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Go and download the June 30, 2006 Eastern Edition. If you go there now it is on the bottom of the home page.

Go to page 13 of the pdf.

The “HIPest” way to say hello to the summer

BY SHANNON BINDER BRAY

Tragically Hip fans from as far
away as Vancouver, Toronto and
Ottawa made up the audience as
well as many local devotees.

If you were lucky enough to be one of a mere 700 people at
the Empire Theatre in Belleville on June 21, you welcomed
in summer 2006 with a Summer Solstice Fan Club concert
by The Tragically Hip and special guests The Weakerthans.
The Kingston-born band chose the Empire as their fourth stop
during their Summer Fling ‘06 tour which began May 26 in
Vancouver and will cover stages in England, the Netherlands
and Quebec before ending September 15 in Texas after a total
of nineteen shows. The band chose to hire out the Empire’s
stage after members unobtrusively tested the impressive
theatre’s sound quality personally as audience members. The
Belleville stop was the only Summer Fling venue which allowed
only registered hip.com site users access to a special
password which in turn enabled them to purchase limited
tickets through Ticketmaster. The high-security show sold out
within ten minutes, gathering fans of all ages for an intimate
and magical musical night.

A stellar opening by Hip-inspired Winnipeg rockers The
Weakerthans, combined with the awesome stage presence
of Gord Downie, Rob Baker, Johnny Fay, Gord Sinclair,
and Paul Langlois, was enough to put huge smiles on the
faces of fans and fellow musicians with crowd murmurs
of “This is what I live for, man.” Fans from as far away as
Vancouver, Toronto and Ottawa made up the audience as
well as many local devotees. Traveling over 3,000 miles and
arriving mere hours before curtain time was Hip enthusiast
Adrian Burden of Vancouver. One of a group of 40 concert
attendees who are affiliated with independent Hip fan club
sites www .hipfans.com and www .hipbase.com. Adrian labels himself not as roadie or a groupie but rather as “obsessive
compulsive…(because) it’s the Hip!” Almost all of
Adrian’s group, who met through the web, will be heading on
to Europe as they continue to follow their favorite band.

Mark Sloggett of Guelph did not have as far to travel for the
Belleville show but has done his fair share of globe-trotting.
He’s well known within the group as he attempts to attend
a record 200 Hip concerts. Mark probably already holds the
record of attending 58 Hip concerts within a one-year time
frame and the June 21 Belleville stop marks concert number
180 on his list. What appealed the most to this group of loyals
was the Empire Theatre itself and its seating arrangement,
allowing for close proximity to the stage. According to the
The Tragically Hip’s Marketing Director Michael Swifter,
the only other show the legendary band has done which
comes close to the intimacy of the Belleville concert was one
in Montreal two years ago, which entertained an audience
of approximately 2,000.

The smaller show seemed to go by much quicker than
those viewed on bigger stages, although, with encore, the Hip
played for a solid two hours from a song list which included
Ahead by a Century, Gift Shop, Something On, Titanic
Terrarium, Gus: The Polar Bear from Central Park, Long
Time Running, and new songs The Drop Off, The Lonely
End of The Rink and Dire Wolf from the next Tragically Hip
album, which Hip guitarist Paul Langlois guesses will be released
sometime this Fall.

Credited as a published poet, lead singer Gord Downie,
along with other band members, writes some of the most
bizarre, eccentric and fabulously unmapped lyrics ever recorded.
Some say the music is too young for the old and too
old for the young but it’s all a matter of preference. Most
diehard fans have long since given up on deciphering the
impassioned style, choosing rather to fall under the lyrics’
melodic trance. Known for his on-stage dancing and verbal
improvisation, Downie did not disappoint fans during their
Belleville show as he danced his way through the opening
song Fully Completely and added unscripted diction to At
The Hundredth Meridian and Poets, with camera crew nearby
recording clips for upcoming videos. Downie even impressed
front-row fans, posing for photos with them during the concert
and speaking of the band’s history in Belleville where,
years ago, they fi rst played with guitarist Langlois at the Belleville
Yacht Club and “never looked back.” Downie joked at
that time they had played “for sailors, the only ones who really
knew what we were about.”

While having the Tragically Hip perform such a local venue
is simply a thrill in itself, there is one downfall to having seen
one of the best bands in the world up close and personal. Fans
are now spoiled for anything less.

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