THUNDER BAY - Music fans in Thunder Bay participated Saturday in the national celebration of Canada’s iconic rock band, The Tragically Hip.
The final show in the Tragically Hip’s Man Machine Poem tour in Kingston was broadcast live by the CBC. A public viewing in Thunder Bay was to be held at the waterfront, but poor weather forced organizers to move the event indoors to the Thunder Bay Community Auditorium.
More than 1,300 people came out to watch the live show on the big screen, with some even lining up in the afternoon to get a seat.
Graham Strong and his son, Keiran, were first in line at the auditorium Saturday afternoon.
Strong said that he had tickets for the Hip’s first show in Thunder Bay at Lakehead University, but didn’t end up going to the show.
“I was sort of kicking myself for that one,” he said.
Since that first show, Strong has seen the Hip live in concert six or seven times. And while watching a broadcast of the show may not be quite the same as being there, Strong said this is the next best thing.
For Strong, the Hip have always been a big part of his life and he is happy to see his sons embracing their music as well.
“A lot of the lyrics are about Canada,” he said. “I think the fact that they didn’t make it big in America makes them more of a Canadian band somehow. They have great music, great lyrics. They’ve always been a straight-forward rock and roll band.”
Justin Ralph, who already saw the Hip perform in Toronto during the Man Machine Poem tour, wanted to celebrate the final show of the tour in style in Thunder Bay.
“Canada doesn’t get a lot of people representing the small towns and the home towns and everything that we love,” he said. “So it’s nice to hear things that we are familiar with sung about and talked about.”
Ralph added that he was very saddened to hear of Gord Downie’s cancer diagnosis earlier this year, but the show on Saturday was all about the music.
“It’s really cool to be able to celebrate this show and the band with the rest of nation,” he said.
Craig Smyth and Tiina Flank were dancing in the crowd Saturday night and before the show they said that they wanted to experience it as though they were there in Kingston.
“We wanted to do it as right as possible here in Thunder Bay,” Smyth said.
This was especially the case for Flank, who has never seen the band live in concert before.
“I’ve only enjoyed them over the radio or videos, so I’m pretty excited to see this,” she said.
Flank said hearing the news about Downie’s illness was another blow in a year that has seen many iconic musicians lost.
“I felt like it was just another sting,” she said.
And while Flank is skeptical that any Canadian band will reach the status that the Tragically Hip has achieved, Smyth said there might one day be another Canadian band that speaks to Canadian’s like the Hip have.
“That’s the way it rolls,” he said. “It will never be the same, but that’s the evolution of music.”
