Day 3 - 233 -- National Music Event

This evening saw a national televised event -- what will likely be the final concert by the Tragically Hip. The Man Machine Poem Tour has ended in Kingston, their home town. The lead singer, Gord Downie, was diagnosed with brain cancer and this tour was planned as his farewell. The PM was in the live audience along with many others. The Olympic events were superseded on the main CBC channel to accommodate this evening's concert. Fans from across Canada and even in Rio, watched and listened. In an unprecedented third encore, Gord thanked everyone there for their kindness and support.

While I've not been a huge Hip fan, I did admire the courage it would take to do this type of tour -- for Gord and the band members. It seemed that being in the audience also took courage for long time fans, as there were many tears during and after the show.  I did see Gord in person once when we  were dining at the same restaurant in Toronto. A colleague pointed him out to me, otherwise I'd likely have missed the man in the ball cap as someone famous. A friend has noted that this may be a good time to think about the work of the cancer society to support the amazing research underway to treat and prevent this and other cancers -- through donations, advocacy and education.

Finding a song for today wasn't easy -- they have a large repository of songs from their 30+ years. I settled on two that were sung tonight and interestingly, came from the same album -- Road Apples. Each speaks to me as saying something that fits the current situation of the Hip and Mr. Downie, in particular. Each showcases the poetic nature of many of their songs. Enjoy!

It's been a long time running -- The Tragically Hip

Fiddler's Green -- The Tragically Hip