When the band Tragically Hip plays in their native land of Canada, they are so popular they have to play in arena-sized venues. Here in Madison, they cannot fill a small venue like the Barrymore Theatre. At last night’s show, the theater looked to be about half full to me. More’s the pity. I’ve seen Tragically Hip several times, and from my experience, I believe the band would play their hearts out whether they were in front of 20,000 or 10. They certainly did last night.
The Hip (as their fans call them) opened last night’s concert with the first track from their latest, and very strong release, World Container. “Yer Not The Ocean,” an ode to Lake Ontario, very much in the style of The Who, was a perfect way to begin the show.
That intensity continued during the entire concert with standout songs like the impassioned “Fully Completely,” the pained “Luv (sic),” the moody “Springtime In Vienna,” and the introspective (and rowdy) “My Music At Work.”
I really enjoyed the stage presence of lead singer, Gordon Downie. He was very animated throughout the concert, and at times his dance movements reminded me of David Byrne or Michael Stipe. While strumming his guitar during the beautiful instrumental section of one of my favorite songs “Bobcaygeon,” he was mouthing the chords and giving the audience looks of encouragement, as if he was teaching us how to play it.
In addition to “Bobcaygeon,” another highlight of the show for me was when the band played “Grace, Too” from their 1995 album, Day For Night. After an extended jam, the song ended with Gordon quoting Springsteen as he sang. A very nice touch.
Put your makeup on,
fix your hair up pretty,
and meet me tonight,
In Atlantic City…
The crowd very much appreciated songs from the band’s back catalog, especially “At The Hundredth Meridian” and “New Orleans Is Sinking,” a now seemingly prophetic song from their 1989 release, Up To Here.
According to the website Setlist.fm, Tragically Hip has been playing different cover tunes during the encores of shows on their latest tour. Last night’s cover ended up being the biggest surprise of the evening for me. Gordon introduced the song as one “from the book of John, Paul, George, and Ringo, that we just learned this morning.” The band then launched into a searing version of “Come Together.”
With Tragically Hip’s show last night, the only tragic thing apparent to me was the vacant portion of the theater.