Tragically Not Hip

Last Friday evening Hubby and I ventured out to see a band at House of Blues. The band was Tragically Hip, a hugely popular Canadian band that has been around for more than 20 years. Tragically, the band's popularity has failed to resonate beyond Canada's borders, but Friday's concert highlighted the possible reasons for the band remaining in cult status in the US. Those in attendance at House of Blues that night appeared to either be a) Canadians who had flown into Dallas just for the concert, or b) Canadian expats living in Dallas/Northern Texas. The opening band was from Halifax with such a banal name that I cannot remember it -- some emergency band. They were...quirky. The Tragically Hip bandmembers are starting to show their ages much as many of their fans are. Gord Downie, lead singer, wasted valuable stage time playing with the microphone stand. That's part of my life (that I'll never get back) wasted watching his feeble ploy at theatrics. By the end of the show I was seriously thinking about asking for part of our ticket price back for the time spent viewing him dancing around the stage with a hanky and his silly microphone theatrics. Either he doesn't really give a damn anymore or more seriously, he's losing his voice and this is his attempt at filling up the allotted stage time by f***ing around onstage. I would be more forgiving if they had played more popular songs instead of pulling out b-sides. To top it off, for the encore they played 'New Orleans is Sinking' and then two obscure songs I didn't recognize. Isn't an encore a time to give the audience what they want, namely your biggest and most popular songs. After this concert I finally realized why the Canadian band Nickelback is so popular in the US: because they play short, catchy, radio-friendly tunes with generic lyrics that anyone can relate to. Maybe they are not the most eloquent but they did play a stadium here in August and get a great deal of radio time (whether we like it or not), while the Tragically Hip could not sell out House of Blues. Perhaps Gord and the boys are happy and settled in their place as a cult Canadian band. But, if you want to tour the US, at least advertise, set up some media interviews, and try to get on a radio station. Make an effort.