Red Deer, AB |
The Centrium
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Day 7: Video report
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Day 7: Red Deer Concert Review
REVIEW BY: DARRELL PENNER
The Centrium, Red Deer, AB
Friday, November 24, 2000
"If you have a job you love, you never have to work a day in your
life". And if your job is making 'Music @ Work'....well, it doesn't get any
better than that!
The Tragically Hip showed their fans how much they love their job....they
rocked the house for 150 minutes solid, and proved yet again why the
deserve the title as 'Canada's Best Band'. The guitar work of Paul
Langlois and Rob Baker, Gord Sinclair's bass, and Johnny Fay's tireless
drumming painted a lush background. Gordon Downie would then come along
and add his finishing touches to create a masterpiece. His vocal quality,
poetic lyrics, and trademark rants were, as always, exquisite. Whether it
was subtle banana shaking or extravagant gyrations, Gord demanded your
attention! You just did not know what to expect! The biggest surprise for
me was that his head did not snap clean off during one of these
exhibitions. (I used to be that flexible once.....when I was a baby!)
Chris Brown on keyboards and Kate Fenner on backing vocals are an excellent
addition, (hint: don't miss 'Flamenco')
The show began with 'Music @ Work' and the boys did not disappoint by
playing lots of old faves like 'Fully Completely', '100th Meridian' and
'Ahead by a Century'. The first set finished with 'Nautical Disaster' and
'Tiger the Lion', complimented by a great light show.
'Wheat Kings' opened the second set, and the band kept up the energy
through 'Lake Fever', 'Fireworks' and 12 others, including 'New Orleans' to
finish off. The encore was 'Save the Planet', 'Let's Stay Engaged' and
finally 'Blow at High Dough'.
There have been several criticisms about Canada's lack of culture. Those
critics have obviously never seen The Hip live! This show was the
penultimate display of what Canada is! No flashy stage, no distracting
jumbo screens, skip the scantily clad eye candy; just straight ahead, hard
drivin' rock 'n roll. If you don't think the crowd appreciated it, then
you didn't hear the 5,500 back-up singers joining in on almost every song!
Yeah, I do remember that goal in '72, and the excitement and then
disappointment of Ben Johnson in '88, shocking the Yankees on their track
in '96, the Blue Jays World Series, and recently Simon Whitfield in
Sydney. Well, add another one....being a part of this Hip experience!
Concert Photos
Winning Entry
The other day was driving to work with 'Live Between Us' cranked up in the CD player.
I know most of the words to all the songs and was singing along.
I'm 41 years old, but I started crying because the music moved me so much...the passion that Gord and the guys have for their music, their home, their fans. You want someone behind the camera with the same passion and patriotism....and that's me.
My name is Darrell, and I AM CANADIAN!
-- Darrell Penner
The Tragically Hip thanks the following organizations for helping them with this project:
CANOE.CA, for hosting the contest and tour site.
www.henrys.com for supplying the Panasonic Digital Video camera.
Bootleg Networks, for video editing and encoding.
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