When you think of people gathered around talking about Canadian music, the Tragically Hip is fairly safe bet to be brought up somewhere in that conversation.
Summer will always bring back memories of the Tragically Hip for many of us proud Canadian’s. Whether you were out with friends at a local bar or at a cottage singing around the campfire, surrounded by your friends and family, we all can say we have flash backs of great times and special moments shared with the lyrics of the legendary rock band, the Hip.
Fans across Canada, have been anxiously waiting with anticipation for the sold out – three shows, for the Man Machine Poem Tour for the Hip to arrive.
But none of us ever thought this day would ever come in our lifetime that there might be a summer without the Hip playing at they’re second home, the Air Canada Centre, in Toronto. If you are anything like me, you feel a part of this band, a part of the story of a young man and his journey in life. For every moment he has lived, you could follow it on a map, like a life-long road trip we have all been on together because there was a song written about those moments to bring us right along with him for the ride.
Gord Downie made all teenagers want to learn everything about the places and lyrics he sang about.
There is no question to the reasons Canadian’s connect with the lyrics of the Hip and the man himself.
As the band set to play it’s final show’s of the Man Machine Poem Tour that mean’s so much to so many of us, the thought of this being possibly the last time to see Gord Downie, the man being hailed as Canada’s unofficial poet laureate, was hard to take.
Let’s take a closer look at why the songs of the Hip are embedded in the minds of this country’s history of some of the best songs ever written and the reasons the lyrics feel completely Canadian – whether by the Hip, Blue Rodeo, Gordon Lightfoot, Stompin ‘Tom or other great writers, they all have something similar in the chord that hits home for most Canadian music fans. One of the ways to get fans singing your tunes might have something to do with lyrics surrounding geography – the maple leaf symbol. All these artists did this well taking they’re songs to the top of the charts, but its much more then a mention of a place on a map.
For a geographical reference to capture hearts and stir up genuine feelings belonging to a time or place, the lyrics must combine genre, sound, lyric and experience. Naming a place doesn’t say, “that’s Canadian.” There has to be storytelling, a matter or point of issue that others have experienced that take those lyrics right into the hearts of many who can relate to tap into that reservoir of feelings in a Canadian listener that other songs can’t do.
When I spoke to fans outside the Air Canada Centre, in Toronto, on August 10
th, the most anticipated song they wanted to hear was, ‘Wheat Kings,” a song that contains all the ingredients of storytelling, theme and lyrics that have placed this song in our hearts forever. It’s what the Hip does so well is storytelling, leaving them in a league of the very best in music history, like Bruce Springsteen or Bob Dylan to name a few.
Another favorite of mine is “the Paris of the Prairies” setting up for a much larger story about the wrongful imprisonment of David Milgaard. Many Canadian’s only know about Milgaard through this song but the success of the lyrics is the simple connection of a Canadian story that wouldn’t exist if it were set somewhere else.
The sound of the loon and the quietness of the musical arrangement in the opening of the song, gives you that sense of tall grass and vast open spaces, the feeling of the prairies.
There were so many moments throughout the night that many of us will never forget. It was a night both hard and incredible at the same time, one that was filled with emotionally charged memories shared by all.
Gord Downie and the Hip Man Machine Poem Tour August 10, 2016 at the Air Canada Centre, Toronto ON
Photo Credits Kim Cyr KCM-Live.com Copyrights Subject to Apply. You can order this photo
The Hip played seven mini-sets, each touching on an album from their deep back catalogue. Third song, the seriousness of the Fiddler’s Green, quickly became a celebration, and the gathered devoted fans lit up the arena with phones and lighters.
Picturesque scenes of classic Canadian landscapes played on a big screen during Lake Fever, as an outstanding part of the set. There were signs of Downie’s disease when he pointed as his head as he sang “And I’m starting to fail to know what’s best.” He had stumbled at one point and quickly recovered his balance winking at the fans in the audience. He had forgotten words in parts but none of that matter as the crowd rallied around him along with the band members carrying parts of the vocals for him.
Set list The Luxury
Little Bones
Fiddler's Green
Three Pistols
In a World Possessed by the Human Mind
Tired as Fuck
What Blue
Machine
Intermission
My Music at Work
Lake Fever
Toronto #4
Putting Down
Gift Shop
Springtime in Vienna
Intermission
Ahead by a Century
Fully Completely
At the Hundredth Meridian
Wheat Kings
Fifty-Mission Cap
Encore: Grace, Too
So Hard Done By
Nautical Disaster
(Tour debut)
Encore 2: Bobcaygeon
Poets
Gord Downie and the Hip Man Machine Poem Tour August 10, 2016 at the Air Canada Centre, Toronto ON
Photo Credits Kim Cyr KCM-Live.com Copyrights Subject to Apply. You can order this photo
Nautical Disaster (played for the first time on this tour) with the band members, Bobby Baker, Gord Sinclair, Paul Langlois and Johnny Fay, surrounded Downie sharing affectionate support before they left him alone on the stage. We could only hope that Gord Downie could feel the warmth and love of 20,000 arms around him as his closet friends forever. His eyes would well up, as he looked right out into the crowd of fans with the emotions we were all feeling with him.
Everyone stood proud, cheered loud and clapped for a man we have all grown to know, love and admire.
It was a night of celebration, adoration, and affection for the life of the charismatic front man – Gord Downie as he took his bow, both sad and victorious at the same time, one of a few heavier moments of the night.
The Hip opened with ‘The Luxury” and ended with “Poets,” leaving the fans cheering for more.
Gord Downie has so much to be proud of as he gave the fans exactly what he always has, “an outstanding performance,” prancing around the stage in his glittery outfit and hat, to winking right into the souls of us all.
The Hip put on a breath taking and electric live performance to a packed house, at the Air Canada Centre. It became an experience not a concert. The fans will carry this experience in their hearts as one of the best memories of times shared together with those that stood around one another in the concert hall.
Even though everyone in the seats above and below you, were people you didn’t know personally, we all felt like friends, somehow brought together for a greater cause. Those moments will remain one of the best in our lives that we can share in our storytelling, of a great man we all know and love, someone who changed our lives forever. The stories of summers and music spent over a span of over 30 years of Hip music and lyrics will carry on. I know that these stories will never rest.
Since the late breaking story on the CBC, A nation whispers, “We always knew that he’d go free,” the country has gathered around in such love and idolization.
Gord Downie and the Hip Man Machine Poem Tour August 10, 2016 at the Air Canada Centre, Toronto ON
Photo Credits Kim Cyr KCM-Live.com Copyrights Subject to Apply. You can order this photo
The Mayor John Tory proclaims August 10 ‘Tragically Hip” Day in Toronto.
In the official proclamation, Tory states, “Although The Hip will be playing their last Toronto shows, their iconic music will continue to make its mark on Toronto's musical and cultural scene.”
For those lucky enough to attend the shows on August 10, 12 and 14, Tory also mentions a tribute booth outside the ACC’s Gate 6, where fans can record 30-second video messages of their favorite Hip story.
And, whether or not you have tickets, be sure to stop by the fan fundraiser for the Gord Downie Fund for Brain Cancer Research taking place at the Firkin on Harbour before each concert.
While Tory calls this week’s Hip concerts “their last Toronto shows,” one Toronto city councilor is hoping that all the local fans will be able to experience the band once more together in late August - at least on screen. Mike Layton wants the band’s Kingston concert, which will be broadcasted by CBC, shared in a large public space like Nathan Phillips Square, Yonge-Dundas Square, David Pecaut Square or Mel Lastman Square.
“I don’t know about you, but Hip songs have been the soundtrack to a good portion of my life,” Layton said in an earlier interview. “There will be those who want to celebrate it in solitude in front of their TVs but I think others will want to celebrate this together.”
For Layton, whose father, Jack, died of cancer, the news hits close to home.
“I think it’s so special that in a time when he's going through such a personal struggle – and I know there’s a family struggle going on there, too, right – for him to be so dedicated to his music and fans to go ahead and say I’m going on tour.”
“I think it’s so special that in a time when he's going through such a personal struggle – and I know there’s a family struggle going on there, too, right – for him to be so dedicated to his music and fans to go ahead and say I’m going on tour.”
Whether we are around the TV or gathered together in celebration, we will all be connected to Gord Downie and the Hip, on August 20, 2016.
Written by Kim Cyr
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