09/28/09: National Arts Centre: Ottawa, ON

[sean.bonner]

Post your review.

01 - The Depression Suite
02 - New Orleans Is Sinking
03 - Don't Wake Daddy
04 - The Exact Feeling
05 - Pigeon Camera
06 - Morning Moon
07 - Fireworks
08 - The Dire Wolf
09 - In View
10 - At The Hundredth Meridian
11 - Love Is A First

01 - Boots Or Hearts*
02 - Flamenco*
03 - Scared*
04 - Springtime In Vienna
05 - Bobcaygeon
06 - Nautical Disaster
07 - Throwing Off Glass
08 - Now The Struggle Has A Name
09 - Poets
10 - Honey, Please
11 - My Music At Work
12 - Blow At High Dough

13 - Grace, Too
14 - Fire In The Hole

[zopust]

Night 3... ok, so I'm not in the centre, but front row of the balcony still. Show #14. Looking forward a good mix of tunes through three straight shows!!!

[SRK]

Well that was disappointing. We did make record time getting home, though. Nice upside of living in downtown Ottawa.

What, the setlist? You don't want to know. Trust me, you don't. Okay, fine.

Don't say I didn't warn you.

Depression suite.
New Orleans is sinking
Don't wake daddy
The exact feeling
Pigeon camera
Morning moon
fireworks
The dire wolf
In view
At the 100th meridian
Love is a first
--
Boots or hearts (a)
Flamenco (a)
Scared (a)
Springtime in Vienna
Bobcaygeon
Nautical disaster
Throwing off glass
Now the struggle has a name
Poets
Honey please
My music at work
Blow at high dough
--
Grace, too
Fire in the hole


There was something off about this show from about when they played the exact feeling through the end. As good as last night was, this one wasn't. It wasn't a *bad* show, as it were...it just wasn't great. And the setlist didn't help matters. Throwing off glass, (despite the fact that for me, at least, I'd never seen it live), just sucked the energy right out of the room, and following it up with an average new song made it worse. Sinclair's bass was about as loud as I've ever heard it, especially during poets, where it nearly drowned everything out. (Trying to think of something positive...) New orleans is sinking was awesome (which is a sentence I never thought I'd say again), and the acoustic set was nice.

I dunno, I think I'm done for a while. At least Sunday was ace.

[mojo_mattv]

Lol I think we may be getting spoiled when people are saying a show with Daddy, Pigeon Camera, Dire Wolf, Boots, Flamenco, Scared, Glass and an encore of Grace with Fire isn't great.

[Darren14]

I thought tonightes show was great. I was there last night also and from my perspectiveI didn't notice any lack of energy or something being off. I was 4th row centre last night and tonight I was first row in front of Paul which was a first for me. Really enjoyed the venue. Probably somewhere near the top shows of all time for me and I'm up somewhere around 35 . Also really enjoyed Throwing Off Glass which was also a first.

[direwolf74]

Lol I think we may be getting spoiled when people are saying a show with Daddy, Pigeon Camera, Dire Wolf, Boots, Flamenco, Scared, Glass and an encore of Grace with Fire isn't great.

No kidding. "Throwing Off Glass" is a great live tune, and the rest of that setlist is freakin' epic. Spoiled indeed. You folks in Ottawa have absolutely nothing to complain about. As far as I'm concerned, nobody has any right to complain about a show where "Pigeon Camera" is played. Nobody.

[sean.bonner]

At least you get shows in Ottawa .

[TTH700FT]

Lol I think we may be getting spoiled when people are saying a show with Daddy, Pigeon Camera, Dire Wolf, Boots, Flamenco, Scared, Glass and an encore of Grace with Fire isn't great.

Indeed that is hillarious. This set list was definitely one for the books for me. And if anyone felt as if the concert lacked 'something' it had nothing to do with the band, but a heck of alot to do with the hurting Ottawa crowd, particuarly during the first set.

I was in the 4th row last night, and if anyone was feeling as if, and wondering why, things seemed off, they were. My friend and I had a good perspective on this one and this actually occured even before 'Exact Feeling' at the end of Don't Wake Daddy, where there were uhhhh, let's see, 98% of the people in the first 6 rows who were handcuffed and were not moving, speaking, singing, nothing of the sorts.

What you were feeling was a very angry,frustrated Gord and band during the first set, which may have seemed like things were off. At the end of Daddy, Gord jumped down into the first row and was asking people to sing along, yet not one person could respond or knew the lrycis, so he starting to become frustrated and started ranting about nobody knowing the words and that the crowd is f'n asleep, icebergs etc etc. I mean, I'm even surprised he went up through the crowd period during Daddy given the lame response, though the crowd did get warmer the further he got away from the stage. I counted in the first 8 songs of the set, before he slowly started to just let it go and shrug off the crowd, at least 10 references/quotes from Gord directed to the crowd concerning crowd noise, or a lack thereof rather. By the start of the second set, it seemed as if the band reset and crowd intensity picked up somewhat.

So, that's what throws off a concert for the Hip and especially for Gord for all of us who know how he is. He needs to feed off of the crowd, but the most of the place was asleep, besides little pockets of hardcore Hip fans like ourselves who were simply unable to rally up the crowd. Of all 3 nights, by far Monday's was the worst.

All of this to say all 3 shows rocked. Wicked setlists Sunday/Monday. I'd like to make a shout out to the band and the crew for making a 3-day pitstop in Ottawa, even if it can sometimes get really "COLD" here.

[LarryIrvine]

and that is the band's job....turn the crowd on when they're unaware they are off - these guys have made a career of that....I think COLD gets confused with reserved politeness sometimes, maybe even awe.

Need a Hip virgin tracker - I had two of them with me last night and they were stunned for the first 6/7 songs...if that is COLD - its from the evident shock.

The dream remains alive: I'll hear Thugs....someday.

[ShannonW]

I know I haven't posted in forever... but I've still been going to Hip shows! I've been slightly disappointed with them the last few times and didn't make the effort to go to all three nights. I only saw them twice this tour -- North Bay in the summer and last night at the NAC. North Bay had nothing on last night! Last night was epic. Any night that even New Orleans is amazing has got to be a good night. All of the instrumentals were drawn out and rockin', the setlist was amazing (amazing!), and I thought both the crowd energy and the band energy was great. People were dancing and singing along in my entire area (we were 5th row in front of Gord). Also, Gord stood on my seat. Totally awesome.

[chris]

I know I haven't posted in forever... but I've still been going to Hip shows! I've been slightly disappointed with them the last few times and didn't make the effort to go to all three nights. I only saw them twice this tour -- North Bay in the summer and last night at the NAC. North Bay had nothing on last night! Last night was epic. Any night that even New Orleans is amazing has got to be a good night. All of the instrumentals were drawn out and rockin', the setlist was amazing (amazing!), and I thought both the crowd energy and the band energy was great. People were dancing and singing along in my entire area (we were 5th row in front of Gord). Also, Gord stood on my seat. Totally awesome.

Wow. It must've been good to bring you back to the 'base. Nice to see ya!

[sherpa]

Also, Gord stood on my seat. Totally awesome.

Were you lying down?

[Ashkwa]

Hey everyone! I was at the show in the 5th row infront of Gord....I agree with the other comment about our row and area rockin out! I never stood still and I sang along to everything!! I thought it was a fantastic show...I also saw Saturdays and I think both were amaaaazing!

I posted in another section about this but I am looking to see if anyone caught part of the show on video. He stepped on my seat and sang with me for a few seconds during Music at Work...I didn't get a picture or footage of myself obviously so I am really hoping someone has it out there!! Let me know if you see or hear of anything

Next I am headed to Syracuse for #6!

[ShannonW]

Nice to see you too. I can always come back to familiar faces!

I wasn't too psyched about the show because it's really busy here (insert brag about getting married in 3 days), but they got me into the show about 30 seconds after they started. Buut... Don't Wake Daddy really sealed the deal early on for me. It was a really great show! My love for music has been renewed!

[Smokey]

Congrats on your marriage and good luck.