[potsie]

I'll say this: I could see the Hip carrying on, but only with a different name, and with a female lead singer.

Why female? Because any male singer will invariably be compared to Gord, and found wanting. A female vocalist would represent such a radical change that it would jolt us out of our preconceived notions and allow the band to continue as a living, breathing entity instead of a "Hip cover band" version of itself. It's the only way forward.

The ideal candidate, IMHO, would be Kathleen Edwards. She has the kickass attitude, the charisma, and the songwriting chops to actually bring it off.

Won't happen. But if it *did* happen, I think it would kill.

I would love to see the four guys continue making music together but I think a re-branding would be important for me to get behind the effort. I don't want to see them revived as The Tragically Hip, either on record or live, with a new lead singer. I agree that a female lead singer would provide greater differentiation from the Downie era, but I would still have difficulty hearing someone else sing Grace, Too and other Hip classics and not find that they suffered (at least somewhat) in comparison to the live versions I know and enjoy. A template for what I have in mind would be Rage Against the Machine dropping singer Zack de la Rocha and returning with Chris Cornell under the name Audioslave. Same band, new lead singer, new name. In this manner they could more readily entertain the idea of a male singer without worrying as much about filling the big shoes that come with the Hip legacy.