The Hip played their last Toronto concert last night, with 3 more to go on this tour, which is likely their last due to singer Gord Downie's incurable brain cancer. This has been referenced in the ticket scalping thread as the country was outraged that bots scooped up most tix within 5 minutes, and posted them on resale sites at extortionate prices within 10 minutes. When additional seats were later released, I was able to get one mid-rafters seat slightly behind the stage, which gave me an angel's view of Gord et al last night.

I've been a big fan of The Hip's studio work for years but had never seen them live - viewing a concert film several years ago, Gord seemed distractively quirky, so I never bothered. But I had to go, to say thanks, to say goodbye.

I don't think I've ever experienced anything like it, and I go to a good number and variety of gigs. The energy, the love, and the music. When they opened with Blow At High Dough the arena erupted and everyone was singing. Many songs I had never heard before, likely from the new album, but classics like New Orleans Is Sinking, Boots And Hearts (...like boots and hearts, when it starts, it really falls apart...), Poets, Little Bones and Ahead By A Century had the place lit up like the first of July*. When they ended the encore with Bobcaygeon I was in tears and thought they had ended the show with my favourite Hip song, and the best line they ever wrote (It was in Bobcaygeon I saw the constellations reveal themselves one star at a time) but there was a second encore, and they ended with Grace Too.

It was a beautiful show, and remarkably free of arseholes**. The last one, in Kingston on Saturday, is being aired live on the CBC. If there's anything else going on in the world that night, Canada won't know about it - we'll all be watching.

Thanks Gord, thanks Hip. Safe journey.


* It's a Canuck thing...

** Although I am mindful of the gambling adage: if you don't recognize the "mark" in the room, it's you.

Glad you had a great time. I'm going tomorrow night in Hamilton, also my first time seeing them live despite being a fan for years (I'm not much of a concert-goer other than the Stones). I'll be sitting way at the back - I'm surprised I even got a ticket at all! - I grabbed the first seat that popped up for me in the pre-sale.

You're going to have such a great time!

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SomeTorontoGirl
The Hip played their last Toronto concert last night, with 3 more to go on this tour, which is likely their last due to singer Gord Downie's incurable brain cancer. This has been referenced in the ticket scalping thread as the country was outraged that bots scooped up most tix within 5 minutes, and posted them on resale sites at extortionate prices within 10 minutes. When additional seats were later released, I was able to get one mid-rafters seat slightly behind the stage, which gave me an angel's view of Gord et al last night.

I've been a big fan of The Hip's studio work for years but had never seen them live - viewing a concert film several years ago, Gord seemed distractively quirky, so I never bothered. But I had to go, to say thanks, to say goodbye.

I don't think I've ever experienced anything like it, and I go to a good number and variety of gigs. The energy, the love, and the music. When they opened with Blow At High Dough the arena erupted and everyone was singing. Many songs I had never heard before, likely from the new album, but classics like New Orleans Is Sinking, Boots And Hearts (...like boots and hearts, when it starts, it really falls apart...), Poets, Little Bones and Ahead By A Century had the place lit up like the first of July*. When they ended the encore with Bobcaygeon I was in tears and thought they had ended the show with my favourite Hip song, and the best line they ever wrote (It was in Bobcaygeon I saw the constellations reveal themselves one star at a time) but there was a second encore, and they ended with Grace Too.

It was a beautiful show, and remarkably free of arseholes**. The last one, in Kingston on Saturday, is being aired live on the CBC. If there's anything else going on in the world that night, Canada won't know about it - we'll all be watching.

Thanks Gord, thanks Hip. Safe journey.


* It's a Canuck thing...

** Although I am mindful of the gambling adage: if you don't recognize the "mark" in the room, it's you.

Wonderful night, envious here as there are no East Coast shows. Canadiana at its best...."could have been the Willie Nelson, could have been the wiiiine.."

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bigpond
Wonderful night, envious here as there are no East Coast shows. Canadiana at its best...."could have been the Willie Nelson, could have been the wiiiine.."

...and how big a schmuck am I for never realizing that the "Willie Nelson" didn't reefer, um, I mean REFER to music? Did you get to see them open for the Stones in Moncton in 2006? That would have been epic!

The most Canadian I've ever felt was during a Hip show years ago. It was Canada Day, Molson Amphitheatre in Toronto. The great Joel Plaskett opened the show and after his set he and Gord Downie sang O Canada together. I'll never forget that moment.

Hi STG: Was waiting for this. I checked the site you provided on the other thread and the last show listed was the 12th. Did they do Fifty-Mission Cap? Maybe, just maybe, Gord can tour the states. This is an excellent band.

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Boognish
The most Canadian I've ever felt was during a Hip show years ago. It was Canada Day, Molson Amphitheatre in Toronto. The great Joel Plaskett opened the show and after his set he and Gord Downie sang O Canada together. I'll never forget that moment.

That's how I felt last night. Lots of Canadian landscapes on the screen during the set and the breaks. Could have done without all the waterfalls during the 2nd encore though. I really had to pee.

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shattered
Hi STG: Was waiting for this. I checked the site you provided on the other thread and the last show listed was the 12th. Did they do Fifty-Mission Cap? Maybe, just maybe, Gord can tour the states. This is an excellent band.

No Fifty Mission Cap last night, but enough treasures to make it memorable. I think another tour is unlikely. Gord is strong but decline is inevitable. They are wrapping up in their hometown Saturday. That seems both symbolic and conclusive to me. But they are a truly great band, filled my heart and broke it in one night.

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SomeTorontoGirl

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shattered
Hi STG: Was waiting for this. I checked the site you provided on the other thread and the last show listed was the 12th. Did they do Fifty-Mission Cap? Maybe, just maybe, Gord can tour the states. This is an excellent band.

No Fifty Mission Cap last night, but enough treasures to make it memorable. I think another tour is unlikely. Gord is strong but decline is inevitable. They are wrapping up in their hometown Saturday. That seems both symbolic and conclusive to me. But they are a truly great band, filled my heart and broke it in one night.

Understood. I saw em in Brussels in '97. Gonna try and tune in Saturday night somehow. I inspected one too many airplanes listening to Fifty-Mission Cap. Can't believe it's over. Hard to take.

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SomeTorontoGirl

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bigpond
Wonderful night, envious here as there are no East Coast shows. Canadiana at its best...."could have been the Willie Nelson, could have been the wiiiine.."

...and how big a schmuck am I for never realizing that the "Willie Nelson" didn't reefer, um, I mean REFER to music? Did you get to see them open for the Stones in Moncton in 2006? That would have been epic!

Yes, in fact I did see the Moncton show!

I always was quite fond of the TH. Luckily we get CBC in Seattle. Have the DVR set. For awhile there was a local club asking me for advice when booking bands. They called & asked about the TH. I said book them now! Turned out they set the alcohol sales record for the club until it closed.

First saw the Hip back in 1988. Man time flies!!!

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shattered
Hi STG: Was waiting for this. I checked the site you provided on the other thread and the last show listed was the 12th. Did they do Fifty-Mission Cap? Maybe, just maybe, Gord can tour the states. This is an excellent band.

Shattered, they played Fifty Mission Cap last night in Hamilton. It was an absolutely amazing show. So emotional.

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ReginaPhalange
Shattered, they played Fifty Mission Cap last night in Hamilton. It was an absolutely amazing show. So emotional.

Great set list indeed. And so much just resonates now.

At The Hundredth Meridian:
If I die of vanity, promise me, promise me,
They bury me some place I don't want to be,
You'll dig me up and transport me, unceremoniously,
Away from the swollen city-breeze, garbage bag trees,
Whispers of disease and the acts of enormity
And lower me slowly, sadly and properly
Get Ry Cooder to sing my eulogy...

And Ahead By A Century:
No dress rehearsal, this is our life...

Saturday is going to be a wild ride.

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SomeTorontoGirl

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ReginaPhalange
Shattered, they played Fifty Mission Cap last night in Hamilton. It was an absolutely amazing show. So emotional.

Great set list indeed. And so much just resonates now.

At The Hundredth Meridian:
If I die of vanity, promise me, promise me,
They bury me some place I don't want to be,
You'll dig me up and transport me, unceremoniously,
Away from the swollen city-breeze, garbage bag trees,
Whispers of disease and the acts of enormity
And lower me slowly, sadly and properly
Get Ry Cooder to sing my eulogy...

And Ahead By A Century:
No dress rehearsal, this is our life...

Saturday is going to be a wild ride.

Go to the show Locked in a Trunk of a Car.

I am not sure why The Hip never got huge in the US. Like fellow Canadians Spirit Of The West, and even UK bands like The Jam, maybe they were simply too good for my fellow Americans to get. I think Spirit Of The West even had a song called 'Far Too Canadian'. In any event, Gord Downie and The Tragically Hip DID successfully invade my little corner of the US, just over the Canadian border, in Buffalo. Here, they regularly sold out 16,000 seat venues. Yet in other parts of the US, even a short drive away in Cleveland, they played clubs. I never got the reason why. was lucky enough to see them 5 times.

Their last concert is Saturday night. With Gord's terminal cancer, and their ability to play dates very limited, the band skipped all US cities on this tour. But I and thousands of others will be in a Buffalo neighborhood called Larkinville where a group of fans has organized a live, big-screen real-time streaming of the Hip's final show. Local breweries and distilleries, food trucks and maybe 5,000 (or more) people partying in the street, watching a great band give one final performance. It should be amazing.

Gord Downie is a poet. The rest of the band can flat out rock (or jump into beautiful, acoustic americana). Cancer is taking Gord's life, but the Hip will live on thru words and music for new generations to explore. Some bands stick around too long, pushing out albums or shows that are inferior to what they did earlier in their career. The Hip are going out on-top.

I am envious of those in Canada who got to see the final tour. I look forward to at least viewing Saturday's show on a big screen and singing along with other fans, and drinking a pint (or 5) toasting to Gord.

Some nice links at the bottom of this page for those who might like info on lyrics, etc. Apparently our PM is a fan, he's going to be there tomorrow.

[www.cbcmusic.ca]

Courtesy Jeff Bishop, Facebook:

Please note: Canada will be closed this Saturday night.

Don't try to call. Don't bother to send emails or text messages to Canada. No Facetime, Messenger, Tweets, SnapChat...nothing. And even if you know a Canadian that happens to live outside Canada, don't bother them this Saturday evening either...trust me, they'll be busy. Maybe, just maybe if the person you're looking for is 85+, you MIGHT get them, but don't count on it because we Canadians love our Canadian experiences...and we're about to have one.

Let me explain.

If you put down your cell phone and hit mute on the TV, step outside and point an ear in the direction of Canada on Saturday evening - chances are you may just hear the distant sound of an entire nation singing along to The Tragically Hip.

If you're not familiar with them, I won't go into much detail about the band (you can Google that...which you should if you don't know them) other than to say that many of we Canadians have a special connection to The Hip. Whether their songs take you back to that night at the bar dancing with your friends; singing around a campfire with a guitar; to a family wedding dance at the community hall; a special moment with a loved one; seeing them live on stage; sitting alone in the dark with the music cranked to 10; or that talent show in high school where you played one of their songs - many of us here in Canada have a favourite song. Mine is Fiddler's Green.

So, "what's up Saturday night?", you ask. Saturday, we'll see what is to be the last show by The Hip. You see, their lead singer Gord Downie has incurable brain Cancer. Gord is not just a singer - he's a poet. There's a story behind every chorus, and the songs he's written have a little piece of Canada in every verse. He's us - and we're him. So we need this Saturday to celebrate life - Gord's life.

And how did Gord and the band want to acknowledge what they're all going through with Gord's cancer? Hit the road and perform, of course. And Saturday they wrap up that tour with a show in their hometown of Kingston, Ontario. It will be hitting the airwaves from Newfoundland to the Yukon...streaming online, on TV and radio waves of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. So every Canadian can watch, sing, and cry a little - together. (Tks CBC, btw.)

Chantel and I didn't get tickets to catch them on this tour. Instead, we're making a donation to the Gord Downie Fund for Brain Cancer Research at the Sunnybrook Hospital Foundation, in Gord's honour. I hope you'll consider that too. Help Gord be a part of making even more memories for those that come behind him, and find a cure for this type of cancer. The link to donate is below...don't forget to share it.

So, now you know where Canada will be on Saturday night. Feel free to join in - try to catch it online or turn up the stereo and sing along...it's bound to be quite the show.

And thanks Gord...

[donate.sunnybrook.ca]

I had the great fortune of seeing them several times at small venues between 1990 - 1992.

Only saw them twice since (1995 & 2012), but managed to get to the show in Hamilton, ON the other night.

What a performance!

I saw them early on in their career; I think we actually may have played on same bill somewhere. But great band. And like someone said earlier - I never quite understood why they didn;t become bigger in USA.

Gutted. Been listening to them non stop the last few weeks. Following the tour religiously. Quite a long list of songs they've done for such a small amount of shows. The last time indeed.
They are on a similar level to Dylan in the mid-sixties, where if you wanna get deep into some incredibly poetic lyrics, you can, but if you just wanna rock out, you can do that too. Or both.
Should've been legends in the US too, but Canada will do just fine.

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SomeTorontoGirl
Courtesy Jeff Bishop, Facebook:

Please note: Canada will be closed this Saturday night.

Don't try to call. Don't bother to send emails or text messages to Canada. No Facetime, Messenger, Tweets, SnapChat...nothing. And even if you know a Canadian that happens to live outside Canada, don't bother them this Saturday evening either...trust me, they'll be busy. Maybe, just maybe if the person you're looking for is 85+, you MIGHT get them, but don't count on it because we Canadians love our Canadian experiences...and we're about to have one.

Let me explain.

If you put down your cell phone and hit mute on the TV, step outside and point an ear in the direction of Canada on Saturday evening - chances are you may just hear the distant sound of an entire nation singing along to The Tragically Hip.

If you're not familiar with them, I won't go into much detail about the band (you can Google that...which you should if you don't know them) other than to say that many of we Canadians have a special connection to The Hip. Whether their songs take you back to that night at the bar dancing with your friends; singing around a campfire with a guitar; to a family wedding dance at the community hall; a special moment with a loved one; seeing them live on stage; sitting alone in the dark with the music cranked to 10; or that talent show in high school where you played one of their songs - many of us here in Canada have a favourite song. Mine is Fiddler's Green.

So, "what's up Saturday night?", you ask. Saturday, we'll see what is to be the last show by The Hip. You see, their lead singer Gord Downie has incurable brain Cancer. Gord is not just a singer - he's a poet. There's a story behind every chorus, and the songs he's written have a little piece of Canada in every verse. He's us - and we're him. So we need this Saturday to celebrate life - Gord's life.

And how did Gord and the band want to acknowledge what they're all going through with Gord's cancer? Hit the road and perform, of course. And Saturday they wrap up that tour with a show in their hometown of Kingston, Ontario. It will be hitting the airwaves from Newfoundland to the Yukon...streaming online, on TV and radio waves of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. So every Canadian can watch, sing, and cry a little - together. (Tks CBC, btw.)

Chantel and I didn't get tickets to catch them on this tour. Instead, we're making a donation to the Gord Downie Fund for Brain Cancer Research at the Sunnybrook Hospital Foundation, in Gord's honour. I hope you'll consider that too. Help Gord be a part of making even more memories for those that come behind him, and find a cure for this type of cancer. The link to donate is below...don't forget to share it.

So, now you know where Canada will be on Saturday night. Feel free to join in - try to catch it online or turn up the stereo and sing along...it's bound to be quite the show.

And thanks Gord...

[donate.sunnybrook.ca]

I'm ready. Found a Place to Happen. Thank you CBC.

[www.thestar.com]

[www.thestar.com]

Oh Canada!

Late breaking story on the CBC...

Justin Trudeau on The Hip: [www.cbc.ca]





Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2016-08-21 03:12 by SomeTorontoGirl.

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SomeTorontoGirl
Late breaking story on the CBC...

Justin Trudeau on The Hip: [www.cbc.ca]

I got the ad for diaper rash then no audio.

OMG, the first song.