If you couldn’t be in Kingston Saturday night for the final show of The Tragically Hip’s Man Machine Poem tour, Carden Street in downtown Guelph was a pretty good alternative.
Saturday night’s concert was in front of the Hip’s hometown fans, a farewell to the town that made them. But much more than that, the electrifying gig was a national celebration of a Canadian rock colossus – a piercing, poetic and lyrical group that sung mostly about the serious side of Canadiana.
A band with legions of fans in every town and city across the land, the final show drew as many as 1,500 to the street along Guelph City Hall, the crowd gobsmacked and a little sad in front of a giant, two-sided screen that broadcast CBC’s national broadcast of the show.
The threat of inclement weather at first forced city staff to move the screen indoors at city hall, a venue that likely couldn’t have held half the audience that turned out. But an improvement in the forecast, a reversal of the decision and the quick work of many hands saw the inflatable screen go up outside as originally planned.
Gord Downie, ever the showman, sported a silver suit, a fancy Homburg hat, and a Jaws t-shirt for the concert. He belted out bluesy tunes that so many in the Guelph crowd knew by heart.
Earlier this year, Downie was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer. The band quickly planned a final tour. Concert tickets sold out in a flash, and the national broadcaster decided to go national with the final show.
Guelph mayor Cam Guthrie was the driving force behind the Carden Street event. A musician himself, Guthrie is a fan of early Hip music.
He said the tour is kind of a collective grieving process for Canadians. The country loves the band, and embraces it as a national treasure.
“Road Apples and Up to Here are kind of my favourite albums,” Guthrie said, as opening act The Speakeasies of Guelph kicked into a set before the main event.
“There are many things that are iconic Canadian, and The Tragically Hip is one of them,” the mayor said, adding that Hip songs are part of the lives of a great many Canadians. “Everyone is taking it so emotionally. Because of that connectedness, they are kind of grieving.”
Guthrie said it was “amazing” to see such a large crowd for the event, adding that hundreds of communities across the country were celebrating the band in much the same way.
Some in the crowd danced, many captured the moment on cellphones, others cried. As the longer front section of the screen filled to capacity, audience members began congregating at the back section. It, too, filled up.
The sense of seeing history in the making was heavy in the sultry air.
