07/25/09: Highland Bowl: Rochester, NY

[hotmetal401]

I'm still having a hard time to sum up what happened at this show. As Bonnie (from the posts above) and another friend slept in the back of the car, the driver and I took a video winding down Highway 104 after the rain seemed to stop (or at least hold off for a couple of minutes) as a way to properly address for posterity just what we went through Saturday evening.

It still doesn't make sense. 3-4,000 adults (and apparently a couple of children) come to a park in the middle of a tornado watch (thank you waitress at Chili's for confirming we were in Monroe County) to see a band so many of us have clearly seen so many times. Maybe there were a couple who said, "nah, I'll sit this one out, I want to stay dry," but I don't think many.

For a moment you thought you were safe; you thought it was going to pass over - we were gonna be all right.

No. No we weren't.

It didn't come out of nowhere; the exact opposite. It hit like a ton of bricks, gradually progressing from those little drops until bam, the sea of umbrellas and ponchos take over. Some, still keeping time as they swayed with the rock and roll, others in the process as they headed for the higher ground, under the trees, under the eye of Fred Douglas, who, by the way, appeared to be quite enjoying himself.

There's a subtle bit of irony to standing your ground, fighting back against the elements to see show number 25 during "It's A Good Life If You Don't Weaken," one that certainly wasn't lost on us as we actually moved up throughout the set, taking the spots of the few people who decided to wait out the water in the loo, or under the aforementioned trees. We actually made it to the front between sets to find Bonnie and our other friend standing in the foot of water, deep in the trenches (literally, I suppose). "Come join us," they said. "Not a god damn chance," I replied, comparing the likeliness of replacing my Blundstones on the way home to their Toronto Maple Leaf branded flip flops.

It's the day that made this show special. Downie has often said, "for a show to be great, something magical has to happen." And that's what happened here. Better setlist than Boston? Probably not. Better show than Boston? Doubtful. But the experience, the story? This is a show I will never forget. From the free parking, to the waitress in the crowd with a tray of Blue Moon, to Gord's reminder after the rain started "If you gotta go, you go now, or else you have to stay all night," followed by a brief Bobby tease of the first chords to the Mann classic (which may have been written by Dylan, but I'm not sure) before "Meridian," to finally seeing "Thompson Girl," as the rain started to let off a bit, to, as mentioned by Bonnie, getting fully changed in the middle of the street, while strategically placing ourselves in front of her so she could get changed in somewhat privacy as well, it was an event to behold and enjoy.

It was fitting way to hit the quarter-centennial with this band that I adore so much. Here's to the hopes of the Hammer for the birthday in September, and the Texas run and Rain Main sweep in Vegas come October.

Cheers,

Pat

[brewdog]

My first Hip show fter being a casual fan over the past 2 decades... Can't wait now for November 7!

here are some of my photos
http://www.flickr.com/photos/literarymi ... 742541503/

[woopop]

This is what I posted on my personal site, which echoes what most all of you have already said. I joined up with tkarpen and his crew, and we had a blast! Thanks to all the cool people down front for singing along and having a great time with no BS

--------------------

The Hip in my very own backyard. Almost literally, as the Highland Bowl is almost like having the band play in your yard with 3500 of your closest friends! I had raced over to Tom's place just in time to catch the van-cab with the crew (saved me from trying to find a parking spot!) and we waited a whole 5 minutes in line I think before getting in. We got about five rows back from the barrier, laughing and joking with the people around us. Good people around us too. Right around the 7 o'clock hour, the Hip came out to the strains of The Depression Suite. The fans were into it from the get-go, but soon after the start of the show, we got to find out who was *really* into it. Why? The rain! It had been forecast, but it held off for the first six songs or so. As New Orleans Is Sinking got going, so did the rain. By the time that had ended and It's A Good Life... started, we were in a full-on torrential downpour. Which mattered not to neither the die-hards down front (we were standing in four inches of water the whole night) nor the band, especially Gordie, who came out into the rain with his guitar to essentially join us. He commented on the weather throughout the night, in fact, and I think drawing some inspiration from it. This was followed by a WATS song that I didn't hear at Artpark, The Exact Feeling. The rain did nothing to curtail the volume of the singing along during Meridian and Love Is A First, which closed out the first set. By this time, the rain had pretty much subsided, so we just got to stand soaked for the rest of the show. I don't think anyone really cared at that point.

The boys came back out, and I got to see a song that in my previous 7 shows I hadn't seen; Thompson Girl! And acoustically! Other highlights of set #2 were hearing Gus again, as I'd seen it on the IBE tour and not since, and also Courage, simply because it's a favorite of mine. "If you gotta go, you go now, or else you have to stay all night", Gordie reminded us at one point, and stay most of us did. We'd wormed our way down to two or three rows back from the barrier due to people leaving, and the view was fantastic. With rare exception, the crowd around us was fantastic as well. To say nothing of the band. The encore was almost the same as my Saturday Artpark show, with Struggle and Little Bones.

It's been said elsewhere that the setlist on this night was nothing to write home about, and save for Thompson Girl (personally), they'd be right, but this night was not about the setlist, and way more about the fans, the band, and the elements. And how they all came together to transform an already great Hip show into something even better. A shared experience, and a show where years from now, you can look back and say, "I was there for that!"

This is the only pic I got before the phone took on some water. It's thankfully dried out and back to normal now!

photo.jpg

[hipnosis]

Hello,

This is my first post here. I'm not sure how to post a pic, but I'll give it a try.

As people have mentioned, the rain was intense. (New Orleans wasn't the only thing sinking.) But Gord stepped right out on a speaker cabinet and got drenched just like the rest of us.


We got there early since we took our 9-year-old son Alex with us for his first Hip concert, and we wanted to get as close as possible to the stage so he could see. (General admission/standing room only isn't so great when you're a short little kid.) We were among the first to get in, and we got up right against the rail, center stage. Alex took this photo:



My son got the second hanky of the night and Gord gave him his microphone at the end of the encore. Woo hoo! That was a very sweet thing to do, and Alex was beyond thrilled. Despite the weather, it was a fun show and the crowd was really into it.

Edit to add a pic of my son I took this morning. He's holding the microphone and the hanky, and behind him is a Hip poster/collage that I bought shortly after the Artpark show.

I was the girl standing right next to you in the purple!!
Alex was so cute! he reminded me of my little brother who is about the same age.
didn't we get soaked!!!!!! well you guys came prepared with your rain gear... me and my crew however.. didn't. hahaha
we were soaked from head to toe! standing in 4" of water would not have been fun if it were any other day or place.

congrats on the hanky and mic! Gord really enjoyed seeing the little guy there I'm glad the three of you enjoyed yourselves. especially the little guy!

now for my take on this show.

it was my second hip show ever, my first being in nov 07... I brought along my roommate Matt who is now a converted Hip fan. he had so much fun! I actually think he joined this forum... I believe his name is ahipfanisborn or something to that effect. not really sure.. anyways the two of us met up with a friend from college who was up in the front row. he's a huge 10000000' tall 56934096830 lbs of muscle football player and isn't that hard to miss.
we waited for the concert to start and I was able to switch places with my buddy so that I could see the stage and not his back hahaha he ended up rocking out behind Matt and I with his brother and friend. he also promised me that if he got a hanky he would split it with me! little did I know not too long after the show started Conor was able to fly up into the sky and catch one of the ones Gord was throwing out. Shortly after that I got the security guard in front of me to give me a pick that Baker threw out to the crowd but didn't get very far. then it started to downpour. I had to put away ALLLL of my electronic gear and cover it up with Conor's jacket. it sucked cause I would've loved to have been able to take more pics and videos than I did. Gord's guitar shorted out after playing in the rain...and drinking it... then during Good Life Gord looked straight at me and threw me his hanky...of course I was struggling to see the stage cause I had so much rain hitting me in the face and was shocked when he threw it to me. I am very thankful to the gentleman to my right who did not try and clock me for the hanky and also for holding my bag and front row spot while I scouted out a friend of mine during Intermission. ahhh I haven't been able to get to a computer until now so a lot of the show is just a faint memory. so in short, A KICK ASS SHOW THAT I WILL NEVER FORGET!

best memories of the night:
Gord throwing me the hanky
getting Baker's pick
Gord making and keeping eye contact with me during the chorus of Ahead By A Century (my favorite song ever!!)
the rain of course
Gord's comments about the rain ("I don't mean to fixate on the weather, but GOD DAMN!!!!! every time I look up it's a new VISTA!")
Gord holding out the mic 5 feet from where I was so we all could sing into it
and getting to stand next to little Alex at his first concert!!!

there are a lot more but this list could go on forever. the set list was awesome and I have no complaints except for little bones cause they closed with that the first time I saw them. however, gord was energized, lovin' the rain, and in top shape both physically and vocally! the rest of the band seemed to have a lot of fun as well!
I have pictures and some videos (bad cell phone quality ) and I will try to get them up ASAP!!

have a great night everyone! and as always keep on doin' that same old Tragically Hip thing.

[hipnosis]

ps.
did anyone else get any video or audio at this show?

[Tthip]

I totally forgot about that sound when Gord's guitar shorted out, about 1 minute into the first video.

[VioletLite]

WOW what great reviews. Keep 'em coming. I'm all hyped up and I live a million miles away. Sounds like an amazing show!!

HAHAA Hipnosis, got your comment on my Facebook. Yep, it rocks, girl

[hipnosis]

you can see Gord throw me his HANNNNNKKKKYYYYYY at about 3:09 on Dana's Good Life video.
THANK YOU DANA!!!

[SoylentGreg]

ps.
did anyone else get any video or audio at this show?

I got a couple short video clips - the chorus of "Frozen in My Tracks" and part of "Good Life," but I don't think that's what you're looking for. Didn't see any tapers in the crowd, either.

[brewdog]

there was at least one taper back at the sound tent, would love to hear this one again...

[mintgreenbird]

Hey mintgreenbird.. were you by chance with a blonde girl? She was standing in front of you?

yes that was my faience. my cuz was the dark haired girl to my right who got the first towel...

[Xanagirl]

Hi mintgreenbird,

I got your PM, but I don't have enough posts yet to respond, so I send some photos including the hanky pic to your AOL email address. Hopefully it goes through and I didn't attach too many.

Cheers,
Michelle
a.k.a. Xanagirl (< my Rush messageboard name. What can I say. I have a predilection for Canadian rock bands.)

[mintgreenbird]

u got mail girl

[mintgreenbird]

thanks!!!! i will see if they came in!

[sean.bonner]

Based on the awesome reviews, and how damn cool this place looked in pictures/videos, I would love to hear this boot too.