With the Tragically Hip in town, last night was no ordinary night at Centennial Hall.

Typically, the band sells out 30,000- seat venues, but yesterday, 1,500 fans got a chance to get up close and personal with Gord Downie and company.

"This is a great thing for them to do," said Bill Cochrane of the band's decision to give the proceeds from its surprise tour of to charity.

Thirty minutes before the Tragically Hip hit the stage, a packed house was already emitting a steady chorus of screams and chants of "Hip! Hip! Hip!" amid the haze of smoke which hung over the normally sedate room.

With all the floor seats removed, the crowd crushed to the front, swaying back and forth and tossing a couple of inflated killer whales across the hall.

Toward the back, Hip veterans chatted amiably with security, trading stories in between trips to the bar.

"They rock," said Robyn Tindale simply.

This was her fifth time seeing the Hip and she showed no signs of tiring of the band

"It's like a party every time," she explained. "It's more than a concert. Every single time it's different."

"Have you seen them before?" Cochrane asked me by way of explaining why he was back after seeing the band 10 times already.

"Then you know why I'm here."

The tightly controlled orchestration of the tour, which ends with a show at Centennial Hall tonight, and the band's charity work, say a lot about how the Hip works.

Releasing its self-titled debut E.P. in 1987, the band achieved national notoriety with 1989's Up To Here.

Since then, the Hip has released five albums, selling more than half-a-million copies of the last four.

As the Hip has gained popularity, the members have become adamant about controlling their careers and dictating the terms of their success.

In 1993, the Hip embarked on the first Another Roadside Attraction, a multi-band national tour with half-a-dozen hand-picked bands. After the success in 1993, the Hip hosted two more in 1995 and 1997.

In 1995, the members built their own recording studio, allowing them to control every aspect of the recording process, and produced 1996's Trouble at the Henhouse themselves.

With the release of Phantom Power, the band is taking more control of its marketing as well, with Downie directing the video for the first single, Poets.

But as any fan will tell you, the Hip is about its live show. When the band hit the stage, it immediately reaffirmed its reputation as one of the country's best live acts.

Opening with three songs from its upcoming album, Phantom Power, it immediately turned the crowd into one pulsing mass.

During the bridge of the first song, Downie was shaking and twitching wildly, already into one of his trademark improvised rants, as the band extended the song, jamming.

Four songs in, the Hip launched into the first of its older material, Grace Too from the 1994 album Day For Night and the members clearly had the crowd at their mercy.

Twice, the song built to a climactic chorus, driving the crowd into a frenzy of churning bodies, before the band stripped the song down, holding the audience at bay.

Up front, security calmly monitored the proceedings, hauling crowd surfers out when they got into trouble and ushering them behind the guardrail on their way to the back of the crowd.

About halfway through, one of the guards shook his head and laughed as he watched a woman stealthfully remove her bra from under her shirt and throw it onstage towards Downie.

Wisely, he realized that there are times you just have to go with the crowd.

"The hardest part is when you get a kick in the head," he said.