[patlee_28]

The end of Grace, Too was the most intense thing that I have ever seen.

[patiodweller]

What the hell do I do with my life now?

Thank you HIP, I love you infinitely

[screw_ball]

I haven't posted on here in several years. Over time, my interest in the Hip has waned...as it has for lots of things and as it has for y'all w/r/t other things as well. This doesn't negate the years during which I was (unhealthily, at times, it seems) fixated on this music. I remember going on a road trip with my dad through the Southwestern US when I was 7 or 8 or 9 and hearing 'Up to Here' for the first time. I remember, a couple years later, when I lived in a group home, that the educators had a budget of ~$20 per b-day & Christmas to buy gifts for us kids and I called my dad and asked him which album he used to play in the car a lot when he drove. He said 'Road Apples', which wasn't what I was looking for, but I recalled as a 10 yr old in that group home playing the chorus of "The Luxury" again and again through the group home's boom box and recording it to a cassette tape before getting bumped, so I had a tape of 4 or 5 repetitions of "The Golden Rim Motor Inn...", etc. that I would listen to religiously before rewinding and listening again, ad infinitum. I remember living with my dad again years later and being in a charter high school where I did all the menial HS work with mundane packets and one afternoon I found 'Day for Night' in his CD collection and decided to listen to it. I was 15 and it changed my life. I remember seeing them for the first time opening for The Who during the 'World Container' tour when I was 17 and meeting Gord Downie after the show and telling him I sang in a band called The Psychadelic Ramblings of Rich Kids and he told me how unfortunate it is that so many people get together and jam and have a good thing going but no one wants to get up and sing because they're shy and then the project fades away from the lack of a singer. I remember years later, once again in California after a miserable year back in Canada, taking a shower in my friend's mom's apartment and finally assimilating the lyrics to "Springtime in Vienna". I had a bad experience seeing the band at the Troubadour in LA during the 'World Container' tour (said bad experience being entirely my fault) and then...I evolved. That's not to say that my love of the Hip was holding me back. I just changed. But when I was in high school I vowed to never listen to 'Battle of the Nudes' during the day or with the lights on, and I haven't yet broken that promise to myself. I got heavily into Eric's Trip (and related projects) because of "Put it Off", which led me to get a tape 4-track that was used to make Christian rock in the 90's and start experimenting with recording. I was in a punk band in high school which played 1 show, which was at the drummer's birthday at which his extensive Mexican family was present, and I did the "Killer Whale Tank" rant as an homage to the Hip. Everyone hated it except for a few, but I then learned how important it is to perform what I think is important, as opposed to what I think others what to hear. I sing because Gord D. inspired me to do so. I act like the weirdo I am because of how Gord D. acts on stage. The way he was screaming at the end of "Grace, Too" last night...that's what I am going to take away from this show. My heroes are just starting to die. Jason Molina (who I think the people of this board would really like, actually) died in 2013 and that was the first time someone who kept me going like that died. And now Gord D. will die. The whole band will die and so will I, but to see Gord D. vulnerable, forgetting the lyrics, having to rely on others to get down the stairs...I don't know how to feel about it. Props to the CBC for understanding how important this show was to so many people and making it available.

"...and disappointing you's getting me down." Possibly the last official words of The Tragically Hip, the last lyrics out of Gord D.'s mouth on the whole subject of being in the Hip for almost 30 years. To me, being that to me 'Trouble at the Henhouse' is their masterpiece, it felt important that their last song of the show was from that record. They've left, cumulatively, a hopeful and profound body of work. It was nice to hear Johnny so loudly (often louder than Gord D.) and I love that they separated everything by album. Sufjan Stevens did that when I saw him last year and I thought it was brilliant...I've never come across that before and it was touching when I first encountered this with him. The most poignant moment of the entire night to me was the end of "Scared" being flung into an entirely (and I am sure entirely deliberate) context:

"I got to go, it's been a pleasure doing business with you."

Although I feel as though the clearly delimited parts of my life whose soundtrack was populated by the Hip being to seem more and more alien as the years advance, I can not and will never deny the influence this group has had on who I am. It also seems as though that, with all this time that has passed since I first started listening to them, I am finally starting to understand what this music actually means to me. They'll never be forgotten...and nothing lasts, really. I'll miss the ACTUALITY of the Hip, for sure, but the reality of their influence on my life and the experience of more people than I can truly understand can never disappear.

"Don't you wanna see how it ends?"

Yep. I do and I probably did and I am OK with all of this and I hope you are as well.

EDIT: Although there was no way this would happen, I still (selfishly) think that "The Dark Canuck" (my fav all-time Hip song) would have made an unexpected but amazing closer...I am a stickler for last-tracks-of-Hip-albums, since their closers are always some of my favs and nearly invariably close out the album perfectly. I didn't expect to hear it last night and wasn't disappointed that I didn't (and strangely was disappointed when I saw it live, for whatever reason...expectations, I guess) but man...what a perfect closer. But "Ahead by a Century" is probably better in context. Although, "...and it goes on and on and on..." with the drums at the end...oh my! And the fact that IMO 'In Violet Light' loops perfectly from "The Dark Canuck" to "Are You Ready?".

[Lizard King]

What the hell do I do with my life now?

Thank you HIP, I love you infinitely

you keep hope alive, keep on rocking

nothings over yet.

[Daryl24]

word on twitter is Eddie Vedder dedicated Light Years to Gord and the band in Chicago tonight

Good on PJ, nice move.

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[popculture007]

I was wondering who Gord sent Fiddler's Green out to before singing. It was t Charlie. It sounded like Michelle (?). "This one's for..."

[Oyberg]

Some nice post-show commentary from Rich Terfry, Dan Mangan, Gavin Brown and Piya Chattopadhyay: <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n6pwkHjRWuM&feature=player_embedded">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n6pwkHj ... r_embedded</a><!-- m -->

And I hate clinging to straws here, but they talk about how there was no mention of "final" from the band...

[mark]

i am a little disappointed they didn't deviate a little from the standard setlist format. they had a chance to do something extra special, on an already very special night.... something like bust out a song they hadn't played in forever. like take a chance and play something from the EP.

[mark]

Some nice post-show commentary from Rich Terfry, Dan Mangan, Gavin Brown and Piya Chattopadhyay: <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n6pwkHjRWuM&feature=player_embedded">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n6pwkHj ... r_embedded</a><!-- m -->

And I hate clinging to straws here, but they talk about how there was no mention of "final" from the band...

did you see how tired he looked at the end of that show? that isn't a guy who is going to be able to continue at that pace for much longer, unfortunately. not that he is going to die any time soon, but it is simply a fact that he has a terminal illness.

he isn't someone who goes on stage and gives you 60%. if he can't give 100%, then he wouldn't do it. it could be that the band says that it isn't "the end" because maybe they will continue to put out music, but just won't tour. who knows.

[Lizard King]

No setlist will ever be perfect for each one of us, but I thought they put on an amazing set, it slowed a little during the M@W segment, Locked was a nice surprise at the end.

My only complaint, I love Toronto#4 but it loses something without Julie's backing vocal and Im not talking about this show just saying in general.

[Green Mountain Bot]

I hear you about the backing vocals, but listening back to the audio, the audience seemed to do an admirable job of filling in. Not as good as Julie, of course, but different in a good way.

[potsie]

did you see how tired he looked at the end of that show? that isn't a guy who is going to be able to continue at that pace for much longer, unfortunately. not that he is going to die any time soon, but it is simply a fact that he has a terminal illness.

he isn't someone who goes on stage and gives you 60%. if he can't give 100%, then he wouldn't do it. it could be that the band says that it isn't "the end" because maybe they will continue to put out music, but just won't tour. who knows.

Agree. He looks and moves like someone who is very ill. To do what he did for a month probably took a herculean effort. I think this represents the end of their touring career.

If I could make one more request of Gord (which is selfish of me) it would be for an in depth interview with a respected journalist (someone who knows the band and the music, like Ron MacLean). I would love to hear his reflections on the tour, the crowd response and how those few minutes on stage alone before leaving after the main set felt, the effort it took him to perform for two hours and how he dealt with physical and mental limitations, etc. I would also be very interested in his thoughts on the band's legacy and his musings on life (and death) and what's left on his bucket list.

[direwolf74]

If I could make one more request of Gord (which is selfish of me) it would be for an in depth interview with a respected journalist (someone who knows the band and the music, like Ron MacLean). I would love to hear his reflections on the tour, the crowd response and how those few minutes on stage alone before leaving after the main set felt, the effort it took him to perform for two hours and how he dealt with physical and mental limitations, etc. I would also be very interested in his thoughts on the band's legacy and his musings on life (and death) and what's left on his bucket list.

Mansbridge would be the perfect guy to do that interview. I love his "One on One" show on CBC.

[Killer Whale Tank]

I agree that would be great if Gord were to do that. But he's never seemed to like interviews, at least not with journalists. If this were to happen - and I really doubt that it will, and suspect that Gord's primary focus from here on in will be his family, his work, and his health - the best bet might be to get another musician, poet or author whom Gord respects (e.g., Joseph Boyden), not to 'interview' Gord, but to sit down and chat with him. I'm guessing that that would be the only thing that could tempt him into doing it.

[Naga]

So I said at the Ottawa show Downie looked really sick and not very animated. It's like night and day with the Kingston show! He looked a hundred times better! I'm so impressed. It must have just been a bad day for him.