tragically hip last tour canada

  • JOIN THE ACADEMY
  • ACADEMY DELEGATE LOGIN

tragically hip last tour canada

A Nation’s Farewell: Remembering The Tragically Hip’s Historic Finale

Seven years ago, fans across the country gathered to watch as one of the nation’s most beloved rock bands, The Tragically Hip took to the stage for their final show. An unforgettable and bittersweet evening, the concert served as a final farewell to lead singer Gord Downie as well as a celebration of the band’s indelible impact on Canadian culture.

For over three decades, The Tragically Hip led by the enigmatic frontman Gord Downie delivered poetic lyrics and powerful melodies that resonated deeply with audiences nationwide. Their music, quintessentially Canadian, encapsulated the very essence of the nation’s spirit, narrating tales of life in Canada.

tragically hip last tour canada

The Tragically Hip on the Red Carpet. 2005 Juno Awards. April 3, 2005, Winnipeg, Manitoba.

In May 2016, shortly after the news of Downie’s terminal cancer diagnosis sent shockwaves through the country, The Tragically Hip announced a cross-Canada tour which sold out in minutes. While the band refrained from explicitly calling the tour their last, the Man Machine Poem tour would be their final chapter together as a band.

Kicking off July 22 in Victoria, British Columbia, the 10-city, 15-show Canadian arena tour culminated in Kingston, Ontario—the city where The Tragically Hip’s journey began. On August 20, over 6,700 individuals filled the K-Rock Centre while an additional 25,000 gathered in nearby Springer Market Square to watch a live feed of the concert.

The atmosphere was electric as the crowd welcomed the band to the stage with an impromptu rendition of O’Canada. Downie, accompanied by his bandmates of over 30 years: guitarists Rob Baker and Paul Langlois, bassist Gord Sinclair and drummer Johnny Fay delivered a triumphal three-hour set featuring The Hip’s most classic songs.

Among the attendees was Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, a Tragically Hip fan since high school. “This is a moment that’s going to be extremely powerful for all Canadians, I know,” he told CBC. “Gord and the Tragically Hip are an inevitable and essential part of what we are and who we are as a country. And tonight we get to say thanks, and we get to celebrate that.”

The concert’s impact was magnified by its simultaneous broadcast across Canada by CBC allowing fans from coast to coast to join in the experience. Compared to the Superbowl in terms of national attention, over 11.7 million Canadians tuned in as communities gathered in pubs, drive-in theatres and homes across the country to witness the final show.

In response to the unwavering support of fans, in between performances, Downie expressed his heartfelt gratitude to the audience stating, “Thank you, people, for keeping me pushing and keeping me pushing.”

After three rounds of encores, the evening came to a close as the band concluded the show with their biggest hit, “Ahead By A Century.” Once the song ended the group put down their instruments, stood arm-in-arm and walked off stage as an emotional crowd screamed their goodbyes.

More than a year after their farewell performance in Kingston, on October 17, 2017, Downie succumbed to his battle with brain cancer. Even now, seven years later, the resonance of that emotionally charged evening lingers within the hearts of Canadians serving as a testament to Downie’s legacy.

Featured image: CBC Music live stream of the Tragically Hip’s Man Machine Poem tour finale in Kingston.

Find anything you save across the site in your account

Watching Canada’s Biggest Rock Band Say a Dramatic Goodbye

By Stephen Marche

Gord Downie the frontman for the Tragically Hip onstage with the band at Torontos Air Canada Centre on August 10th. The...

Rock and roll has always been in love with death. It’s the genre of the so-called Twenty-Seven Club, the genre of “I hope I die before I get old.” It’s Jimi Hendrix up late in London, Janis Joplin at a hotel with a needle, Keith Richards doing anything anywhere—the music is defined by its proximity to mortality. This summer, in Canada, one band is living that connection fully and completely. Gord Downie, the lead singer of the Tragically Hip, is suffering from glioblastoma, a terminal tumor in his left temporal lobe. But dying hasn’t stopped the tour. Downie is coming out on stage every night to burn out publicly. It has been glorious.

The Tragically Hip are one of the biggest bands in Canadian history. The band has had nine No. 1 albums here, and has spent as much time at the top of the charts as Bryan Adams. The band members have been on a stamp. Why they have never translated to the American audience is one of the great mysteries of Canadian popular culture. I have never heard or read a convincing explanation. Their songs are catchy, and every other act anywhere near their size in Canada has gone on to success elsewhere. But the Tragically Hip belong to the North alone, it seems.

The final tour sold out instantly. For the band’s final show, which takes place tonight in their home town of Kingston, Ontario, Stubhub has been selling tickets for as much as twenty-five thousand dollars . Cities have organized Tragically Hip Days, and spontaneous street parties have coincided with the band’s tour dates. In the fading steel town of Hamilton, on the day of their last concert there, the local rock radio station Y108 played nothing but the Tragically Hip. Tonight the national broadcaster CBC will air their final concert from Kingston live—a rock concert by way of a state funeral. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will be in attendance.

I attended the band’s last show in Toronto, this past Sunday, at the Air Canada Centre. There was something entirely appropriate about having the concert at a hockey temple dedicated to the religion of watching the Maple Leafs lose. The crowd was pure Canadiana. The men looked like retired hockey players who had eased themselves into dad bods. The women looked like the daughters of the mothers in Alice Munro stories. Even the announcement that the show was about to begin had a self-parodying Canadian slant: “If you’re not in your seats in five minutes I will be very disappointed,” the voice declared.

Then Downie came out onstage to rapturous applause. He is fifty-two years old, and ragged. Who wouldn’t be, coming off a craniotomy and six weeks of chemo and radiation? His sparkly, baggy clothes and wildly befeathered hat covered what must be an utterly ravaged body. He wore a “Jaws” T-shirt, the one with the monster rising to eat the oblivious swimmers.

The Tragically Hip are, roughly speaking, Canada’s equivalent to Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band—a proletarian group with an intellectual sensibility. The band evolved, during the nineteen-nineties, from a crude but effective bar band to a sophisticated purveyor of esoteric lyrics and clever melodies. Small-town hockey fans howl their biggest anthems in parking lots after games; assistant professors of Canadian literature listen to their later work while jogging.

The show kicked off with “Blow at High Dough,” from 1989’s “Up to Here,” and everybody forgot about death and Canada. The band played hard. They played unpretentiously. They knew that the crowd was there to hear the classics, and they wanted to give the fans what they wanted, so they played the early songs, and they played them as if they would never play them again. There was no time to waste on artistic vanity. They also played their new songs, from “Man Machine Poem,” just as they would have done if their lead singer weren’t dying. This was a rock band playing in the face of death, not some nostalgia act. Big difference.

The rapture of the crowd was total. They wanted to be with Downie until the end. This being Canada, though, nobody acknowledged what was really happening. Downie didn’t speak to us, though he is famous for his onstage rambles. Maybe he was silent because if he started talking, he would have to talk about death and everything else, or maybe it was because there really was nothing to say. During “Boots or Hearts,” one of the band’s biggest hits, Downie laughed and the crowd laughed with him. At times he looked dumbfounded by joy. He was transcendent and he knew it. The lyrics were perfect:

See when it starts to fall apart Man, it really falls apart Like boots or hearts, oh when they start They really fall apart

During the band’s first break, the Jumbotron played footage of a storm coming over Georgian Bay—an iconic Northern scene. The Tragically Hip has always sung about uniquely Canadian themes, often to the point of absurdity. Bill Barilko, who scored the winning goal for the Maple Leafs in the 1951 Stanley Cup Finals, disappeared on a fishing trip that summer, and his body was not found until 1962, the next time the Leafs won the Cup. That story may not sound like a natural subject for a rock song, but Downie got “Fifty-Mission Cap” out of it, and it was one of the Hip’s biggest hits. “Wheat Kings,” a ballad about David Milgaard, who served twenty-three years in prison in Manitoba for a murder he didn’t commit, contains the following lines, which have always been, to me at least, the perfect encapsulation of the Canadian prairie:

There’s a dream he dreams where the high school’s dead and stark It’s a museum and we’re all locked up in it after dark Where the walls are lined all yellow, grey and sinister Hung with pictures of our parents’ prime ministers

Canada’s heroes are consumed by their country: Atanarjuat, the fast runner of Inuit legend, who ran naked through the snow; Tom Thomson, the country’s greatest painter, drowned on Canoe Lake in Algonquin Park, in the middle of the landscapes he was trying to capture; the North-West Mounted Police, whose horses collapsed from exhaustion in the Great March West; John Franklin, who froze to death in the Northwest Passage. The great Canadian icon of my childhood was Terry Fox, who ran the length of a marathon a day, trying to cross Canada on a prosthetic leg while dying of osteosarcoma, in order to raise money for cancer research. Gord Downie has entered the iconography of the Northern survivor. He has proved his endurance by crossing an impossible country while dying.

More landscape footage appeared when the band returned to the stage: a video of Downie snowmobiling with Canada’s great Métis novelist Joseph Boyden, then the helm of a canoe coursing through a calm lake. Downie and his bandmates basked in the love of Toronto. As the show ended, after a triple encore, the screen played their name over the waving Maple Leaf. An enormous Canadian flag circulated through the crowd, as if it were an Olympic hockey game. Downie spent several minutes waving goodbye, and the crowd waved goodbye back, the way you would to a best friend moving to a different city. “I’ll see you down the road somewhere” was all he said. Then he mouthed, “I love you.” Everyone was crying.

It was another Canadian rock icon, Neil Young, who articulated one of rock and roll’s supposed principles: “It’s better to burn out than to fade away.” Gord Downie is living that, but not by way of narcissistic self-destruction. He is burning out by working, and making art. He is achieving a beautiful death.

The band’s final shows in Toronto coincided with the Perseid meteor showers. You couldn’t see them in the city, but if you went into the quiet dark—and there is plenty of quiet dark in Canada—you could find them streaking across the sky. The Perseids burn as the atmosphere consumes them. This year was better than usual, astronomers said—one of the most glorious celestial spectacles visible with the naked eye.

By signing up, you agree to our User Agreement and Privacy Policy & Cookie Statement . This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

My Last Day as a Surgeon

By Paul Kalanithi

Letting Go

By Atul Gawande

Peter Rosenberg’s 45s

By Susan B. Glasser

The Tragically Hip on reuniting for the band's 1st performance since Gord Downie's death

The beloved canadian rock band spoke to q’s tom power in an exclusive interview.

tragically hip last tour canada

Social Sharing

The Tragically Hip are reuniting onstage for the first time since the band announced they would no longer perform under the name without the late Gord Downie.

Many Canadians remember exactly where they were the night The Hip embarked on their emotional final concert in their hometown of Kingston, Ont. — the last stop on their triumphant Man Machine Poem tour on Aug. 20, 2016.

Tuning in from around the country and beyond, a third of Canadians watched as Downie bid farewell with a simple but poignant "thank you for that." He died the following year from glioblastoma, a form of brain cancer.

  • The Tragically Hip to perform at Junos in 1st televised appearance since Gord Downie's death

Now, nearly five years after their last performance, the band's surviving members — bassist Gord Sinclair, drummer Johnny Fay, and guitarists Paul Langlois and Rob Baker — will play at the 50th annual Juno Awards on Sunday, June 6. It will be the band's first televised performance since Downie's death.

WATCH | The Tragically Hip's full interview with Q's Tom Power:

In an exclusive interview with Q 's Tom Power, The Hip opened up about the end of their journey as a five-piece band, their three decades of brotherhood and their much-anticipated performance at this year's Juno Awards.

Power started the conversation by asking what Sinclair, Fay, Langlois and Baker each remembered about their final concert at Kingston's Rogers K-Rock Centre (now Leon's Centre).

We all got so buoyed by the audience every night, you know? [Downie] would drop a line, and the crowd would sing along. - Gord Sinclair

They agreed the experience was surreal, heavy and forever memorable thanks to the enthusiasm of their many fans and well-wishers.

"By the time we got to Kingston … we all got so buoyed by the audience every night, you know?" recalled Sinclair. "[Downie] would drop a line, and the crowd would sing along. Like, I honestly believe he got better and better — and the band got better and better. And yeah, I just didn't want it to ever end, you know? I really didn't. I still wish it wasn't over."

"We all got so buoyed by the audience every night." Gord Sinclair on <a href="https://twitter.com/thehipofficial?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@thehipofficial</a>'s cross-country Man Machine Poem tour, and how the fans helped them power through. <a href="https://t.co/ElYFPXIB8Q">pic.twitter.com/ElYFPXIB8Q</a> &mdash; @CBCMusic

Baker said the band was treating their last performance like any other day at the office, but as the night ended, a sense of finality set in.

"The workday's over: clean out your desk. Go home. There's no gold watch. Away you go. You're done," he said with a slight laugh.

"It got pretty weird for me. I was messed up after the fact. I thought I was good going into it,… but it got hard. If you [repress] all your grief or anger or whatever — if you bottle it all up — it's gonna come out sometime."

Friendship is the band's 'biggest achievement'

Unlike many bands, The Tragically Hip has managed to remain friends since they performed their very first gig together at Queen's University in November 1984.

"I think it's our biggest achievement that we're still really good friends," Langlois told Power.

We lost our best friend. You lose your job — but I kind of felt like we lost the brotherhood as well. - Rob Baker

"Time being what it is, you start families and you slowly drift apart, but we always had the band to come back to," said Sinclair.

After Downie died, it was a difficult transition for the remaining band members, who went their separate ways, grieved their friend individually and pursued their own solo projects .

"There was a lot that was lost, you know?" said Baker. "We lost our best friend. You lose your job — but I kind of felt like we lost the brotherhood as well. And the best part of being in a band is you do everything together. You enjoy the good moments, the bad moments, you know? It's a great review, bad review. You go through it together."

Paul Langlois on why friendship was always first with <a href="https://twitter.com/thehipofficial?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@thehipofficial</a>. <a href="https://t.co/2DtB1FdkVE">pic.twitter.com/2DtB1FdkVE</a> &mdash; @CBCMusic

On May 21, The Hip surprised fans with a new album, Saskadelphia , which includes six unreleased songs, mostly recorded during the sessions of their landmark 1991 album, Road Apples .

The band's quest to track down these long-lost recordings gave them an opportunity to reconnect.

"It was really great and really helped bring us together because we were communicating," said Fay, who led the search. "We were talking about titles because [Downie] was a big one for changing the title of the song, sometimes five hours before it went to printing.… I think [making the album] helped in the process of what we're going through now."

"In a way, that was kind of the spark that started to pull us back together," said Baker.

tragically hip last tour canada

Feist will step into Downie's shoes at the Junos

When Sinclair, Fay, Langlois and Baker were first presented with the possibility of performing at this year's Junos, they were hesitant.

"Frankly, none of us were super, super interested," explained Sinclair. "You know, we hadn't played together [in a long time] and weren't really interested in playing without [Downie]."

tragically hip last tour canada

The band's longtime manager, Jake Gold, suggested Canadian singer-songwriter Leslie Feist as someone who might be capable of stepping into Downie's shoes and singing his vocals.

"It was really the first time, collectively, we kind of all stopped for a minute," said Sinclair. "Like, wow, that's a pretty cool idea. You know, I think [Downie] would have really loved it. We've known Leslie for an awful long time…. It just seemed like the cool right thing to do at the right time for all of us."

Langlois described Feist's participation as a "curveball in the best way."

"[It was] kind of like, OK, so that's not going to be some guy trying to sing like Gord or some guy trying not to sing like Gord," he said. "It was a 'no' until Feist came up."

And there was another special circumstance that convinced the band to get back onstage. During the Junos broadcast on June 6, The Hip will be honoured with the 2021 Humanitarian Award for their long history of charitable efforts.

Johnny Fay on returning to the studio with <a href="https://twitter.com/thehipofficial?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@thehipofficial</a> in order to rehearse for their upcoming Junos performance, and the feeling of being back together again. <a href="https://twitter.com/TheJUNOAwards?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@theJUNOAwards</a> <a href="https://t.co/OgaOVgPFLn">pic.twitter.com/OgaOVgPFLn</a> &mdash; @CBCMusic

As for the possibility of a future tour, Baker joked that his bones are turning to powder, and he can't do another week on a tour bus.

"Never say never," he said. "Playing gigs, that's one thing. Going on a tour? I don't know, I kind of did that for 35 years of my life."

"There's sort of a chapter that's finished," added Fay. "I would never say never. It was really fun to get together and play. It'd be nice to get together and create again, I don't know."

Written by Vivian Rashotte. Interview produced by Mitch Pollock.

More from this episode

  • Episode FULL EPISODE: Friday, June 4, 2021: The Tragically Hip, Anne Murray and more

Related Stories

  • The Tragically Hip set to perform with Feist at the 2021 Juno Awards
  • Tragically Hip to release album with 6 unreleased tracks
  • The Tragically Hip will receive the 2021 Humanitarian Award at the Junos
  • The Tragically Hip's Gord Sinclair on losing Gord Downie and becoming a 'reluctant solo artist'
  • Feist searches for connection in her new podcast Pleasure Studies
  • Dan Aykroyd on the Tragically Hip, the blues, ghosts and the Caesar

an image, when javascript is unavailable

Tragically Hip: Canada Waves Goodbye to a National Treasure

By Jared Lindzon

Jared Lindzon

Countless better-known acts have come out of Canada, but if the nation ever had a true musical spokesperson, it might be Gord Downie, frontman and primary songwriter of the Tragically Hip . During their 32-year history, the band has notched countless hits – including 11 Top 10 Canadian singles – that many in the country can recite by heart.

But on May 24th, Canadians awoke to tragic news; the front page of every news site coast-to-coast announced that the singer’s days were numbered. “A few months ago, in December, Gord Downie was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer,” the band wrote on its Facebook page. 

Later that day Downie’s neuro-oncologist, Dr. James Perry, announced that Downie had undergone surgery to remove the bulk of the tumor, followed by six weeks of radiation and chemotherapy, but a complete recovery was unlikely. “Unfortunately, one day it will come back,” he  said  at a Toronto press conference.

With the news of Downie’s diagnosis came one final opportunity to celebrate a cultural institution. On July 22nd the band will embark on a final Canadian tour to promote its 14th studio album,  Man Machine Poem , which came out in June.

Superstars at home, the Tragically Hip have never achieved fame beyond Canada’s borders. Nine of their albums have reached the top spot on Canadian music charts, but in the United States, the band has never broken the Top 100. “This band could have been U2, if not for some unlucky breaks,” Barenaked Ladies singer-guitarist Ed Robertson told Rolling Stone . “The quality and the appreciation of this band is not unique to its Canadian-ness. It’s just happenstance that they’re not as big as the biggest bands in the world.”

GORDON DOWNIE, lead singer of Canadian rock band Tragically Hip performs on stage at Air Canada Centre in Toronto.

Editor’s picks

The 250 greatest guitarists of all time, the 500 greatest albums of all time, the 50 worst decisions in movie history, every awful thing trump has promised to do in a second term.

In 2014  Rolling Stone  listed the band as one of 20 Hugely Popular Musicians Who Haven’t Gotten Famous in America (Yet) , and in a 2011 cover story featuring the Sheepdogs, the then-unsigned Canadian winners of  RS ‘ “Choose the Cover” contest, author Austin Scaggs drew ire with his mention of the “awful yet extremely popular Canadian band, the Tragically Hip.”

“Having met them, none of them have ever [struck] me as people who wanted to be on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine,” says Dallas Green, a Canadian musician who performs under the alias City and Colour, and was previously the lead singer and guitarist of Alexisonfire. “I think they’re just happy to be able to [continue performing], and that’s another reason why I love them.”

“[Interviewers] always ask us about our success or lack of success in the States, which I find absurd,” Downie once said. “While that is a story of the band, there are so many other stories.”

The more significant story of the Tragically Hip is one of mutual respect and appreciation between a country and one of its most prolific rock bands. The group’s lyrics often portray long-forgotten moments from the nation’s shared history, familiar scenes of Canadian life and, of course, hockey. The 1992 hit “Fifty Mission Cap” tells the story of Bill Barilko, the Toronto Maple Leaf defenseman who scored the 1951 Stanley Cup-winning goal before perishing in a plane crash. “Courage (for Hugh MacLennan)” is dedicated to a mid-20th-century Canadian novelist, and “Wheat Kings” tells the story of David Milgaard, a Canadian wrongfully accused of murder.

As the Tragically Hip have paid tribute to their native country, Canada has celebrated them right back. In 2002 they earned a place on Canada’s Walk of Fame, and in 2012 their hometown of Kingston, Ontario, renamed the block outside of its downtown music venue Tragically Hip Way. In 2005 they were inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame, and in 2013 the band was featured on a Canada Post stamp. A  change.org petition with nearly 70,000 signatures seeks to award the band with the Order of Canada, considered among the highest honors in the land, and Vancouver mayor Gregor Robertson has declared the date of the band’s final show in the city, July 26th, as Tragically Hip Day.

As news began to spread about Downie’s medical condition, many took to social media to pay their respects. Fellow Canadian musicians  Sloan ,  Billy Talent ,  Nickelback , Death From Above 1979, Arkells , Hey Rosetta! and Matthew Good offered tributes and well-wishes to Downie. Even the Trailer Park Boys , who starred in the music video for the Tragically Hip’s “The Darkest One,” tweeted that they were “sending all our love and best wishes to the magnificent Gord Downie.”

Tragically Hip's Gord Downie Dead at 53

“Gord Downie is a true original who has been writing Canada’s soundtrack for more than 30 years,”  tweeted Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. “I am lucky enough to have seen many Tragically Hip concerts throughout my life, and Gord Downie is someone I have an extraordinary amount of respect for,” the Prime Minister later elaborated at a press conference. “His status as an extraordinary Canadian creative force and icon is not to be understated. Mostly, he’s just a great guy, and I know I speak for all Canadians when I say, ‘We’re with you, Gord.'”

Gord Downie is a true original who has been writing Canada’s soundtrack for more than 30 years. #Courage — Justin Trudeau (@JustinTrudeau) May 24, 2016

//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

Downie’s generosity is often cited by those who know him personally, including Green, who met the singer in 2008. Struggling to finish a song he began writing in high school, Green found inspiration while listening to the Tragically Hip’s music, and after completing the track, he got in touch with Downie to ask if he would be interested in singing on the 2008 single “Sleeping Sickness.”

“One morning I got to the studio and he was already there,” he tells RS . “He had gotten up at six in the morning and drove from Kingston to Hamilton [Ontario] to sing and hang out with me at the studio. I’ll never forget sitting there with my headphones on, right beside him, watching him sing words that I wrote on one of my songs. It was one of the most surreal, magical experiences I have ever and will ever have. And then he just got in his car and drove back.”

The Tragically Hip’s final, 15-performance cross-Canada tour will begin in Victoria, British Columbia, and make its way east before concluding in Kingston on August 20th.

The nation’s public broadcaster, the CBC, will air that final show live. Small towns and major cities across the country have already announced public viewing parties, giving their citizens one final opportunity to celebrate their national treasure together.

Though Downie’s future is uncertain, Green and Robertson take some solace in knowing that the music will live on.

Jellyroll vs. Jelly Roll: Pennsylvania Band Sues Country Star for Trademark Infringement

Inside jimmy buffett's tribute concert: mccartney, margaritas, and one hell of a parrothead party, a newbie's guide to 'fallout', judge halts texas ag’s probe into media matters.

“This is one of the greatest bands of all time,” Green says. “And I don’t mean Canadian band – I mean they’re one of the greatest bands of all time. Their history speaks for itself. And Gord, specifically, he’s one of the greatest songwriters I’ve ever heard.”

“They’re a fucking amazing band, with one of the greatest frontmen ever in rock & roll,” adds Robertson. “It doesn’t go away after the last Hip tour. It’s not diminished at all by the fact that they’re bigger in Canada than anywhere else. The music stands for itself. It’s there, ready to be discovered and appreciated by anyone around the world.”

Lana Del Rey Cements Herself as a Cult Icon at Coachella

  • By Tomás Mier and Suzy Exposito

Billie Eilish Duets With Lana Del Rey at Coachella

  • Coachella 2024
  • By Jon Blistein and Suzy Exposito

Peso Pluma Celebrates Mexican Heritage Music on Coachella Main Stage

Shakira joins bizarrap at coachella, announces world tour, kelly clarkson covers chaka khan's 1983 hit 'ain't nobody'.

  • Through the Stars
  • By Charisma Madarang

Most Popular

Jodie foster pulled robert downey jr. aside on their 1995 film set and told him: 'i’m scared of what happens to you next' because of addiction, where to stream 'quiet on set: the dark side of kids tv' online, prince william & kate middleton are reportedly struggling with a 'tidal wave' of royal issues, angel reese signs multiyear agreement with panini america, you might also like, lana del rey welcomes billie eilish as her coachella duet guest, as eilish gushes del rey is ‘the reason for half you bitches’ existence, including mine’, from pucci to pulitzer: ‘palm royale’ stokes caftan nostalgia, the best running water bottles according to marathoners, giving away your baby for absolutely no reason please, watch ‘greener grass’ first, arizona coyotes are no more, will move to salt lake city.

Rolling Stone is a part of Penske Media Corporation. © 2024 Rolling Stone, LLC. All rights reserved.

Verify it's you

Please log in.

  • Newsletters

Site search

  • Israel-Hamas war
  • 2024 election
  • Solar eclipse
  • Supreme Court
  • All explainers
  • Future Perfect

Filed under:

  • Criminal Justice

The Tragically Hip, the band all of Canada is obsessed with, explained

Share this story.

  • Share this on Facebook
  • Share this on Twitter
  • Share this on Reddit
  • Share All sharing options

Share All sharing options for: The Tragically Hip, the band all of Canada is obsessed with, explained

tragically hip last tour canada

If you're not Canadian, you may have looked at your Twitter feed this past weekend and wondered, "Wait, what's t he Tragically Hip ?"

On Instagram, you may have seen photos of a sweaty, leaping man in a feathered fedora and a rotating wardrobe of neck scarves and lamé tracksuits, swaying onstage with a microphone before a packed stadium of thousands.

Gord wishing us all "a nice life" simple words meaning so much coming from him! Tragic & beautiful...#TheHip #ingordwetrust A photo posted by Chantal Vaillancourt (@chantal_vaillancourt) on Aug 20, 2016 at 7:43pm PDT

On Snapchat, you may have caught 10-second riffs of blaring guitar or sweet-sounding ballads with unfamiliar words (what is a Bobcaygeon? Where can I find a weathervane Jesus?).

And on Facebook, you might have seen it all pouring forth in a stream of near-religious appreciation for someone named Gord, along with memories of university besties or keggers gone by or nights on the dock in Muskoka chairs nursing a Molson or a Labatt — much of it accompanied by the hashtag #InGordWeTrust, appended with a tiny emoji of the Canadian flag.

Welcome, Americans! In this way, you are coming to know the Tragically Hip, Canada's most beloved homegrown band and a radio staple for three solid decades. The group has had massive and sustained success in the Great White North but never crossed over. Until now.

The closest American analog to the Tragically Hip is Bruce Springsteen

tragically hip last tour canada

"Gord" is Gord Downie , the lead singer of the Tragically Hip with the most Canadian of names (see also: Lightfoot or Korman or Howe). He started the band in the mid-’80s with four of his high school friends — guitarists Paul Langlois and Rob Baker, bassist Gord Sinclair, and drummer Johnny Fay. They got their start in Kingston, Ontario, 265 kilometers east of Toronto (or 164 miles, but we're speaking Canadian here) and moved up from neighborhood bars to southern Ontario clubs to the Toronto music scene, becoming regulars at the legendary Horseshoe Tavern.

They signed with MCA and dropped their eponymously titled first album in 1987 — and then just kept going with a steady flow of albums, singles, and concerts, for more than 30 years. Their sound is guitar-based, bluesy in places and ballad-y in others, stuffed to the beaver teeth with Canadiana and sung with Downie's trademark growls, howls, yelps, and yells ... except when it’s stripped down to just the essentials, the better to break your heart.

The Hip — as they are known, fondly and for syllable-saving purposes — are a Canadian institution. They've made 13 studio albums (14 if you include the first EP), with nine of them charting at No. 1, plus live albums and box sets and a best-of and the like, with an estimated 8 million copies sold . Downie has been called " Canada's poet laureate " and " Canada's troubadour ," and the Hip called " Canada's band. "

The closest analog in the US is someone like Bruce Springsteen, who sings about real people living real lives, or David Bowie, who grew up with his listeners. The common denominator is gravitas and a killer catalog.

The Hip’s is also a righteous catalog. The lyrics don't exclude. They don't center men over women. They don't pander. (That’s true even of the ones that almost do — "Scared" is as emo as it gets, until you listen to the lyrics, which are vaguely threatening in places, with strong World War II allusions, but I'd still melt for it on a mixtape today.) There are no gratuitous la-la-las, no boppy earworm hooks.

My favorite of their songs, "Wheat Kings," opens with the call of the loon, before unfolding as a devastating takedown of the criminal justice system and a country complacent with a man wrongfully imprisoned : "Twenty years for nothing, well, that's nothing new / No one's interested in something you didn't do." The Hip aren’t here to take up space. There is no song without a point.

In May 2016, Gord Downie announced that he’d been diagnosed with terminal brain cancer . The Tragically Hip had already mapped out their tour for their latest album, Man Machine Poem , and with the blessing of Downie's oncologist , they decided the show would go on. It became a farewell tour, and its farewell concert was on Saturday night.

The band has been a Canadian staple for more than 30 years

Gord Downie accepts The Tragically Hip’s Juno as the newest inductees into Canada's Music Hall of Fame on April 2, 2005 in Winnipeg, Canada.

I can't remember when I first heard about the Tragically Hip, and that is the point. They seeped into my life from the background, via the radio and summer camp guitar maestros and songs slipped onto mixtapes by boys looking to close the deal. By the time I arrived at the University of Western Ontario in the fall of 1991, they were headlining our frosh concert, with an opening act by the Barenaked Ladies. (There is a generation of Canadians who, if they went to university, they saw the Hip.)

The albums Fully Completely , Day for Night , and Trouble at the Henhouse came out during my college years at Western and then at law school at the University of Toronto. Along with the band’s previous albums Up to Here and Road Apples , they provided the soundtrack to the bars we went to and the parties we threw, winter house parties and summer day drinking on patios.

I remember sweaty guys moshing to "New Orleans Is Sinking" and "Blow at High Dough," and how easy it was to put a bunch of Hip albums in the multi-CD player and just hit shuffle, during study sessions or hang sessions or makeout sessions. The Hip were always there, in the background.

They were front and center too, of course — headliners who filled concert halls and won multiple Juno Awards (Canada's equivalent to the Grammys). They were even immortalized on a postage stamp.

They were icons who played iconic concerts, like  "Stars for SARS" in 2003 (remember SARS? Canada does) and the Y2K concert on Dec ember 31, 1999 , when everyone was bracing for who knew what as the millennium turned. (God, we were innocent back then.)

But the Hip’s music was always the story. There were no backstage dramas or tabloid scandals; no reinventions with a flourish, no tell-alls. None of the members were pinups, or even celebrities, really.

But Gord Downie's voice — that we knew.

Gord Downie’s cancer diagnosis forced the Hip — and their fans — to think about how to say goodbye

The thought of losing Downie’s voice was a shock. The news of his terminal cancer jolted Canadians out of complacent, static appreciation into full-throated adulation. My friend Darrin Cappe, a Hip aficionado and self-appointed historian, dug up and remastered rare video of the band singing "Grace, Too" and "Nautical Disaster" on Saturday Night Live in 1995, and it flew around Facebook, amassing 1.1 million views. (Using their SNL debut to sing about  the sinking of a WWII battleship — that was so the Hip.)

Thank you, thank you, thank you music lovers! #ManMachinePoemTour #hipinkingston #cbcthehip (Photos by David Bastedo, Mike Homer and Aven Hoffarth) A video posted by The Tragically Hip (@thetragicallyhip) on Aug 20, 2016 at 10:18pm PDT

Tickets for the farewell concert sold out faster than you can say "Hamilton" (the Broadway musical, or the southern Ontario steel town — home of Martin Short, Eugene Levy, and the Tiger Cats — where another recent Hip concert also sold out). Tributes and think pieces poured out. Canada's national public broadcaster, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), announced that it would stream the final concert worldwide, without commercials.

Across Canada, watch parties were organized. (Outside Canada, too — the Canadian expat community is so healthy that Canadian comic Rick Mercer speculates it was one of the reasons the Hip never crossed over to the States: Every time a concert was announced, it would sell out thanks to the Canucks, leaving Americans no chance to experience the Hip, tragically. I can concur that I once saw the Hip in New York at a tiny venue with throngs of other Canadians. To be fair, they did play Central Park SummerStage, though of course that was on Canada Day.)

By Saturday, we were all ready. The tour reviews were in (ecstatic), the celebrity guest established (Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau), Olympics coverage politely preempted (there was a Hip watch party in Rio , too). The Toronto Police tweeted , "Dear World, Please be advised that Canada will be closed tonight at 8:30 p.m ET." Another meme circulated , pointedly: "Please note, Canada will be closed Aug. 20 2016 for a private function."

In so many ways, the Hip were everything to everyone

Prior to the final concert, I posted on Facebook asking friends to name their favorite Hip song, bringing Canucks out of the woodwork in one of those long, nostalgic threads that remind you why you still bother with Facebook.

While there were multiple votes for my own favorite, "Wheat Kings" (open it in another tab and just listen, I'll wait) and "Bobcaygeon" (newly relevant during this US presidential election season with the line "And their voices rang / With that Aryan twang"), legions of Hip fans argued strenuously for their favorites.

Writer Sharilyn Johnson posted that  "Three Pistols" was her favorite because it reminded her of class breaks with her walkman at the University of Winnipeg. "Most of their songs are some form of that story," she wrote. "They just followed me through life. That's why I loved them."

On Twitter, Trudeau declared that the Hip provided "Canada's soundtrack for more than 30 years" — and he'd know, because they were the formative 30 years for Trudeau and his generation. Which also happens to be my generation.

Gord Downie is a true original who has been writing Canada’s soundtrack for more than 30 years. #Courage — Justin Trudeau (@JustinTrudeau) May 24, 2016

One of Trudeau's members of Parliament is Arif Virani , the parliamentary secretary to the minister of immigration, refugees and citizenship. But I know him as my law school friend, and as the Hip nostalgia washed over me I kept seeing him in my mind, sweaty and head-banging to "At the Hundredth Meridian." The image was enduring, so even though he's a fancy government official now, I reached out to see if he’d comment on the Hip for this story.

It turns out I was onto something; "At the Hundredth Meridian" came up when he shared a memory of his best friend from university.

"My single most significant memory is of my friend Ard from undergrad at McGill and his ability to rhyme off word for word Gord Downie's soliloquy in ‘At the Hundredth Meridian’ ('If I die of vanity, promise me, promise me / If they bury me some place I don't want to be...")," he wrote to me by email.

"Ard went missing in 1997 and has never been seen since. This summer I've been listening to the Hip's entire anthology and thinking a lot about Ard, as I know were he still with us, he would have done anything to see Gord Downie's farewell tour because he was such a huge fan."

I didn't know that about Arif. I was angling for a quote about social justice and the Hip's message, to be honest. But after I received that email, I listened to that song and choked up.

My generation is in our mid-40s, and by this time most of us have outlived more than a few beloveds. Music is something that brings them back to us, and also reminds us that life is short, and without guarantees. That wasn't just an underlying theme of this concert — it was the reason it was happening.

Arif probably can't swear in print, so I'll do it for him, with one more line from "At the Hundredth Meridian": I remember every single fucking thing I know.

The Hip’s final concert was an emotional nostalgia trip and an ode to living in the present, all at once

Dear World, Please be advised that Canada will be closed tonight at 8:30 p.m ET. Have a #TragicallyHip day. ^vk pic.twitter.com/TMRah6JTG3 — Toronto Police (@TorontoPolice) August 20, 2016

If you're reading this, you're either a die-hard Canadian Hip fan reliving the moment or an American who I hope will get the chance to watch it at some point (the replay isn’t currently available online).

I watched the live stream from my bedroom in New York as my toddler did me a solid by actually going to sleep before 8:30 pm. On Instagram I followed the #InGordWeTrust hashtag to St. John's, Newfoundland , and Whistler and Squamish and into the living room of a young couple watching with their two kids. (This sounds creepy. It wasn't creepy. These are my people.) As exuberant comments scrolled beside the live stream, I marveled that it was the first time I was happy to see comments on a YouTube video.

The set list from last night's incredible show in Kingston. #ManMachinePoemTour A photo posted by The Tragically Hip (@thetragicallyhip) on Aug 21, 2016 at 9:22am PDT

The set list was itself a thing of brilliance. Having dispatched early with "Courage" and "Wheat Kings," the Hip eased into some of their lesser-played later stuff ("Toronto #4," "Lake Fever") and settled in for a packed, nearly three-hour ride.

"The set list was about as perfect as one could be for a band this big with so many hits," said Cappe, who has been to more than 45 Hip concerts in the US and Canada and attended four shows on the final tour. "It has been a gift for hardcore fans as they played so many songs they don't normally play."

Cappe saw the band play 58 songs over the four shows he saw, some of which he had rarely seen performed live, if ever. "It felt like they really wanted to play what Gord loved most," he said

(Note that the set list for the final show also included "Fiddler's Green," a song written for Downie's sister after the loss of her young son to a heart condition . The Hip famously couldn't bear to play it at live shows for more than a decade because it was too emotional.)

The eyes of Canada and the world were on Downie, and he knew it — and used it. Not once but twice he praised Trudeau for his Truth and Reconciliation Commission and his vow to right the wrongs committed against the aboriginal people of Canada, giving him a clear mandate, on the record.

"He cares about the people up north, who we were trained our entire lives to ignore," Downie said, baldly invoking Canada's national shame when he knew everyone was watching.

By this time it was more than two hours and one encore into the show, and when Gord thanked the crowd for listening and said, sincerely, "Have a nice life," it felt like that could be it. But of course genius set lists require that hearts be toyed with just a little more, so back the Hip came with "Nautical Disaster," followed by the opening chords of "Scared," which will slay me any day of the week and I guarantee is one of Canada's top earnest makeout songs.

I didn't catch Gord fumble many lyrics, but he stumbled and couldn't seem to say, "Can I get out of this thing with me and you," and really, who would want him to? Halfway through the next song, "Grace, Too" he dropped the mic and broke down, holding himself briefly as he shook with emotion. Then he pulled himself together, picked up the mic, put it neatly back on the mic stand, and left the stage.

There's choking up while sitting alone in a darkened room watching a live stream, and then there is full-out sobbing. I was alone, but not really.

There was a third and final encore and, at the last,  "Ahead by a Century" — the final song Gord Downie would perform during this tour, during this concert, and possibly forever. "No dress rehearsal," he sang, as the crowd sang back. "This is our life."

It was three hours of glorious togetherness, of bittersweet nostalgia, of the mental muscle memory of remembering who you once were and who was with you then. It was for fans and superfans, and for the kids who got to watch their parents get so excited about sharing in a national experience. It was belonging, and music, and pride in your roots and your homeland, even when that pride means pushing your homeland to do better.

It was about saying thank you and farewell, but maybe not goodbye, because, well, you never know.

After 30 years, we're not done with the Tragically Hip.

If we're lucky, the Tragically Hip isn’t done with us.

Let's just see what tomorrow brings.

Corrections: An earlier version of this story stated that the Tragically Hip song "Nautical Disaster" is about the  Allied WWII raid on Dieppe. The song is about the sinking of the German battleship the Bismarck during WWII. Also, the 2003 concert the Hip played to fundraise for SARS assistance was called "Stars for SARS," not "SARSstock."

Will you support Vox today?

We believe that everyone deserves to understand the world that they live in. That kind of knowledge helps create better citizens, neighbors, friends, parents, and stewards of this planet. Producing deeply researched, explanatory journalism takes resources. You can support this mission by making a financial gift to Vox today. Will you join us?

We accept credit card, Apple Pay, and Google Pay. You can also contribute via

tragically hip last tour canada

Next Up In Culture

Sign up for the newsletter today, explained.

Understand the world with a daily explainer plus the most compelling stories of the day.

Thanks for signing up!

Check your inbox for a welcome email.

Oops. Something went wrong. Please enter a valid email and try again.

An illustration of a man floating in the air on his back encircled by several floating objects: a chair, a wall clock, a turtleneck sweater, a potted plant, a curtain and rod, a book, and two plates.

Life is hard. Can philosophy help?

Several pro-Trump yard signs are displayed in the grass, printed with slogans like “Gun Owners 4 Trump,” “Defend Our Liberty,” and “Stop Election Fraud.”

Don’t sneer at white rural voters — or delude yourself about their politics

A hand wearing a surgical glove holds a vaccine vial that says “Measles Mumps Rubella Vaccine.” A syringe is visible in the background.

You probably shouldn’t panic about measles — yet

President Biden speaks onstage at a lectern beside a screen that reads “canceling student debt.”

Biden’s student loan forgiveness plan, explained

A silhouetted person sitting in front of six computer screens full of data.

A hack nearly gained access to millions of computers. Here’s what we should learn from this.

tragically hip last tour canada

College enrollment is up. The financial aid mess could bring it crashing down.

  • International edition
  • Australia edition
  • Europe edition

Gord Downie appears on a big screen in Halifax, Nova Scotia

Canadian band the Tragically Hip bid fans an emotional farewell

Ontario gig, thought to be rockers’ last after frontman’s cancer diagnosis, is attended by Justin Trudeau and shown live nationwide

The beloved Canadian band the Tragically Hip have played what is believed to be their last concert, which got under way with flag-waving fans breaking into an impromptu rendition of the national anthem, O Canada .

It seemed a fitting beginning to what was likely to be the final performance of a group known as “Canada’s Band”, the lead singer of which has been described as the country’s unofficial poet laureate .

The Tragically Hip, more commonly referred to as the Hip, announced in May that Gord Downie, the band’s frontman and one of Canada’s biggest rock stars, had incurable brain cancer .

The Saturday night show was held at the Rogers K-Rock Centre in Kingston, Ontario, where the Hip started out more than three decades ago. Tickets had sold out within minutes.

The gig was broadcast on Canadian television and public screenings were held around the country, as well as at Canada’s Olympic house facility in Rio.

Among those at the show was the Canadian prime minister, Justin Trudeau , who previously said Downie “has been writing Canada’s soundtrack for more than 30 years”. The prime minister’s official photographer tweeted a photo of Trudeau, 44, and Downie, 52, embracing before the show.

Thank you, Gord. #courage pic.twitter.com/kpLKVzfY63 — Justin Trudeau (@JustinTrudeau) August 21, 2016

The bluesy rock band were careful not to declare that the concert, which brought to a conclusion the 15-date Man Machine Poem tour, would be their last, but the series of performances had an air of solemnity and celebration.

Downie received a diagnosis of glioblastoma, an aggressive brain tumour, in December and has undergone surgery, as well as chemotherapy and radiation therapy. His doctor James Perry said Downie had responded well to treatment, but the tumour was impossible to completely remove from his brain.

When the Hip announced the tour in May after the diagnosis became public, they said: “This feels like the right thing to do now, for Gord, and for all of us … So we’re going to dig deep and try to make this our best tour yet.”

The band was formed at a high school in Ontario in 1984. They swiftly became a fixture on the Canadian music scene, releasing 13 studio albums, nine of which reached number one in Canada, and winning 14 Juno awards. The Hip were inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame in 2005.

Downie’s lyrics are peppered with references to Canada’s history and geography, from the explorer Jacques Cartier to the Toronto Maple Leafs ice hockey team. “You write about what you know,” the father of four said in a 2012 CBC interview. “And I love this country. I love my idea of this country.”

Being so defiantly Canadian may be one reason why they struggled to gain traction in the US, outside border cities such as Buffalo, where viewing parties were also held. None of the band’s albums have made it into the US top 100.

Trudeau, who has said he enjoyed the Hip’s music during his high school and university years, tweeted his thanks.

On behalf of Canadians, I thank Gord Downie and the Hip for their decades of service to Canadian music. Forever in our hearts and playlists. — Justin Trudeau (@JustinTrudeau) August 21, 2016

Downie acknowledged the prime minister from the stage, referencing his work with indigenous First Nations people and saying he expected Trudeau to be in power for a long time.

“He’s going to be looking good for about at least 12 more years. I don’t know if they let you go beyond that. But he’ll do it,” Downie told concertgoers. Trudeau could be seen in the audience, nodding and mouthing “thank you”.

Downie wore a metallic silver suit and hat with a Jaws T-shirt underneath, and began the show by hugging and kissing his bandmates: guitarists Rob Baker and Paul Langlois, bassist Gord Sinclair and drummer Johnny Fay.

An energetic Downie and his bandmates played a 30-song set loaded with hits and punctuated by three encores. They opened with four songs from their 1992 breakthrough album Fully Completely: 50 Mission Cap, Courage, Wheat Kings and At the Hundredth Meridian.

The Hip then segued into songs from their most recent album, Man Machine Poem, before running through tracks from Music @ Work, Road Apples, Phantom Power, Up to Here, Day for Night and Trouble at the Henhouse.

The band’s biggest hit, Ahead by a Century, finally closed the show.

Downie gestured as if he were sketching a portrait of the teary audience as the Hip played the song’s final notes. The band members then embraced, stood arm in arm as the crowd roared, and walked off stage.

Before performing one song, Downie seemed to reference the outpouring of support from fans since his diagnosis. “Thank you, people, for keeping me pushing and keeping me pushing,” he said, which prompted a “Gordie” chant from the audience.

After the show ended, the Toronto-based broadcaster and writer Alan Cross tweeted to say it would be remembered for a long time.

We will talk about this show in hushed tones for years to come. #TragicallyHip — Alan Cross (@alancross) August 21, 2016
  • Pop and rock
  • Justin Trudeau

Comments (…)

Most viewed.

The Tragically Hip, lead singer dying, played their last show, and Canada shut down

  • Newsletter sign up Newsletter

The Tragically Hip, fronted by Gord Downie, saying goodbye

If he has to go — and we all have to, eventually — Gord Downie, lead singer of the iconic Canadian band The Tragically Hip, is at least leaving the stage on his own terms. On Saturday night in Kingston, Ontario, The Tragically Hip played their final show, after a summer tour kicked off with the announcement that Downie, 52, has terminal brain cancer. The last show, in the band's hometown, sold out in minutes. It was broadcast live, shown in public screenings at hockey arenas and town squares, in restaurants and bars.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, a fan since he was a teenager, was at the concert, wearing a black Tragically Hip T-shirt.

"There is a Canadianness that runs through them to the point where new citizens should be given a Tragically Hip CD after they take the oath," says music historian Alan Cross . The Tragically Hip is "our Stones, our Hendrix, our Zeppelin, our Bob Dylan, all wrapped up in one awesome band," fan Wes Guidry told The New York Times . The Canadian Broadcasting Corp., in its interactive tour of the Canadian locales the band references in its songs, called Downie "Canada's unofficial poet laureate." The band, whose first of 14 studio albums was released in 1989, never quite took off outside of Canada, and Canadians loved them for it.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

"We're a country that hasn't really embraced its history just yet," Broken Social Scene's Kevin Drew, who helped produce The Hip's last album, told The New York Times . "We're still trying to figure out what makes us Canadian, and we have one of the loudest neighbors in the world, so this band helped a country, and Gord helped people lyrically, slowly start to try to define themselves." You get the same message from fans CTV spoke with in Kingston before the final show.

"It's been such a gift that they've let us say thank you with this tour," said Canadian actress and filmmaker Sarah Polley , who saw one of their final shows. Downie has had to rely on a teleprompter for the lyrics, but the band's final performances "were exceptional," said Broken Social Scene's Drew. "The detail, the care — they were there and they were present. They pushed themselves."

The Tragically Hip did not end their last hurrah on a tragic note, but with "Ahead by a Century," which The New York Times' Melena Ryzik describes as "a 1996 acoustic-based pop song about childhood innocence, beloved and performed by gymnasiums full of Canadian schoolchildren for years." If you loved the band or never heard of them, here's the song they chose to go out on. Peter Weber

Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox

A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com

Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.  

Political Cartoon

Cartoons Artists take on a chasm in reproductive freedom, the dangers of an abortion ban, and more

By The Week US Published 13 April 24

Crossword puzzle

The Week's daily crossword

By The Week Staff Published 13 April 24

Sudoku puzzle

The Week's daily hard sudoku puzzle

OJ Simpson at murder trial

Speed Read The former football hero and murder suspect lost his battle with cancer

By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published 12 April 24

Chili crisp vs. Chili Crunch

Speed Read The company's attempt to own the sole rights has prompted backlash

By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published 9 April 24

Kevin Hart awarded Mark Twain Prize

Speed Read He is the 25th recipient of the prestigious comedy prize

By Peter Weber, The Week US Published 25 March 24

Laura Carmichael as Lady Edith, Imelda Staunton as Lady Maud Bagshaw and Dame Maggie Smith as Violet Crawley in Downton Abbey

Speed Read Imelda Staunton reveals that a third movie may be in the pipeline

By Adrienne Wyper, The Week UK Published 21 March 24

Robert Downey Jr., Da'Vine Joy Randolph, Emma Stone and Cillian Murphy

speed read The film won best picture, best director (Christopher Nolan) and best actor (Cillian Murphy)

By Peter Weber, The Week US Published 11 March 24

Hannah Gutierrez-Reed

speed read The film's cinematographer Halyna Hutchins was shot and killed by actor Alec Baldwin during rehearsal

By Peter Weber, The Week US Published 7 March 24

The Beatles

Speed Read Director Sam Mendes is making four separate movies, each told from the perspective of one band member

By Peter Weber, The Week US Published 21 February 24

Taylor Swift with her Grammy

Speed Read SZA, Phoebe Bridgers and Lainey Wilson were also among the winners at LA gala

By Arion McNicoll, The Week UK Published 5 February 24

  • Contact Future's experts
  • Terms and Conditions
  • Privacy Policy
  • Cookie Policy
  • Advertise With Us

The Week is part of Future plc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. Visit our corporate site . © Future US, Inc. Full 7th Floor, 130 West 42nd Street, New York, NY 10036.

uDiscover Music Canada

SUBSCRIBE TODAY

The tragically hip named 2024 record store day canada ambassadors.

' src=

Published on

tragically hip last tour canada

Live recording of the band’s 1993 show at CBGB’s available for the first time on vinyl and cassette format on Record Store Day, April 20.

2024 marks 40 years of The Tragically Hip, a milestone year honouring four decades of music, friendship and philanthropy.

Today, The Tragically Hip are proud to be announced as the Record Store Day Canada 2024 Canadian Ambassadors , releasing an exclusive standalone live album, Live at CBGB’s , on Record Store Day. The global celebration of the culture of independent record stores takes place this year on April 20, 2024, as it has annually for the last 17 years. This announcement marks the first of many moments this year for The Tragically Hip as they celebrate 40 years as a band.

Live At CBGB’s features nine live songs that were originally recorded on January 14, 1993, from the legendary New York venue CBGB’s as The Tragically Hip launched their third studio album, Fully Completely , in America with a private event from the intimate space. The band performed the record in full, omitting a few tracks that didn’t fit the bill. This concert recording will be available on April 20 for the first time as a 12” pink vinyl with a limited run of pink cassettes at participating record stores in Canada and the US .

WATCH THE RECORD STORE DAY CANADIAN AMBASSADOR ANNOUNCEMENT HERE

“Record Store Day Canada is overjoyed that legendary Canadian band, The Tragically Hip, will be the Record Store Day Canada 2024 Canadian Ambassadors,” says Ryan Kerr from Record Store Day Canada. “There are few bands that represent Canadiana; our traditions, values and pastimes the way The Tragically Hip does. The band is woven into the fabric of our culture and the annals of our beloved rock radio with innumerable hits. Fans continue to honour the legacy of The Tragically Hip, who brought a genuine and unique passion to their music. RSDC is looking forward to contributing to the band’s ongoing legacy by releasing Live at CBGB’s for Record Store Day 2024. Pressed for the very first time, it will be a great addition to collections of The Tragically Hip fans nationwide.”

Established in 1984, this year marks 40 Years of The Tragically Hip – a milestone for the beloved band.  2024 sees The Tragically Hip break open the archives; reminiscing with fans on four decades of music, friendship and philanthropy. The band’s legacy will be honoured with a yearlong celebration, starting with the designation of the Record Store Day Canada Ambassadors, then a deluxe package of their breakthrough album, Up To Here, the latest instalment of a series of special deluxe packages released over the last few years– Road Apples 30th Anniversary Deluxe Boxset (2021), Fully Completely Vinyl Release (2022), Phantom Power 25th Anniversary Deluxe Boxset (2023). Plus, a four-part Amazon documentary, and much more.

Live At CBGB’s Track Listing:  1.    Fully Completely 2.    Looking For A Place To Happen 3.    Courage (For Hugh MacLennan) 4.    Fifty-Mission Cap 5.    Pigeon Camera 6.    We’ll Go Too 7.    At The Hundredth Meridian 8.    Locked In The Trunk Of A Car 9.    The Wherewithal

Past Canadian Ambassadors include Triumph, The Sheepdogs, Our Lady Peace and globally, Taylor Swift and Pearl Jam have held the title – among others. Record Store Day Canada thanks the following sponsors: Return to Analog Records, Warner Music, Microforum Pressing, Org Music, Sony Music Canada, GrooveWasher, Universal Music Canada, Audio-Technica Canada, Paranoid Print Co, Megaforce Records, Unidisc Music, Aquarius Records, Godin Guitars, Tacca Musique, Vans Off the Wall, AMS All Media Supply, Brave Words, Redeye Distribution, The Orchard, Sing, Edifier, Show & Listen, Vylumi, Amped Distribution.

40 YEARS OF THE TRAGICALLY HIP:   The Tragically Hip has been at the heart of the Canadian musical zeitgeist, evoking a strong emotional connection between their music and their fans that remains unrivalled. A five-piece group of friends including Rob Baker (guitar), Gord Downie (vocals, guitar), Johnny Fay (drums), Paul Langlois (guitar) and Gord Sinclair (bass), who grew up in Kingston, Ontario, The Tragically Hip have achieved both mass popularity with more than 10 million albums in Canada and over 1.5 million sold in the U.S, as well as peer recognition through 17 Juno Awards – picking up the distinguished Humanitarian Award in 2021 at the 50th annual JUNO Awards, which recognizes Canadian artists or industry leaders whose humanitarian contributions have positively enhanced the social fabric of Canada and beyond. In 2022, they were inducted into Canada’s Walk Of Fame for Humanitarianism in pursuit of social and environmental justice. They had previously received a star on the Walk Of Fame in 2002 for Arts & Entertainment. Most recently, the band along with their manager, Jake Gold, received the War Child Canada Founder’s Award celebrating over 20 years of support for the global humanitarian organization. The Tragically Hip’s tireless activism and philanthropic pursuits have raised millions of dollars for multiple social and environmental causes, such as Camp Trillium, the Canadian Cancer Society, the Sunnybrook Foundation, WAR Child, the Special Olympics, and the Unison Benevolent Fund. Their studio catalogue includes their self-titled debut album The Tragically Hip (1987), Up To Here (1989), Road Apples (1991), Fully Completely (1992), Day For Night (1994), Trouble At The Henhouse (1996), Phantom Power (1998), Music @ Work (2000), In Violet Light (2002), In Between Evolution (2004), World Container (2006), We Are The Same (2009), Now For Plan A (2012), Man Machine Poem (2016) and Saskadelphia (2021). A National Celebration was the final show of The Tragically Hip’s Man Machine Poem Tour recorded on August 20th, 2016, at the K-Rock Centre in their hometown of Kingston, Ontario, and is their last performance as a five-piece band. Through their career the band became a cultural touchstone in Canada, who despite their accolades and numerous recognitions, will always be proudest of the humanitarian work they have done over the years through numerous charitable organizations and causes. The legacy of the band’s frontman, the late Gord Downie, continues with The Gord Downie and Chanie Wenjack Fund, which aims to build cultural understanding and create a path toward reconciliation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples.

Follow The Tragically Hip: Website | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | Tik Tok

tragically hip last tour canada

Don't Miss

tragically hip last tour canada

Elton John Earns Multi-Platinum Plaque For ‘Diamonds,’ Shares ‘Step Into Christmas’ EP

tragically hip last tour canada

Jon Batiste Announces ‘Uneasy Tour: Purifying The Airwaves For The People’

tragically hip last tour canada

Best Political Punk Songs: 20 Essential Anti-Establishment Tirades

tragically hip last tour canada

Woodstock And Beyond: How the Modern Music Festival Came To Be

IMAGES

  1. Final Concert

    tragically hip last tour canada

  2. Tragically Hip’s Historic Final Tour Immortalized In New Documentary

    tragically hip last tour canada

  3. The Tragically Hip Feel the Canadian Love at Last of 3 Toronto Concerts

    tragically hip last tour canada

  4. Where to watch the Tragically Hip's final concert in Toronto

    tragically hip last tour canada

  5. One Third of Canadians Watched The Tragically Hip final concert

    tragically hip last tour canada

  6. The Tragically Hip, the band all of Canada is obsessed with, explained

    tragically hip last tour canada

VIDEO

  1. Reaction To The Tragically Hip

  2. The Tragically Hip

  3. Long Time Running

  4. THE TRAGICALLY HIP The Last Of The Unplucked Gems ROAD APPLES

  5. Long Time Running

  6. Long Time Running

COMMENTS

  1. Ahead by a year: Remembering the Hip's last show

    Canada's musical luminaries remember the Tragically Hip's final show. This time last year, the Tragically Hip were entering the final stretch of their 2016 tour, an event coloured by singer ...

  2. The Tragically Hip Concert & Tour History

    The Tragically Hip Concert History. The Tragically Hip was formed in 1984 by Gord Downie, Rob Baker, Paul Langlois, Gord Sinclair, Johnny Fay, and Davis Manning. While Manning left the band in 1986, the five others went on to become one of Canada's most successful rock bands. Between 1989 and 2017, the band released 12 studio albums, nine of ...

  3. A Nation's Farewell: Remembering The Tragically Hip's Historic Finale

    In May 2016, shortly after the news of Downie's terminal cancer diagnosis sent shockwaves through the country, The Tragically Hip announced a cross-Canada tour which sold out in minutes. While the band refrained from explicitly calling the tour their last, the Man Machine Poem tour would be their final chapter together as a band.

  4. All of Canada turned out to attend The Tragically Hip's last concert

    Gord Downie of The Tragically Hip performing at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto on Aug. 10, 2016. Credit: Marcus Oleniuk/Toronto Star. The Tragically Hip played their final concert on Aug. 21 ...

  5. Explaining the importance of The Tragically Hip's final show

    The Tragically Hip's fans pay their respects. Photograph: Canadian Press/Rex/Shutterstock. And, because it was the last time, we saw each member of the Hip walk to Gord, embrace him, kiss him ...

  6. Watching Canada's Biggest Rock Band Say a Dramatic Goodbye

    Stephen Marche on the farewell tour of the Canadian rock band the Tragically Hip, whose lead singer is facing terminal brain cancer. ... on the day of their last concert there, the local rock ...

  7. 33 photos of how Canadians watched The Tragically Hip's last ever concert

    Aug 23 2016, 6:10 am. tanner_grywinski / Instagram. It was a sad farewell for The Tragically Hip as they played their final concert at Rogers K-Rock Centre in Kingston, Ontario on Saturday night. The Hip had embarked on their final tour following lead singer Gordon Downie's terminal brain cancer diagnosis. The band kicked off their Man ...

  8. The Tragically Hip on reuniting for the band's 1st performance since

    The Tragically Hip to perform at Junos in 1st televised appearance since Gord Downie's death. Now, nearly five years after their last performance, the band's surviving members — bassist Gord ...

  9. 17 photos of the Tragically Hip's last ever concert in Toronto

    The Tragically Hip have existed the building. The legendary Canadian band took their final bow in Toronto at the Air Canada Centre last night. The third, and final, night of their Man Machine Poem tour was certainly one filled with emotions - from fans and the band alike.

  10. A look back at the Tragically Hip's final concert in Kingston, one year

    It's estimated 27,000 fans filled Market Square to watch the August 20th live feed of the Tragically Hip's final concert of the 'Man Machine Poem' tour at Kingston's K-Rock Centre.

  11. Tragically Hip: Canada Waves Goodbye to a National Treasure

    July 20, 2016. The Tragically Hip in 1992. The band will begin its final tour on July 22nd. Bob Berg/Getty. Countless better-known acts have come out of Canada, but if the nation ever had a true ...

  12. The Tragically Hip, the band all of Canada is obsessed with ...

    The Tragically Hip had already mapped out their tour for their latest album, Man Machine Poem, and with the blessing of Downie's oncologist, they decided the show would go on. It became a farewell ...

  13. Canadian band the Tragically Hip bid fans an emotional farewell

    The beloved Canadian band the Tragically Hip have played what is believed to be their last concert, ... nine of which reached number one in Canada, and winning 14 Juno awards. The Hip were ...

  14. Ahead by a Century

    The Hips last concert from Kingston, Ontario, with concert footage from the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.

  15. The Tragically Hip: A Farewell From One Of Canada's Most Loved Bands

    The Tragically Hip: A Farewell From One Of Canada's Most Loved Bands. On August 20, 2016, after a tremendous three-decade run, the Tragically Hip played their last show. For years, they'd been the biggest band in Canada, but on this past Saturday night, the whole country was watching, maple leaf flags in hands and lumps in throats, as the ...

  16. Where to watch The Tragically Hip's final concert in Calgary

    15 photos of the Tragically Hip's last ever concert in Calgary; The beloved Canadian band will finish their Man Machine Poem tour with a final farewell performance in Kingston, Ontario on August 20. Tickets are of course, all sold out. But for a band that has already gone down in the history books, Canada is going above and beyond.

  17. The Tragically Hip

    A National Celebration, a concert film of the Tragically Hip's final concert, was released on DVD and Blu-ray on December 8, 2017. In July 2018, guitarist Rob Baker told Entertainment Tonight Canada that the Tragically Hip were no longer active as a touring or recording entity following Downie's death. He stated "When I say The Tragically Hip ...

  18. CBC in talks to broadcast the Tragically Hip's final concert

    Gord Downie and the Tragically Hip will make a final concert tour across Canada this summer after the singer was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer. ... Canadian band's last show, and the CBC ...

  19. Man Machine Poem Tour

    The Man Machine Poem Tour was a concert tour by The Tragically Hip in support of their thirteenth full-length studio album Man Machine Poem.The tour consisted of 15 shows, the first held on July 22, 2016, in Victoria, British Columbia, and the last held on August 20, 2016, at Rogers K-Rock Centre in Kingston, Ontario.. The tour was announced on May 25, 2016, following an announcement the ...

  20. The Tragically Hip, lead singer dying, played their last show, and

    On Saturday night in Kingston, Ontario, The Tragically Hip played their final show, after a summer tour kicked off with the announcement that Downie, 52, has terminal brain cancer. The last show ...

  21. The Tragically Hip Named 2024 Record Store Day Canada Ambassadors

    The global celebration of the culture of independent record stores takes place this year on April 20, 2024, as it has annually for the last 17 years. This announcement marks the first of many moments this year for The Tragically Hip as they celebrate 40 years as a band. Live At CBGB's features nine live songs that were originally recorded on ...

  22. The Tragically Hip

    The Tragically Hip, a rock band from Kingston, Ontario, was the most consistently successful Canadian recording and touring group of the 1990s, filling arenas and headlining festivals. They boasted more number-one records in Canada than any other domestic group. ... The last refers to the mysterious 1917 death of Group of Seven painter Tom ...

  23. The Tragically Hip's last song rings out across Canada

    Thousands of fans from Halifax to Vancouver sang the Tragically Hip's last song, 'Ahead By A Century.'Click here to subscribe to Maclean's on YouTube: http:/...