05/12/07: Chicago: House Of Blues

[mrlayance]

Post your review

[john cage]

Just for the hell of it, here's my setlist guess based on Friday's show:

View, Gus, Gift, Rink, Wheat, ABAC, Ocean, Nautical, Pretend, LTR, Poets, Locked, Spring, Kids, Blow, Bones / Family, Cover (some blues maybe or how about Mr. Roboto or Cartman's version of Come Sail Away since Styx is from the south 'burbs ), Fire

I hope for something else with some lesser played songs. We'll see ...

[john cage]

Setlist in order:

1 View
2 Spring
3 Twist
4 Gus
5 Fly
6 ABAC
7 Poets
8 Family
9 Wheat
10 Greasy
11 Ocean
12 Locked
13 Scared
14 Kids
15 Fireworks
16 Blow
---
17 Surrender (Cheap Trick - from Rockford in case you didn't know)
18 Daddy
19 Rink

I liked this better than my guess (4 exact, 8 in wrong spot).

Surrender was good - it could have been better only if, a la Rick Nielsen - 1) Gord tossed out a Kiss album cover at the proper time and 2) Paul/Rob tossed out about 200 guitar picks.

I thought Johnny was really good tonight.

[tth_fan]

Surrender...sweet tune, and while we're at it, good for guitar hero. Hope it gets posted

[Tthip]

Wow, no NOIs or Meridian.

[mark]

surrender!? awesome

[daniel99]

My first Hip show last night. They were fantastic. I don't know their music that well, to be honest, but Downie's energy and angst were awe-inspiring and I will be getting into them. Loved "Ahead by a Century." Cheap Trick plays Surrender as a pop song, but in these guys' hands, it got elevated to something else altogether -- a great surprising, emotional moment.

One quibble: in Chicago, HoB is really not the venue. It's the theme park version of the amazing old theatres down here, and though some of the art is very cool, it is such a grotesquely corporate environment that for me, at least, the space actually detracts from the authenticity of the music when you see shows there. THE places to play in Chicago: HoB-size: The Vic. Bigger: the Riviera and Congress theatres. Smaller: Metro and Martyr's. Concerts: Louis Sullivan-designed Auditorium Theatre, Chicago Theatre. The architecture and atmosphere in those places are a better complement for a band with the Hip's kind of passion and apparent integrity.

[smellmysocks73]

Having attended dozens of Hip shows, it's nice to hear feedback from a Hip rookie. As an avid Chicago concert goer, I couldn't agree with you more in your analysis of venues. I know that the Hip always have a great turnout at HOB, and it seems like they really enjoy playing there, but I'd rather see them perform at one of the venues you mentioned.

[Tthip]

Here is a link to last nights show.
I'll be throwing it on The Hip Tracker after I grab it.
http://bt.etree.org/details.php?id=506558

[chris]

Here is a link to last nights show.
I'll be throwing it on The Hip Tracker after I grab it.
http://bt.etree.org/details.php?id=506558

The show you linked is from Detroit last month.

I've got both Chicago shows coming to me via FTP. I'll torrent them tomorrow if all goes as planned.

[Tthip]

The show you linked is from Detroit last month.

Well I guess I am kinda dumb.
I saw the date of the 12th and ASSumed it was last night.

[FighterAndLover]

I think I was the youngest person in the crowd. If you were there, I was the tall skinny chap who had the light blue hat 2nd row right in front of Johnny. It was a perfect spot, apart from being close to the world's loudest human being right in front of Sinclair. Guy must've drank at least 8 $6 cans of Bud Light. Who would pay $48 for 8 cans of bud light?

As to:

One quibble: in Chicago, HoB is really not the venue.

I thought the acoustics in the House of Blues were excellent, and I think Gord really gets into the historical factors (James Brown first played on the stage)

It wasn't the best set, but I thought the sound in the room was really good.

Ha at the ends he said something about "Thank you House of Blues... House of Blues since....19..97... I don't really know."

[john cage]

It was a perfect spot, apart from being close to the world's loudest human being right in front of Sinclair. Guy must've drank at least 8 $6 cans of Bud Light. Who would pay $48 for 8 cans of bud light?

I think you mean the guy in the white t-shirt with the close-cropped hair and goatee (his buddy was the very large guy from Muskegon). I was next to his wife/girlfriend (actually right in front of Gord S.) and talked to him quite a bit beforehand - really good guy. He is originally from Manitoba, now living in IA, and it was his first Hip show - his schedule never worked out when the Hip were near him and the one time he could go was the opener for Page/Plant in Ames, IA, but that was the show where the Hip cancelled due to illness or someone's wife having a baby. He was extremely pumped for the show (obviously).

[thenightfish]

THE places to play in Chicago: HoB-size: The Vic. Bigger: the Riviera and Congress theatres. Smaller: Metro and Martyr's. Concerts: Louis Sullivan-designed Auditorium Theatre, Chicago Theatre. The architecture and atmosphere in those places are a better complement for a band with the Hip's kind of passion and apparent integrity.

Sorry you missed them orry you missed them at Martyr's back in 1998! I caught 3 out of the 4 shows---they were my introduction to the Hip live. No more need be said.

And I've seen the Hip at the Riv, Chicago Theatre, and HOB, and frankly I have enjoyed the HOB shows the most out of those venues. The Riv can have horrible sound sometimes. Also, HOB the main floor is not as deep as the Riv or the Vic; you can be at the back and not be that far from the stage. The Auditorium has great sound but the upper balcony there is truly a nosebleed section; it's much too high to see anything on the stage.

[daniel99]

Agreed that the sound in HoB is excellent. Everything about the place is pristine. By the time we were done on Sat, after seeing an amazing band, we were really trying to put our finger on why the overall experience just didn't feel like it was up there with seeing Wilco at the Vic or The Shins at the Congress. The Hip -- Downie, anyway -- has better stage presence than either of those two bands, and the songs seem to run as deep or deeper. And then it occurred to us that we'd been watching a show, again just our opinion, at the musical equivalent of Planet Hollywood. We just wished we were seeing them some place where some unfortunate guy doesn't have to hold out a towel for you in the washroom. Not a biggie, and it wouldn't stop me from seeing them at HoB again, but a guy can hope.