The Titanic Terrarium

My wife and I throughly enjoyed this show. The venue and the crowd were big, positive influences on the performance. This was my first time seeing a show at the Colosseum at Casino Windsor. All 5000 seats were filled with young to middle-aged fans like myself. The staff, security and bar service were excellent. Huge lines for beer from the time doors opened. The wait for drinks wasn't extremely long. There were 7 large main floor sections on a flat floor with no sight line obstructions. Behind this was tiered seating which rose from the floor to the ceiling, approximately 30 rows high. As was mentioned, there wasn't a bad seat in the house. Everywhere I looked people stood and danced throughout the show. Having assigned seating allowed us to enjoy The Hip without having to "defend" our spot. The air conditioning was welcome on a humid, stormy 90 degree F evening. I was glad to see Gord D didn't request to have the A/C turned off as he has done in past summer shows I have seen.

I highly disagree with the Hip fans who say the band is just "mailing in" their performances. Yes, the setlist has been static for this summer tour. The band did mix up the order of play in the songs tonight. Not once did I see anyone in the band going through the motions. As has been mentioned, the musicianship and the delivery is outstanding. This was the best light show I have seen the band produce. No gimmicks or light tricks. Just good, well choreographed, intensely bright and mood enchancing. I agree that Gord D is slightly subdued. There were a couple of "mike stand rants" and little on stage antics. This show was about about good music and fine vocal delivery. I loved hearing the three new songs.

My wife and I were able to participate in a "meet & greet" after the show. About 30 fans were ushered to a small backstage room where all five band members appeared. The guys mingled and took pictures. I was able to speak with everyone for a few minutes:

Johnny Fay brought his 14 y.o. nephew from Kingston to the Downsview and Windsor shows. He is a novice dummer inspired by his uncle. The nephew told me one of his favorite drumming memories is when he played in a soundcheck with the band back in 2007. Johnny told me he was looking forward to spending some time with his wife up at a lake cottage.

Paul Langois and I spoke about his solo album. We talked about the songwriting process and the development he went through to find his solo singing voice. He mentioned he was surprised the actual tone he liked was so low. He did say he does sing at a higher octave than normal when he is harmonizing with Gord D.

Robbie Baker confirmed the band was traveling to some shows on a small 12 passenger jet because the summer tour schedule went back and forth across Canada. He said the band will travel by jet if necessary, and The Hip own 2 sets of identical gear which are trucked from show to show. One set of gear is always traveling ahead of the band to the next tour stop.

Gord S. and I spoke about his recent producing credits with The Trews. I also asked him if he was producing any of the new Hip material. He told me during the first writing session the band had created three self produced songs with all band members helping out. Since then he said the band has been working with a newly hired producer. He told me the guy's name and I promptly forgot it. Gord S. did say the new producer was on board for the three new songs being played live currently. Finally, he told me the band will be having another writing session in August. He felt the new album wouldn't be ready until 2012.

Gord D. showed up to the meet & greet wearing a 2011 Boston Bruins Stanley Cup Championship hat. I joked with him about the Stanley Cup finals. I told him I didn't know if I should root for his favorite team or for Vancouver because Ryan Kessler is from my home town. He laughed and said you know who to root for. I got a picture of him in his hat, but I wrecked it because the flash was off. I tried to edit the picture to improve the poor quality....

Enjoy! See you at Sarnia Bayfest.

Here are two videos I recorded last night, "Streets Ahead" and "Drip Drip" because I already love these songs! I seriously can't wait for a new CD to come out. Sorry they both cut off in the middle, my camera sucks.




I thought it was interesting that Gord prefaced this song with "the content material of this song is inappropriate" or something along those lines. I wonder what it's about?!

Childrens Tears

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"We're forced to bed, but we're free to dream"
Dana

mucus

The trip was too short - I need to bring the family back for a holiday! Timed of course with a Hip concert or two!

Hugh, as always thanks for sharing your photos and your review! Sounds like you guys had a great time.

From The Windsor Star:

http://www.windsorstar.com/entertainment/Tragically+charm+Colosseum/5044664/story.html

WINDSOR, Ont. -- Gord Downie and The Tragically Hip powered up Saturday and overcame a midsummer lightning storm that blacked out Caesars Windsor's Colosseum just before they were scheduled to take the stage.

The lights went out at 9 p.m., and an anxious crowd of 5,000-plus had to wait another 40 minutes before the band took the stage. At one point, it appeared as if the highly anticipated show was in jeopardy.

But Downie finally walked on and thanked the audience for "not stealing anything when the power went down."

The concert featured 21 of the Hip's best-loved songs from every stage of their 28-year career, from the early stuff like Blow At High Dough and New Orleans is Sinking to 2009's Love Is a First.

The Hip is all ours. They're a Canadian rock legend, and one even Windsor audiences embrace despite this city's historic ignorance of Canadian popular music.

We normally take our cues from Detroit radio, but fortunately The Hip has a presence in U.S. border cities like Detroit and Buffalo.

Their top-selling concert album, Live Between Us, in fact, was recorded at Cobo Hall.

The 5,000 screaming, dancing, singing, and rowdy patrons Saturday showed their undying love for this band from Kingston.

Opening with The Lonely End of the Rink, the band played hard and fast, led by the visceral lead guitar riffs of Rob Baker and Downie's compelling lead vocals.

He's one of the most watchable frontmen in all of rock 'n' roll. Whether it's a quirky little two-step or his fidgeting with his handkerchief and wardrobe, Downie is all nervous energy on the stage.

On Saturday, he was done up in a straw boater and a vest, looking like he'd just walked out of an Impressionist painting by Renoir.

Rink was followed by one of the band's concert favourites, Grace, Too, with its rangy guitar riffs and Downie's scream therapy singing.

Chuck Berry ryhthms dominate the song In View, which was followed by a new one, Drip Drip.

This set up the powerful mid-section of the show, with certified Hipsters like Gift Shop, Poets, The Hundredth Meridian, and Fully Completely.

Ahead By a Century, one of the band's trademark hits, was marred by a wretched vocal mix which had Gord Sinclair's backup vocals cranked up way too high.

But the problem was fixed by Fiddler's Green, The Hip's variation of The Rolling Stones' Wild Horses.

The run-up to the encore got progressively stronger with Courage (For Hugh MacLennan), Bobcaygeon, the stretched-out suite consisting of New Orleans Is Sinking and Nautical Disaster, and Little Bones.

Three more faves made it to the encore: Blow at High Dough, Scared, and My Music At Work.

The Hip blew town after that, but not before they staged one of the best shows in the young history of Caesars' Colosseum.

tshaw@windsorstar.com

© Copyright (c) The Windsor Star

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"we've only got three hundred feet to go ..."

The writer of the Windsor Star article is an obvious Hip fan...thanks for posting.

Great show! Did anyone happen to pick up an extra poster from the show or know of one kicking around for sale? I missed out as they were sold out at the merch booth after the show and would love to get my hands on one ......any help would be much appreciated....thanks!

Loved seeing that the setlist was changed in terms of order. Hoping they keep the shuffle going (dont care if they change what songs are in it) I just dont want the same order when they come to Ottawa as they had in P-bor and Bob-cay. That order from Windsor looked amazing!

WTF I have never met em. You go to 1 show and hit the jackpot.