The Tragically Hip - Gord Downie 2016

As a music-loving Canadian in the early 90’s I quickly fell in love with The Tragically Hip. It wasn’t until I saw them live that I really understood what they were about and from that point on if the Hip were playing in the area, I had to see them. They were just different. A lot of great songs about Canada for the most part that taught me a history lesson or two along the way. Gord was such a wordsmith and that’s what brought this music to the next level. Not only did I love The Hip, but all of Canada was in love too from their endless touring that brought the Gord show to probably every pub/university/arena from coast to coast.

What made the shows so great was you just never knew what Gord was going to do. He had a knack for going off on these tangents mid-song that seemed unique to each show. I’m sure it was all planned but he would tell stories and the band just kept playing until he was done. They never blew up in the USA like here in Canada though. In the early days, you could see them sell out an arena and then head over the border a few nights later to see them perform the same show in a small club. That was the best. Those shows were usually filled with Canadians.

The Tragically Hip are Canada’s band and it was a very sad day when we heard that Gord was sick and the end was near. It’s like we lost a good friend that we had grown up with. I had their cassette “Road Apples” in the cassette deck in my vw van for probably 10 years playing constantly. In fact, it is still in there but the deck hasn’t worked in a decade.

This is done in acrylic, pencil, ink, spray paint, silver leaf, and finished in resin.

Size: 24” x 30” x 2”
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