The Tragically Hip: A Retrospective
b'I\\u2019d just landed at Pearson airport in Toronto after a long flight from the far east\\u2026as soon as we left the runway, I turned on my phone\\u2026the texts and the emails came one after another\\u2026blam: Gord Downie was dying\\u2026blam: brain cancer\\u2026something called \\u201cneuroblastoma\\u201d\\u2026blam: and the prognosis wasn\\u2019t good\\u2026the condition was terminal\\u2026one year, maybe two\\u2014five at best\\u2026\\n\\nBut that same news conference also announced that The Hip was going on tour again\\u2026the Man Machine Poem tour\\u2026that turned into a massive national celebration of all things Gord, all things hip, all things rock and all things Canadian\\u2026\\n\\nTens of millions of people stopped what they were doing and watched the final show that Saturday night in August\\u2026the band never said it would the \\u201clast\\u201d anything\\u2014but I think we all knew that was the case\\u2026\\n\\nThen came a period of denial\\u2026sure, Gord was sick, but we were still seeing him around\\u2026a couple of interviews\\u2026his \\u201cSecret Path\\u201d documentary\\u2026showing up to receive an order of Canada\\u2026things were fine, right?...\\n\\nThey must have been\\u2014especially after we heard about a solo album in late September\\u2026that was a sure sign that Gord was doing well, right?...\\n\\nWell, no\\u2026sessions for that album wrapped up in February\\u2026and since thing, radio silence\\u2026lots of rumours, but no news\\u2026nothing from him, his family, the band, his management or the label\\u2026\\n\\nWe knew it was coming, but all we could do was wait\\u2026and then on the morning of October 18, we got the news\\u2026Gord was gone\\u2026\\n\\nThe outpouring of affection and grief was immediate and sustained\\u2026Hip music started playing everywhere\\u2026we covered his death like other countries might cover the death of a head of state\\u2026\\n\\nAnd as the tributes continue to pour in, I thought we\\u2019d have this look back on Gord and The Hip and what they meant to us\\u2026\\nLearn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices'