[johnwblake]

We were filled with bittersweet excitement as my wife and daughter and I traveled from Detroit to Hamilton to see what may have been our final Tragically Hip concert. We jammed to our favorite selection of Hip songs as we sped up the 401 to the 403 on our mission to rock out with The Hip and join the fans in the Hammer in showing our love for Gord Downie and all the members of The Hip. The high energy and excitement of the fans was palpable in the sold out hockey arena.

The show began with a four song set from Fully, Completely. As with all the previous concerts on this tour, the band played together in a tight semi-circle around Gord. It was a great way to show the band's unity. During the first set in which The Hip played in this formation, I noticed Gord D was singing a lot to the fans in front of "stage left". Finally, I realized the reason for this. The camera at stage left, shooting for the arena big screen, was providing some great views of Gord singing while surrounded by his friends. Gord's shimmering, metallic, leather suits are so cool! He wore three different suits throughout the night. Each suit was worn with a matching fedora and each fedora had a large peacock feather protruding from the hat band. Gord began the night in the silver suit with a white fedora and a rainbow neck band.

The next four songs were from the recent Man Machine Poem release. The band was playing so well together and Gord's singing, cadence and delivery was excellent, too! The fans were hooked and singing along. After the song, What Blue, Gord said the band always enjoyed playing in Hamilton, but one of their first times playing in a small bar there was rough. He said they played in a bar with zero fans in it!! The Hip then delivered two powerful songs back to back. Gord performed In Sarnia with such emotion. The song sounded just like it did on the album. Then The Hip had everyone rocking to Machine. The Hamilton fans responded with a loud, raucous cheer after each of these two songs. What a great response to the new material.

At this point the band left the stage for a break as the stage crew moved the band's gear into its normal concert set up using the full stage. As this was done, a nice visual and audio distraction was provided to the fans. The big screen in the arena showed a lightning storm over what I believe was Georgian Bay. As the lightning strikes hit the land and the water, the loud crackles and booms of the thunder and lightning were broadcast over the sound system. The arena and stage lights were flashing with the lightning on the screen to provide a surreal feeling. The storm passed as the screen showed a warm, orange glowing sunset and the band returned from their break.

Gord returned wearing a purple suit with a matching purple fedora. The next four songs came from World Container followed by an emotional gut wrenching set from Day for Night. I have read previous concert reviews from other shows which say the Grace, Too performance is one of the best songs of the entire evening. The Hip certainly made a powerful statement with that song on this night, also. From the opening strains of Gord Sinclair's bass, the fans were ready for one of The Hip's most well known songs. The music seemed to pump a little louder through the speakers as Gord sang the lyrics and he put himself in the moment of the song when the protagonist finds he has been cheated on. As Gord sang, " Him...Here...Now!", the camera zoomed in to reveal an emotionally pained look on Gord's face with his eyes glistening with welled up tears he held back. I can't tell you if this scene was real emotion or an act, but that is the summation of a Gord Downie performance. He sold the moment to me and I bought it! The next song played was Scared. The fans recognized the song immediately and the arena lit up with cell phone lights. The fans knew the touching lyrics to this song and we all knew it was our time to connect personally with Gord and his struggle against brain cancer. A huge cheer went up during the following lines:

Tests have shown that suspicious are hostile
Their lives need not be shortened
Truth be told, they can live a long, long while
Tickled to death by their importance

Many fans were in tears as Gord ended the song with, "I got to go, it's been a pleasure doing business with you". The moment was very touching. The band played one more song and then took another break.

The last four songs of the main set came from Phantom Power. Gord came out in his shocking pink, metallic suit with a white fedora. The pink suit is my favorite of all the colors he wears because I like to believe he dons it in support of cancer research. After the final song, all the band members were hugging each other and they gathered in a line at the front of the stage as the fans showered them with adoration. Eventually, everyone left and Gord was on stage by himself when he picked up on the story he mentioned earlier. Gord said, " I know I mentioned we played to zero people in a bar in Hamilton early in our career. This same situation was the only time the band played a song without a bass player. We were supposed to get $325 for the gig, I believe. We decided to play our set because if we didn't play we wouldn't be paid". Gord went on to say that during a song, Sinclair set his bass down on the stage and walked over to speak with the bar manager to see if the band would still be paid for playing. I think he mentioned they got their money and everyone in the arena got a good chuckle from the story as Gord waved good bye. The band played two more encores to complete their twenty-five song set.

Another Hipbaser and the review TTH posted mentioned the touching words Gord said to the end the concert (I copied and pasted them from a previous post):

After the final encore, Downie stood on stage alone and addressed the crowd. "It was a lot of fun. That is the main idea. None of it will last much longer than the particular phone you're shooting it on. And that's OK. I'm not anti-phone or anything." And then he paused dramatically.

"But, uh, it will be the little feelings here and there that pop up. OK?" And then he strode off the stage.

My wife and I have seen The Tragically Hip perform live over 100+ times in Halifax, numerous places in Southern Ontario and in small clubs throughout the Midwest and the Eastern Coast of the United States. We have so many memories of our travels to and from the shows and of waiting by the bus for a chance to meet some of the most friendly and down to earth guys around. The Hip are not stuck up rock stars. They always had time to say hello, take some photos with us and chat. I'm thankful my 20 y/o daughter was able to attend her first and possibly last Hip concert with us. My daughter became a Hip fan because her parents played practically nothing but Hip music for the first 8 years of her life. My daughter told me after the concert that she really enjoyed the show. She said she didn't know all the words to the songs, but she recognized every song. I was happy because the newbie enjoyed this concert as much as the two grizzled veterans.

I have met so many good people here on the Hipbase. I've met some of them at concerts over and over again and they have become friends. I personally enjoyed this concert so much! I'm glad I spent it with 20,000 other equally intense fans as myself. I will cherish the memory of this final concert experience. In closing, I must say how proud I am of Gord Downie standing up and fighting against his cancer diagnosis. Gord could have stayed at home and not performed on this tour. Instead, Gord will decide how he will finish his own story, just like one of my other Canadian heroes, Terry Fox.

Very well said Hugh!