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The Hip and The Dead-How many "Hipheads" are/were
#16

That's a pretty awesome story...I tried to make it happen one time, but I did not have your luck!

I hopped a freight train to Montreal one time and after two nights and one day I arrived one weekday morning...I managed to get a ride from the yard to the city proper and while I was wandering around I noticed a magazine (which I still have) with Bob Dylan on the cover. I had seen him the week before in Halifax. I was sitting in a McDonald's (you can take hobo out of the heart of civilization, but you can't take civilization out of the heart of the hobo...I guess that makes me a yuppie hobo!) reading this magazine (which took forever because of course it was in French.

The last line of the cover story said he'd be playing "aujourd'hui au la Forum" or something and I checked the cover and it had just come out that day! I had 3 hours til the concert and I hopped buses, walked, and ran across the city but was not able to make it in time. I had no idea where I was going and being a Maritimer my french was purely academic...the sun set on me before I reached the venue and I gave up not all that far from it, but once the show had begun I decided against paying to get in.

Nice to hear you had more luck...all in all I'm glad I didn't spend the extra money to see him again and I certainly got an adventure all over the city!
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#17

Pardon me for resurrecting this months-old thread, but old Searchy made me do it.

Those looking for Dead/Hip affinities may like this one:

Dead: Brown-Eyed Women
Brown-eyed women and red grenadine
The bottle was dusty but the liquor was clean

Hip: Opiated
He bought two fifths of lead-free gasoline
Said, the bottle is dusty, but my engine is clean

Hmmm, yeah.
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#18

Gordie at Ottawa Bluesfest, '02: "This is The Dire Wolf. Its a Grateful Dead song."

I think the dead are mentioned in the liner notes for IVL too, although i think the name of the song is the only thing that the hip's version has in common with the dead's Dire Wolf
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#19

I'm gonna be odd man out here but I can't stand the Dead. Never have. My sister does, but what does she know Tongue I can totally appreciate the loyalty to the band their fans have and the travelling they do but it was never for me. It's not so much and age thing, I'm 36 and let's face it, I'm a white boy from the suburbs which = metal :twisted: , but i love the Hip.
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#20

I've been reading through various posts with comments/complaints about setlists and it got me to thinking. Ever since I first started really digging the hip I always kind of hoped they'd become my grateful dead since I missed that scene. Older friends I have used to tell me all sorts of great stories about touring around to watch the dead.

Over the years I have travelled around Canada and the US to see shows. I have had some great times and seen some great shows, but sadly have come to realize seeing multiple hip shows in one tour will probably never be like seeing multiple dead shows.

I saw three IBE shows and did a quick analysis of the song selection. In those 3 nights I heard 33 different songs. 13 played at all shows, 11 in two shows and 9 were played only once. 11 of the 33 songs were off IBE. 4 of the 9 only played once were off IBE.

I went through 3 random setlists from the dead in 92. Not including songs simply listed as "Jam", there were 44 different songs. None were played on all three nights and only 7 were played twice! This is made even more impressive by the fact that they only averaged about 17 songs a night (presumably made longer by jams, improvs, etc.).

I think I'm going to have to stick to one local show per tour from now on and start following Pearl Jam.
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#21

i'm a "habhead" :lol:. does that count for anything?
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#22

Granted though - The Hip and The Dead are different kinda bands.
Another band I really enjoy is moe. and at the last show I went to they apologized for anyone in the audience who was keeping score - but they were about to play a song again that they played the night before. Only one repeat in the two nights.

"We're forced to bed, but we're free to dream"
Dana
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#23

It's not really a valid comparison, setlist-wise. Not only is it a different scene, but....

1 -- the Dead are more free to mix things up because their sets are much longer. In the mid-70s, they often played the same standards night after night but mixed up the rest of the set.

2 -- I have a lot of live Dead, and I doubt I can find three shows where the same song is not played. I don't think your sample is typical.
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#24

I never listened to the Dead in time to see them tour, but I got into Phish around 98. Saw them several times and I think the people who said they listened to a couple of albums and didn't dig them really missed out. You had to see them live to really get it. Half of my top 10 Phish songs weren't ever recorded on an album. I always liked the Hip too, but seeing them live really got me hooked. And Phish mixed up setlists more than any band I'm aware of. The New Year's 2000 show took up 15 cd's to give you an idea of their material, and I saw them 4 consecutive shows in the fall of 2000 and didn't hear the same song twice. Thats what I think makes them worth following. I don't think I'd want to see more than a couple Hip shows on a given tour, at least I wouldn't spend a lot of money to travel and follow them even though I love their live show.

I agree the Phish scene blows, I'm no hippie, but I didn't feel like any of the other people were either. Lots of kids with rich parents driving SUV's. Not what I expected at all. You could really feel that a lot of people were there because everyone else was doing it. The music was always great, and at least people were usually friendly (until you were trying to get out of the parking lot after the show, then everyone turned into a jerk).

The hip are definitely in my top 5 list of bands to see live, but I think they lack a little something as far as having people follow them for extended periods of time ('Hipheads'). I'm sure others would disagree though.
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#25

i've always thought that the guitar solo in dire wolf (hip's) is big time inspired by the dead.

it's just a style of soloing that bobby doesn't usually use and seems to me at least to be very dead-esque
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#26

skippy the wonder dog Wrote:..

In the mid-70s, they often played the same standards night after night but mixed up the rest of the set.

I don't think your sample is typical.

Ok, to make a more fair comparison I went to the dead's 77 fall tour, shortly after terrapin was released. I believe this was their seventh studio album and they had been together for around 11 years.I randomly selected 3 dates: 09-03-77, 10-14-77, 12-27-77.

40 different songs were played, only 4 of them at all three shows(not one of those 4 is off terrapin), 15 of them at 2 shows and 21 played once.

So you're right, they did play same songs a bit more, but still, almost 1/4 more song selection and 21 songs you'd only get to hear if you saw all three shows.

As far as my 1st sample goes, it was random picks from 92, maybe it was just a fluke so few songs were the same.

Don't get me wrong, I still love the hip and I know their live shows are sublime, but unless things change drastically, I just can't see the point of seeing them more than once in a tour.
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#27

Perfect thread for me. These are 2 bands I'm infatuated with. I saw the Dead over 80 times including the last show. I'm not sure if it was me getting older, but the last couple of years (92-95) they seemed to lose energy. However, when they were on there was nothing like it (even straight and sober).
I've also probably seen over 100 shows from other artists.
My point is that the Hip show I saw in Chicago this year and it was one of my concert-going highlights. As much energy as any show I've seen.

Also, I agree. The Dire Wolf guitar is completely Jerry-sounding.
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#28

Axis Wrote:Don't get me wrong, I still love the hip and I know their live shows are sublime, but unless things change drastically, I just can't see the point of seeing them more than once in a tour.

Well, I wouldn't argue that anyone should follow them around catching show after show after show ... I think it's futile to hope they would change things up enough to make it worthwhile.

Re mid 70's I was thinking more like '73. At that point the Dead would have nine or ten songs played at three out of the three shows. Point is, in my live Dead collection I hear the same songs again and again and again ... maybe it's the years I I've collected.... They changed things up a lot more than the Hip would but at the same time they just used rotated from a deeper repertoire. (Before anyone compares recorded repertoires, remember the Dead played lots of covers.)
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