Lead singer Gord Downie, who started the show wearing a metallic silver suit and hat with a “Jaws” T-shirt underneath, hugged and kissed his bandmates before they stepped on stage at the K-Rock Centre in the group’s hometown of Kingston, Ont.
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Formed in the 1980s with roots in blues and rock, The Hip’s tracks are about local culture, Canadian literature, small towns and ice hockey – and the band has become an indelible part of the country’s identity.
Citing numbers from pollster Numeris, the C-B-C says some 11.7-million Canadians tuned in on television, radio and digital at some point during the almost three-hour broadcast.
Executive Director, Steven Puhallo said more than 1,200 people attended the event at McDonald Park alone, hoping to catch one last performance by singer Gord Downie, who was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer earlier this year.
At one point, Downie thanked the crowd for “keeping me pushing, and keeping me pushing”.
The Kingston show was the last in a 15-city concert tour.
Justin has said that Gord is someone who has been “writing Canada’s soundtrack for more than 30 years”, according to the Washington Post.
In an interview with the CBC, Trudeau reminisced about how he used to enjoy the band’s music during his high school and university years.
Downie acknowledged the prime minister from the stage, referencing his work with indigenous First Nations people and saying he expected Trudeau to be in power for a long time. “He’s got everybody. He’s going to take us where we need to go”.
Loplops also held a live screening downtown. A three-hour set spanning some three decades of music-making and cramming in crowd favourites such as Nautical Disaster, New Orleans is Sinking, Bobcaygeon and the final hurrah of Ahead by a Century. Trudeau could be seen in the audience, nodding and mouthing “thank you”. Forever in our hearts and playlists. “I stepped out here yesterday and I was just so overcome by “Oh, I’m playing a show in Kensington Market on the ass of an elephant.’ And, I don’t know, it’s good to be agile and it feels agile and Kensington Market is really special and Toronto’s really special, so it was really cool”.
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Man Machine Poem, the band’s most recent album, came out in June.
