07/15/07: Calgary: Saddledome

[catiekins]

I could barely see that far ahead at times due to the copious amounts of ganja smoke in front of me and behind you! I did notice a cluster f**k of idiots in row 1, seats 1-3 trying to move closer to centre stage all night.

The cluster f**k of idiots.....BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAA! That is rich! I was a little closer to them, and I can tell you beyond a shadow of a doubt that that cluster f**k was much more annoying than you could ever imagine. The drunken boys were baaaaaaaaaaad, but the Anna Nicole wanna be holding court made me want to take up smack, just to make the pain go away...

If it jogs your memory at all, I was standing on my chair for the first three songs because the guy in front of me was about 11 feet tall (and I'm 5 feet tall).

Last time I saw the boys was Mac Hall here in Oct. The crowd was great then, and I think the crowd was great Sunday night too.

[daylight]

Hate to be the voice of dissent here, but holy shit that setlist was boring. All I ask are 1-2 non-YF tracks, and there were a grand total of ZERO that night. Nothing even remotely surprising. Yeah, the band was on, and it was a good performance, but the band is (almost) always on, and it's (almost) always a good performance.

The three drunken morons in front of me didn't help matters any (row 3, seats 33-36 or so), but on the plus side one of them got booted about 2/3 of the way through for smoking up. Security was pretty harsh about that, not even giving warnings!

In any case, that's the last time I see more than one arena show in a tour.

[prairieman]

I was standing on my chair for the first three songs because the guy

Yes I do remember seeing someone standing on a chair in front of me, nice to have seen you even though I didn't know it was you.

I looked and looked fro Hipbase shirts, but I seem to have been the only one wearing it, too bad, I would have enjoyed meeting more people, oh well, there is always next time.

Nothing even remotely surprising

Well I enjoyed hearing Fireworks, hadn't heard taht one live in a while, but other than that yea..no big surprises, I think they kinda shot the wad in the fall/winter what with 38 years old and Fiddler's green in regular rotation.

Theyneed to bust out some Problem Bears, Times are Passing Us By, maybe even The Bear, idk...I still had a great time down in Calgary.

[Billy]

Hate to be the voice of dissent here, but holy shit that setlist was boring. All I ask are 1-2 non-YF tracks, and there were a grand total of ZERO that night. Nothing even remotely surprising. Yeah, the band was on, and it was a good performance, but the band is (almost) always on, and it's (almost) always a good performance.

The three drunken morons in front of me didn't help matters any (row 3, seats 33-36 or so), but on the plus side one of them got booted about 2/3 of the way through for smoking up. Security was pretty harsh about that, not even giving warnings!

In any case, that's the last time I see more than one arena show in a tour.

Wouldn't call it dissent, as I agree that the setlist itself was very lack luster. That being said, Gord was way more animated than he has been in many years. He was acting like he did way back in the early 90's much of the time and that in and of itself made this a very memorable show for me. I also don't ever recall Gord initiating a crowd clap-a-long like he did for Blow.

I also saw security boot a guy out about 30 seconds after he sparked up a fatty. Too bad they didn't say boo to the idiot beside him who smoked cigarettes all concert long...lame. Fair is fair...if you're going to crack down on smoking, let's make it unanimous.

[MountainHip]

ya the setlist was as standard as it gets, but Fireworks as a closer made things interesting.

[gentoo]

I looked and looked fro Hipbase shirts, but I seem to have been the only one wearing it, too bad, I would have enjoyed meeting more people, oh well, there is always next time.

I had my new Hipbase shirt on, and I was in row 5, seat 8. Strange we didn't see each other. Earlier in the day while I was wandering around the Stampede grounds I saw someone wearing one but he was heading in the opposite direction so I never found out who he was.

I was a little disappointed that there weren't any real surprises in the set list but I still had a great time. Like others have said, Gordie was incredibly animated, especially when he "stabbed" himself with the microphone and was trying to get the girls in the front row to pull it out. The whole band was great, seemed like they were having a really good time, and there were some great extended jams. Rob actually pulled up his setlist and gave it to someone, which I've never noticed before. So all in all, it was a fun evening.

Adrian, it was good to see you again in yet another province. And also good to finally meet Mrs. BigA!

[prairieman]

and I was in row 5, seat 8. Strange we didn't see each other

That is very strange considering I was in row 6, seat 4, musta been all that piss water budwieser I was forced to drink out on the grounds, maybe next time! Cheers!

[mrs.biga]

Some beautiful photos bigA, very nice to see you again and meet your better half. Glad you made it home safely mang!

I had a great time at the Calgary show. It was fantastic meeting fellow HipBasers! Good luck to the gals who sat in front of us who are heading to Fredericton, NB.

I thought the set-list was too similar to the Vancouver show... and I'm kinda sorry that I talked BigA out of going to Grande Prairie ... I would have liked to hear them play Little Bones. I also thought that the lighting cues were a bit off... oh well... Can't be Nashville every night!

[sgryzko]

I'd disagree about 100% with the review in the Sun. Rink, along with the other WC songs, got amazing responses. The writer also contradicts herself on many points, so I don't place any merit on the article, anyway.

Yeah that was a pretty brutal article that was really long, considering it said absolutely nothing.

Gord hurt himself toward the end, cutting his hand. It didn't look like much until you looked close and saw the blood dripping on his clothes.

Amazing picture man. I was in the 7th row and I saw the blood on his pants and his hands and was wondering if he'd stop the show. But he kept on trucking through Fireworks, which was fantastic to hear, because I don't think I've seen it live before.

[marmot]

Score one for the microphone stand