It’s been a decade since The Tragically Hip’s final concert in Kingston, Ont., but Paul Langlois feels he hasn’t fully processed it yet.
“It’s hard to believe it’s been 10 years since that last show, since our last show,” the Tragically Hip guitarist said in an interview with CBC’s Eli Glasner, which aired on The National Thursday night.
“I’m just trying to be in a place of appreciation for what we did and how it seems to have affected people.”
It was a bittersweet night as Hip lead singer and lyricist Gord Downie said goodbye to thousands packed into Kingston’s Rogers K-Rock Centre (now known as Slush Puppi Place) and millions watching across the country. Fans and Downie cried together as Downie sang hits like Ahead by a Century and Bobcaygeon for the last time.
The Canadian band, which released 13 studio albums since its formation in 1984, toured for the final time in 2016. They capped it off with a show in their hometown on Aug. 20, 2016. Downie had been diagnosed with terminal brain cancer in Dec. 2015 and died just over a year later, aged 53.
CBC will rebroadcast the band’s final concert on Saturday to commemorate its 10th anniversary. You can find a list of screenings of The Tragically Hip: A National Celebration here.
Relive the night Canada stood still for the live broadcast of The Tragically Hip’s 2016 Man Machine Poem concert from Kingston, Ont., re-broadcasting and streaming commercial-free on Saturday, August 22 on CBC TV, CBC Gem, CBC Radio and CBC Music’s YouTube page.
“I really appreciate that it matters to people, that people still care — about the band, the music, that they want to pay their respects to Gord in some way,” said guitarist Rob Baker.
“It’s not so much a celebration for me, it’s a remembrance … the last show was the last day of a career that I loved.”
Langlois recalls feeling uncomfortable and uneasy before the final performance.
“I went to the arena early, for some reason I was just kind of going a bit squirrely,” he said. “It was starting to seep in that this is the last show, so I kind of had a heavy feeling.”
But as soon as Downie showed up to the soundcheck, Langlois’s mood changed.
“[Downie] looked around and he’s just like, ‘This is going to be so great,'” Langlois recalled.
“It just changed me. I’m like, ‘You think so?’ and he’s like ‘Yeah. It’s going to be so fun.’ It lightened me up.”
Baker said he was focused on his friend and bandmate on the tour.
“I was there to support Gord, and to help Gord realize his last wish. He really wanted to do it again, and he wanted to look every last person in the arena in the eye, and make a connection, to say thank you to them.”
But Baker said it wasn’t always easy.
“I had to keep all of my emotions jammed down, corked down inside the bottle — much to my detriment later on. But I couldn’t have gotten through it otherwise,” he said.
“There’s no way I’d get through it. You can’t stand on stage, blubbering. I had a job to do, and that’s to be attentive to where Gord’s going to take a song … and to be there to support him.”
At first, the band members were worried that Downie’s condition would affect him on stage. But, they said, the singer seemed to improve physically throughout the farewell tour.
At the time, the band didn’t realize how big a deal their last show would be.
“I don’t think it crossed anyone’s mind that there might be big screens in a small town, or on a campground, or in someone’s backyard,” Langlois said.
“It wasn’t really until the days after where I think we all started to realize, ‘Oh, that was maybe a bit bigger than we thought.’”
Baker and Langlois are emphatic that the band won’t be getting back together.
Hip release new album
But the band did release a new album on Friday, Live July 22 – August 20, 2016, which features recordings from across the 2016 tour.
Baker said the members of The Tragically Hip were always forward-looking, so putting together an album of past performances was difficult at times.
But, Baker added, music can have a healing quality.
He recalled when he burst into tears at a remembrance of life for Downie’s father, Edgar, who died in 2015. He later told Downie he felt it happened because he hadn’t grieved when his own parents died.
“And [Downie] said, ‘You’re so full of shit. I see you up on the bus at four o’clock in the morning listening to Artie Shaw, or Benny Goodman or something.’ He said, ‘What do you think you’re doing?'” Baker said. “I was like, ‘You’re absolutely right.’ I didn’t think I was grieving, but of course I was.”
“Music helps you through things. Sometimes you have no idea it’s even happening.”
