Live And In The Flesh
The Tragically Hip - April 14, 2015
What better way to celebrate my 30th birthday than with a Tragically Hip concert! The band was out on the road playing one of my favourite albums, Fully Completely, in its entirety. Not only did the show land on my birthday, but they were playing in their hometown of Kingston, at the K-Rock Centre down on The Tragically Hip Way. How could I miss it?! Luckily enough I was able to buy some floor seats before their highly anticipated homecoming had sold out, and I couldn't have been anymore excited about the show.
The show had landed on a Tuesday night, so we made our way into the city after work that day and were quickly able to find some parking downtown close to the arena. It wasn't long before we settled into the Dragon's Lair down the street for some dinner and pre-drinks before showtime as we had some time to kill. Seeing as how we had seats for the show, there wasn't really a need to be getting in line to make our way into the venue too early. By the time we were finished up at the pub, we were all primed up and ready to go!
We entered the K-Rock Centre and they had a photo booth set up where fans could place their head through a hole that would help replicate the Fully Completely album artwork, so we had to make sure we took part in that before heading over to the merch booth to pick up some memorabilia. I scoped everything out and decided that I would only be picking up a poster, and seeing as how they weren't a limited run, I had no worries of them selling out.
We headed in to find our seats and were pleasantly surprised to find out that we were dead center to the stage, and were the first row in our section. With plenty of legroom, and no one sitting directly in front of us, we had a fantastic view of everything. I was surprised to find out that there wasn't an opener for the night, and that it would just be a night out with The Tragically Hip. We chatted it up with the two guys in the seats beside and found out that they had flown in from Alberta for the show, and coincidentally, knew my dad! The wait seemed to go on a little longer than we had anticipated, but when the lights went out and the band took the stage we were ready! I had avoided checking out any setlists prior to the show from other night's on the tour, as I wanted the show to be a complete surprise. I wasn't sure how they were going to get things fired up, but I knew they would be working Fully Completely into the set at some point. The Hip fired things up with Grace, Too, the only track that would be showcased from their Day for Night album throughout the entire show. The crowd was loving every minute of the show already, and the night had just begun. They quickly touched on a few of their other albums with My Music at Work, In View, Ahead by a Century, and New Orleans is Sinking before breaking into their Fully Completely set. It was a bit surprising that they didn't start things off with the album, but it was a nice touch starting things off with some unexpected tracks.
Courage (for Hugh MacLennan) got things going and those in attendance knew we were in for a treat. One track after the next, they worked through the entire album and I was loving it! I don't think that album could be anymore solid, as every single song was fantastic to hear live. Locked in the Trunk of a Car was the highlight for me, as I have always loved hearing that song on the radio growing up. By the time Eldorado finished the Fully Completely set off, we were all blown away. Gord didn't really have much to say to the hometown crowd, which seemed a bit strange, but nonetheless they put on a solid show. They made their way off the stage to the cheers of fans encouraging an encore. It was hard to believe that they could add anything extra to the already amazing seventeen song setlist, but they did!
The Tragically Hip made their way back out onto the stage to play a few more tracks from their other albums. Starting things off with one of their newer tracks from Now for Plan A, At Transformation, and diving back into some of their older cuts after that. Twist My Arm and Fiddler's Green from Road Apples, which were both amazing, and finishing the night off with Poets (Phantom Power) and Blow at High Dough (Up to Here). We couldn't have asked for a better night out with The Hip! The twenty-two song set highlighting the talent that spanned throughout their thirty years of making music, perfectly fit with my thirtieth birthday celebration. This wasn't my first outing with The Hip, and it certainly won't be my last!