EDMONTON -- Some of the most dreaded words in the English language are: "OK, we're going to do one from our new album now."

Thirteen ones from the new album might be too terrible to comprehend - but I bet no one lucky enough to attend the Tragically Hip's show at the New City Likwid Lounge last night would ever admit it.

Quite the contrary. Manna from heaven was more like it. How cool is it that 500 Edmonton fans are among the first on the planet to hear the band's new album, In Between Evolution, in its entirety - live? Pretty cool indeed. The Hip plays bar shows in Calgary tonight, Vancouver on Friday and Toronto next Tuesday, the day the record comes out.

Despite the fact that various old bones thrown into the crowd drew the biggest response last night - you could tell they were old favourites because fans shouted along to every word - the lucky 500 are certainly not going to look this particular gift horse in the mouth. Especially that guy who dressed like a Viking to win tickets in a Bear radio station publicity stunt: The "Hip Parade." I was told one guy streaked nine blocks down Jasper Avenue in an effort to be the most outrageous float in the parade, yet even he didn't win - just to give you an idea of how far Hip fans are willing to go.

So there is no way in hell the Tragically Hip could possibly let these good people down. And they didn't, for the most part.

In close quarters where you could see the sweat fly from Gord Downie's bald head from just about anywhere in the room - getting some on you if you were close enough - the band ripped through a set of new material sprinkled with the odd oldie. The performances were solid. These guys didn't come this far by winning Canadian Idol or anything. They do know how to put on a rock 'n' roll show. Mistakes were of no consequence. Downie appeared to forget the words to the newest single, Summer is Killing Us, and bade the band start again. No one cared. The fans screamed themselves hoarse with delight. The band seemed just as at home on the bar stage as they are in hockey arenas for crowds 30 times the size. Sound quality did not show any improvement, alas, but this was a minor annoyance.

Frequently thanking the crowd for their kind indulgence with this paid rehearsal of unproven material - "hey, no problem," was the general feeling - Downie was at his best when he wasn't playing his acoustic guitar. In such songs as Courage, he was in fine form with the twitchy rabble rouser routine for which he's famous. His eccentric gesticulations and facial contortions are always a joy to watch - but it all stops when he puts on the guitar. Why he hobbles himself with it is beyond me. You couldn't hear the damned thing anyway. Bobby Baker and Paul Langlois have the six-string end of things well covered, don't they? Then again, to paraphrase the Hip lyric: don't tell the poets what to do! Matt Good - playing tonight at the Starlite Room - said something similar (and I only bring him up because both bands were out bowling at Red's on Sunday night).

As these unfamiliar tunes whose hooks have yet to penetrate my brain roared through the bar last night, I thought about the dynamic between rock bands and rock fans. At what point does a band's self-indulgence affect their popularity? Would you have to go as far as Lou Reed did on Metal Machine Music? Where do you draw the line? It might be wrong to "tell the artist what to do" - actually, producers do it all the time - but fans are also giving their time when attending a concert. Don't fans have the right to get what they want? On the other hand, isn't it the duty of such a smart and forward thinking rock band like the Tragically Hip to educate their fans, to expand their minds? Conversely, don't true fans in some way acquire ownership of familiar songs that speak to their very souls?

Not that this is an excuse for illegal downloading or anything. These are rhetorical questions.

So the Hip wants to hammer out some new tunes in some sweaty bars. More power to them. Some fans are willing to run naked down Jasper Avenue to see it. It all works out in the end.