[daylight]

My favourite tours were probably 1998 (my first), the extended M@W sets, the theatre IVL sets, and the small-venue WC launch shows. Wish I'd been around for earlier ones!

[Killer Whale Tank]

I've seen most of their tours post-RA. Nothing tops, to my mind, the ARA performance I saw in Montreal in 1994 for its combination of ferocity, peak-quality material, and control as a performance. Somehow the image of Gord's straw hat blowing off his head as 'BLOW' built up remains burned in my brain. But that's just one show, not a tour as such. Indeed, it's hard to separate an assessment of a tour from our own emotional response to this or that specific show that we saw. (E.g., I'd have to say that my personal all-time favourite Hip show was when I sat front-row-centre in Vancouver during the WATS tour. Gord fell down and my wife helped him up; apparently Gord repeatedly looked at me and grinned when he saw me with my eyes closed, transported by the music at various points; we had a front-row view of Gord serenading this astonished 11-year-old girl who had been escorted down the middle aisle by fans;0 we got sprayed by sweat and got a Gord hankie, etc.. But would I say that was "the best tour ever?" Unlikely even though Downie was in absolute peak form).

LBU is amazing, so much so that it's hard to go back and listen to the studio cuts after hearing those performances.

[direwolf74]

Indeed, it's hard to separate an assessment of a tour from our own emotional response to this or that specific show that we saw. (E.g., I'd.

Good point. No doubt one of the main reasons I'm drawn to the Phantom Power tour is because I attended more shows on that tour than any of the others (2 x Calgary, 1 x Spokane, and 1 x San Francisco). I was at the absolute peak of my Hip fandom during that time and was obsessed with bootleg trading. Remember the old B&P days? Nothing was more exciting than checking the mailbox and finding a brown padded envelope full of cassettes. So yea, basically my emotions are forever tied to the '98/99 tour. Not that the other tours weren't equally great though. Because they were. In fact my absolute favorite Hip performance of all time was their short 45-minute set at the 2006 Sasquatch Festival. They pretty much wiped the floor with every other act on the bill that day.

[Lizard King]

In fact my absolute favorite Hip performance of all time was their short 45-minute set at the 2006 Sasquatch Festival. They pretty much wiped the floor with every other act on the bill that day.

Ive watched that concert, it was spectacular. They were on as fuck that day.

Plus the backdrop/setting made it that much more awesome.

wish Id been there.


Just to add to that, reading posts like yours is one of my favorite things about this forum. These are the memories that fuel this place and keep legends alive.

[sherpa]

1 x Spokane,

I saw them in Spokane on the Henhouse tour - isn't The Met a beautiful venue?

[direwolf74]

1 x Spokane,

I saw them in Spokane on the Henhouse tour - isn't The Met a beautiful venue?

The one I saw was at the Spokane Opera House in '99. Absolutely gorgeous theatre. Same building perhaps? Did they change the name I wonder?

[sherpa]

I think it is called The Bing Crosby Theatre now - I did Spokane,Portland,Seattle in July 1996 for the Henhouse Tour

[hotmetal401]

Remember the old B&P days? Nothing was more exciting than checking the mailbox and finding a brown padded envelope full of cassettes.

This, to me, is why the Henhouse tour holds such reverence for me. The bulk of the B&Ps I received were DFN/Henhouse shows. By the time I had worked my way up to the Phantom Power gigs, so many of them were available digitally.

There's an argument about The Simpsons that writers of the show like to make. Many of them disagree the show has declined in quality since the early seasons. From the skill they have has writers to the way the show is run to the way the show looks, they say it's all as good as, if not better than, what is considered the show's golden age. Certainly you'd be hard pressed to argue the show doesn't look light years better now than it did in the early 90s. However, they believe that people criticise the show for not being as good as it was when it came out do so because it quite simply isn't as new as it was then. It isn't as shocking. It isn't as unique.

I think about that with music a lot. Usually, I use Sloan as the example. Sloan, as musicians, are better than they have ever been. If you saw them live 10 years ago - hell, five years ago - you know this is true. And therefore, the songs they craft and performances they give, are created by musicians who are better than they were some 20 years ago. But I'll be damned if I tell you they've released a better record than Twice Removed or One Chord To Another.

I think in almost every review I've written about The Hip - whether it's on this message board or for a newspaper - I've said I've never seen the band so tight, so in control. That's a true statement. And, therefore, the argument could be made that they haven't reached their peak, because they keep getting better.

But then I think back to those B&P tapes from before I ever had a chance to see them live. Harrisburg and Stockholm in 1994 (the former I don't think ever saw a digital release, the latter, an FM source featuring "100 Years Old/If You're Freaked I'm Fucked" in the middle of New O). The Odeon and the 9:30 Club in 1996, both of which featuring absolutely epic versions of 100th Meridian, the latter containing one of the only versions of Hiccups not to precede Dare Devil (that show also featured one of the first versions of Insomniacs Of The World Goodnight).

I guess what I'm saying is that perhaps it's possible to both not have peaked and not be the band you once were. Art is weird like that.

[Flamenco]

Edenfest was summer of 1996. Show was well attended and up to that point maybe their largest outdoor show.

There was a technical problem with the video and only one monitor was working.

I am not sure it was one of their better shows but a lot of memories from that weekend.

Maybe the Hip's popularity peaked with TATH but their music has continued to evolve into greatness!!

[Leo Union]

1996 was an epic tour with great surprise set lists, was fortunate to see arena and bar gigs in US of them in the mid 90's, but I also was around for shows back in the 80's and what I loved each time was the progression of each show. Gord was absolutely on fire for some of the earlier shows I witnessed, The poetic-jam Hip emerged with DFN, the band hit their stride musically. I used to listen to the Bear Valley shows from 95 and 96 a lot (both sound excellent). ARA 93 is rather epic Gord, the Ottawa show is killer. For me the last tour before this last Canadian pilgrimage was the in 2000 the two set epic tour with back up singer and keyboard guy. Loved that as I used to see the bourbon tabernacle chore in Toronto bars in the 80's when hip played Diamond Club and venues like the Concert Hall etc.

[thecompletist]

In fact my absolute favorite Hip performance of all time was their short 45-minute set at the 2006 Sasquatch Festival. They pretty much wiped the floor with every other act on the bill that day.

Ive watched that concert, it was spectacular. They were on as f**k that day.

Plus the backdrop/setting made it that much more awesome.

wish Id been there.


Just to add to that, reading posts like yours is one of my favorite things about this forum. These are the memories that fuel this place and keep legends alive.

Where can i see this ?

Is it in the downloads section ?

[andrew sharpe]

I guess what I'm saying is that perhaps it's possible to both not have peaked and not be the band you once were. Art is weird like that.

Well said. As daylight nicely lampooned in the wine thread from a couple years ago, "I liked their older wine better".

Still laughing at that for some reason.

[Chris Tanz]

LBU is amazing, so much so that it's hard to go back and listen to the studio cuts after hearing those performances.

I was at a hip themed party a couple weekends ago, as a build up to the Ontario concerts. The guests were a mix of fans, ranging from casual to a couple of hardcores like myself, but mostly casual people just enjoying an excuse for a backyard party and a drink. The speakers were blaring all the albums on random/repeat all night, but just the studio albums. I was sort of mouthing/singing along to the songs in between conversations, but of course any LBU song, I'm doing the LBU adlibs and the intersong patter. At one point, with the opening strains of Sprintime in Vienna, I do the "We call this one Springtime in Vienna ..." out loud. I catch the eye of one of the other hardcores at the party and we exchange knowing glances and a thumbs up. A Hip moment.

ct

[thug_in_perpetuity]

I've been to 20 shows and loved every one of them! That being said, the shows from '95 - 2000 I would rate as better performances than '01 - '12.

The Ottawa show September 28, 2009 had to be the craziest one, Gord kept wading out into the crowd.

[joshwayy]

'96 was a good one for sure. Whenever I think about that tour, I always remember those epic 15-minute long versions of 100th Meridian. In almost every bootleg I had from that tour (and the two shows I attended), they stretched that sucker out every single time; whether it was the band trying out new riffs, or just Gord telling crazy stories or playing around with new lyrics, etc... It was mind-blowing.

Personally though, I think the 1998/99 Phantom Power tour was probably their greatest live era. The band was at the peak of their powers creatively, the setlist variety was awesome, and Gord was at the top of his game in terms of his singing, improvisation and stage antics. This was also the last tour where they used both NOIS and Meridian as workshops where they experimented with new material. It always bugged me that they stopped doing that altogether in recent years. Sure, they still stretch them out a little bit, but nowhere near the kinds of exploratory jams we witnessed between '96 and '99. Not to sound hokey, but Hip shows in those days were transcendent experiences. You never knew what you were gonna get, as every show was different. When "Screamo Gord" emerged around 2011, I started to lose interest in them as a live band and went to fewer shows as a result. It irritated me to the point where, for the first time in my life, I skipped out on an entire Hip tour last year (FC reissue tour). And then wouldn't ya know it, the one tour I decided to skip, Gord started singing in his natural range again. Go figure.

All that being said, I really think this current tour is making a strong case for greatest Hip tour of all time, and certainly the most inspiring in Canadian rock n' roll history. The setlists have been amazing, Gord's vocals have been spot-on, the band is sounding stronger and tighter than they ever have, and the energy and vibe at these shows has been absolutely magical. If not the greatest, then it's easily their best tour since 2009, hands down. And it's been really cool seeing the entire country caught up in Hip mania again. Their July 24th Vancouver gig might the best rock show I've ever seen by anyone.

Totally agree...