The cameras frequently panned out to the crowd of 6,000 where couples were making out in hockey jerseys with "The Hip" stitched on the back and people were wearing Canadian flag glasses and other strange patriotic bits of paraphernalia. I realized then that this was the only other time besides Hockey Night in Canada where I saw Canadians come together as a homogenous whole to represent what this country truly enjoys: white ice and white rock n' roll. And poignantly enough, that was what CBC chose to name the broadcast "Hip Night in Canada", complete with the new take on the same logo because why commemorate a dinstinctly Canadian moment of any kind, however removed from our nation's sport, without reference to it. But still--and like hockey--it brought the country together in bars and homes across the nation. I could probably get the same patriotic surge if Bachman-Turner Overdrive took the stage--although they would be featured at your local casino venue now and not selling out a major stadium--or if Rush or Nickelback was there instead. But unlike Nickelback,The Hip hasn't divided the country like the Berlin Wall between those who love the Nickelbackers and those who loathe them. I am a stereotype on the Canadian fence in that I don't pick a side in that debate because I'm simply proud when one of our own goes international; however, and like the PM lamented in a radio broadcast with Ron MacLean before the show--although I'm not sure why--the Hip, after their thirty-two-year career, did not.
The Hip began their musical crusade in 1984 and the band of today soon formed: lead singer and lyricist Gord Downie, guitarist Paul Langlois, guitarist Rob Baker, bassist Gord Sinclair and drummer Johnny Fay. Their discography includes fourteen studio albums--nine of which reached no.1 in Canada--two live albums, an EP and fifty-four singles (says Wikepedia). They're decorated with fourteen Junos and numerous accolades including a star on Canada's Walk of Fame in 2002; inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame in 2005; presented with an honorary fellowship at the Royal Conservatory of Music in 2006 and were awarded the Governor General's Performing Arts Award in 2008. They performed once on Saturday Night Live in 1995.
Their sound has been described as "enigmatic" and "dark" but last night it was neither. It was the sound of a group of people who have known each other for a long time taking to the stage to deliver songs they have known as intimate friends for the last time. All listened--including the rest of the band-- as their master writer and performer reverberated each end note of almost every line of song including my favourite "Bobcaygeon"from their 6th album Phantom Power until you thought he might not want to carry on to the next verse at all and would rather vibrate the rest of it. But we got the point, nonetheless, that this was a man who was going to do things Frank Sinatra's "My Way" on his way out and we were just along for the final ride. He was frequently caught adjusting his wardrobe whether it was his metallic pants falling down or the Vick's Vapour Rub sock he was talking about his friend having made him. He chose to wear it around his neck and this may have been a comfort thing which at first made me wonder, but then as it began to take the form of a rocker sock signature accessory like Aerosmith's Steven Tyler wrapping scarves around the microphone stand, it started to grow on me.
The band is not only iconic, but could be a dubbed meteorologically clairvoyant with their signature song "New Orleans is Sinking" from their second studio album Up Here released in 1989. Several radio stations stopped playing it in September of 2005 out of courtesy to the victims of Hurricane Katrina which saw a large portion of that city indeed under water. I had to mute it last night because of the innumerable times I've heard it done in bars and karaoke joints, but when I turned the sound back on, there was Gord posing to the audience like a supermodel on the edge of the runway, waiting to hear their reaction from different parts of the stage but sadly done so in vain as they didn't understand what he was doing and didn't react with cheer. I realized then that I couldn't echo the PM's sentiment of being "glad the Hip remained a Canadian staple" as here I saw a very charismatic man (albeit a sick one) doing what all the great lead rock singers from America and Britain did/do, rile up the audience, but it was us as Canadians that didn't get him.
I don't agree with the hoarding of Canadian talent for this country because that is not what we should want for our entertainment. Even if it means the ghastly 'selling out' to our brother's below, 'exposure, exposure, exposure!' should be what we're chanting and with their repertoire of songs I think this band had what it took to cross over and be lumped in as one of the greats that came out of the 90s rock/grunge era and I'm not happy that they didn't. One could say they were "So Hard Done By" and that they should have "Fully Completely." That they had both the "Boots and Hearts" to do so and the "Grace, Too." Ok, that was a stretch, but these songs are good and highlight the group's sheer rock talent while showcasing Downie as an accomplished and brilliant lyricist. But still, the only reference to America at the show last night besides the rendition of "New Orleans is Sinking" was the rip off slogan from their money displayed by those wearing "In Gord We Trust" shirts. In some sense when this happens it's only natural for the nation to get maternal and say we were glad they didn't leave us like so many have when they become big and in that way they remain ours and ours alone. But that sounds like an overprotective mother who doesn't want their child to succeed if it means leaving the nest, or one that now has to mollify their child because they never got to. But in fact, the way the Hip remains a distinctly Canadian band where only we get the references to names of places does allow us to hold them a little closer to our bosom up here. I remember the first time I heard "Bobcaygeon." I was a passenger in the back seat of 1968 Buick Skylark cruising at a mild 90km through Banff National Park on our way back to Calgary from snowboarding Lake Louise. The melody and tempo were the perfect soundtrack to leaving a place from which we all hoped we would soon get to return. It was much different than the guitar shredding, distortion induced American punk psychosis of my youth growing up in small town. I was relaxed and at ease as I watched the mountains get smaller in the rearview and the city lights approach.
"Wheat Kings"-- another of the group's fan favourites-- is Canada's answer to Bob Dylan's "Hurricane"as both lyricists felt the need to musically retell separate stories taken straight from the ugly pages in the history books of the wrongfully accused. David Milgaard, originally of Winnipeg, was only seventeen when he was sentenced for the rape and murder of twenty-one year old Gail Miller. Milgaard served twenty-three years in prison before being released after DNA evidence surfaced, absolving him of the crime.
The concert broadcast ended with the song "Long Time Running" looping in the background as the credits rolled and as The Hip exited the stage after their third encore performance. I had never heard the song before, but I'm a fan now as it's great and was the perfect selection for the CBC to play as the final curtain call was made and the band walked into the Canadian musical museum. Like the museum Gord was describing in "Wheat Kings,"
It's a museum and it's all locked up after dark
Where the walls are lined all yellow, grey and sinister
Hung with pictures of our parents' prime ministers
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