2006-06-21 - Belleville, ON - The Empire Theatre

[bigA]

Show was great. Like everyone mentioned, it was great to meet so many hipbasers - Chancellor, Chris, Man-Sized Eldorado, thehip11, BigA, emperor penguin, SirMatticus, dreyfuss, robert goulet, borgs, Elwood, hotmetal401, habsfan19 & MAv. Huge thanks to goulet for the tequila shot - I didnt pussy out like chancellor did.

Great Sounding show!

It was great meeting many hipbasers and seeing the personality behind their Avatar.

chris2, you left an impression. and thanks again!

Robert Goulet you are a big f*cker!, You scared us when you introduced yourself. Are you a hockey player by any chance?

thehip11, nice car!

Oh and MAv "You Up" "You Up" "You Up"

Dryfuss, big thanks for the place to crash!

[cochise]

Question for MAV??

Hey MAV was that you runing along the front row taking pics the whole night? We were front row and I couldn't believe it, you were only standing in front of my girlfriend for about 30 seconds, you turned around and noticed you were blocking her view, apologised and stepped out of the way! I don't think I have met such a polite person in the front row of a concert in my life.........particualrly papparazzi!

Anyways, if it was you thanks for the great courtesy, if not, pass it along to whoever

[MAverick]

Question for MAV??

Hey MAV was that you runing along the front row taking pics the whole night? We were front row and I couldn't believe it, you were only standing in front of my girlfriend for about 30 seconds, you turned around and noticed you were blocking her view, apologised and stepped out of the way! I don't think I have met such a polite person in the front row of a concert in my life.........particualrly papparazzi!

Anyways, if it was you thanks for the great courtesy, if not, pass it along to whoever

Yes, that would have been me. I try to be low impact on everybody - fans and bandand I hope I stayed out of her way for the rest of the show as much as possible. It would have been a shame to have front row seats at that venue and have me in the way the whole night. . . plus, I did noptice she wasn't the tallest person (grin). Anyway, I hope she enjoyd the show.

Plus, I'm generally a polite and curtious person:) Thanks for noticing. I hope I'm not classified as Papparazzi though:)

Cheers.

MAv

[cochise]

plus, I did noptice she wasn't the tallest person (grin). Anyway, I hope she enjoyd the show.

Plus, I'm generally a polite and curtious person:) Thanks for noticing. I hope I'm not classified as Papparazzi though:)

Cheers.

MAv

Not sure what that says about my height.............LOL

Anyways thanks again, if I had clued in and knew it was you I would have said hello.............I think a few beers clouded my memory at the time............

Salut!

[Hengelo]

Overall, I'd have to say it was a great night with two stellar performances from two of the best bands this country has ever produced. As several people have mentioned, the venue was wonderfully intimate and the acoustics were just right.

The one thing that stood out the most for me was the audience. Perhaps it had something to do with the fact that drinks could not be brought to your seats, which meant that generally (there were clearly a few OBVIOUS exceptions) less alcohol was consumed than at your typical Hip show, but the lack of enthusiasm by the crowd was astounding.

At the February 2002 surprise charity show at Lee's Palace the crowd was absolutely electric. There was fist-pumping, hooting, hollering, and after every single song the cheers were enough to make your ears ring. It seemed as if everyone joined Gordie in singing each song verbatim, and I left that show feeling that if I never attended a single concert again I could die a satisfied man.

Considering how many diehards must have attended the Belleville show (granted, a considerable number of guests were probably not what one would call diehards), I was shocked at the lack of audience participation. Even though this was a theatre setting, as opposed to a general admission club show, I still expected a much wilder audience. It's been well documented that the sing-along to LTR was a complete flop, and that just typifies how the entire night went.

I don't know, maybe it's a sign of an aging fanbase which just finished an exhausting work day, but something was definitely off that night. Perhaps the setlist had something to do with it as well. Had more goodies from the vault been ushered out there may have been a different reaction.

Anyway, that's my rant. I just thought I'd share my confusion with the rest of you. Like I said, overall the music was fantastic. It's too bad more people weren't there for the Weakerthans' set because Mr. Samson and company put on a great show, and he is fast becoming one of this country's truly great songwriters.

It was nice to see the respect that so often is lacking for Hip openers, as I only heard one yahoo briefly belt out the Hip Chant during their set.

By the way, how great was "Utilities"?

[cochise]

Well, while some of you are enjoying the first Fort York show tonight, I thought I would take some time and add some photos from the Belleville show

http://www.flickr.com/photos/29926866@N00/

[laparka]

I had a great time Thursday. I work at the Empire so thanks for the kind words about the theatre. You guys drank us dry!! We had to do a beer run round about 8:30. From where I stood (Just left of the soundboard) Long Time sounded amazing. Anyway gotta head... Great Big Sea this weekend (Sat+Sun)[Cheap Plug]

[Hengelo]

Something I forgot to mention....

Was my heart the only one that skipped a beat when Gord said "This next song is from the Day For Night sessions."?

The fact that he said "sessions" and not simply "Day For Night" made me think that we were in store for something unreleased from those sessions.

'Dante', anyone?

Well, needless to say my inkling was wrong, but hearing Terrarium for the first time was pretty damn sweet.

[beanmedic]

i thought the same thing

[habsfan19]

habsfan finally checking in here....great show in Belleville as far as I'm concerned, live music is much better in a small venue, when you're close to the stage, those 4th row tickets were great

Nice to meet beanmedic and chancellor briefly who were in front of us..and to the group we saw just before leaving, nice to see faces matched to the names here, it was brief, but I'm sure we'll bump into each again at another Hip show in the area

[Fleeter]

A friend of mine has a superb camera and took about 200 pics at the Empire Theatre...

Here's one and more to come. I got some great video footage of Long Time, Terrarium and one of the new tunes.

[hipfan93]

Looking forward to seeing more pics...and some video too.

[girthy69]

I would have to agree with Hengelo. The crowd, for the majority, didn't seem to get really into it. I thought it would be like a Landmark Theatre show. The two times I saw the Hip there I thought the fans were going to blow the roof off the place, or at least crash through the orchestra pit.
Overall, though, amazing show. Loved something on. Never tire of hearing that song.
Can't wait for Montreal in a couple of weeks.

[musicfan]

Fully
Summer
Twist
Fly
ABAC
Gift
Something
Dire Wolf
Drop Off
Daredevil
Poets
Titanic
Meridian
Spring
Fireworks
Rink

Use It Up
Gus
Long Time

the peaceful village was FUN. we stayed locally and i dug the show with my fave hip fan, who first took me to my first hip show, back when gord had long hair. belleville was his 37th show. i still can't remember how many i've seen...

something on, was so wicked. i love that song.

had lower level seats and noticed sir gordo was in fine form. he gets so into it and it infects me...he's such a brilliant singer/songwriter/performer

drop off and rink were great. can’t wait for them to hit the headphones

gus is a gem of a song…nice to see that thrown in there

long time running closer…can anyone say any more than that? it was one of the most magical hip concert moments that i have ever witnessed

[musicfan]

as far as the crowd goes...they were a bit mellow(chill), but to me, it was a nice change of pace, and it offered up a unique moment for some much deserved respect thrown towards the band. there were huge fans all around me.