Tragically Hip in Edmonton Jan.23rd 2013

On Wednesday night my buddy A-Bomb and I went to the Tragically Hip show here in Edmonton at Rexall Place. It's not hard to tell it is the dead of winter here in nortern Alberta, as the only bands braving the cold and coming through town are good ol' Canadian bands. Just this month we have been blessed with Blue Rodeo, The Mahones and now the Tragically Hip with fellow Canadians the Arkells.

This was my fourteenth time seeing The Hip in concert. You would think a person would know what to expect from a Hip show after seeing them that many times, but what makes The Hip so interesting live is that you never know what tunes they are going to play or what lead singer Gord Downie is going to go off on in his rants and weirdness.

We missed the opening band the Arkells as we figured it was a better idea to slam a few beers and a couple of whiskeys before the show. So we got there after the opening band and just in time for The Hip.

The Hip opened with the song "Transformation" from their new album "Now For Plan A" in which they are touring for. That song has the feel and sound of their old stuff, so that went over well with the crowd of about 9,000. Playing on a simple stage set up, The Hip needed no gimmicks as they let the music do the talking. After the opening song, next was "Grace Too" from their fourth album "Day For Night" this song has always been one of my faves of theirs, so I was happy to hear that. The Hip in a sense are like seeing Bob Dylan in concert, you never get the same setlist, and they tend to change up their songs a lot. Keeps things interesting for the fans and for them too I am sure. The third song of the night was "Ahead By A Century" another older song. My favorite song of the evening was the classic "Fully Completely" which is where Gord really goes off, dancing his weird dance, fighting with his microphone stand, screaming and just being his entertaining best. The rest of the band were no slouches either. I have put up the setlist for the show, as you can see, it was great. Good times!!!

Setlist for Edmonton.

1. At Transformation
2. Grace, Too
3. Escape Is At Hand For The Travellin' Man
4. Man Machine Poem
5. Gift Shop
6. Ahead By A Century
7. Streets Ahead
8. Eldorado
9. 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
16. Fire In The Hole
17. Goodnight Attawapiskat
18. Blow At High Dough
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19. My Music At Work
20. At The Hundredth Meridian
21. Bobcaygeon
22. Courage (For Hugh Maclennan)
23. Little Bones

Pictures from the Edmonton show.

Video I shot at the show.