[sean.bonner]

Hello Basers!

Thought it may be a fun idea to try and compile a list of essential Hip recordings that exist out there. What are the greatest concerts that have been captured (either soundboard or audience)?

I'll update this list as more and more people mention/vote for a show. Also, please list a few reasons why you think its an essential recording.

I'll start with the top of my list...

1998-12-12 - Milwaukee, Wisconsin

I believe this show was sent out as a Hip crew 'Christmas Card' if I'm not mistaken. It is a soundboard that is pristine with a setlist and a performance that will make your ears melt.

This recording has my favourite version of 'On The Verge' that I've ever heard (due to perfectly time teases of 'White Christmas', and an asskicking outro). I wish more Phantom Power era shows with this sound quality were available, and hearing shows from this Hip era makes me wish I was born ten years earlier, so I would have been old enough to take it in (instead of being ten years old and listening to my YTV Hit List CDs).

Also, any show with Emperor Penguin is special, and this version contains a Wings' 'Jet' outro, which Gord did a few times on that tour, but here it is documented with amazing sound quality.

...So for me, 1998-12-12 - Milwaukee, WI is an essential Tragically Hip recording for all fans of live Hip material.

Can't wait to hear what others recommend! I'll be back in a few days with some thoughts on another show I have in mind.

Until then, cheers and stay hip!

EDIT:

THE LIST

1990-06-22 - Toronto, Ontario - Ontario Place
1994-12-05 - Brussels, Belgium - La Luna
1996-08-17 - Cleveland, Ohio - The Odeon
1998-08-10 - Boston, Massachusetts - Bill's Bar
1998-12-12 - Milwaukee, Wisconsin - Modjeska Theatre
2002-08-24 - Seattle, Washington - The Pier
2006-06-23 - Toronto, Ontario - Fort York
2006-06-24 - Toronto, Ontario - Fort York

[chives]

Are you asking for quality of the recording or quality of the performance?

[sean.bonner]

A little bit of column A, a little bit of column B.
Just overall, the essential recordings.

[Pipeline guy]

Wow! That is a great show Sean, thanks for turning me onto it.
Here's three I like:
2006-10-23 Toronto
2006-10-24 Toronto
Home shows, band tightly rocking, while living on the edge of falling apart, Gord full of angst and ready to make political statements.
10-23, LOVE the transition Gord goes through between Flamenco & Fire in the Hole (last two songs)
10-24, a perfect duo of songs, It's a Good Life straight into Chagrin Falls.
But that's just the highlights of each in my mind.

Another that stands out for personal reasons (I'm from Seattle and dumb enough to have missed this show):
2002-8-24 Seattle, Night at the Pier

Thanks to all you tapers for keeping it alive for us that didn't experience it first hand!
Harold

Links to all:
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<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://hipfans.com/SeansVault/2002-08-24%20-%20Seattle,%20Washington.zip">http://hipfans.com/SeansVault/2002-08-2 ... ington.zip</a><!-- m -->
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[direwolf74]

A couple off the top of my head:

Any of the Bill's Bar shows from Boston in '98, particularly the 08/10 show featuring the "Tiananmen Square" version of Grace, Too. Simply awesome.

Odeon, Cleveland, 1996 (Live from the Vault). This was the band at the peak of their powers. Just an incredible show from start to finish, with absolutely killer versions of rarely played gems like Opiated, Put it Off, and Don't Wake Daddy. Not to mention the greatest (and longest) version of 100th Meridian I've ever heard. Also, a new song called "Stereo" emerges from the mid-section of New Orleans is Sinking, which we all remember was an early version of Escape is at Hand.

And that's another thing that annoys me about the Hip in recent years. Whatever happened to their process of jamming out new songs in concert? That was always one of the coolest things about these guys. You could go see a show and hear the early stages of new material that would appear on later albums. They were such a brilliant creative force when they were doing stuff like that, and you never knew what you were gonna get from show to show. I'd say from 1991- 2009 these guys were arguably the greatest live band on the planet. It's such a goddamn shame to see how far they've fallen in that department in recent years.

[Summiteer]

Live from the Vault Volume 4 pièce de résistance :thumb:

[sean.bonner]

Chagrin Falls

One of my all time favourites. I don't get why this song is so scarcely played... it's fantastic.

[hotmetal401]

Odeon, Cleveland, 1996 (Live from the Vault). This was the band at the peak of their powers. Just an incredible show from start to finish, with absolutely killer versions of rarely played gems like Opiated, Put it Off, and Don't Wake Daddy. Not to mention the greatest (and longest) version of 100th Meridian I've ever heard. Also, a new song called "Stereo" emerges from the mid-section of New Orleans is Sinking, which we all remember was an early version of Escape is at Hand.

There's something about this 1996 tour. My favourite show, as I've said before, is 9/30/96 from the 9:30 Club in DC. The version of 100th is longer at this show than the Odeon gig and includes one of the only versions of Hiccups that didn't come before Dare Devil, among all sort of other snipits of songs that would find a home on Phantom Power. Great versions of Put It Off and Everytime You Go (!) as well as the then-new TATH tunes.

From a recording standpoint, there are some issues. There's a big drop in sound volume about two-thirds through Grace Too and it's cut at the end of New Orleans (but not before a one-two punch of Insomniacs of the World Goodnight and Stereo). Fun fact: Sept. 30, 1996 was my 14th birthday.

I first got a hold of that show in a B&P tape trade sometime in 1998/99. Included in the batch of shows I was sent was a show from Harrisburg, PA in the summer of 1994. Pre-DFN release, featuring almost exclusively songs from that record and Fully Completely. I've never seen this one digitized, but it's another great show too. Small enough venue too where there's some gold interaction between Gord and the crowd. One of the only versions of Impossibilium I've ever heard too. And apparently Spirit of the West opened, which blew my mind then and continues to now.

[rocketsan22]

Where is the best place to find some of these shows? Lost my hard drive years ago and would love to replace some of them...

EDIT I just stumbled across Sean's vault...

Guess a better question would be...does anyone have a list of what shows on Sean's archive are soundboard or FM?

[Escape@Hand]

Odeon, Cleveland, 1996 (Live from the Vault). This was the band at the peak of their powers. Just an incredible show from start to finish, with absolutely killer versions of rarely played gems like Opiated, Put it Off, and Don't Wake Daddy. Not to mention the greatest (and longest) version of 100th Meridian I've ever heard. Also, a new song called "Stereo" emerges from the mid-section of New Orleans is Sinking, which we all remember was an early version of Escape is at Hand.

There's something about this 1996 tour. My favourite show, as I've said before, is 9/30/96 from the 9:30 Club in DC. The version of 100th is longer at this show than the Odeon gig and includes one of the only versions of Hiccups that didn't come before Dare Devil, among all sort of other snipits of songs that would find a home on Phantom Power. Great versions of Put It Off and Everytime You Go (!) as well as the then-new TATH tunes.

From a recording standpoint, there are some issues. There's a big drop in sound volume about two-thirds through Grace Too and it's cut at the end of New Orleans (but not before a one-two punch of Insomniacs of the World Goodnight and Stereo). Fun fact: Sept. 30, 1996 was my 14th birthday.

I first got a hold of that show in a B&P tape trade sometime in 1998/99. Included in the batch of shows I was sent was a show from Harrisburg, PA in the summer of 1994. Pre-DFN release, featuring almost exclusively songs from that record and Fully Completely. I've never seen this one digitized, but it's another great show too. Small enough venue too where there's some gold interaction between Gord and the crowd. One of the only versions of Impossibilium I've ever heard too. And apparently Spirit of the West opened, which blew my mind then and continues to now.

Yep, saw them for the first time on that tour, still one of the best shows I have seen and I was in the 3rd level nosebleeds...I still can here them opening with Grace, and Opiated and Every time you go were huge surprises. They had a really good balance for their set list then.

[eatmecompletely]

my top 10 shows that the hip should release sbd of or DVD Blue Ray


1) Another Roadside attraction 93 "Markham Fair Grounds both nights" a gun free japan ! "does that count as 2"
2) MLG 95 - first time in the gardens 50 mission cap for the ushers and ushettes
3) MLG 96 - sick show first night
4) buffalo 96 marine midlane arena - great luxury
5) Toronto Concert Hall 97 - This was a one off show for North by north east (not sure if it still exists that event) great show great energy and great previews of songs
6) any wetlands show (would love to hear the hip have to play for 6 hours like the legend of the wetlands)
7) Another roadside attraction 95 - john popper on stage I think it was Molson park
8) Horseshow shoes from 96 preview for Trouble at the henhouse
9) Commodore ballroom surprise show in may 2006 preview of we are the same
10) Any show from 96

[mark]

i'm listening to the cleveland 1996 show and just finished the 1998 milwaukee show. it is so nice to hear gord singing. he has (had?) such a fantastic voice.

this cleveland show is absolutely amazing.

[kleh]

my wife got me the crate/t-shirt/bootleg we are the same bundle

it included a show from belgium 1994 to which im pretty obssed with

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Grace, Too
Fully Completely
Courage (For Hugh MacLennan)
Greasy Jungle
The Last Of The Unplucked Gems
New Orleans Is Sinking
Inevitability Of Death
Locked In The Trunk Of A Car
Fire In The Hole
Titanic Terrarium
At The Hundredth Meridian
Nautical Disaster
The Wherewithal
Yawning Or Snarling
Little Bones

[sean.bonner]

my wife got me the crate/t-shirt/bootleg we are the same bundle

it included a show from belgium 1994 to which im pretty obssed with

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Definitely a great show with amazing sound quality.

Came on here though to talk about a different bootleg;

1990-06-22 - Toronto, Ontario

This bootleg has the subtitle "Reflect or Ramble", and there are some mighty ramblings here! Very good sound quality, as the show was broadcast on radio. This show has 'classic' written all over it.
The setlist is 'Up To Here' heavy, with many songs that have been dropped over the years (hearing 'I'll Believe In You' on this bootleg will make you question why the hell it was ever dropped in the first place).

The boys preview some 'new' songs during this show... Cordelia; Three Pistols; Fight; On The Verge; Long Time Running (some with some lyrics that would be changed by the time Road Apples dropped).

There are also 3 classic Hip rarities on this bootleg. Although several recordings of these three songs exist here and there, I may go as far to say that these are the best quality and sounding performances of these three songs.

It's Just As Well, Ouch and Crack My Spine Like A Whip are amazing Hip tunes which never saw an official release, but could have fit right in with the blues driven riffs of Up To Here or Road Apples.

The set closes with a cover that is common of early era Hip; Train Kept-A Rollin'. This version contains an essential 'Eat Me Completely' mini-rant, and finishes off this bootleg in an unforgettable manner.

This show is a classic, and if you've never heard it or haven't given it a spin in a while, I would say its time to dust it off!

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[mark]

that is a great show, sean. i had it on cassette tape way back in the day. i always loved their cover of Train Kept a Rollin'.

i remember having this tape too, but i didn't see it on your list

06/24/90 - Phil's Grandson's Place, Waterloo, ON [75m]
unknown mics > unknown analog recorder