Saturday, my husband and I joined a group of fellow Canadians for dinner and a concert. We saw The Tragically Hip. The show was great, Gordie was in fine form, and it was great to socialize with a big group of Canadians as I’m homesick lately.
Now, the Hip is HUGE at home. I don’t know any Canadians that haven’t heard of them or know at least one of their songs. However, after we left, my husband told me that he recognized only one song, and that was a cover of a James Brown song. I was really surprised to hear that, for sure! It shocked me to see them playing this tiny venue (700 capacity), when the last time I saw them perform was in the Saddledome in Calgary (which seats 20,000 more or less). Note: absolutely not complaining that I was only 15 or 20 feet from the stage.
Winter Sleep opened for them. I’ve heard them on Iceberg radio on Sirius Satellite Radio, an all-Canadian music station. They were pretty good, too.
Do you know The Hip? Have you heard of them, or do you know their music at all? I love these guys. I used to see them around Kingston, Ontario (their home town) when I lived there, but I was a fan beforehand, as well.
My answer won’t count, since I am a proud Canadian, but The Hip have brought me many good things. My high school friends and I would quote “Killer Whale Tank”, both in and out of season.
My best friend has a funny relationship with her body, and when they played “Blow At High Dough” at our school 80’s dance, she danced her booty off and it was great to see her being so carefree in her skin.
They actually played a surprise charity concert in my hometown to raise money for a child who needed extremely specialized medical treatment.
On the Madonna boards, whenever there is a thread about what book or CD you could share with Madonna if you met her, I always choose Tha Hip, because 1) They are probably one of the eleven bands in the entire world she has never heard of, and 2) Because I know Guy would dig their jams.
I’m from Northern NY and they are huge there. I live near Albany now and saw them in a bar in Clifton Park. I ran into a few people that travelled the 4 hours from Northern NY. When I was still living there, a group of us went on a pilgrimage to Kingston. We were a little obsessed.
I hadn’t seen them in several years and the show was great! It was probably my 7th or 8th time seeing them and, whether I’m seeing them in Canada or a small bar in NY, they NEVER disappoint!
But Canadians? Can you PLEASE leave the Canadian flags at home when you see a show in the States? It’s a little obnoxious. Thanks.
And I thought this thread was about celebrities who are tragically “hip”:
Sammy Davis Jr. back in the day he wore Nehru jackets.
Paul Schaffer on Letterman who thinks he is Mr. Cool & Hip personified.
Michael Douglas pretending to be his wife’s age.
Jack Nicholson still wearing his sunglasses 24 hours a day.
Never mind.
Continue thread about the Canadian group that I, very un-hip, have never heard of.
It wasn’t a bad concert, although it was a bit weird not knowing any of the songs. I’m considering taking Ginger to Crack the Sky in July so she can see what it’s like. The whole crowd sounded like a bunch of excited Englishmen who had forgotten how to say “hurrah”, they kept chanting “Hip! Hip! Hip! Hip!”. I yelled out “Hurray!” one time, just to get a sense of closure.
And it was definitely a Canadian crowd. In the process of heading back to go to the bathroom (The venue was standing only, no seats), I shoved 15 people out of my way. 14 of them turned to me and said “Sorry”.
The Tragically Hip opened for the Who? Cool. Where was that?
I always thought the relative failure of the Tragically hip to ‘take hold’ in the United States was one of the biggest mysteries of Canadian Music. It’s perfectly Americanized rock - it’s not they’re singing Whale Songs of the Nunavit or something - and they’re just huge here in Canada. Their music is radio-friendly, and full of powerful hooks. “Up to Here”, “Road Apples”, and “Fully Completely” are phenomenal albums.
I hear there are enclaves of Hipness in the states, though. I hear they are quite popular in some southern and northern states. It’s LA and the big cities in the U.S. where they’ve never caught on. Their best chart success for an album was #134 on the Billboard 200, for “Trouble at the Henhouse”. Yet, something like five of their albums went to #1 in Canada. Bizarre. Our musical markets are generally much closer than that.
And it’s not like they didn’t try to break into the U.S. Their albums have been on two major American labels - MCA and Atlantic. They’ve toured extensively in the U.S. to promote their music. “New Orleans is Sinking” and “Courage” both got some decent airplay in the U.S.
If I were to see an American band in Toronto, I wouldn’t bring an American flag and wear a Detroit Red Wings jersey. Especially the latter, of course, because I wouldn’t want my ass kicked by Maple Leaf fans.
I just find it peculiar that the Canadians feel the need to identify themselves. Plus, ya’ll get to the little clubs so early before the show that I have to show up at 3:00 pm for a 9:00 pm show! ::shakes fist at Ginger::
I completely agree! I still listen to those albums a lot.
When “Day for Night” came out in 1995 and Dan Ackroyd invited them to play on SNL when he was the host, I really thought they were finally going to break into the American market. I was shocked that they never caught on. And “Day for Night” was a better album than “Trouble at the Henhouse”, so that surprises me.
For the Canadians: I heard that after Hurricane Katrina, radio stations stopped playing “New Orleans is Sinking”, which is their signature song. Is it being played again? The only song I ever hear on American radio is “Courage”. I need to tell the local Alternative station that it’s not their only song. :rolleyes:
I’ve been meaning to check out more of their stuff, since I love “New Orleans is Sinking”, but keep forgetting. That’s the only song of their’s I’ve heard, and whenever I play said song around fellow New Orleaneans, it’s their first time hearing of the group/the song.
Also in the category of Canadian bands that never made it big outside of Canada, Spirit of the West wrote a song about that phenomenon. It’s all about them playing a small club in Kansas and being embarrassed by a guy wearing a Canadian flag as a cape and making a drunken ass of himself.
Sample lyric, included for the Tragically Hip reference:
Oh that’s funny. I saw The Hip in Latham, NY in 1994 right before “Day for Night” came out (they were trying out the new songs–great show!) and Spirit of the West opened for them. The place was full of Canadians with flags.
I’m a Canadian and I’ve never really been a big Hip fan. I know, I know. I’ve been boo-ed at parties and pelted with cheetos. I do respect them as a band and do like a handful of songs but I don’t possess the blanket fanaticism held by many Canadians…
:shrug: People do that at concerts of Canadian bands IN Canada, as well. I thought nothing of it. Most of us, though, were wearing apparel which had a flag or maple leaf or something on it. Only one person had a flag. Also, Leafs fans aren’t going to kick anyone’s ass. Habs fans, on the other hand…
It’s part of being an ex-pat. There isn’t any sort of social network set up around here that it’s easy to find people of your nationality. I don’t say anything when I see people going around with Jamaican or Mexican flags on their clothing/cars/whatever.
Nope. We’re old. We secured the tickets beforehand and showed up when the opening act was almost done.
The whole crowd sounded like a bunch of excited Englishmen who had forgotten how to say “hurrah”, they kept chanting “Hip! Hip! Hip! Hip!”. I yelled out “Hurray!” one time, just to get a sense of closure.