Great show last night. I'm only now just getting the chance to comment. This was the first time I've been able to see the band since the album came out, and they didn't disappoint.
Kathleen Edwards opened the show with a great set. For any fans, here's what she played:
6 O'clock News
Independant Thief
What Are You Waiting For?
Hockey Skates
In State
Mercury
Summerlong
Back To Me
I really enjoyed her and her band. She had some great compliments for World Container, and did a quick impression of "Yer Not The Ocean". She also said that she was using an in-ear monitor for the first time, so we could say whatever we wanted about her, she wouldn't be able to hear it anyway! I thought that was funny, because I saw her play in the afternoon on Canada Day in Sudbury one year. I guess she was getting heckled, and she was certainly not "lady like" in her response to those fans. Since it was early, there were a lot of families in attendance, and I wasn't to impressed with her disregard for the children in the audience, but I've since come to like her music very much.
The Hip put on a great show, and I was actually plesantly surprised by the crowd response. Everyone around me was on their feet, and into the music, but I was in the middle of the floor, 7 rows back. MAv already posted the set-list, and it definitely was Family Band, not Are We Family? that was played in the encore.
During the intro to NOIS, Gord said "New Oreleans is sinking, and I don't want to help!" I found that an interesting comment, but don't really know what to think of it.
Before Fly, Gord asked the crowd, "Are you fighters or are you lovers?" He screamed out "Fighters?" to some applause, and then "Lovers?" to a much louder applause. He then said "That's what I knew about the Soo!", and started into the song.
During Springtime, he sang "The blues are still required, thank Christ!", which gave me a good chuckle.
Meridian was excellent once again. Gord ended up lying down on top of his microphone stand, but I couldn't really see what was going on. He was down on the ground for quite a while, and the crowd really seemed to love it. By the end of it he had totalled a mic, and he threw it into the crowd. Meanwhile, Rob was working out some kind of new melody that everyone else was following along with. It definitely sounded like the beginning of a new idea, but it's still a long way from becoming any type of song. After finally getting up, Gord started imitating Peter Frampton's guitar, "Do you feel like we do...". The rest of the band was laughing about that. Gord had also been on a kick about dancing the whole night. At the beginning of Meridian he had said that he "danced to forget." Before the end he said "I don't dance to forget, I dance because it makes my penis feel good." That got me lauging again. Gord sang the last lyrics in a typically fast manner, but there was a huge long silent pause before "Get Ry Cooder...", which had the fans in a frenzy of anticipation!
Wheat Kings was dedicated to The Greyhounds. Blow ended up being a great closer after a rough start to the song. Gord screwed up the lyrics to start, and then had microphone trouble. I think it was then that he dismantled his stand and handed it out to the crowd.
The encore was great. Six Days On The Road sounded familliar to me, but I couldn't quite place it. I ended up getting a setlist from the sound guys, and asked them if they knew what the cover was. Nobody back there seemed to know either. One guy though that it might be a Johnny Cash song. I was looking a AllMusicGuide earlier, and sure enough, Cash covered it, but so have a lot of other artists. I listened to previews of the original and some covers, and The Hip's version was really fast and more rock than country, more like George Thoroughgood's version than any of the others that I heard.
I tried taping the show with my new Edirol R-09. I still don't have mics or anything yet, I just tried it with the internal mics, but it sounds better than a would have expected. More crowd noise then I'd like, but I was holding it down close to my waist in one hand and trying to take pictures with the other! Some how, and I can't explaing this, I seem to have lost the file that contained the encore. The music has been replaced by 1 second of silence! I was pretty bummed about that, but if I knew what happened, at least I could call it a learning experience! I'm sure there will be a better and more complete version available at some point, but if it never comes to light, at leat I've got something to share!
See you in Barrie.