Aug. 20, 2016 marked an unforgettable day in Canadian music. It was the day The Tragically Hip played their last show and broadcast it in cities all over the country.
Thousands of people gathered to watch the broadcast in Fredericton’s Officers’ Square. Many tears were shed by the end of the show.
My social media feeds blew up with goodbye posts. It was like everyone was heartbroken.
Then there was me.
That night, I got home from work and didn’t go downtown. Not because I had other plans, but because I wasn’t really interested. Sure, I was disappointed about the end of The Tragically Hip as a Canadian band and I felt bad about Gord Downie and his cancer diagnosis, but I wasn’t as connected to the band the way the rest of the country was.
Why? What was I missing as a music fan to not cry over the final show? If it were any other band that I loved like Marianas Trench, Hedley or even the American band All Time Low, I would be balling my eyes out.
Only a few of those posts and reactions were from people my age. I will say it was mostly the generation before my own that was really hit hard.
But what about my generation? What did The Hip have that pulled in our parents but not so much people of our age?
I asked a bit of an expert, Cedric Noel from CHSR, his thoughts. He said it was because they were a representation of Canada, whether it was the lyrics they sang or the fact that they played primarily Canadian shows.
“They were quintessentially Canadian, for the era that they were in.”
That era being of our parents’ generation.
That being said, we both wondered if there were any other bands ready to step into a spotlight now just as The Hip had then.
Noel said it is difficult to tell where an artist or group stands until the end.
“I think it was sort of hard for people to understand the importance of The Tragically Hip until maybe 10 years ago, when people can take stock of what they had done.”
With the way the music industry is changing, it is even harder. The charts can change drastically from week to week and there are so many genres to keep track of.
And with social media, new bands are being discovered daily.
“I think it is easier to get famous now, but it is harder to stay famous for a long time because there is so much happening and it is very hard to constantly stay relevant,” said Noel.
I think we just don’t have the attention span to have one certain band live that legacy. We are all so concerned with individualism that it is uncool to follow a trend. Maybe it’s ideologies like this that prevents us from holding onto a band like that as a collective.
The Tragically Hip may just be a one and only event. I don’t think anyone else will, essentially, close a country for one last show the way they did.
