05/12/09: Massey Hall: Toronto, ON

[IamKirk]

i heard it around...7:30 or so I think. Around the time the first rush went down to the bar.

[srb]

Bobcaygeon (with the fan from the 1st row playing along at the end)

[BIGVDOGG]

Fantastic!

[Roy-at-tth]

THAT IS SO AWESOME!! What a lucky guy!!

[hipnosis]

yeah idk which is cooler..playing Gord's guitar or going backstage... i think i'm gonna go with the guitar one.

[chris]

Bobcaygeon (with the fan from the 1st row playing along at the end)

This footage looks like it was recorded by a video camera, and not a digital camera... Multiple angles for a Massey show???

Gordie... pickin' from the guys hair like a bird. The dude, finger raised in the air like a rock star. Just awesome.

[EPenguin10]

Some photos posted on Chart Attack:
http://www.chartattack.com/photos/the-t ... sey-may-12

[schmenge]

RE: the previous comments about Gord's guitar playing, at the Boston show, he played guitar on NOIS, which was the first time I'd ever seen that. Usually, he goes kinda nuts on that song, but they didn't turn it into an extendo-jam like they have in the past.

[lampshade29]

RE: the previous comments about Gord's guitar playing, at the Boston show, he played guitar on NOIS, which was the first time I'd ever seen that. Usually, he goes kinda nuts on that song, but they didn't turn it into an extendo-jam like they have in the past.

Really? I dont' think I've ever seen him not play the guitar on that song.

[Tthip]

If you follow this link - you will see the slide show from Tuesday night.
http://buffalonews.typepad.com/miers/

Getting pumped for The Hip

On Tuesday evening, the Tragically Hip played the second show of a six-night run inside Toronto's fabled Massey Hall.

Earlier that day, a few of your faithful Buffalo News music freaks scurried north to spend the afternoon with Hip vocalist Gord Downie before settling in to watch a marathon, often-sublime twin-set show from the band.

My interview with the delightful, intellectually generous Downie will run in the Spotlight section of The News on May 31st, prior to the Hip's four-night run at Artpark in Lewiston beginning June 2nd.

To help get you psyched for the group's arrival, we've created a slide show of Bill Wippert's photos documenting the Massey Hall show. Check it out, then scroll down for the complete twin-set list from Tuesday's gig.

[srb]

This footage looks like it was recorded by a video camera, and not a digital camera...

I decided the night before to bring the video camera to the show. 2 tape switches, 1 battery change and 2 very sore arms later, I got the whole thing

Here's Grace, Too (Gord collects the loot from the crowd before returning it at the end.) Great stuff:

[sullivand]

This footage looks like it was recorded by a video camera, and not a digital camera...

I decided the night before to bring the video camera to the show. 2 tape switches, 1 battery change and 2 very sore arms later, I got the whole thing

Here's Grace, Too (Gord collects the loot from the crowd before returning it at the end.) Great stuff:

So big of those people in the front to stand up for Grace Too. They did have to think about it for a bit, though.WTF?

[ashtrayrock]

Wondering how Recluse comes accross as an opening song? Don't get me wrong, I think it's a great tune, but does it set the tune for the rest of the tevening?

No one was more surprised than me to to find myself very moved by Recluse as an opener in Philly. If someone had told me that was their opener ahead of time, I woulda thought they were nuts. I had been somewhat unimpressed with the song after the 1st couple listens to the entire cd. It seemed kinda simple (couple of campfire chords), boring & overly mellow. But the images in the video of the finality and abruptness of the drop off on the boat, she turns & he's already "riding with my bike by your side," etc were starting to make an impact on me. But when Gordie sang the lyric in the 1st verse, sternly, and pointing with his finger as if admonishing, "no tears you said, understood - understood?" then quietly, "I said alright," I suddenly got it, and almost lost it - thinking about "watching a bomb go off in a young girl's life." They're both trying to be brave, but they're heartbroken. Then he turned into choral conductor imploring the haunting "whoa-ooa-ooa-ooas" from the audience, and the whole theater seemed to be singing - and just like that we were all in it together, and it WAS a conversation, on multiple levels, just as he had said in his intro for the song. And they'ld been on stage for about 2 minutes. So for me, it was very powerful, and is still the most enduring and memorable single moment from last week's show. So now I love the song, and can't get it out of my head.

As far as a tone it set for the show, I think it signaled that the night was going to be a bit more personal, more intimate, more vulnerable, than your typical "but this one goes to 11" kind of night with the boys. This time the dynamics between loud and quiet moments were going to be pronounced with a bit more clarity in their diversity. We were going to be drawn in, and we would need to lean in, squint, and turn our heads slightly to hear the quiet times, and that would only make the rockers like Blow,Twist and Bones, seem that much more heavy, more fullfilling in terms of releasing the tension/energy, by comparison. And that's exactly what we got thoughout the show. And I was great like that.

LOVE IT! thank you so much for that! seriously good stuff...

oh and um im gettin a real kick out of gord tapping the mic to the floor to signal then end of the set/show...tuesday he was doing "this is what you sound like" while pointing the mic out to the crowd...LOVE gord....he always comes off as perfectly off balance, yet not, perhaps even a little twisted, yet not, BUT certainly fun...and it/he always makes the show better. it has become what i/many can call "classic gord"

monday night he tapped the mic to his both feet, one at a time, trying to get the mic to move his feet from the place they were "stuck in", like the mic was a hammer! good stuff. not easily described. one of a kind. the best kind.

just when you think you've seen gord do it all he changes it up! go gord GO

[BIGVDOGG]

Another angle on the guy playing Gords guitar.