That Night in Toronto
“I remember Toronto, how could I forget?” –Gordon Downie
What a show.
Playing to a packed Hummingbird centre in downtown Toronto, The Tragically Hip thrilled their fans with a mix of classics and material from their new album, In Violet Light.
There was dancing in the aisles, there were psychedelic rants from Gord, there was screaming from the rooftops.
The set list was well constructed to smoothly turn up the intensity, let it down, and then bring it up again. And there were gems sprinkled in like Springtime in Vienna, Bobcageon, and Blow at High Dough. Not to mention 50 Mission Cap, which brought out the Leaf fan in everyone.
As the last stop on the Canadian tour for In Violet Light, the show had a sense of nostalgia to it, as the band prepared to head across the border, and then to Europe. There were two encores, the second consisting of the mellow Wheat Kings, and concluding with the fist-clenching Poets.
I looked up to the Gord above, and said: Hey man, thanks.