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FSIN thanks the Tragically Hip’s Gord Downie for ‘powerful words’ at concert

KAMLOOPS - With a mix of emotion and celebration Kamloops residents said their goodbyes to an iconic Canadian band Saturday evening.

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Fans took to the Lakeside Ball Diamonds on the Nelson waterfront to take in the final Tragically Hip concert of the Man Machine Poem Tour.

Topics to do with the concert trended on Canadian social media on Saturday.

People craned around stairwells to get a look at Gord Downie and The Tragically Hip, as the band played a mini concert at Kensington Market’s Pedestrian Sundays on Augusta Ave., September 30, 2012.

“Canada doesn’t get a lot of people representing the small towns and the home towns and everything that we love”, he said.

The Tragically Hip’s Gord Downie performs during the first stop of the Man Machine Poem Tour at the Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre in Victoria, B.C., Friday, July 22, 2016. It was about lead singer and songwriter Gord Downie sharing that he had terminal brain cancer but wanted one more tour to say goodbye.

Trudeau reminisced in an interview with the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. about how he enjoyed the band’s music during high school and college, and said the band remains uniquely Canadian.

Damien Follett is a musician from St. John’s who has been playing Hip songs since he started.

At that concert, Downie said, “It’s good to be on traditional Musqueam territory again” from the stage.

The Kingston crowd, and crowds at viewing parties across the country, could not be silenced at 11 p.m. when the band left the stage once again after thanking the audience.

Shawn Stevenson was one of those fans and he said this final show was a big deal.

“Growing up in Canada, it’s a given you’re a Hip fan”.

In Saskatoon 300 came out to the Capital Music Club to dance, sing along, and even shed a few tears.

Before performing the song Fiddler’s Green, Gord seemed to reference the outpouring of support from fans in the wake of his diagnosis.

On Twitter, Indigenous leaders, artists and thinkers shared thanks for lending visibility, but also questioned Trudeau’s ability to deliver. If you would like to discuss another topic, look for a relevant article.

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Be Civil – It’s OK to have a difference in opinion but there’s no need to be a jerk. The tour “feels like the right thing to do now, for Gord, and for all of us”.

(Photo: Marcus Oleniuk/Getty Images) (Photo: Marcus Oleniuk/Getty Images)