Fully and Completely 2015 North American Tour
Scotiabank Saddledome, Calgary, 2015
The Tragically Hip’s Fully and Completely 2015 North American Tour brought a healthy dosage of nostalgia to Calgary at the Scotiabank Saddledome. I attended this concert with my concert buddy on Monday, February 9, and it was a pretty full house considering the day of the week. First, I must declare that I am not really a fan of the Hip, unlike many in the audience (judging by the excitement and the Hip tees they were wearing as a uniform). In the rock genre, my preferences are indie rock, art rock, and maybe even the post-punk revival. Some of the bands that I like are Franz Ferdinand, Vampire Weekend, Death Cab for Cutie, and Arcade Fire, just to name a few. And the closest one to main-stream (and Canadian) rock that I like is the Sam Roberts Band. With that said, I attended this concert with a completely open mind, not knowing if I would like it or not. But of course, I was aware that the Hip is the gold standard of Canadian rock music, and they have produced many hits such as Ahead by a Century and New Orleans is Sinking. So, other than fulfilling my concert report for the rock history music class, I also saw this as an opportunity to experience Canadian rock music live.The opening act for The Hip was Brendan Canning (a founding member of the Broken Social Scene, whose music I really like) DJing his own playlist, which included a variety of genres from reggae to indie rock, chill, electronic, and more. I really enjoyed his playlist and thumbs-up to his great taste in music. For a fun and hilarious video of Brendan DJing https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RHlfn3H16J0
Moving on to the first set of The Hip, which started off with Grace, Too, then At Transformation, followed by great hits Ahead by a Century and New Orleans is Sinking, and finished with My Music at Work. My impression of the first set was that the Hip was not playing as tight as I would have expected from a veteran rock band, and that the sound was kind of mediocre even for the fan favorites New Orleans is Sinking and Ahead by a Century. Regardless of the slow start of the first set, it was well-received by The Hip’s fans and they sung along enthusiastically.
The Hip picked up the pace in the second set (the Fully Completely set), and played more tightly and energetically, noticeably starting with At the Hundredth Meridian. Lead vocalist Gordon Downie delivered a great performance and so did the band with the instrumental sections.
One of the highlights of the night was Locked in the Trunk of the Car. Although it is in many ways a classic rock song with a four-four beat and solo guitar breaks, it gains depth from the emotionally-charged delivery of the dark and intricate lyrics by Downie. It is a very dark song, but I think the lyrics really work with the music. Although I could not fully catch all the lyrics at the time, I was intrigued to look them up later. The song mentions “Conquistadors,” or conquerors in Spanish, specifically referring to the leaders in the Spanish conquest of Mexico and Peru in the 16th century. I interpreted the lyrics as drawing similarities between the cold-blooded serial killers in modern days with the bloodshed and violence of the Spanish conquest. The lyrics are in the first person narrative, the murderer: “Then, I found a place it’s dark and it’s rotted / It’s a cool, sweet kinda place / Where the copters won’t spot it / And I destroyed the map that I’d carefully dotted, / However, everyday I’m dumping the body”. The song ends with “It’d be better for us if you don’t understand / It’d be better for us if you don’t understand / It’d be better for me if you don’t understand / Let me out / Let me out”, suggesting the murderer prefers his/her intention not to be understood by anyone (for their own good?); however, the murderer is also trapped in his/her horrific memory of taking their victims’ life. Downie delivered the song in a calm and indifferent tone at the beginning as if telling the story of someone else. He then expressed the song much forcefully, gradually building up the emotion, and ending with despair and hopelessness. Downie and his band performed it masterfully, their spare instrumentation of two guitars, bass and drums creating a haunting moment.
The Hip played five songs in their encore act, which was generous compared to some of the concerts I’ve been to. Surprisingly, my favorite song from this set was Boots or Hearts. “Surprising” because I am not a country music fan, and I do not really listen to country with only a very few exceptions. But Boots or Hearts‘s music style is clearly influenced by country music, from the strumming of the guitars to the lyrics of a bitter-sweet breakup of a drifting couple. I find Boots or Hearts incredibly cute as a breakup song; it has a snappy beat, and I just cannot resist the lyrics of “Fingers and toes, fingers and toes / forty things we share / Forty-one if you include / The fact that we don’t care”. The Hip is clever not only with their song-writing but also lyrically. The pumped-up crowd really loved the Boots or Hearts and it created another great sing-along moment.
Overall, I think the Hip put up a great performance, especially in the power-charged second set. You could tell the five-piece band with lead vocal and lyricist Gord Downie, guitarists Paul Langlois and Rob Baker, with the rhythm section of bassist Gord Sinclair and drummer Johnny Fay, have played together for more than three decades. Downie sung in a unique vocal style – at times it sounded like indifferent mumbling, and other times he was shouting with feelings and emotions (he also showed some unique dance moves which were like gliding and jerking around the stage). Lead guitarist Rob Baker delivered many high-powered guitar solo sections, especially during the second set of the concert. Langlois’ guitar style provided a great accompaniment to Baker’s solos, with interesting chords, solid rhythms and finger-style arpeggios. For the most part both guitarists kept tight control on the volume knob of their amplifiers, only letting loose with some distortion a couple of times towards the end of the show. There is no doubt that The Hip is a guitar band, and these two musicians produced a great noise.
Tragically Hip Concert 2015 at Saddle Dome, Calgary
My final verdict is that The Hip fulfilled their fans’ expectations. The show resonated with the nostalgic sound and feelings of fans who’ve been with them since the 80s, all skillfully delivered by the veteran rock band. Although I cannot identify with those feelings, I found the concert entertaining in general. That said, most of the songs were from the 90s or earlier with only a few from their 2006 and 2012 albums. I, however, would like to hear them play their newer music from their more recent albums other than the fans’ favorites. As for the stage decoration, it was very standard with the kind of lighting that one would expect from a rock concert. The projected images on the screens lacked creativity and originality. I would say that there was little effort put into the stage design. But then I believe most Hip fans were fully and completely satisfied with the hour and forty-five minute long concert jam packed with their favorites.
For a complete setlist The Tragically Hip Setlist at Scotiabank Saddledome, Calgary, AB, Canada
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