The Tragically Hip: August 1, 1996
San Luis Obispo, CA - The Forum on Marsh
support: The Borrowers

Main Set:
Grace, Too
Gift Shop
Fully Completely
El Dorado
Coconut Cream
Nautical Disaster
100th Meridian
Springtime in Vienna
Ahead By A Century
Locked in the Trunk of a Car
Put It Off
700 Ft Ceiling
Fire in the Hole

Inevitability of Death
Butts Wigglin'
New Orleans Is Sinking

Notes: My first Tragically Hip show. They fill stadiums in their home country of Canada, but we saw them in a place the size of a banquet hall with maybe 150 people, max.  We were right up front, the stage was less than 2 feet off the ground with no barrier.  I ended up with a small line marked on my jeans from where it rubbed up against one of the guitarist's monitors. It was a fantastic show and they played a lot of my favorite songs.

Here is a journal entry I wrote shortly after the show happened:

I found out about this show a week prior to it via their emailing list. It just so happened that my family and I would be vacationing in Cambria July 29-August 1... We typically stay at this tacky house in Cambria and then go through SLO the last day on the way home so I can go to this record store there that has cool stuff. kind of sucked though because we'd be going home the day that they place to stay unless we got a hotel and my parents weren't going to pay for it since they'd paid for the house and meals and all that. fair enough. But they were playing the Hip on the radio... (an odd thing for California)...and I caught a blurb about the show in a local entertainment paper...and it was really getting to me that I was going to miss them. I kept making whining sounds every time I heard a Hip song....heh.

So...Thursday we go thru SLO, just at least to see the venue, and I decided to withdraw $100 from my wimpy bank account to pay for a hotel room for the family, and for tickets to see the Hip, which were only $10. It was only such a tough decision because I had been saving my money like a scrooge in hope that I could afford to go see Pearl Jam on the East Coast. My financial situation is so tight, that by spending this $100 that would virtually assure that the PJ trip was NOT going to happen. But I was afraid of skipping the Hip and still ending up not having enough for PJ. So, I went for the Hip. I've been into them for about a year and a half...never seen them live, have wanted to very much... Pearl Jam: seen 'em 3 times already and I've heard they *might* come back to California in the I can catch them again then...who knows when I will get another chance to see the Hip...

The place was fucking tiny. If you took the size of our house and mooshed it into a square, it was about that big, and we do not have a big house. Maybe you could fit 250 people in there, and it was far from sold out, so my estimate is that there was between 150-200 people present. First band was the Borrowers, from LA, and they were good but the crowd was timid. After they were done my sister and I moved right up next to the stage. I was directly in front of Rob Baker, (lead guitar) I actually have this faint line on my jeans above my knee from where it rubbed against the top of his monitor. hahahaha Oh yes...that's another thing, no barrier in front of the stage, which was only about 18" off the floor. And security just stood at the corners, no one was between the crowd and the band. I could've easily touched Baker or Gord Sinclair (bassist). Julia was to my left, by the way. Neither of us could fucking believe we were actually seeing The Tragically fuckin Hip. hahaha. I was not able to grab an actual setlist but I copied it down from the setlist they taped to the floor.

I felt lame for not knowing ALL of the songs by heart, but I did know more than most people. There was a sizable Canadian/REAL Hip fan contingent, and that made me happy. I was afraid they were going to come into this college town where no one knew them and just have a sucky show...but they didn't. It didn't sell out...but there were enough people there to make it cool. And lots of them really knew the Hip...which was nice. It was rockin...Gordie (Downie, the lead vocalist/nutty, charismatic dude) was funny...the band was great...the tunes were wicked, I had mucho fun, my ears are still ringing and I only have about $50 to my name... but it was SO worth it. Now though when I listen to the albums I want to hear stuff as exciting as the show and it's not happening! grr! I need bootlegs.... actually I need another Hip show!

(August 1996)


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