[NWOntario]

Related: the Hip's music sounds really fucking good today.

Agreed 100%

I listened to The Depression Suite in the car and wept today.

I'm not touching that one yet; that, "A Beautiful Thing," and "Fiddler's Green" can wait a while.

Woodstock '99 was a great listen: upbeat, energetic, messy, loud.

[kelman66]

Hello all
Been a long time since I posted but my love for this band has never waned.

I see them a couple times each time they tour, always up near the front.

There is truly no other place to be to see this amazing band than right up front.

I might have to tour the country with them on this one... Hopefully I can get up at the front and be in their aura at least one more time.

[Locked99]

Gord you did what you set out to do...."I wanna break the hearts of everyone"

[Lizard King]

These songs will never be the same, its really hard to take.

praise the heavens for vodka, what a shit day.

[Dark Canuck17]

Like all Hip fans this is hitting hard, I am having a hard time listening to their songs and although of course I am looking forward to new Hip, this new release is going to be difficult to listen to knowing this could be the end...I hope with time this feeling passes.

[VioletLite]

These songs will never be the same, its really hard to take.

praise the heavens for vodka, what a shit day.

The shittiest of days, King. I've not been on here in years. Today I just needed to 'be with you all', if that makes sense. I can't quite get my head around this. Not Gordie. Anyone but Gordie.

[carebread]

This is going to sound bad, and roast me if you will, but it happened to the sole guy the band couldn't go on without. It would be just as terrible if it were to happen to the other boys, but I could see them trudging on.

[Malique33]

Thought I would share this...my first Hip concert.....Highgate, Vermont. Roughly five minutes from where I built my house. I joined in 2004 and this is only my third post...time sure does fly.

[gratts99]

NOW Toronto, the weekly here, allowed me to try to make sense of all of this today. Here's the link, if anyone's interested.

<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="https://nowtoronto.com/music/stand-up-tragically-hip-fans-gord-downie/">https://nowtoronto.com/music/stand-up-t ... rd-downie/</a><!-- m -->

This is a fucking awful day. But we've got some responsibility now, as fans. Let's show Gord and the band how much they mean to us on this upcoming tour. Let's scream til our throats are sore, so he doesn't have to. And let's be thankful there's another tour around the corner.

Very very well written. Thank you for it.

[ceebuler]

"If there's a glory in miracles
it's that they're reversible"
-Titanic Terrarium, Day For Night (1994)

I was thirteen when the Tragically Hip played Saturday Night Live. How ironic to have discovered a band already so beloved in Canada by their only U.S. television performance.

But it wasn't just the band that I discovered; it was music itself.

I was barely able to process the performance, but I was mesmerized by the singer. I recalled the intensity of his delivery - and in particular, of the lyrics "I come from DOWNTOWN" - the way he seemed to spontaneously, and in an instant, compute the coordinates of downtown and gesticulate the direction from which he came. At times he seemed surprised by his own words and movements. He sang as if possessed - more conduit than creator.

"Then I think I smiled.
Then I'm sure you said 'it's fine'.
They've got no interest in a world possessed by the human mind."
-In a World Possessed by the Human Mind, Man Machine Poem (2016)

I had no video of the performance, but I did discover a telephone number which provided short snippets of 3 songs from the latest album, Day For Night. Over and over again I dialled 1-800-ATLANTIC (the C was unnecessary, but 1-800-ATLANTI is less memorable). Over and over again I heard bits of 'Grace, Too', 'Nautical Disaster', and 'Fire in the Hole'. If I saw a payphone at school, or at the mall, I'd call the Hip.

I didn't know what I loved about it, and maybe I still don't. But I sure did, and for twenty years since, I have.

I got a paper route so I could buy CDs. Money was measured in CD units. To spend $20 was to waste money that could have purchased a CD, and I realized immediately that music was to be enjoyed for eternity. Not just enjoyed, but immersed in. Dissected. I studied the liner notes of Day for Night. I looked for meaning and then looked for hidden meaning. I rearranged the bolded words which appeared in various songs and looked for still deeper meaning. Some songs told stories, but others were elusive, with meanings hinted at but just out of reach.

I bought the Hip's back catalogue, but it wasn't enough. I heard about a store on Kerr street in Hamilton called "Records on Wheels" which apparently sold Hip bootlegs. I remember the location of a store I visited once twenty years ago the way one remembers the location of the North Pole from that time they visited Santa Claus. I bought every Hip cassette they had - twenty or so. I found another bootleg dealer in Burlington who chastised me for using the word "bootleg" - almost banned me forever.

I discovered the internet and simultaneously discovered the online Hip trading community. I made my own website - something I wouldn't know how to do today - in order to trade Hip tapes. I looked forward to my paper route as a means of listening to the latest live Hip tape that had come in the mail that week. I weep for the generation that will never know the excitement of checking the mailbox after school, finding large envelopes and peeling them open to discover the treasures within.

Manila envelopes smell like live Hip.

When Trouble at the Henhouse was released, the Hip were at the height of their popularity. My Dad drove me to Sunrise records so I could buy the album at midnight the instant it was released. The instant it was released. The album was playing overhead while the other completists and I waited for midnight. I read all the lyrics on the way home. I'd line up at that same store all night long soon thereafter in the hopes of scoring concert tickets, but would be foiled by Ticketmaster's wristband policy which demosntrated a complete lack of appreciation for the dedication of us die-hards.

"And the river don't sleep
When the water runs cold
And the calendar burns
As the story unfolds
And the valley spans miles
When the mountain stands high
Can't they let us run wild
For another midnight?"
- Another Midnight, Up To Here (1989)

But there would be many shows to come. I lost count a long time ago, but it must be around 50. My girlfriend, now wife, Joanne, got into the Hip. We'd see them as often as possible - every time they played in Ontario, and elsewhere whenever possible. We'd ring in the New Year at their shows. We planned our Europe trip around the time they'd be in London.

"We hung out together every single moment
'cause that's what we thought married people do
Complete with the grip of artificial chaos
and believing in the country of me and you"
- Firewords, Phantom Power (1998)

Through the online community, I knew when surprise shows were going to happen. Joanne lined up with me outside Lee's Palace when I heard of a secret show. Sure enough, other people showed up - the show was really happening. We were towards the front of the line. Joanne told me we were underage and wouldn't get in. She knew we wouldn't get in. She still waited with me for 6 hours in the cold Toronto rain.

We didnt get in.

"Roses are worth more dried than alive -
such a you thing to say
Oh how I adore you when you reinvent
a rosy cliche"
- Impossibilium, Day For Night (1994)

I've been listening to the Hip alot lately. I've been listening because I was thoroughly enjoying their new single and looking forward to the album. I've been listening because that's just what I do. Every 2 years or so we get a new Hip album followed by a tour. That's the way it has always been and that's the way it is always supposed to be.

"Those melodies come back to me
In times beyond our heartbeat"
- Escape is at Hand for the Traveling Man, Phantom Power (1998)

Gord Downie cannot possibly be dying. But he says he is and I have to believe him. I won't get to take my kids to a Hip show. But apparently Joanne and I will have a chance to go one last time. Maybe they'll play our wedding song. Maybe I'll see old friends with whom I've shared these memories over the last twenty years.

"We're forced to bed
but we're free to dream
All us human extras
All us herded beings
And after a glimpse over the top
The rest of the world becomes a gift shop"
- Gift Shop, Trouble at the Henhouse (1996)

"If there's music out there laying in wait
To pounce and drain every ounce if you wait or hesitate
And music that'll help you be tough
And come together on more than Springsteen, though most days it's been enough
There's music that can take you away
So use it up
Use it all up
Don't save a thing for later
If there's music out there staying awake
To cry and drain every eye until hatred's eliminated
And music that can help you feel great
And come together in the fictive dream with a kind of Randy Newman take
There's music that can take you away
Where we can jump to our feet, agape 'cause nothing is cruel
And even if it is or was indefeasibly cruel
But we don't care because you're a fool, I'm a fool
You're a fool and I'm a fool

For music that can take you away"
- Use it Up, In Violet Light (2002)

[rob68]

Just read the news at Consequence Of Sound and came here right away.

This is hitting me like he is a family member. Just gutted. Can't even articulate. 52 is still so young! Keep fighting.

Been a fan since Little Bones. I'm gonna feel SO alone in a world where Gord is not walking around somewhere.

[sullivand]

At times he seemed surprised by his own words and movements. He sang as if possessed - more conduit than creator.

Yes. Thanks for your entire post. Seriously fantastic.

[rob68]

Of course I don't know the details of Gord's case, but we had a friend of the family that was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer and was told he might have as little as 3 months to live. It's been over 3 years now and he's still around.

[thedarkcanuck]

This crushing news has had me in a fog all day. All the Hip moments I now feel so fortunate to have been a part of, have been looping through my mind since this morning. Watching this tour is going to be so fucking hard, but if Gord is up there on stage, I gotta be there too, no question.

[boot]

Same as many of the other posts... haven't been by the hipbase forum much in the past few years as age & responsibility pile up, but today's news had me aching to return.

Been on the verge of tears for most of the day. Just utterly heartbreaking... and my heart goes out to Gord, his family, the band, and friends.

But I am just so incredibly moved by the fact that there's a tour... that we get the opportunity, and that the band thought that it was important. That we get another chance to appreciate the band. I don't want to have say goodbye, but I'm glad that I get the chance.