2013-01-23 - Edmonton, Alberta

[sean.bonner]

Bring on the springtime bring on the houseflies
bring on the butterscotch river overspilling its banks
---
01 - At Transformation
02 - Grace, Too
03 - Escape Is At Hand For The Travellin' Man
04 - Man Machine Poem
05 - Gift Shop
06 - Ahead By A Century
07 - Streets Ahead
08 - Eldorado
09 - Poets
10 - The Kids Don't Get It
11 - In View
12 - We Want To Be It
13 - Fully Completely
14 - Wheat Kings
15 - New Orleans Is Sinking (Nautical Disaster)
16 - Fire In The Hole
17 - Goodnight Attawapiskat
18 - Blow At High Dough

19 - My Music At Work
20 - At The Hundredth Meridian
21 - Bobcaygeon
22 - Courage
23 - Little Bones

[fingernailsonhull]

Got premium seats. Taking a buddy who's never been to a Hip show before. Looking forward to it.

[fingernailsonhull]

I'm in the second row. Very excited. Woohoo!

[nomadic]

I woke up excited this morning, THE HIP ARE PLAYING IN EDMONTON TONIGHT!!!!

[restlesssoul]

have fun tonight, y'all.

[ikky99]

Hip tonite + new rink in the future! It's a good day to be an Edmontonian!

http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/2013/01/ ... _new_deal/

January 23, 2013, 4:28 pm
THE CANADIAN PRESS

EDMONTON -- The Edmonton Oilers are getting a new downtown arena.

The NHL team and city councillors agreed Wednesday to resurrect a previous deal that collapsed three months ago when Oilers owner Daryl Katz demanded $6 million more a year from taxpayers.

Edmonton Mayor Stephen Mandel says the new deal is airtight.

"It's 100 per cent. A deal is done. Council has approved it. All the other stuff is just going through some steps," Mandel told reporters after the 10-3 decision by councillors.

"I'm absolutely confident that we will go ahead, and at some point in time all of us will go to a new arena with great pride.

"It will be the nicest, most dynamic arena you've ever been to."

Katz was not at the decisive council meeting, but his negotiator, John Karvellas, said his boss recognized the negotiating logjam had to be smashed.

"We were at the end of the line," Karvellas told reporters. "It was time that we needed to conclude a deal and I think Daryl felt exactly the same way.

"I made the comment to him that we're not going to have any more chances. If we're going to make a deal with the city we have to bring it home, and I think he made some very significant compromises."

Katz dropped the demand for the extra $6 million a year and abandoned a demand that the city break its tendering policy and move its staff into a proposed new Katz office tower beside the rink.

In return, city councillors agreed that taxpayers, instead of the Oilers, will be on the hook for major repairs and renos at the $480-million facility.

That's a $30 million boost from the original price tag of $450 million. When surrounding infrastructure is factored in, the bill for the entire project is to reach $601 million.

Construction is slated to begin in the fall and the arena should be ready for pro hockey by 2016. The rink is a futuristic design of glass walls and wavy horizontal lines.

Katz sent out a news release after the vote.

"This is a milestone agreement for a world-class facility that will drive the ongoing revitalization of downtown Edmonton," he said in the release.

"It also helps to ensure the Oilers' long-term sustainability in Edmonton. This has been a challenging process for all concerned but we are confident we will all look back on the end result with pride and satisfaction at what we have achieved.

"I want to thank city council and city administration for their work on this file. This is a great day for Edmonton and we are excited to get to work on realizing this incredible opportunity."

Coun. Kerry Diotte, one of the critics of the deal, said he wants a new arena, too, but said this deal is not good for taxpayers.

"A lot of people run very successful businesses in this city, but they don't get public money to build their factories, and essentially that's what we're doing for the Oilers," said Diotte.

"We're building them a place to play (and) they get all the revenue from it."

Edmonton taxpayers will pay $219 million toward the 18,559-seat facility. The Oilers' share will be $143 million. Another $125 million will come from a ticket tax that wouldn't exceed seven per cent of the total cost of a ducat.

Another $107 million is still being sought from the province, along with $7 million from the feds.

Coun. Tony Caterina said the missing $107 million is the elephant in the room.

Premier Alison Redford's government has been adamant in its refusal to promise any direct funding for an arena.

"That's sort of the big question mark here," said Caterina, who wondered if alternative funding solutions, like a lottery, would work.

"We tried a lottery once with Calgary (Flames) and Edmonton (Oilers) that was unsuccessful," said Caterina.

Mandel, however, said he's confident that the money will be there, noting Alberta Finance Minister Doug Horner has suggested alternative funding scenarios for all communities trying to build rinks or other public amenities.

The deal would see the city build the arena and own it, but lease it to the Oilers.

The Oilers would, in turn, hand over $6 million a year in lease payments and pay for the day-to-day upkeep of the building.

In return, Katz would keep all the profits from tickets, concessions and parking for all events -- Oilers or otherwise.

Katz would also receive $2 million a year from the city in return for advertising for 10 years and would keep naming rights for the building (estimated at $1 million to $3 million a year).

The Oilers would stay in Edmonton for 35 years, and councillors were told NHL commissioner Gary Bettman was in the Alberta capital last Friday with a promise to put that guarantee in writing.

Before the vote, the Oilers were leaving nothing to chance.

They brought in star players Jordan Eberle, Taylor Hall, Shawn Horcoff, Ryan Smyth and Nick Schultz to sit in the front row of chambers.

"I've seen the outlines of what the rink is going to look like and it looks great," Eberle told reporters during a break.

"Everyone involved with the organization loves playing here," he said. "As far as having a new arena, it's just going to add to that (experience)."

The rink will replace Rexall Place, which was built in 1974 and sits in the city's industrial north end. It's one of the oldest facilities in the NHL.

Katz is currently a tenant of an arm's-length city board at Rexall and says the Oilers need revenue streams from areas like concessions to be viable. He has said he is losing millions of dollars a year, but city council has not been able to see the numbers to test that assertion.

The Oilers are ranked in the middle or higher among revenue-producing teams in the NHL.

The agreement ended five years of haggling and bargaining that at one point last fall prompted Katz to woo officials in Seattle about relocating the team to the Pacific Northwest.

Katz quickly retracted that threat and apologized to Edmonton fans after he was vilified and excoriated on social media.

[Jack Straw]

Looks like we're back to festival/greatest hits setlists.... maybe feelin' the pressure of the ticket prices they're charging these days... it's too bad... They're not even really playing much off 'Now For Plan A'...

[direwolf74]

Looks like we're back to festival/greatest hits setlists.... maybe feelin' the pressure of the ticket prices they're charging these days... it's too bad... They're not even really playing much off 'Now For Plan A'...

That encore is definitely greatest hits, but if I was at this show, I'd be more than happy with the main set. Kids, Escape, Eldorado, Fire in the Hole, and 4 songs off the new record? Pretty good mix if you ask me. I think they've been mixing it up just fine on this tour.

[thedarkcanuck]

it was a great show, as usual, no problems with that setlist either. 5 songs off the new album by my count ...decent. i remember when mike ross of the edmonton sun used to shred the Hip apart every review but the last few he has written have been very complimentary

http://www.edmontonsun.com/2013/01/24/h ... h-charisma

also, to the Hip, thank you for keeping on doing what you do, its a beautiful thing

[Jack Straw]

That was a well written review by Mr Ross. It's nice when the reviewer has a bit of history with a band. Thanks for the link.

[fingernailsonhull]

My eighth Hip show. But I was very pleased with the setlist. The encore was blah. But Escape, Eldorado, Kids. I was happy. More later.

[Tthip]

http://www.edmontonsun.com/2013/01/24/h ... h-charisma

Tragically Hip's Gord Downie loaded with charisma at Edmonton show

BY MIKE ROSS ,EDMONTON SUN
There’s a good reason the Tragically Hip hasn’t worn out its welcome through all these years. They can still come to Edmonton on the most miserable night of the year, and draw 9,000 fans to the old hockey arena. Not too shabby.

While bands re-invent themselves every few albums, these guys seem to do it with every performance of every song they play for a live audience. These guys are obviously not into presenting note-perfect renditions of their studio hits. God forbid. These songs sound different every single time.

And so, despite the familiarity that is said to breed contempt, a Hip show still a remarkable thing to experience — mainly because you can’t take your eyes off Gord Downie, by far the most mesmerizing part of this venerable Canadian band. It’s amazing how he continues to wring new meaning and fresh drama from every part of the Tragically Hip canon that strikes his mood. The older the tune, generally, the more twists and turns and melodic manglings come out of it – sometimes spawning songlets of their own, or poetic ramblings, as in the famous Killer Whale Tank routine that grew from New Orleans is Sinking.

At Rexall Place Wednesday night, Downie kicked up his usual eccentric persona even a few extra notches, playing a howling, screaming, braying, witty, ticcing dervish who came off like Tom Waits crossed with Charlie Chaplin. His bizarre pantomimes in his suit-and-pork-pie hat ensemble completed the spectacle. He played with his hankie and fought with his own microphone stand all night, sometimes winning. Fans ought to be used to this sort of behaviour by now, but it’s never boring.

So was he stoned out of his mind? Seen on the big screens that flanked a simple stage, the singer’s eyes sparkled with a wild and crazy light. Certainly without the anchor of his competent and dependable crew of musicians behind him, he could’ve passed for a crazy street person who’s off his meds. And yet, throughout a set that spanned a 30-year career of political songs, hockey songs, romance songs, philosophical songs, poetic Canadiana or all rolled into one, Downie showed the keen focus and intensity that could only come from a sober man. Maybe he’s just high on life.

The Hip is touring behind its latest album, Now For Plan A, whose material, including the opener At Transformation, fit seamlessly into their body of work – which is to say, it makes as little sense as anything like Blow at High Dough. By encore time, the real-time Hip reinvention was running in high gear. Downie and the band torqued up the power, making Music at Work into a full-blown stomp, At the Hundredth Meridian into a Grateful Dead-style jam, Bobcaygeon into a folk-rock epic. Little Bones, the song that started it all off back in the day, was much appreciated, and duly mutilated by Downie’s latest offbeat interpretation.

Not one Hip concert is like another — and this one was no exception.

You can always count on the Hip to bring in a great support act – in some cases better than the headliner, and that takes a lot of “courage,” as it were.

Now the Arkells can be added to the pantheon of Awesome Hip Openers. The Hamilton band, winner of the group of the year at the last Juno Awards, is a quirky hybrid of old-school Motown groove and new wave rock ‘n’ roll, shades of the Clash and U2, defined by brisk, catchy songs that cause one’s head to bob from side to side. Rock music can be divided into two categories: That to which you bang your head up and down, and that where you bob your head from side to side. Both have their merits, and the Arkells earn high praise for their energy, their homage to everything from the Ramones to Neil Young, and for a Tom Cruise-like lead singer, one Max Kerman, a terrific showman who’s prone to Gord Downie-like ranting. Chip off the old Canadian block of rock, he is. These guys will be stars in no time.

4 stars out of 5

[nautical]

Show #22 for me last night. Row 9 in front of Gord Sinclair. Highlights were Eldorado (hadn't seen them perform that since show #1, ARA '93), Fully (Gord forgot the second verse. He started mumbling the first verse again until he remembered how the 2nd verse starts), Kids, Escape, Fire (although it's not as "angry" as it used to be), NOIS/Nautical, Paul singing a verse of Wheat Kings, and Blow (which I think is now my favourite live song of theirs... Robby's squealing guitar at the end is awesome). Encore was a bit disappointing. I guess it just shows I'm spoiled when I say that I can go with never seeing Bones or Courage ever again. I was hoping for an encore more like Music/Springtime/Fiddler's/Inch/Locked. Was hoping to hear Lookahead and NFPA too. Oh well.

[nautical]

One other note. I found it oddly amazing that ABAC was the song that really got most of the crowd into it. Like everyone on their feet. Thought Grace or even Gift would've done that.

[fingernailsonhull]

One other note. I found it oddly amazing that ABAC was the song that really got most of the crowd into it. Like everyone on their feet. Thought Grace or even Gift would've done that.

For better or for worse, I think it's their most popular song. It not only gets airplay on rock stations, but also on easy listening radio. (105.7 EZ-Rock in St. Catharines has it on regular rotation.)