A couple of days removed from heaven at Fort York, it's time for a little perspective. Up To Here was, without a doubt, The Tragically Hip's breakout in this country. It got plenty of airplay, sold plenty of copies (1,250,000 at last count) and blew me away. Along with stellar tracks like "Blow At High Dough" and "New Orleans Is Sinking", there was a bittersweet little number called "38 Years Old".
When I would listen to Up To Here, which I did hundreds and hundreds of times, "38 Years Old" always rang out as one of my favourites. Sometimes I'd rank it as high as #1. When I wrote Gord in November of 2004 prior to a show at the ACC, I begged him to play "38 Years Old", unaware that it hadn't been played in over a decade but well aware that I had never heard it live. Amongst diehards, "38 Years Old" is the holy grail.
On Saturday night, Gord blessed 6000 of us with the Hip's first performance of "38 Years Old" since July 24, 1993. That's almost thirteen years ago. That's incredible.
It's amazing what a little perspective does to an occurrence like this. Some feel the band presented this particular setlist to their loyal fans as a gift of appreciation. The band would have been well aware the bulk of the tickets were sold during the club member pre-sale and in tune with what their true fans want, the Hip delivered. I like this theory and I choose to believe it. How else can you explain "38 Years Old"?
