[NMAS]

I think Good Life was the perfect song to play and a fund raiser is not the place for self-promotion. If they would have sucked I would be honest about it. I thought it was a great performance of a great song. Thats my unbiased opinion.

Being on national tv isn't a place to promote yourself??? sorry bud but you are wrong. Sure it was a fundraiser for a great cause, but you can also get people turned onto your music as well. I don't think that song did anything like that for the boys.

[The Heron Outside]

I don't think there was anyone watching last night who doesn't know who The Hip are, so the whole self-promotion arguement doesn't really apply here....it was a good song, fitting....playing an up-tempo number wouldn't have fit the mood....

[beanmedic]

Canoe Photo of the Day



Gord Downie of the Tragically Hip performs during the Canada For Asia concert in Toronto Thursday, January 13, 2005. The live national benefit broadcast event on CBC Television is in support of ongoing relief and long-term rebuilding efforts in Asia.(CP PHOTO/Aaron Harris)

[NMAS]

I don't think there was anyone watching last night who doesn't know who The Hip are, so the whole self-promotion arguement doesn't really apply here....it was a good song, fitting....playing an up-tempo number wouldn't have fit the mood....

haha, that's funny, and very naive of you to think that. The hip are not the end all and be all for everyone, maybe on this site. All you have to do is look at the album sales of the last few records to know that. Sure most people may know the name but there are tons that don't know the music. And I didn't say it wasn't a fitting song, it was, just not a great perfomance of it.

[Douglas]

I think Good Life was the perfect song to play and a fund raiser is not the place for self-promotion. If they would have sucked I would be honest about it. I thought it was a great performance of a great song. Thats my unbiased opinion.

Being on national tv isn't a place to promote yourself??? sorry bud but you are wrong. Sure it was a fundraiser for a great cause, but you can also get people turned onto your music as well. I don't think that song did anything like that for the boys.

Your absolutely right. They should have ran out on stage, played NOIS and told everybody "Fuck the flood, buy our albums". Isn't that right "bud".

[NMAS]

I think Good Life was the perfect song to play and a fund raiser is not the place for self-promotion. If they would have sucked I would be honest about it. I thought it was a great performance of a great song. Thats my unbiased opinion.

Being on national tv isn't a place to promote yourself??? sorry bud but you are wrong. Sure it was a fundraiser for a great cause, but you can also get people turned onto your music as well. I don't think that song did anything like that for the boys.

Your absolutely right. They should have ran out on stage, played NOIS and told everybody "f**k the flood, buy our albums". Isn't that right "bud".

Haha, your funny, clown, go back to high school. I cetainly didn't say that.

[thedarkcanuck]

everybody i talked to today, who aren`t into the hip too much, thought their performance was stellar

[tigerthelion]

Are there any unbiased opinions out there???????
Here is mine. I thought the performance was okay. They played fine gord sang the song as well as he always does, the problem I have is that I have never really heard Gord sing that song well, it's because it is a difficult song to sing more than anything. I think it was a bad choice to do live I guess, Love the album version but never thought they pulled it off well live. I didn't think it was the best performance of the night, I'd have to give that to Daniel Lanois or The Trews, but I didn't see everyone.
I missed Celine darn it.

Yes, there actually are unbiased opinons. What are we all supposed to say? That the Hip sucked and made fools of themselves? I thought they did a fine job. Just because people thought they did a fine job doesn't mean that these people are blinded Hip followers who worship everything about Gord and the boys. The Hip have their off nights like EVERYONE ELSE but last night they did a good version of a beautiful song. Who cares if non-Hip fans may not be impressed? The boys have enough money anyway and I wouldn't be a fan of them if they were complete sellouts. For example, it wouldn't shock me if U2 were part of a similar show and had some big elaborate stage setup to showcase themselves for pure promotion. A band has to promote itself but a charity show isn't the place to sell out at all costs. The Hip delivered the goods, as did Rush, The Trews, Blue Rodeo, and Bruce Cockburn.

As for the best performance, Lanois put me in a temporary coma. The Trews were good, Blue Rodeo sounded great, and Rush played a superb version of "Closer to the Heart". So, musically Rush probably had the best performance, even though it was taped beforehand. Maybe they had multiple takes of the song, I don't know.

[K-Town Lassie]

I time-shifted back and forth throughout the night and managed to catch the Hips performance 4 times. I thought it was very good and the choice of song was fitting.

I would say almost all of the performances were great. I didn't care for Celine or Bryan Adams. I don't think the evening would have lost anything if neither of them had been on the bill.

The performance that stands out in my mind right now was Oscar Peterson. Amazing. The man is 80 years old and still plays brilliantly. I was blown away.

All in all a very good show. Say what you want but I think Ron MacLean is great at hosting these types of things. He is just naturally funny.

The only really negitive thing I can say is that I think three hours may have been too long. The studio audience seemed to have lost it's enthusiam towards the end.

[j-monster]

Are there any unbiased opinions out there???????
Here is mine. I thought the performance was okay. They played fine gord sang the song as well as he always does, the problem I have is that I have never really heard Gord sing that song well, it's because it is a difficult song to sing more than anything. I think it was a bad choice to do live I guess, Love the album version but never thought they pulled it off well live. I didn't think it was the best performance of the night, I'd have to give that to Daniel Lanois or The Trews, but I didn't see everyone.

To be honest, I find it hard to be unbiased regarding live performances of Good Life, because unlike you I absolutely love the song live. Whether they play it technically well or not (and I thought that night they did pull it off), I find the song so emotional and powerful that it really moves me. Like I said, it's quickly become one of my favourite Hip songs to hear live, so I always appreciate it when I do hear it.

As for other musical acts, I was impressed by Bruce Cockburn, Sam Roberts and Rush, Blue Rodeo, Daniel Lanois, the Trews and David Usher were also pretty good. I also have to say Eagle & Hawk were a bit of a revelation to me... I hadn't heard them before, but I liked how they blended their music with traditional aboriginal song and dance. Very nice. :thumb: