05/09/09: House of Blues: Boston, MA

[sean.bonner]

What are the blues and how do you get them?
Post your review.

[Locked]

Nobody starts a Boston Thread until I have blessed it...

(Blesses it with bruins pucks in dunkin donuts cups)...

Now Proceed to thy Hip- no- tizing experience!

Scotty THE Boston Hip fan..

"Play Emperor Peguin you pussies!"

[chris]

I'll be there, will you?

[767F/O]

Anyone have any thoughts on the venue - how many people does it hold, how early should you get there, any good places to eat/drink before the show etc.
Two more sleeps!!

[boforo]

this hob just opened earlier this year....looking forward to the show! one of my buddies saw drop kick murphy's there and said it was an awesome place for a show, so.....

[Tthip]

Pre-show write up:

http://news.bostonherald.com/entertainm ... ition=also

Tragically, indie heroes a cult act
By Jason Notte

Twenty years ago the Tragically Hip jolted alternative-radio listeners with “38 Years Old.” A track from the band’s debut album, the song is sung from the point of view of a man who killed his sister’s rapist and escaped from prison.

Now, with 12 albums under their collective belt, the Hip are superstars in their homeland.

But outside of Canada? Not so much. The band, which plays House of Blues tonight, has a loyal following but still qualifies as a cult act.

The Hip did get mass exposure south of the border in the ’90s. In 1995, fellow Ontario native Dan Aykroyd introduced the outfit as the musical guest on “Saturday Night Live”; four years later the Hip played at the 30th anniversary Woodstock festival.

Since then, the annoying comparisons to R.E.M. have died down. As evidenced by such tracks as “The Struggle Has a Name” from the Hip’s new album, “We Are the Same,” the band is a bit more conversational and concise these days, though no less contemplative.

Singer/guitarist Gordon Downie, 45, dreamed up “The Struggle Has a Name” while driving home one night last June. Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper was on the radio apologizing to former students of his country’s native residential schools for past abuses and continued damage to native Canadian culture. “The Struggle Has a Name” takes a conciliatory tone; Downie considers it the starting point of a conversation about rectifying personal and national damage.

“There’s somebody out there waiting on an apology,” he said. “Sometimes it just starts with naming the struggle. To name the struggle is to become part of it.”

The good news is you don’t need to know Canadian history - or be Canadian - to get it. Downie credits many of the Hip’s current themes to a fellow Canadian who has scored big in the states, veteran producer Bob Rock, famed for producing everyone from Metallica and Motley Crue to 311 and Cher.

“It’s like working with a 16-year-old who can’t believe he’s making records for a living,” Downie said of Rock. “I’ve always been around people who approach making records like space launches, and I’ve always suspected it didn’t need to be that way.”

Rock seems to match Downie’s fiery fixation on the music. Maybe he’ll help the Hip win more ears in the states, where the quintet’s been overshadowed by a new generation of Canadian acts they clearly influnced, among them Broken Social Scene, Stars, Arcade Fireand Metric.

But Downie says he loves touring the United States no matter what the size of the venues.

“If someone told me tomorrow that we couldn’t go down there anymore, I’d be heartbroken,” said Downie. “You’re going to the land where this music was invented. This music that we’ve put a Canadian coat of paint on comes from the Mississippi Delta.”

The Tragically Hip, at the House of Blues, tonight. Tickets: $29; 888-693-2583.

[Locked]

Chris, yes I'll be there!

Scotty..

[trevor]

T.H.E Union Represents!

Set 1

The Last Recluse
Poets
Goodnight Josephine
ABAC
Depression Suite
It Can't be Nashville Every Night
Morning Moon
Grace, Too
Now the Struggle Has a Name
100 Meridian
Springtime in Vienna

Intermission

Set 2

Toronto #4 (a)
Fiddlers Green(a)
Music at work (a)
Love is a First
Queen of the Furrows
In View
Speed river
Bobcaygeon into Nautical
Throwin off glass
Family band
NOIS

Encore

Frozen in my tracks
50 mission

*DONE*

Note #1: Thrumb and exhort - words of the night
Note #2: Presumably said during NOIS: "If boston is sinkin'"

[Shane Kroeker]

Yes! It's nice to see the live setlist update parties occurring again! Its also nice to see Josephine in the setlist tonight!

[sean.bonner]

Saturday night with lemon tea and Buckleys.
Go setlist party!

[Tthip]

I almost need more songs already...
I am playing them tonight in the order they are appearing - my own mini hip show.

[trevor]

I almost need more songs already...
I am playing them tonight in the order they are appearing - my own mini hip show.

That's a pretty cool idea Dana!
Will have to try that sometime!

[Shane Kroeker]

I almost need more songs already...
I am playing them tonight in the order they are appearing - my own mini hip show.

Isn't that a great idea! For future contests Bonner should revive the Hipbase radio function, and play live versions of the songs as they are revealed in the setlist party. We could stream the music and make comments about it in the forum. What great fun I'd say!

[sean.bonner]

I almost need more songs already...
I am playing them tonight in the order they are appearing - my own mini hip show.

Isn't that a great idea! For future contests Bonner should revive the Hipbase radio function, and play live versions of the songs as they are revealed in the setlist party. We could stream the music and make comments about it in the forum. What great fun I'd say!

I usually work nights, and also, programming hours of Hip for 2 listeners a day wore thin after a while. If someone else wants to do this, I'd be happy to listen in.

[Shane Kroeker]

*Intermission Fun* Visit http://hipbase.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=26&t=14249 to vote for which Tragically Hip song you like better.