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.
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Justin has said that Gord is someone who has been “writing Canada’s soundtrack for more than 30 years”, according to the Washington Post. “I’ve been here longer than I lived in Kingston now”, Downie tells the Star.
The band played the final show of their farewell tour in Kingston, Ontario and Canadians tuned in to see it live.
Trudeau has put repairing the relationship at the top of his first mandate as prime minister. They played an awesome 30-song set loaded with hits, and finished with three encores.
Within the audience at the sold-out concert was Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau who was among those treated to a marathon The Hip show.
On Twitter, the prime minister said: “On behalf of Canadians, I thank Gord Downie and the Hip for their decades of service to Canadian music”.
Celebrations also took place internationally – at the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, the Canada Olympic House will host a party for Canadian athletes along with their family and friends.
Damien Follett is a musician from St. John’s who has been playing Hip songs since he started.
During the performance of Grace Too during the second encore, Gord appeared to break down in tears before dropping his microphone to the floor in a poignant moment that left fans teary-eyed themselves.
Former Kingston Collegiate students Gord Sinclair (bass), Rob Baker (guitar), Johnny Fay (drums) and Gord Downie (the charismatic frontman) unite to form The Tragically Hip in Kingston, Ont.
They then embraced, stood arm-in-arm as the crowd cheered, and then walked off stage for good.
“Thank you, people, for keeping me pushing and keeping me pushing”, he said, which sparked a “Gordie!” chant from the audience.
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After it ended, Toronto broadcaster and writer Alan Cross tweeted: “We will talk about this show in hushed tones for years to come”.
