When documentarian Mike Downie sets out to tell the story of The Tragically Hip , he won’t just be charting the rise of one of Canada’s biggest-selling…
Frequently compared to 80s alt-rock counterparts R.E.M., Tragically Hip spent more than three decades together recording numerous genre-defining albums.
In Kingston, Ontario’s Market Square they climbed the rooftops. Hundreds of figures, taking to the parapets for a view of the cinema screen relaying the live feed, while 27,000 people gathered in the square below. From sea to icy sea, Canada stopped to listen – the streets of Vancouver, Calgary, Ottawa and Montreal throbbed to the sound of the show, with bars and cafés hanging bedsheets outside to project the national CBC TV feed, and every window on every block thrown open to flood the cities with music. Eleven million people – a third of the Canadian population – watched on TV, and in screening venues from Toronto to Bobcaygeon they gathered in their thousands, dancing, singing, many clutching loved ones close or struggling to hold back tears. “It’s a night for celebration,” one emotional fan told the news cameras. “It’s a night to unfortunately say g