[kieffer]

Hey everyone well i also just returned back home from sarnia........
It was amazing seeing the hip for the second time in less then a week and they did put on a hell of a show!!! I really liked this setlist and noticed that gus is already close to being a closer! I too found the crowd to be terrible, but as everyone else above has mentioned its hard to tell what exactly was soo bad about them. I am a very easy going person and found the people we were surrounded by to be complete assholes. I love crowd surfing, moshing, and jumping at concerts and i was right in the thick of it at wasaga but here people just seemed to be ignorant! I got surrounded by a group of people just jumping and pushing and screaming stupid shit while trying to push their way to the front, there was no room for us to let these people by, even if we wanted to but they were just to ignorant to notice and kept trying to push. It really started to distract me and the people i was with. Eventually they all got up crowd surfing and dissappeared somewhere into the sea of people. Other then that I just found there to be something odd about the crowd and if anyone can help me put my finger on it I would be glad to hear their take on it! The high point for me in the concert was definetely Gord's rant where he said something to the extent of "This is Fully, Completely. I'm gonna give you both....Fully and Completely!" It was a good show and the band was right on! I think mean streak is a great live song with lots of emotion....and coming from a small town (Walkerton, Ontario) i can definetely relate to it!! In conclusion i want to say that i have no problem with and energetic and rowdy crowd but this crowd was neither, I think everyone was just a little selfish. THis was my first and last bayfest! Thanks to gord and the boys for making it worth my while and I am already feeling withdrawl effects from the fact that i don't know when I will get to see them next....hopefully this fall!!!

[ron]

i'll quote Gord from a few tours ago " CROWD SURFING WENT OUT WITH YOU GO GIRL"

so just dance , jump , sing you bought a ticket but, so did the people next to you and they might not want ot get bumped stepped on etc. so basically be aware of your fellow hip fan after all we all have one thing in common WE ALL LOVE THE HIP

[chris]

"Crowd surfing went out with 'Don't Go There' and acid wash!"

[Whistlerkid]

HIP ROCKED, They were all doing there fair share of dancing which was awesome. Crowd was super intense, the worst I have ever seen it. Gord seemed super pissed! Sercurity Guards seemed untrained, but working hard! the hips personal guard was infront of me on the railing helping out and faciliting the other guards while still trying to get the crowd into it. I have seen him at ever hip show I have been to, 9 in total I think. so, if anyone knows his name or him please thank him for his great work!

[Whistlerkid]

THE SPADES RULE! <!-- w --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.thespades.ca">www.thespades.ca</a><!-- w --> check it out!

[Sabina]

yeah the Spades really rawked! They were having breakfast (11:30am) the next day at the same place we were (Marina Restaurant) and we talked to the lead singer. Very nice guy. I asked him if what they played was all original and he said it was and that it'd be on their first cd - hopefully released in three weeks.

Ok, The Hip...what can I say?! Great show! The worst was the crowd. No doubt. A guy holding up a shirt in front of me wrecked the favourite parts of my favourite songs :x . Lots of kids were jumping the fence into the under 19 VIP area to get out of the mayhem. There was tons of pot blowing into our faces which was kinda funny in a sick way since there were kids and their parents in there. And what was up with a wheelchair being chucked by security hock: ?!!!

This was my second Hip concert and I couldn't have been more pleased with the setlist. Angie, it was great meeting you and your sister-in-law was it? And thanks for the :wink: :wink: Did you guys hang out by the gate to meet the band? Did anyone?

[wpghipfan]

Their personal security guy is Ricky Wellington... a rather large African-Canadian fellow...

Rory
Halifax

[Noricu]

Did you guys hang out by the gate to meet the band? Did anyone?

My bro and I hung out at the front of the stage with some other groupies after the show, tryin' to get a glimpse of the band. Kinda degrading in a way, lol.

After a while we asked a guy if the Hip were around and he'd said they left already. But we must hold out heads high! We shall meet the band one day!

[Sabina]

yes Noricu, keep the faith! :thumb:

[kari]

Did you guys hang out by the gate to meet the band? Did anyone?

After a while we asked a guy if the Hip were around and he'd said they left already. But we must hold out heads high! We shall meet the band one day!

Keep the faith, indeed! It does happen...try venturing south of the border for a better shot...it's worked wonders for me for about 10 years now.

The band usually takes about an hour to surface...as they have to shower and eat and have a few pops. Robbie is usually the first one out...Gord D is normally the last one out. He can take upwards of two hours.

[funnpiet]

Against all better judgement, I called up all the local rental car companies on Saturday morning at about 10am. The first three were all out of vehicles but finally National Car Rental came to the rescue with a Toyota Matrix (caution: if you've never heard of the car, probably won't be a good one). I guess not too many people wanted to stick around here in Peterborough after the floods!

Let the story begin... my housemate and I decided that this would be one of the few times that we would get to see an indie band that we love and go see every week at the MoHo (Montreal House for short) open for a big name band that we love. Who cares if I'd already been to hip shows the last two weekends!

We arrived in Sarnia at around 5pm without tickets or a place to stay. The Super 8 was full, and we were told that all hotels in Sarnia were booked solid. According to the receptionist the nearest available room was in Wyoming (evidently a town nearby, not just a state!). We said screw that and pressed on, finally finding the ummm quaint Chipican Motel for only $100 a night. Great cigarette burns in the pillows! The guy next door sold us some tickets at cost and we were off!

Burned one down on the walk to the park and got there just in time to hear the end of the openers to the opening band. Went for a few pints in the beer field (never seen such a large beer venue in my life!) and then made our way to the stage to see THE SPADES! To skip back a little, the Spades play once a week at a local hole - aka the MoHo and draw a great crowd of regulars. Great bunch of guys who play anywhere and everywhere around town and everyone just eats it right up. Another piece of hip-trivia. Gord Sinclair produced their album that comes out in three weeks - so pick it up!

An hour went by before they went on and wow the tension was there. Bunch of drunk idiot kids nearby trying to start a hip chant. Luckily it never really got going. Sure enough, though, when the Spades were announced (by the quirkiest and strangest little radio announcer I've ever seen!) there were boos. All I could think was - wow - I just drove five hours to hear one of my favourite bands get booed off stage. No problem though! By the end of the opening tune the crowd was eating 'em up.

Played a bunch of classic Spades songs. Highlight was definitely the finale with the Burn Brothers and I like to Burn Things. Great songs! Thanks to everyone in the crowd for being so supportive of them and silencing the drunken idiots!

So then it was back to the beer tent... Hip went on shortly after and we finally struggled to a good viewing spot. I saw the hip on Canada Day and at Bluesfest in Ottawa - and this was my 11th show. To be honest I was a little disappointed. I'm not sure if it was the lousy crowd (personal favourite being some 16 year old punk trying to push his way past me between the encores and telling me "don't try and be a hero buddy" - dude was maybe 5'6 and 140 lbs if he was lucky) or the fact that they just haven't mixed up the songs at all on this tour. There were no additional songs beyond those they played in Ottawa and Toronto. None! I'm used to the hip switching up half their stuff each show!!! This had better not be a new trend of fixed concert tunes.

Still - any hip show is better than 99.9% of the crap out there and I'll take it! Just play Are we Family next time

Aaaanyway - thanks to the Chipican Motel, the Spades, the Hip, the floods of Peterborough, the drunks of Sarnia and National Car Rental for a great, bizarre and spontaneous weekend.

Piet
in Peterborough

[dyersbay]

yeah the Spades really rawked! They were having breakfast (11:30am) the next day at the same place we were (Marina Restaurant) and we talked to the lead singer. Very nice guy. I asked him if what they played was all original and he said it was and that it'd be on their first cd - hopefully released in three weeks.

Ok, The Hip...what can I say?! Great show! The worst was the crowd. No doubt. A guy holding up a shirt in front of me wrecked the favourite parts of my favourite songs :x . Lots of kids were jumping the fence into the under 19 VIP area to get out of the mayhem. There was tons of pot blowing into our faces which was kinda funny in a sick way since there were kids and their parents in there. And what was up with a wheelchair being chucked by security hock: ?!!!

This was my second Hip concert and I couldn't have been more pleased with the setlist. Angie, it was great meeting you and your sister-in-law was it? And thanks for the :wink: :wink: Did you guys hang out by the gate to meet the band? Did anyone?

No problem Sabina! Anytime. I think this is where we lost you because my sister in law was asking about getting backstage. So someone said well you may get lucky if you wait about 3hrs. So I said f**k that. I would love to meet them...but I couldn't wait that long. Ahh the pain I am still in pain even today from sitting on that fence thing. :lol: All worth it though I had a great view. :mrgreen:

[drstrangetongue]

Can't say much for the crowd as I was in VIP and they were all well-behaved. Was considering visiting the crowd up front as usual but now glad I didn't,

Anyways - what a SHOW!! Top 3 of all time (I've been to probably 30 or 40). I have not seen Gord that animated in a while. Perhaps he was chemically motivated - as I noticed 3 screwups in the lyrics - he seemed out of sorts on Vaccination Scar as he repeated the "Tell you if I'm able...bad card table" stanza a second time. I am NOT complaining - if that's what it takes to get a show with Gord rants like that. Blew away the Toronto show. I'm from Florida and had a great time with the Canadians as always. I wish they ALL could be Canadian girls - they are the BEST!! Will be going to at least 20 shows this trip - hope they are all as good as this one.

[beanmedic]

he seemed out of sorts on Vaccination Scar as he repeated the "Tell you if I'm able...bad card table" stanza a second time.

he has done that more than once in the past few shows. im sure he did it on purpose.

[wesley]

I thought I would say that I'm from Sarnia. I am proud to be a resident here, but I certainly agree with most of you here: The organization of the venue and amount of people created a huge problem.

I have heard that Centennial Park fits 12-15000 legally but that there were upwards of 20000 people in the park during the Hip concert. I honestly don't know if this is true, but I would like to find out.

I was standing almost smushed against my friends at the upper west corner of the fenced off sound area.

For those of you who have never been to Bayfest save for last Saturday, the park layout had been changed from the last time the Hip played here.

Last time, the beer ticket booth was situated right in front of the beer tent and the under 19 and over 19 areas were basically cut in half down the middle of the stage all the way to the back of the park. That meant that to get alcohol you were basically stuck in a crowd no matter where you were (I waited 45 minutes for 3 beers and then it took me 30 minutes to get back to where I had been before, minus most of my family and friends)

This time the unlicensed area was put in front of the licensed area, and the beer booth was put in the unlicensed area in front of the entrance to the licensed area. Make of that what you will. I myself did not purchase alcohol at all this time, because I knew that the lines for either the entrance or booth would have been atrocious -- and they were.

I honestly don't know what has gotten into the organizers. For that matter I don't know what it takes to put on a festival, but there are couple of things that rub me the wrong way:

1. You don't need that many people to make up your ticket revenue (the Hip have played to much less)

2. This is a pet peeve, I don't know if it applies: You do not need to organize the festival on the same weekend that a major charity puts on a similar festival to make money (The Mackinaw Race while is not <i>charity</i>, many charities attempt to raise money on this weekend by also having live music) Simply put them on different weekends.

Why not try to limit the number of people? Why not try and search everyone for drugs/drinking (I know this is almost futile, but could help in curbing everyone's rowdiness)

Although I have only been to less than a handful of Hip shows, I'm a fan. I wanted to see them and not have to deal with anyone who wasn't there for the same reason I was. In fact, I had to see first aid because I had my toe crushed. The band was right on, but the crowd definitely needs to shape up.

I did not go to last year's Bayfest because of these crowd problems, but there is no way I could miss the Hip (or ZZ Top for that matter, they were awesome to see as well), and so I went. Unless they get a simly amazing live act, I'm staying home.

Can anyone else add any thoughts?

Cheers,
Wes