Fans bid Hip farewell, but is it the end?
Fervent fans bid farewell at legendary Canadian band’s ‘final’ hometown gig
“No dress rehearsal, this is our life.”
The Tragically Hip’s long goodbye to Canada has finally come to an emotional, historic end. Or has it? The Hip, who’ve been touring across Canada since late July when their 15-date Man Machine Poem tour launched in Victoria, have never said this is the band’s last tour ever, but given lead singer Gord Downie’s terminal brain cancer diagnosis, we’ve all assumed it was.
However, guitarist Rob Baker offered up a ray of hope last week when he responded to this Twitter post: “Nothing would make me happier than @thehipdotcom/@tthbaker dropping a ‘we never said anything about this being the end’ bomb in Kingston.”
Baker replied on his Twitter account: “We’ve never said anything about it.”
And TSN’s Bob McKenzie tweeted Saturday Downie has “an intriguing solo project that will happen in the next couple of months.”
Whatever the future, The Hip finally came home Saturday to play to an intimate crowd, relatively speaking, of about 6,700 (including Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who previously tweeted “Gord Downie is a true original who has been writing Canada’s soundtrack for more than 30 years. #Courage”) at Kingston’s Rogers K-Rock Centre while outside thousands gathered in Springer Market Square where a large LED screen had been set up.
The group kicked off its performance — preceded by a spontaneous rendition of O Canada, waving of large Canadian flags and chants of “Hip! Hip! Hip!” or “Gord! Gord! Gord!” — with fan favourites Fifty-Mission Cap, Courage, Wheat Kings and At The Hundredth Meridian.
Decked out in a silver metallic leather suit, taupe hat with feathers and his now famous Jaws T-shirt (some people in the crowd had their own version of Downie’s ensemble), the singer seemed to forget a few words to Courage, but no one seemed to care.
“The prime minister’s got me,” were Downie’s first spoken words of the night a bit later in the set. “His work with First Nations. He’s going to take us everywhere.”
The same could have been said about Downie and The Hip.
By song No. 5, the band delved into new material from its latest album Man Machine Poem with In A World Possessed By The Human Mind, followed by What Blue, Tired as F--k and Machine.
But it was The Hip’s return to the stage after a brief video display that set the crowd off again as Downie reappeared in a hotpink metallic leather ensemble and black hat with feathers for My Music At Work, Lake Fever, Toronto #4, Putting Down, Twist My Arm, Three Pistols and the super-emotional Fiddler’s Green.
At one point, Downie joked about his scarf being “two tube socks tied together” and that it only took him “28 years to figure out” he needed to keep his voice warm.
“Thanks for pushing me!” he said.
But it was the barnburner Little Bones that everyone went nuts for and — after a third outfit change into a colour-flecked silver suit — Poets.
The first encore, which began after Downie hugged and kissed his bandmates and told the crowd they were glad to be back in Kingston, started with another crowd favourite New Orleans is Sinking followed by Blow At High Dough.
The much-anticipated performance was broadcast across the country on CBC’s various platforms with 420 community viewing events confirmed as of Friday. Just think about it. A big portion of the country watching a homegrown group — Downie, Baker, guitarist Paul Langlois, bassist Gord Sinclair and drummer Johnny Fay — together on a small stage, quite possibly playing its last show together.
It just seemed right: The Hip — with Downie, in his current dandy phase — at home while we all watched.
“Canada’s band” — as the group, formed in Kingston in 1984, was coined after 30-plus years and 14 studio albums of writing about small towns and hockey heroes all the while delivering blistering bluesy rock shows led by the always unpredictable Downie — deserved no less.