Classic Rock, 90's Rock, New Rock . . . ROCK95!!!

We went to see the Tragically Hip play last Sunday at the superbly named Save On Foods Memorial Centre. We're not sure what foods they were memorializing but they must have been delicious.

The Sadies opened the show and opened it well. Even though much of the crowd was still filing in the early-comers were rewarded and showed their appreciation. The Sadies bounced between surf guitar, bluegrass fiddling and straight up rock-and-roll and were impressive at each. They were a little wooden and were dwarfed by the large stage behind them, but musically they were fantastic and we'll definitely be exploring their catalogue.

Ths Sadies from far away.

The Hip started with The Lonely End of the Rink off the new album. The new album is pretty solid but it didn't seem like the crowd got behind any of the new numbers, perhaps just unfamialarity. When they followed that up with New Orleans Is Sinking the audience picked it up, everyone started screaming, that was what they were there for. It was pretty cool to hear a lot of these tunes live after hearing them millions of times growing up. Downie got screechy in some parts, and the band wandered a bit in their little jams but they were exciting all the way through. There were only a few songs we didn't know, and Cam was really happy that they played Wheat Kings. It's always fun to be in a crowd of hundreds when everyone is singing the same song.

The Hip from far away.