2006-09-09 - Stratford, ON - Ovation Music Festival

[mrlayance]

Post Your Review

[chris]

Just back from the show... and am trying to shake the shivers.

Setlist - in order
Springtime In Vienna
NOIS
Gus
Lonely End Of The Rink
Grace, Too
Summer Is Killing Us
Ahead By A Century
The Ocean
50 Mission Cap
My Music At Work - intro on bass guitar; is that standard??
IAGLIYDW
In View - no keys, just guitars
Don't Wake Daddy
Wheat Kings
Poets
At The 100th Meridian
Fire In The Hole

Encore
Heaven Is A Better Place Today
Pretend
Nautical Disaster

Not much to say about the show; it was good to hear In View live. The crowd was somewhat subdued from where I was standing in front of the soundboard. The sound was really bass heavy - perhaps a remnant from last nights Nelly Furtado performance? Hopefully that won't ruin the recordings. There were five audio rigs present; most of which belong to friends of mine so I have a feeling they will be traded/torrented.

We had three cameras, but I gave up on taping as it was nearly impossible with the average height of the fans around eight foot four!!! I couldn't see a thing, and if it weren't for the giant video screens I wouldn't have had a clue what was happening on stage.

In View sounded good live, but I think that I prefer the studio version. Pretend is a good song, but not suited to a live rock concert, let alone the encore.

Rink and Ocean are turning into new favourites of mine - I really can't wait to hear them on CD.

Hugh23 will hopefully post one of his "Hugh's Reviews" in the morning, so I'll leave the rest of the details to him.

[u8555]

[quote="chris"]Just back from the show... and am trying to shake the shivers.
[b]Setlist - in order[/b]
Springtime In Vienna
NOIS
Gus
Lonely End Of The Rink
Grace, Too
Summer Is Killing Us
Ahead By A Century
The Ocean
50 Mission Cap
My Music At Work
IAGLIYDW
In View - no keys, just guitars
Don't Wake Daddy
Wheat Kings
Poets
At The 100th Meridian
Fire In The Hole

[b]Encore[/b]
Heaven Is A Better Place Today
Pretend
Nautical Disaster[/quote]


How did In View sound? Sounds like a solid set list. Can't wait for Austin.

[sean.bonner]

First time we've seen 50 Mission Cap for a while. That must have been exciting! And In View live must have kicked ass! Hope everyone had fun! Can't wait till the 17th!

[Lizard King]

here's my quick take on tonight..

First it was damn cold, why did I leave my jacket in the car!! Second, what was with the sound, it seemed to fade in and out in most of the songs, that kinda sucked, it didnt ruin the show for me, but it sure was annoying as hell. Kinda bummed they didnt play No Threat, its becoming one of my favorite live songs. And I just want to say, Lonely End of the Rink is amazing, I cant wait to get this album just so I can listen to it again, that song is great, The Ocean too. As for In View live, its an improvement over the album version, mostly cause there were no keyboards involved. But it was still just ok, against Ocean, Rink and the others its still just average to me, it cant hang with any of the Hip's best songs.

My favorite Gord line tonight: ...."leave it to the machines". If you were there you understand.

[Gibie]

Great concert... just got back... had a wicked time... loved every minute of it! I can't wait for the new album... it's gonna kick ass. I was impressed with In View live, but the crowd around me wasn't too pumped for it... I thought it sounded way better live.

Hip kicks ass, enough said.

[Naga]

That was my first Hip concert. It kicked ass.

One thing I have to note is Downie completely FUCKED Fire in the Hole up. He was a beat off, and even my friend, who isn't as hardcore as me, noticed it. It kindof ruined the song for me.

I really loved Oceans and Pretend. Those are awesome songs, and In View live was pretty snazzy.

I was fairly close to the stage. I was in front of Paul, maybe 8-10 people back. If anyone was around that area, I'm pretty tall (6'2 or 3"), and I was wearing a green hat similar to Downie. I had a white-ish coat on, too.

Downie seemed to play a lot less guitar than he did on That Night In Toronto. Springtime and Heaven are two songs he didn't play, which he did before.

Grace, Too got ruined for me, because the crowd was really rough in my area at that time. My friend had to literally cling on to me so she wouldn't get swept away.

Meridian was awesome. Downie was riding a microphone motorcycle, and ended up bending the microphone stand, then spent the rest of the time fixing it.

Awesome time, can't wait for the next show to come through the area!

[farmerdan]

I was impressed with In View live, but the crowd around me wasn't too pumped for it... I thought it sounded way better live.

that was the one real stand out for me tonight, that i really enjoyed In View

i thought it sounded a lot more hip-esqe than the studio version, but thats just me

i think i know now why gord hates fire in the whole so much

[Hugh23]

This was a wonderfully enjoyable show. It definitly had a southern Ontario feel to it, and that's a good thing! The show took place in the middle of a huge plowed-under cornfield on the outskirts of Stratford, Ontario. (As a tribute to Lord Brazle I dub it the " Dope Deal in the Middle of a Cornfield" show. The setlist involved a great mix of old and new songs. The surprising thing to me about the show was that THe Hip's long time road crew was replaced by faces that I assume came from the new management company. Leather-hatted Billy Ray is the only roadie left from the previous crew. Just before The Hip came on stage I thought I spotted Bob Rock standing in the stage left wing on Paul's side. I wasn't sure, but that blond mane of hair is almost unmistakeable. This was later confirmed when Gord D. dedicated Don't Wake Daddy to "Bob". Who else could it be? After hearing of the great live performances the band is known for, I guess Bob had to see it for himself. He wasn't disappointed in my opinion. I loved the show and this is number 30 for me.

The Hip played four new songs from their upcoming CD release. "In View" made it's live debut. I think it rocks and I throughly enjoyed it. Just as Fort York 2 had its 38 Years Old suprise, this setlist included 50 Mission Cap! As the song played on, Gord walked along the feed back speakers at the front of the stage like he was balancing on a log placed precariously between two nearby cliffs. He "fell off" then began using his speaker like a Stair Master machine. He was pumping his arms and legs in a running motion while going up and down on the speaker. His antics had Gord S. and Robbie laughing between each other as they played different songs.

The best songs of the night for me were numbers 12-15 in the 17 song main set. These included "In View, Don't Wake Daddy, Wheat Kings and Poets". Gord broke out my favorite peacock imitation during Poets. I almost forgot to mention the very unusual camera angle used for the two big video screen feeds. It was directly above the band members head's looking down. It provided great views of the finger work of Paul, Gord S. and Robbie as they played their guitars. Robbie's guitar playing was magical. His guitar riffs were bluesy, crisp and hard. The last thing I want to mention was Gord's almost full display of his acting/pantomime repertoire. During the jam just before the rant in 100th Meridian, Gord began crazy dancing and kicking his mikestand back and forth as he does so skillfully while reeling the mike back in with the cord. Next he jumped on his motorcycle straddling the mikestand. He put his full weight on the mikestand as he gunned the throttle and burned rubber down the road. Great camera views on the video feed, including the overhead I mentioned. Gord threw the mikestand down and it was bent in a moderate "U" shape. Gord squated down like a weight lifter and placed the bent bar on his shoulders and it appeared to be groaning from to much weight on each end. He pressed it to the top and let the feet of the mikestand slide down his shoulders until it landed on the stage in a somewhat upright manner. The bend was unmistakable. Gord used only his arms and hands to muscle the mikestand into a near straight position again. Now Gord used the mikestand to stir the giant cauldron of witch's brew in front of him. Lastly he paddled up and down the stage with his mikestand/paddle and canoe before launching into the ending rant. Entertaining to say the least!

Good to see Chris, Jamie, Mark and all my pals from the Hipbase. As Chris mentioned there were numerous recording rigs. The crowd was intense in front of Gord and he asked them to tone it down a couple of times. There was a little minor pushing and shoving in the VIP section I was in on Robbie's side, but not enough to ruin anything. Like everyone else, all I can do is wait for the album to drop and wonder what the touring schedule will be like.

[barrybre17]

Hugh great review! Did you really write that at 5:30 in the morning, that's dedication. I also enjoyed meeting other hipbasers for the first time, I can't wait to attend the next show!

[borgs]

in view was amazing live. first i've heard of oceans and pretend... really liked pretend. i know i've heard the first verse of that song before but i can't remember where... "is that your question, 'cause that one was eaaaaaasy."

[Zenith]

Sounds like a good show, despite some sound problems. I'm glad to hear 'In View' sounds good live! I assume that the keyboard parts were played on Guitar - how did that sound?

[emperor penguin]

Great show. In View sounded great Live, Rink sounded awesome, seemed a little different than it sounded before, Johhny's drumming was amazing on this song. Oceans sounded amazing as well, can't wait to hear it on the album. I was suprised to hear them open with Springtime. The crowd for a hip show, from where I was, seemed pretty subdued. Possibly because it was a festival and not strictly a Hip show. It was good to finally hear Pretend live. The weather was great, pretty cold at first but once I was in the crowd it seemed a little warmer. All in all it was a good night

[grimes]

Great show...really liking Ocean and Rink, can't wait for October 17! I also liked In View a lot better without the keyboards. Good to see 50MC back on the setlist, first time I've heard it live since 2002. And I'm loving Nautical as a closer...perfect way to end the night.

[jgardz]

It was definately a good show, but likely not even in my top 10. The sound mix was horrible for much of the show (I was standing on Paul's side beside the soundboard), and that really impacted my enjoyment. However, the setlist was a nice mixture, and hearing in view and pretend for my first times was cool, though pretend DID NOT WORK for that venue at all, especially in the encore...just my opinion though...
Other than the shitty sound and very cold weather (i only had shorts and a light jacket on, duh!), it was a fun night...we took my best mates 9 year old niece to her first HIP show (she knows EVERY tune word for word) and she loved it, which made it all worthwhile.....can't wait till the winter when we'll finally get a "full" show rather than the 90 mins we've been getting throughout the "fling".....