2006-12-31 - Chicago, IL - HOB

Been to a show and would like to give a review?

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Hugh23
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Post by Hugh23 »

In keeping with The Tragically Hip tradition, the band ushered in the new year with a concert at the Chicago HOB. TV cameras were mounted everywhere, with one camera on a large boom which swung out over the fans, to tape the performance for a live local broadcast. The Hip ripped through their first five songs as midnight approached. Gord D. was in fine form as the 100th Meridian began. He was singing and dancing around the stage using his red handkerchief as a tail. This must have been planned, but as the song reached the rant, the three TV broadcast hosts burst on stage to announce that midnight was upon us, stopping the song. The Hip appeared surprised/annoyed as they set down their instuments for the balloon drop and countdown. Hugs and handshakes were given as Gord sang Auld Lang Syne. After a few minutes the stage was cleared of balloons and TV hosts. Gord then launched back into the 100th Meridian rant as the band joined in along with him.

Near the middle of their set, The Hip kicked out some great energy with some of my favorite rockers. They played Kids Don't Get It, followed by Grace Too and Yer Not the Ocean. At the end of Grace Too, Gord did a little James Brown tribute by dancing about wildy using some James Brown moves while screaming his name. Robbie Baker was awesome using his finger slide during his guitar lead on Blow at High Dough. He played on as Gord rode his motorcycle mikestand to finish out the song. I don't know how good the CBS2 broadcast will be. I could see a playback monitor at the side of the stage from my front row spot. Many songs were not shown in their entirety as the broadcast cut to the TV hosts or went to commercial. Also, The Hip played about a half hour past the end of the broadcast. The Hip played close to an hour and forty-five minute set.

After the show my friend and fellow Hipbaser John Cage (Chris W) was able to get us into the HOB Foundation room which is a private bar for members only. We stayed for an hour and we were able to meet Paul, Gord Sinclair and Gord Downie. Gord S. said he had difficutly getting to Chicago because of a snowstorm in Kingston. We said hello to Paul and we were able to speak with Gord D. for about ten minutes. I have met him after shows before and he has been tired or subdued after his performance, but this night he was full of energy. Even though our conversation lasted for only a few minutes, we touched on many subjects. We talked about some of the lyrics on World Container and Carolyn and I told Gord we loved his "WHOA" 's on Kids Don't Get It. He said they're harder to do than it may appear. He said you can't just throw one out there. You must put the right amount of emotional energy into it. We mentioned we noticed Gord's James Brown tribute and he said blues and rock were definetly influenced by Brown. Somehow we were discussing our ethnic heritage and Gord spoke about remembering our connections to Europe and how we are all bound by our backgrounds and the global economy. Gord also mentioned that the band really enjoyed working with Bob Rock and there was a good chance they would work together in the future. We tried to get some info on U.S. tour dates, but nothing to report. In the end we had a great evening watching the show with all of our Hipbase friends gathered near the front of the stage. Nothing can beat being with friends and watching The Hip ring in the new year.
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Bobkajun
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Post by Bobkajun »

nice review...thanx for posting it !
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john cage
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Post by john cage »

Dreyfuss (I'm not a doctor and I don't play one on tv, but you and Markslogg are insane) and Hugh gave the customary good reviews so I'll just add a few things.

Other 'usual' Gordisms: stickhandling and deaking (Rink), polar bear growl (Gus), smoking (Fully and others), tossing away the gun (Poets), "UUHH" and "Yeah" (Good Life), possibly the longest and loudest shriek ever which is impossible to describe in words but you know what I mean (Grace), walking the monitor tight rope, the gorilla, the mic stand stick up, picking up downed mics & handkerchiefs with his feet a la a soccer skill trick (forget which songs), lots of dancing.

No F bombs (Meridian) or 'Writers get laid' (Poets) due to the tv broadcast (Gord kept it clean). Somewhat surprisingly, no microphone / microphone stand rants.

Rob had a good show (Gord S. thought so, too). Everyone else was their usual solid selves.

Surprised Drop Off was left off and thought they'd do World Container instead of Pretend (someone really likes to play Pretend). I guessed correct on 17 of the 21 songs.

I thought the house mix was pretty good. Sometimes it hard to here Paul when you're up front over on the Gord S./Rob side, but this wasn't the case here - maybe due to tv.

I'm almost afraid to watch the broadcast, as a friend e-mailed accusing me of being a Fanboy. Ouch.

Go Spurs!
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The Heron Outside
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Post by The Heron Outside »

Sounds like a killer show...Any hope of seeing the video captured from TV that night?
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chris
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Post by chris »

The Heron Outside wrote:Sounds like a killer show...Any hope of seeing the video captured from TV that night?
Yes... working on it.
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Post by markslog »

I captured it with my DVB satellite setup. Its being transferred to Chris right now.
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The Heron Outside
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Post by The Heron Outside »

Hmmm....I should've naturally assumed...
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thehip11
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Post by thehip11 »

Awesome news Mark. You must be dead tired.

Was the entire concert broadcasted or just select songs?
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Mr. Lahey
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Post by Mr. Lahey »

Was this already on tv? Or when will it be? I'll be pissed if I can't see it.
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chris
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Post by chris »

It was aired "live" on CBS2 in Chicago.

markslog captured it, but it needs some tweaking/editing. He's sending me the file, I'll tweak it, and we'll go from there.
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Post by markslog »

The 1st part of the show was commercial free I think. After midnight they kept cutting to commercials. While the commercials were running the cameras were turned off. They did not stay to the end of the show. Can't remember when they turned the broadcast off.
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Tragically Hip New Years

Post by smellmysocks73 »

Would it help if I knew someone who claims to have recorded the first 45 minutes of the show in it's entirety?
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chris
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Re: Tragically Hip New Years

Post by chris »

smellmysocks73 wrote:Would it help if I knew someone who claims to have recorded the first 45 minutes of the show in it's entirety?
No.

But it would help if you knew a person who was going to share what they recorded with the community. :lol:
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Tragically Hip New Years

Post by smellmysocks73 »

Touche. I'll see what I can do. :rambo: [/b]
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Post by troublewithnames »

Another excellent concert from the Hip! I took a friend to the show who had never seen them before..she loved it! She was also happy to have Gordie hand her his pick at the end of the show too. She's from Canada and I'm from the states and I'm taking her to see the Hip (that seems a little backwards, lol.) We talked to a guy in line who is originally from Chicago (up on business from Florida) who was seeing the Hip for the first time as well. Too bad we lost track of him, I wonder what kind of review he would give.

The first band was a little annoying because of the sound. We couldn't hear their vocals at all, except on one song where no other guitars were played except the bass. Unfortunately, the sound problem really emphasized to me that there wasn't much variation in the guitars rhythm in about 60 percent of the songs. They weren't a terrible band, but they're not a stand out either.

Initially, when I heard about Matisyahu, I was picturing something along the lines of Weird Al. lol I was entirely wrong. They were fantastic. I'm sure I won't go rushing out to buy their cd, but still they are a great band! I really enjoyed watching the guitar player play.

In keeping with the theme of the House of Blues, "Unity in Diversity", Matisyahu and the Hip make a perfect couple.

Oh yeah, and Robbie still has an adorable smile! :D
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