![]() But as presales began, many fans found it impossible to find tickets. The country was whipped into a frenzy this was going to be the show to see this summer. In 2006, when CTV GlobeMedia launched MTV Canada, Schwartz was senior vice-president and general manager – and the first video he played was the Hip's Ahead by a Century. The Toronto native has been following the band since its early days in Kingston and had seen them perform 126 times (possibly more, he says, but definitely not less). "People were concerned for me," says Schwartz, president of the CBC/Lionsgate joint venture Pop TV. In Los Angeles, Brad Schwartz's inbox was filling up. "And I was and John was especially moved by that." "Jill said John felt it was so important to talk to me about this because he just knew I'd be taken aback like the whole country was taken aback," Kelly says. They had played their last shows the month before. And despite almost never making calls any more, he was anxious to phone bandmate Geoffrey Kelly. Mann kept writing Downie's name on a piece of paper. "I think it's he knows what he's going through. "The news about Gord just hit John so deeply," says Daum, who assists with interviews as a result of Mann's early-onset Alzheimer's. In Vancouver, Spirit of the West's John Mann and his wife, Jill Daum, heard the story on – where else? – the CBC. In the bedrooms of the nation, people woke up to the terrible news. #Courage," Prime Minister Justin Trudeau wrote. "Gord Downie is a true original who has been writing Canada's soundtrack for more than 30 years. ![]() The band (also Rob Baker, Gord Sinclair, Johnny Fay and Paul Langlois) said it would still tour this summer and vowed to "dig deep, and try to make this our best tour yet."Īnd tweeted. "A few months ago, in December, Gord Downie was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer," read a message on the Hip's website. The news that stung the country broke on May 24. ![]() The music of Gord Downie, Johnny Fay, Bobby Baker, Paul Langlois and Gord Sinclair has been iconically Canadian for a quarter-century. Across the country – and beyond – Canadians will be watching. The Hip hype will reach a deafening climax on Saturday as the band plays the final show of its Man Machine Poem tour in its hometown of Kingston, Ont. Fans have railed against scalping bots, marvelled at Downie's shiny courage, sung along to every lyric, wept openly with strangers in packed arenas. ![]() Over the past few months, and especially these past few weeks, Canada has rocked with the Tragically Hip and rallied behind Gord Downie, its lead singer. It has left a vapour trail of heartbreak and exhilaration, this act of enormity. Who needs a double-double – or even the Olympics – to pull a country together when you've got a country pulling for a national icon and his mates? What's uniting Canada this summer is a rock band that sings of Jacques Cartier, Millhaven maximum security and, yes, the Leafs a genius life being cut short by a brain tumour and a long cross-country goodbye. In Canada, a country where national identity is so elusive that it's often oversimplified, equated with hockey and a certain brand of coffee, it's a beautiful moment when we have something real and profound to unite us. ![]()
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