Saturday Aug. 20, 2016 is a day that will live on in the memories of about 11.7 million of my fellow Canadians – the last concert of iconic Canadian rock band the Tragically Hip.
According to Statistics Canada, our fair nation boasts a population of roughly 36 million people, which means that nearly one third of all Canadians tuned in for the swan song of beloved headliner Gord Downie.
With this year's heartbreaking announcement he was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer, millions of fans across the nation and around the world wept at the imminent loss of a great Canadian musician.
Since their inception in Kingston, Ont. in 1984, the Tragically Hip, or just The Hip to fans, has received multiple accolades, including 14 Juno awards. Even Canadians who do not consider themselves Hip fans will likely remember turning on a radio at some point in the last 30 years to hear classic Hip tunes like New Orleans is Sinking and Ahead by a Century.
Ticketmaster found itself in hot water recently due to bots and scalpers scooping up all of the available tickets to the Hip's final shows. They were then reposted for outrageously inflated prices on sites like StubHub and Kijiji. In fact, the Winnipeg police successfully apprehended two scalpers who were reselling tickets online for more than four times their purchase price. Fans were devastated in a belief they would miss their opportunity to see their beloved rock group perform one last time.
But CBC came to the rescue, and this scribbler joins the multitude of columnists and journalists praising the network for its coverage of the concert. While they could have seized the opportunity to pad their wallets with ad revenues that would have undoubtedly put most specialty programming to shame, they opted instead to air the show commercial-free. Kudos to the CBC for putting millions of Canadian fans above the almighty dollar.
Unfortunately, I was away on holidays for the CBC show that was broadcast over the radio, television and Internet streams to millions of hungry fans. But the reviews I've heard are more of the same as I've been hearing throughout their Man Machine Poem tour this summer – that the Hip masterfully weaved musical magic. Apparently Downie, who chose to spend his last few months touring with the band he loved, did what he loved to do, and was absolutely captivating. Many can now recall experiencing chills at least once during the show.
As a relatively young person it's a beautiful and humbling thing to see so many Canadians joining together in celebration of a musical legacy more than 30 years in the making.
In a way it reminds me of Don McLean's American Pie: the tune that alludes to “the day the music died” – Feb. 3, 1959 when a plane crash claimed the lives of Ritchie Valens, the Big Bopper and Buddy Holly. Perhaps in the coming years, long after Mr. Downie has left us all behind, Aug. 20, 2016 will inspire fond memories as the day the music lived in the hearts of Canadians and fans everywhere.
Darlana Robertson is a twentysomething writer from Calgary and a former Central Alberta resident.
