can't take as a many chances as, say, a Pearl Jam, if they want to continue being as big as they are. In PJ's most recent visit to Toronto they played Binaural(!) in its entirety on the first night. That'd be like if The Hip played the entire Music@Work album in the middle of a show. While us hardcores would likely love that, it would be a huge a turn off for the fair weather fan. Unlike PJ who have millions of hardcore fans, The Hip reach a much smaller audience making chance-taking with the set lists more of a gamble. I always wished there was a clearer demarcation between the BIG show (greatest hits) and SMALL shows (theatres, playing deeper cuts). The Hip are smart people, of course, and finding that balance must be an ongoing challenge. With the Fully Completely tour, I honestly thought, "Ok, this is The Hip doubling down on the big, mass-appeal shows. They're getting some nostalgia out of the way before really digging into some freshness in their live shows." I'm devastated that we'll never know what future shows might have looked like. As for this summer's shows. I'm just grateful they're happening at all. They could come out and only play a 90 minute polka version of I'm a Werewolf Baby and I'd be teary-eyed and grateful.

[emperor penguin]

I felt like I was the only one loosing my shit when Throwing Off Glass started.

That's a great deep-cut pull for sure.

With their live shows, The Hip have to walk a fine line between appealing to the masses and appeasing the hardcore fans. The reality, as a Canadian band, even as popular as The Hip are, is that they likely can't take as a many chances as, say, a Pearl Jam, if they want to continue being as big as they are. In PJ's most recent visit to Toronto they played Binaural(!) in its entirety on the first night. That'd be like if The Hip played the entire Music@Work album in the middle of a show. While us hardcores would likely love that, it would be a huge a turn off for the fair weather fan. Unlike PJ who have millions of hardcore fans, The Hip reach a much smaller audience making chance-taking with the set lists more of a gamble. I always wished there was a clearer demarcation between the BIG show (greatest hits) and SMALL shows (theatres, playing deeper cuts). The Hip are smart people, of course, and finding that balance must be an ongoing challenge. With the Fully Completely tour, I honestly thought, "Ok, this is The Hip doubling down on the big, mass-appeal shows. They're getting some nostalgia out of the way before really digging into some freshness in their live shows." I'm devastated that we'll never know what future shows might have looked like. As for this summer's shows. I'm just grateful they're happening at all. They could come out and only play a 90 minute polka version of I'm a Werewolf Baby and I'd be teary-eyed and grateful.

Very well said.

[carebread]

I want that polka, dammit.

[sean.bonner]

I want that polka, dammit.

Yer Possessed?

[gsmacleod]

I saw them back to back in '99 in Halifax - they repeated 12 songs but the order was completely different and it felt like two very different shows.

On NFPA I was really excited to hear the opening notes of Titanic Terrarium - surprised to see it again in Halifax during the Fully Completely tour but still great to hear.

Shane

I thought it was an odd choice as well two Halifax shows in a row (as it's rarely played). I would def not complain about a rare tune being repeated though.

When I saw Rob being handed the 12-string, I was trying to figure out what they were going to play. Since I knew there was no way it was going to be TT again!

Shane

[NWOntario]

I felt like I was the only one loosing my shit when Throwing Off Glass started.

That's a great deep-cut pull for sure.

With their live shows, The Hip have to walk a fine line between appealing to the masses and appeasing the hardcore fans. The reality, as a Canadian band, even as popular as The Hip are, is that they likely can't take as a many chances as, say, a Pearl Jam, if they want to continue being as big as they are. In PJ's most recent visit to Toronto they played Binaural(!) in its entirety on the first night. That'd be like if The Hip played the entire Music@Work album in the middle of a show. While us hardcores would likely love that, it would be a huge a turn off for the fair weather fan. Unlike PJ who have millions of hardcore fans, The Hip reach a much smaller audience making chance-taking with the set lists more of a gamble. I always wished there was a clearer demarcation between the BIG show (greatest hits) and SMALL shows (theatres, playing deeper cuts). The Hip are smart people, of course, and finding that balance must be an ongoing challenge. With the Fully Completely tour, I honestly thought, "Ok, this is The Hip doubling down on the big, mass-appeal shows. They're getting some nostalgia out of the way before really digging into some freshness in their live shows." I'm devastated that we'll never know what future shows might have looked like. As for this summer's shows. I'm just grateful they're happening at all. They could come out and only play a 90 minute polka version of I'm a Werewolf Baby and I'd be teary-eyed and grateful.

But there's a flip side to this, too: it's that Pearl Jam have confidence in their audience to go along with, for example, a full performance of Binaural. I wonder if the Hip can have that same confidence? I don't think Captain Canada wouldn't appreciate a full Music at Work in the middle of the show--but then he might be too drunk to notice.

I'll still whine about staid setlists on this tour if they keep on happening since I remain convinced it's not their last one :thumb:

[Rye]

I think people are greatly overstating how much setlist variation The Hip have provided over the years.
- on the Day For Night tour the setlist was largely static from night to night
- for Henhouse, Phantom Power, IVL, IBE and WC tours it seemed like they had a rotation of about 50-60 songs in play. Pretty good compared to most bands but if you saw any more than two shows on these tours, you were getting a lot of repeats. Most of these shows also had a core of about 15 songs you'd head every night. Lots of repeats when most setlists were 20-24 songs. There was a run spring 2007 on the World Container tour where the opened with the same five songs something like five shows in a row.
- the two original "An Evening With" tours, 2000 and 2009, are by far the exception and not the rule.

As for the Pearl Jam comments, I've seen over 50 shows and there are certainly times they lose a lot of the audience when they pull out the rarities. At the Binaural Toronto show there were large chunks of the crowd that didn't know what was going on and wanted something they could sing along to. I can appreciate that as there are many bands I'm a casual fan of and wouldn't care to hear an entire album played live.

As others have mentioned, I really hate how the media has ran with the upcoming tour being The Hip's farewell as opposed to the Man Machine Poem tour. To bring this back to setlists, I hope they play the entire new record, or most of it, every night on this tour. I think this would be an incredibly ballsy statement and I'll love the crowd reaction (or lack of). I talked to someone at work who has never seen The Hip before and was, "really upset" she couldn't get tickets to the show in Winnipeg in August. I said, "they were here last February and there were tickets on Groupon."

[ryan93]

I just finished watching the Summer Fling Festival of Lights dvd (Charlottetown 2006), what a show & what a setlist.

blow at high dough
yer not the ocean (at the time still unreleased and only played a couple times)
my music at work
it can't be nashville every night
lake fever
daredevil
lionized
sherpa
springtime in Vienna
gift shop
the dire wolf
at the hundredth meridian
something on
the last of the unplucked gems
ahead by a century
grace, too (incredible version)
fire in the hole

the lonely end of the rink (again, new and unreleased)
bobcaygeon
poets

As for the current tour, I really don't care what they decide to play. The set lists don't bither me nearly as much as they seem to some on here. I'm always happy with whatever I get.

[sean.bonner]

I just finished watching the Summer Fling Festival of Lights dvd (Charlottetown 2006), what a show & what a setlist.

blow at high dough
yer not the ocean (at the time still unreleased and only played a couple times)
my music at work
it can't be nashville every night
lake fever
daredevil
lionized
sherpa
springtime in Vienna
gift shop
the dire wolf
at the hundredth meridian
something on
the last of the unplucked gems
ahead by a century
grace, too (incredible version)
fire in the hole

the lonely end of the rink (again, new and unreleased)
bobcaygeon
poets

As for the current tour, I really don't care what they decide to play. The set lists don't bither me nearly as much as they seem to some on here. I'm always happy with whatever I get.

Anyway this show is on YouTube?

[Gangrel]

Pearl Jam can get away with doing unique stuff because their average show time seems to be around 3 hours. So taking up an hour with an "album" still leaves 2 hours to play around. I've only ever seen PJ once (and want to again someday!) but I've heard a lot of boots, and while some songs get played a lot, they freshen it up a lot too.

Hip shows seem to max out at 2 hours, so that doesn't leave a lot of room for "let's drop in DFN tonight!" as it would consume half of the concert.

Springsteen can do whatever the heck he wants, because his shows are epic length. I believe the other night in Norway he played almost 4 hours according to reports...........

[HandsInTheRiver41]

The 2009 tour was fantastic for mixing it up.

I think they started the 2009 tour with a bang and seemed to really mix things up for the first month or two. But unfortunately they somehow lost interest by mid June and most of the less common songs they had "busted out" in April and May went back on the shelves for the rest of the tour. I saw them 4 times later that year and based on the shows I attended, 2009 was the most lacklustre in setlist variation.

I'm not worried about this tour, however, because a) being a short and potentially enormously emotional tour, I can't imagine them losing energy, and b) setlist variation will not matter to me, based on circumstance.

Quick question, does anyone know Paul's thoughts on IVL? I know Robbie dislikes that album.