The Tragically Hip: No Dress Rehearsal (2024) s01e04 Episode Script

1
[Paul] Just lost a really good friend,
which I'd never really been through.
And I knew it would be difficult
to get through it.
I didn't know it would be
as big and as tough.
I was kinda just depressed
that Gord was gone.
It's really kind of a crazy, crazy vault.
Let me see if I can get a light.
There we go.
This is cool. These are Gord's monitors.
[chuckles]
You can see the sweat cause the, uh
all the screws are rusted
from how much he sweat.
This was his piece of equipment
for hauling around.
Anyway, there we go.
[Paul] You know it was all pretty foggy
after Gord died.
Kinda had to dig myself out of it.
I think everyone in the band did.
Um, we had no enthusiasm for anything.
It was just little by little,
digging out of it
and just the realization
that it's sort of what I do music.
So I just started thinking about it more
and recording a little more.
Just, you know, guitar ideas,
that kind of thing.
There's not really any Hip without Gord.
So just gotta sorta find your own way.
And that's what really worked for me.
And I think those,
the three other guys, the same.
[Mike] So what is this?
This is my little workspace.
The Badjie Bakery I call it.
Got my ProTools rig over here,
and I spend my days most of my days,
down here pluggin' away at new song ideas.
Just playin' around.
Beyond fortunate to be able to
make a living out of my imagination
and to do it
with my best friends on Earth.
I dreamed it non-stop
from the time I was
in about grade three on.
I was like, "I'm gonna be a hippie,
and I'm gonna play guitar in a band.
That's what I'm gonna do."
[Mike] Which guitar is that again, Robbie?
This is the one my Mom and Dad got me
for my 13th birthday.
You have no idea
of what's actually involved
in being in a band
and sacrificing your life to music.
And the only reason that anyone
would ever make that sacrifice
is for love, right?
The love of my bandmates.
I do these paintings for friends.
It's, uh, Sinclair's birthday next week,
so I'm gonna give him that.
Little painting I did of him.
[Mike] That is so good!
[Rob]
Kinda captures him. A certain look of him.
You realise you've got this other family.
It's not bandmates.
It's your other family.
Oh, wow, look at that.
Langlois and I. I'm sitting on his lap.
That's crazy.
For my first 50 years,
being able to do what I love,
going out on the road with my friends,
it's been amazing.
And then having kids after that,
that's even better.
And so it's been two lives.
-[Mike] Look at that shot.
-[Sinclair] Yeah.
-[Mike] Look at you.
-[Sinclair] We're so happy.
It's crazy, isn't it?
It looks like you were having
the time of your lives.
We were having the time of our lives.
Yeah.
[on TV] there was Grant University.
You know, hats off to them.
They had a great time that night.
It was really cool.
[continues indistinctly]
[Sinclair] I live with the archive
on a daily basis.
You know, not to look back,
but actually it propels me forward.
And so having pictures of my bandmates
and I on the wall in my office,
I don't keep them in a box,
I look on it as a, it's a reminder.
When you're on a path with your buds
and making music along the way,
it's worth celebrating, you know,
and being grateful for.
♪
♪
I was lucky enough to produce
this record called "Now For Plan A."
We were in the middle
of some part of the record,
and I went up with the band to
a First Nations community, Fort Albany.
[Sinclair] Gord Downie had begun going up
to Fort Albany, I think once a year,
and was very, very inspired
by learning about the culture.
I know there's an underpinning
of spirituality
to that experience
that he really, really embraced.
And he was insistent that, you know,
we have to find an opportunity
to get up there and play.
[indistinct chatter]
[Rob] It was a full-on trip.
We were going up to play but also
to this Great Moon Gathering
and to be kind of part of the community
for a little bit.
Ahh! Tragically Hip!
[laughing]
The Canadian Jim Morrison.
Yeah. I'll take it.
[Sinclair] We'd just come off touring
for "We Are the Same,"
and it was time to start writing again.
We weren't writing together anymore.
We were still a little fractured
at that point.
[Gavin] It was, from what I understand,
a unique juncture
in The Hip's career where they had
taken some time apart.
Every band has its unique challenges.
But I hadn't worked with a band
with 30 years of a marriage.
I walked into a situation
where the codes and the language
weren't of the present day.
There were conversations
that were happening
that had to do with stuff
from 15 years ago.
It was very much, "This might not work."
[Sinclair] Thirty year
relationships can get strained.
And it's difficult.
We're great friends,
but we don't communicate.
That we had a tendency
to express the frustrations
more than we did the affection.
[Johnny] When we got up there,
there was zero cell service.
And, lo and behold,
we started talking. It's amazing.
[laughter]
[guitar strumming]
[audience cheering]
[Sinclair]
Through all the turmoil and the worry
is the band gonna break up?
We kinda got back around
to the notion that, you know,
we're friends first and foremost.
Beyond friends.
Brothers from different mothers.
We were lost in the woods for a while
and we found a path.
It just took us a while to get back there.
[performing "Bobcaygeon"]
I left your house this morning ♪
It was a quarter after nine ♪
Coulda been the Willie Nelson ♪
Coulda been the wine ♪
[Rob] Performance was always good
for pulling the band together.
But anytime we went and performed
in a new place, a special place,
and that is a very special place,
that can't help but pull us together.
[Mark] I was invited along, and it was
just this incredible awakening
around the indigenous communities
that otherwise were forgotten,
unfortunately many times,
politically and culturally.
[Johnny] We really had a sense
of what life would be like up there.
And I think it was good for Gord
because he wrote "Attawapiskat,"
um, on that trip.
[Reporter] Attawapiskat is
in Northern Ontario,
on the western shore of James Bay.
As many as 2,000 people call it home.
Many in nothing more
than tents and shacks.
Attawapiskat
City by the Bay! ♪
There's no denying that ♪
Oh, Attawapiskat ♪
[Mark] The media showed up
and started asking questions.
Well, what should we do?
Well, what's the problem up here?
What are you gonna do about it?
You know, Gord didn't have
all the answers.
He was really there, like many of us,
learning and listening.
And I know that when he left Fort Albany,
he was more committed than ever
to searching for the answers
and to showing his support.
[Downie] James Bay, uh,
western shore there, you know,
kinda what they're going through
in various forms and ways.
You know? And you reconcile that
with the people that you meet.
And, um, everyone's like you and me.
They're except way funnier,
you know? Way cooler.
And gentler.
And uh anyway, I'm maybe not
painting an accurate picture,
but at least I'm trying
to paint a picture.
[recording of "Now for Plan A" plays]
Here we go.
Yeah, I know, I know, I know ♪
It's still not enough ♪
[Sinclair] There's a couple wicked songs
on "Now For Plan A"
that are totally fun to play.
But it didn't still necessarily
feel like we were back.
Nothing short of everything ♪
Nothing short of everything's enough ♪
[Gavin] One guy wanted the record
to be a heavy rock record.
One guy wanted the record
to be an artistic expression
and more flowing and ambient.
One guy didn't care.
No matter how wide or how tough ♪
Nothing short of everything's enough ♪
[Patrick] One of the biggest things that
the Tragically Hip always worked against
was they were competing
against themselves.
I'm looking at these charts going,
okay, guys, well
they might not be playing
your current single as much as you'd like,
but they played 17 other songs this week,
Tragically Hip songs.
So yes, it becomes, we're gonna
support the first single.
But from the radio's perspective,
fans want to hear those hits.
The Tragically Hip have a lot of hits.
[Rob] I think we always felt like we had
kind of a core fan base
that was along for the journey
that wanted to see where we were going,
how we were gonna change.
And, uh, that's kind of who we focused
most of our attention on.
You might recognize this man from
The Hip album, "Who Invited Bernie".
[laughs]
[Rob] Management, to their credit,
would have said, it's not enough.
What about the people that have
drifted away over the years?
What about the people
you haven't reached yet?
You know, let's reach those people."
[band rehearsing]
It was Johnny who brought the idea
of doing a tour for "Fully Completely."
It was the 20th anniversary.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
You know, the idea had been something
that we'd talked a lot about,
to do "Fully Completely"
from start to finish.
Our challenge was
how do we get back to arenas.
[Rob] I don't think any of us
particularly liked the idea, initially.
We'd always been very reluctant,
even adamant, that we weren't gonna
stop and look over our shoulder
and see where we'd been.
As the lyric says, "you can't be
fond of living in the past".
It was a fraught discussion,
but we decided to do it.
"Fully Completely," I think,
was the glue that cemented
The Hip into the hearts of Canadians.
[Gavin] What a great thing to be able
to look back on, you know?
Let alone, you know, having one hit,
which is, you know,
a miracle in and of itself,
but having, you know,
albums worth of material
that have defined people's whole lives.
So, the tickets go on sale,
and it sells out immediately.
Here we go.
[performing "Courage"]
[Johnny] The Fully Completely tour
was good for the band.
Everyone was in a good mood.
We were happy to be playing
those venues again.
Watch the band
through a bunch of dancers ♪
Quickly, follow the unknown ♪
With something more familiar ♪
Quickly, something familiar ♪
Courage, my word ♪
-You all right?
-Yeah. That was fun, man.
That was a workout, though, eh?
[Sinclair]
We were very optimistic about our future
as the band that we were.
I was really looking forward to doing this
for the rest of my life, you know?
And it was kind of like, this was
gonna be The Hip, part three.
[indistinct chatter]
But then sadly,
my mom got diagnosed with cancer.
She knew where we were at as a group.
And super trooper that she was,
she made me promise that we would
go out on the road and play.
And so we did.
And then the morning I got home
from the last Canadian tour,
my mom died.
Yeah.
[Bernie] You know, life happens,
and it happened to this band.
Everybody lost people in around
that sort of similar period of time.
It was a new phase in our life together.
And we were all there for each other.
Robbie's parents died,
and my dad passed away.
Terry Langlois
and, uh, Edgar Downie.
Everyone loved him.
You know, they were the ones
that gave us the shot in the arm
when really there was nobody
coming to the shows.
And that pulled us closer together.
You know, that's our family.
[Sinclair] Sadly, when your dad got sick,
the positive of it is
we saw a lot more of Gord.
He was happier.
I can honestly say that,
despite what was going on.
You know, because
it's a reminder to be happy.
My dad was a great guy.
Like, just the greatest.
He just taught me so much
without hardly trying.
He was very kind.
[Bernie] Losing Edgar was sort of
the beginning of the end.
[Patrick] It was a day or two
after Edgar's memorial.
We had gone downtown with my mother
and my sisters and Gord.
[Paula] It was a beautiful day,
sun was glistening on the lake.
And, um, it kind of felt hopeful.
Lorna seemed to be holding
Gord's arm by the elbow.
We'd just come around the corner,
and the sun hit him in the face.
And he said, "oh," like this.
And he said, "Mom,
I'm gonna have to sit down.
Something's going wrong with my legs."
So, we walked over to the bench,
and he sat down.
And all of a sudden,
he had some kind of seizure.
And then, the EMTs came,
and I guess we had to show
his identification for some reason.
And she responded,
"Oh, my god, it's Gord Downie".
One paramedic showed the other paramedic
and said, yeah, that's what I thought.
And it really kind of
made me incredibly protective.
We went to the hospital.
I think they got a CT,
'cause they showed us
splices of the imaging.
And they showed a jelly bean sized tumour.
[Johnny] They'd sent biopsies,
and it came back that it was brain cancer
and it was, um, incurable.
The worst of the worst kind of news
that you can get.
Still, to this day,
you try and make sense of it.
[Paul]
No one saw that comin', including him.
I can't even believe it.
Still can't believe it.
You know, obviously hard
for he and his kids and his family
and all of us in the band.
You get the call and
you tell yourself to keep breathing.
You don't know, uh
you don't know what to do.
It's You can't process the information.
It just felt like,
well, we won every battle
and we still lost the war.
[whistles]
[Billy Ray] I was devastated,
and I went into a pretty dark place.
Gord would always say to me, you and I
are going to do this into our 70s.
And that summer he said,
I'm sorry I broke my promise.
[exhales] He said, "I'm gonna die.
And we're not gonna do this into our 70s."
[clears throat] And it was heartbreaking.
'Cause it wasn't until I heard him say it
that I thought it might possibly be true.
[Paula]
Prior to surgery, Gord did ask about
would he be able to perform again,
and DJ Cook did say no.
He had a left-sided temporal tumour,
and the tumour in that location
can be associated with speech deficits,
issues in formulating words or finding
words, in particular, and also memory.
He wanted to maximize
the time he had to be with the kids.
So he was willing to accept a higher risk
of, say, a speech deficit
or a memory deficit
in order to give him that time.
[Patrick] Gord had almost no interaction
with the band
from the moment he had his first seizure
through basically the start of radiation.
For the most part,
we were giving them reports.
I don't know what it was like
on their side,
but I mean, it's gotta rock you
to your core.
Pat phoned me one day and said,
I think he wants you to visit.
And I did.
Went up just for a night,
and I ended up stayin'.
Paul's been helping me out a lot.
As he has since we first met in grade 11.
He's always been a great help to me.
Beyond everything else,
I love him, uh, so much.
[Paul] You know, months and months
of living together,
I went to all
the radiation treatments with him.
There was more of a connection,
like it was in high school.
And something peeled away.
You know, 30 years of small tensions.
That all peeled away.
For me, too. And for him.
They were brothers.
And they were best friends.
And that's what friends do,
you drop what you're doing.
It's the most beautiful thing
I've ever seen.
Love's a beautiful thing.
[Patrick] As Gord started to get better,
all the creative juices started
to really flow again,
and he was just throwing himself into
the finishing of "Man Machine Poem."
[Rob]
The record was basically set to come out.
We'd done the artwork.
And then Gord broached the idea
of going out on tour.
I was happy to indulge your brother.
Sure, you want to get together
and play some tunes
and yeah, it'll be great.
Yeah. Fantastic. Count me in.
Never thinking for a second that
we were gonna be able to pull it off.
Didn't see it happening.
But what do you do?
You know, you're talking about
a dying man.
And you grant his last wish.
Regardless of what it is.
[Mansbridge] Fans of the Tragically Hip
already know Gord Downie's extraordinary.
A singer, performer,
and songwriter like no other.
But given what he's going through,
what he's planning to do next
is nothing short of awe-inspiring.
Downie, we learned today,
has incurable brain cancer.
[Bernie] Bit of an emotional day today.
As you all know, the band released a
statement this morning via their website,
and, uh, we're here today to talk on that.
[Patrick] We wanted to tell the world
about Gord's diagnosis
and we also wanted to give people
optimism moving forward
for what our plans were and
that the band is going to go and play.
We were gonna start in Victoria
and on to Vancouver,
make our way back East with the objective
of finishing up in Kingston,
where we started, literally 100 yards
from where we started,
where our first gig was.
Of course, Gord Downie is going
to go out and fucking play
for, you know, 10s of 1000s
of people every night
with this disease.
Because nobody else would.
[Finny] Gord was fearless.
I love that about Gord.
He took on the biggest fuckin job
in the history of rock 'n roll ever.
No one ever has or
probably ever will match that.
And there's no part of that that felt like
hey, this is a sympathy tour.
That's the best part. It's like, hey,
we connected with all you guys.
So we're not gonna be able
to do this again,
so we're gonna come out one more time
and connect with you guys all again.
And there was something
really beautiful about that.
[Patrick] Gord's manager Patrick Sambrook
came flyin' into the grocery store
like, where the hell are you guys?
And he was like, this is blowing up.
World news. International news.
[chuckles] And Gord said,
well, what if
What if I live for another seven years
and everyone thinks I'm an asshole?
I famously sent Gord an email saying,
I know you're not sick. This
that your going on the road,
this is just a ploy to make money.
And, of course, it made him
laugh his head off.
Because that's your job in that moment.
We were all holding our breath when
he said, you know, I'm gonna do this.
And I did query Johnny
a couple of times, how's he doin'?
And he said, well, you know, it's
it's touch and go,
it's a little difficult, it's hard work.
You've gone through a couple of surgeries.
Mm-hmm.
-Radiation, chemo.
-Mm-hmm.
-Constant MRIs.
-Mm-hmm.
How are you dealing with that?
Well, you just remembered all of it
better than I did.
Um, my memories,
which used to be my forte,
used to be my [sighs] and now,
I can't remember hardly anything.
I have "Peter" written on my hand.
I have a few things written on my hands.
Um, and I say that just to be upfront,
'cause I might call you Doug.
That's one savage, uh
kick in the pants, you know?
Nope, can't remember people's names
and can't remember lyrics.
Sorry.
I think most people
given his prognosis and his diagnosis
would curl up into a ball.
But, no, your brother did not.
This is our friend, our brother,
so we got together
and started to rehearse.
[band rehearsing]
[Billy Ray] The first rehearsal
for the final tour
was down at a place in Toronto.
The band started playing,
and Gord looked at me
with this look of a drowning man.
And he just shrugged his shoulders
and shook his head,
and he said, I don't know.
[indistinct rehearsing and chatter]
We started again.
I counted him in.
Started scrolling the lyrics.
And so, we colour-coded
things in the teleprompter
so that his brain would recognize
the way he had written things
with his four-colour pen.
We had arrows that went up
and arrows that went down
to sing higher, to sing lower.
Because those memories
weren't there anymore.
[Johnny] He worked and worked and worked.
And he was getting stronger.
And I knew he'd be able to do that tour.
I knew it.
[band rehearsing]
[Rob] He was working the songs over
and over, trying to build memory up.
And he really started to get there.
[band rehearsing]
[Rob]
But I still was really unconvinced.
Even the night before the tour started,
I was like, it's not happening.
There's no show tomorrow night.
[construction noise, chatter]
[drums sound check]
[guitar sound check]
[Sinclair] The first show in Victoria
was, by far, the hardest.
None of us, including your brother,
actually knew what was going to happen.
I wasn't even sure we would be able
to get through the first show.
Everyone had the same fear.
[Rob] To say I was
a reluctant participant is an injustice.
I was way beyond reluctant.
I just thought, any moment now,
I'm gonna look out
and see 10,000 phones taking footage
of Gord having a seizure on the stage.
And it's the worst thing I could imagine.
That's like hell to me.
[Reporter]
We begin tonight with a night of music
thousands in Victoria will never forget.
The Tragically Hip will take the stage
tonight to begin their long goodbyes.
[Sinclair] I think that moment that
we all walked out on that stage together,
and for Gord in particular,
it was really, really scary.
I can sort of see genuine fear
in Gord's eyes.
[audience cheering]
[Sinclair] When he stepped up to that mic,
the doubt vanished.
The fear vanished.
[Rob] People came out and
they showed their appreciation.
They gave Gord their love.
[audience cheering]
[Rob] And it helped him.
For that, we're eternally grateful.
[Sinclair] Got through the first show.
And then the next show.
And the next show.
I swear, as we progressed,
he got better.
And it was unbelievable.
[Billy Ray] Just to watch him go
from this frail, softspoken man
to this God in leather suits
and fancy feathered hats
it was pretty incredible.
[Rob] He worked so hard.
And by the end of the tour,
he felt like old Gord.
[helicopter whirring]
[Reporter] Fans of the Hip are going
through an emotional gauntlet tonight;
the highs and lows especially poignant
for the people of Kingston,
the city where the band members grew up.
[audience cheering]
[Rob] To come back to Kingston,
end it where it began.
We wrote an end to our own story,
even if in part by accident.
[Tristan] Everybody started that day
feeling like it was really heavy.
But also not knowing the extent
of the heaviness that it would be.
[Ricky] For me, it was the best and
the worst thing that ever happened.
The best is that we were all together,
and the worst thing is that we were
never gonna be together again.
[audience cheering]
[guitar strumming]
[Allan] That last concert
was the second most-watched
television event in Canadian history.
Eleven million people.
There aren't even
eleven million households in Canada.
[performing "Ahead By A Century"]
[Mark] Every town and hamlet
in the country
had P.A.s and big screens set up
in the parks.
[Ron] For sure, a lot of folks are
old enough to recall where they were
when John F. Kennedy was assassinated,
the lunar landing.
This was one of those.
This was the moment
where every Canadian knew
exactly where they were
when The Tragically Hip hit the stage.
First thing we'd climb a tree ♪
And maybe then we'd talk ♪
Or sit silently ♪
And listen to our thoughts ♪
With illusions of someday ♪
Cast in a golden light ♪
No dress rehearsal ♪
This is our life ♪
And that's where the hornet stung me ♪
And I had a feverish dream ♪
With revenge and doubt ♪
Tonight, we smoke them out ♪
[Dan] It was a national goodbye,
so it was bittersweet, triumphant,
joyous, sad.
But it also gave us hope.
[vocalizing]
[Tom] The shots of Canada crying together.
Is a politician able to do that?
No fucking way.
Is a religion able to do that?
Not a chance.
Is a corporation able to do that? No.
It's the power of artistry, and it's
the power of the human experience.
[Rob] If you're gonna be a band,
if you're gonna be a family,
if you're gonna be a nation,
you kinda have to have some common bonds,
agree on something.
So if a third of the nation could agree
on us, that's pretty awesome.
But that's when the hornet stung me ♪
[Will] I watched down in the States.
It was really profound.
Every Canadian I knew watched it,
at home and abroad.
There was a sense of sort of
necessity and obligation,
but the good kind of like
needing to be home for Christmas.
Wasn't something we had to do.
It was something we needed to do
and we wanted to at the same time.
[Sam] In some ways, it just felt great
to be at a Hip show again.
It had been a couple of years.
The familiarity of it.
The way that it had come
to feel like home for so many years.
It was great to reconnect with that.
And then it would dawn on me;
this was the last time
I was gonna see them play.
And at that moment,
I realised, holy shit.
Like, it's done. Like, it's over.
And I started to bawl.
[audience cheering]
[Downie] Thank you.
You're wonderful.
Thank you for that.
[audience cheering]
[Johnny] It was like you were looking
at it through someone else's eyes.
I didn't even feel like I was there.
Like it's somebody else.
[Rob] To actually just
get through the day,
I had to press everything down so tight.
Because if I gave my emotions free rein,
I would have been done.
I couldn't have got up on stage
and played the show.
[audience cheering]
[Sinclair]
When we got to the end of it, man,
none of us wanted it to ever end.
Still don't want it to ever end, you know?
And that was the hard part
that nobody talks about;
how hard it was for the band.
Because these poor guys
who were united in this thing with him
since they were teenagers,
got the joy but also the pain.
I mean, every night, Gord was
saying goodbye to the audience.
They were also saying goodbye
to their audience in a certain way.
And they were saying goodbye to Gord.
[Paul] Gord, first thing he said
after Kingston, backstage,
he was like,
that felt like the last show.
And he was right.
That did feel like the last show.
And he said it with kind of a half smile.
He wasn't saying it sadly, in a sad way.
It was celebratory enough
to be a last show.
[audience cheering]
[Johnny] At the end of this tour,
he needed to have another
beginning of something else.
So, he begins the "Secret Path" project.
[Mansbridge] In his latest project,
he's aiming to bridge the gap
between Indigenous and
non-Indigenous Canadians.
It's his legacy project: The Secret Path.
I am a stranger ♪
You can't see me ♪
Today I feel incredible amounts
of joy and shame.
Just think he's the symbol.
[Radio Host] The album,
along with an illustrated book
and film, tells the story
of Chanie Wenjack,
a 12 year old boy who died running away
from a residential school.
I'm joined by Chanie's sister.
What do you think of the fact that
Gord has put so much energy
into telling this story?
I think he's coming to an end of his life
and he knows it.
He wanted to do something meaningful.
You know, something
that people would remember.
[Downie] This is what I want to do.
Nothing else really matters to me.
This is one of these rare moments
in time and history
that we can actually potentially maybe
create something
so frickin' huge for the north.
Oh, I see. You're gonna do this tour,
which was impossible,
and now you're gonna change the country.
Hmm. Okay. Try that.
[Tom] He had taken
the Canadian history books
and ripped open the trap door
on the back cover
and opened up the story of this country
and started to make us aware
that Canada is responsible
for one of the grossest
and most inhumane acts
in the history of this planet
when this country attempted to wipe out
the entire indigenous population.
That's a story that I have to say,
without Gord Downie,
wouldn't be maybe a part of our vocabulary
as much as it is right now.
It'll take 150 years,
or seven generations,
to heal the wound
of the Residential School,
to become a country,
and truly call ourselves Canada.
It means we must become one.
We must walk down a path
of reconciliation from now on.
[Johnny] He loved being in The Hip,
but I think that that was
his true, true love,
using his voice in a positive way.
And not just throwing
anything away about it.
It had to mean something to him.
[Downie] We're gonna create this thing
that's gonna
potentially allow us
to build this brand new Canada.
And so, we get this chance
to try to help people up there.
I think everyone thought
it was just impossible.
I am a stranger ♪
We'd never have
a band meeting to talk about
where do we want to be in five years,
or are we gonna do a band makeover.
We'd have a band meeting to talk about
who we wanted to raise money for.
[Downie] Thank you
for supporting War Child
and more affected children.
[Bernie] They don't talk about it a lot,
but they literally gave millions
of dollars back to the community
without blinking an eye.
It's all because of what started
the impetus of a legacy of a philosophy,
I think that these guys had,
as a group collectively,
to just always want to give back
and do something to help.
You know, that's just
that's just who they were.
[Patrick] Gord was in a slow decline
through the end of the summer.
We'd had a couple
of big family celebrations
for my father's birthday and things.
[Mike] What's a good thing to say
for the toast?
Love you.
[woman] That's a good thing
to say in a toast.
-Love you.
-[woman] I love you.
-Love you.
-Love you.
-I love you, Mike.
-Love you, Gord.
-Yeah?
-Always and forever.
What else is there?
Good times.
[Patrick] As the days went on, you know,
there would be some good days
and some bad days.
But eventually he was getting
less and less mobile.
We kept him with all his
you know, everyone that loved him best.
And, um
Yeah. We just rode out the days.
[Johnny]
I went to see him a couple of times.
I just remember him saying, you know,
I love you. I love you.
He just kept saying
I love you, I love you.
And I know he said that
to the other guys in the band.
You know? Um
We'd been through so much together
that he, um
he was just looking at the positive.
And then, I saw him one last time.
And I took my kids, who were two.
They didn't really know what was going on
but my son, Will, looked up
and he pointed and he said, Dad,
there's your there's your friend.
And he, um
he was waving with his left hand,
and we got in the car and we drove.
And I looked in the rearview mirror,
and he was still waving.
And um you know, my boys had met him.
And that was really important.
[piano playing]
And that was at his house.
That was the last time I saw him.
[Downie] I don't want to die.
My son's ten, and that really scares me.
You know, obviously.
But you know, as I
I sure wanna, you know,
sure want to do this right on the way out
so he's not worried.
You know, not too worried.
[piano continues]
[off camera] You ready for bed, Gordie?
Yes, I am. Disconnect me.
[light rain and thunder]
[Charlyn] We were able to do it
just the way he wanted,
which was quiet and dignified
and at home.
I think we stayed up the whole night.
And he was with us.
Oh, and it was just so peaceful.
[Mike] Can you see these, Mom?
You can move it a little closer.
[Lorna] Yeah. Here, how about that?
Oh, Gordie was mad there.
I put him in girl's clothes.
-Snowsuit was Paula's the year before.
-[all laughing]
[Mike] Why did he not have
his own snowsuit, Mom?
'Cause this one was still good. [laughs]
I feel here ♪
Here and here ♪
[Lorna] I said to myself,
you've had a lot of him being gone
for a long time without seeing him.
I'll just pretend he's on tour.
I said that to myself time and time again.
But you got me right now
to where I could cry.
Hurt here ♪
Here and here ♪
I lived here ♪
Here and here ♪
I died here ♪
Here and here ♪
[carillon bells playing]
[Johnny] It was about 7:30 in the morning,
I got a call.
I turned the TV on,
and the first thing I saw was
Justin Trudeau crying.
We lost one of the very best
of us this morning.
Uh, Gord was my friend,
but Gord was everyone's friend.
It's who we were.
Our buddy Gord who loved this country
with everything he had.
I knew it was coming, but I didn't want
to think about it coming.
And had
no idea what to say.
But I knew the words mattered.
And sharing with millions of Canadians
who knew and loved him,
but also the millions of Canadians who
didn't know him and hopefully would,
could understand why he mattered.
Thank you.
[Lisa] For an entire generation,
this is a day you'll remember
exactly where you were
when you learned about the death
of a Canadian giant.
Gord Downie, at only 53,
died of incurable brain cancer.
["Long Time Running" playing]
Every television station in Canada,
that's all they were talking about.
[game announcer] Gord Downie personified
what it means to be Canadian.
Just behind me really is where this vigil
tonight at around 7pm will take place.
[Lisa] All parties stood for a moment
of silence on Parliament Hill,
and the flag above the peace tower
was lowered to half mast.
I remember going to the grocery store.
And a guy came out,
and we just looked at each other.
We just shook our heads.
I didn't know him. He didn't know me.
I can't think of anyone
more beloved than Gord.
I think it was probably the strongest
national mourning that we've ever seen.
Certainly, no one in government
ever got that.
And with the weight
of Gord Downie's death,
if you found yourself fighting back tears
at work today, you weren't alone.
I was in Halifax directing
Trailer Park Boys.
And finally the sound guy said,
"So, Gord Downie died, eh?"
And then I remember grabbing my Raybans
and going out and looking at the harbour
and just crying.
And they said,
oh, I think he knew Gord Downie.
My last memories with him were telling
one another we loved each other.
I just don't think anything could be
more perfect, cause we did.
Worst day of my life, actually,
to be honest.
It was I don't think
I left my house that day.
There's been people who reach out
and tell you the impact that he's made
personally on their lives
and what his work has done.
And it's absolutely mind boggling.
But at the same time,
I am so proud to be this guy's daughter.
[Mike] I just wish he was here
to bask in the light.
Yeah. Me, too.
Losing your brother was just like losing
another brother for me.
You know, it was really hard.
Still is really hard.
What can I say? I'd give everything
to have him back.
It kind of put me in a personal tailspin,
that's for sure.
It's been a long, long,
Long time running ♪
It's well worth the wait ♪
It wasn't just the loss of my friend
and the horrible circumstance
of how it went down.
It was the loss of the dream.
It was like, what am I now?
Now that I've got nothing?
Now that the dream is dead?
I spun out.
Drank a lot.
Ran away from home. Was a fuck up.
I can't be that guy anymore.
I have to reinvent myself
as something completely different.
Didn't want to spend my life
looking back, you know,
making the inevitable self-congratulatory
documentary or something.
-You know? [laughs]
-[Mike] Hey, wait a minute.
All that kind of shit.
[guitar strumming]
It was a couple of years
of feelin' a bit lost, that's for sure.
I think we were all
in that general state.
We weren't looking to do much.
Or really even talk much, you know?
It's not that life here
Is distasteful to me ♪
It's just that I'm all alone ♪
I wanted what took
A lifetime to learn ♪
And turn around and start again ♪
[Jake] These guys were
like brothers to each other.
All those years together,
you'd think that the first thing you do
is get together with your brothers.
And they didn't.
And so, they all grieved independently.
I think they were paralyzed.
Saw it from miles away ♪
I basically said, look,
all the stuff that I put
in place for you guys,
controlling your own destiny,
your own masters,
nothing's happening.
You're letting the whole thing go.
And it's time for you guys
to let me continue
what I started for you 17 years ago.
We needed to rehire the pitbull.
It's his life work; The Tragically Hip.
He helped build the house.
[drums sound test]
[drumming continues]
[indistinct chatter]
Good, man, what's up?
Fuckin' way too long, bro.
-Good to see you again.
-You, too. You, too.
First time in a few years
with all my bandmates.
It's been a while since we were
all in a room together.
[guitar sound test]
[Jake] That was the first time
they'd been in the same room together
in five years,
and they realised how much they missed
playing music with each other.
[Rob] It's been suggested that we
play shows and get someone else to sing.
I have less than zero interest in it.
Gord was a key member of this band,
and we're not The Hip without him.
Gord was trying to convince me otherwise
before he died.
No, no. You should get
another singer, man.
I said, we're not getting another singer.
Sure, why wouldn't you?
Because we're not doing it.
[Rob]
But the suggestion wouldn't go away
about us playing
the 50th anniversary of the Juno's
and receiving a humanitarian award.
[stage manager shouting indistinctly]
in five, four, three, two
[Rob] And then when Leslie Feist's
name was mentioned,
I thought, I think Gord just smiled.
I think Gord would like that.
[performing "It's A Good Life
If You Don't Weaken"]
When the colour of the night ♪
[Johnny]
It felt right making music again.
I think that's what we all miss.
I don't know too many people
who could start at 17,
and 40 years later
still have the same job.
I'm so lucky to have been able to do it.
Let's swear that we will ♪
Get with the times ♪
In a current health to stay ♪
Let's get friendship right ♪
Get life day to day ♪
I got to live all my dreams.
lt all fucking came true.
I made a life out of writing music
and playing songs
with my best friends in the world.
What a life.
As to almost make it glow ♪
For a good life
We just might have to weaken ♪
And find somewhere to go ♪
Go somewhere we're needed ♪
[Sinclair] If I had to change anything
about our career,
I would change your brother's diagnosis.
And I would give back everything
that we experienced
if we still had the opportunity
to be hanging out with each other,
you know, playing music
and writing songs.
That was my favourite bit,
and I miss doing that with my friends.
I'd give it all back to be able
to do that now, I really would.
[Paul] My life coulda gone, you know,
a whole bunch of different ways,
but it wouldn't have been better
than bein' a rock star in The Hip.
So I'm forever grateful to Gord.
And all of 'em, really.
It's just been the best
sort of career life
anyone could hope for.
[Mike] What was it about them
that Canada related to, do you think?
Beyond that there was
two Gords in the band?
You know, they just seemed
like regular fellas
that might work down
at the fuckin' mall or whatever.
Like your next door neighbour.
You know?
You could see Paul Langlois
pumping gas at the Petro Can.
-He wouldn't look out of place.
-No.
[Will] We all felt sort of connected
to it, you know?
'Cause they were kind of like
a band of the people, too.
Like, they didn't live like out there.
They kind of lived amongst us.
For the fans and for Canadians,
it was such a big part of our Canadian
identity for a whole generation.
[Dan] The Hip are certainly the kings
of Canadian essence.
And they sing for all of our hearts
and all of our souls and all of our minds.
[Allan] Their legacy is as storytellers
about the Canadian condition,
about Canadian history.
And to do it in a way that not just was
lyrically beautiful and compelling,
but backdrop by a band
that could just kick ass!
Multiple generations of Canadians
just decided that the Tragically Hip
were our band.
I'm one of them.
From all of the very deep intwinings
culturally and emotionally
that the Hip have done in this country;
yeah, they're Canada's band.
[audience cheering as music plays]
[Randy] They will define,
for generations to come,
the music that exemplifies this country.
Although we may not be able
to see them in concert,
we're still gonna put our arms
around our nephews and nieces
and turn them onto this great music.
[audience vocalizing along]
[George] I think that The Tragically Hip
completely understood how to get to us,
and they completely understood
how to help us feel seen.
But it wasn't enough to be seen.
We now had to start looking inwards.
I don't think I can think
of another Canadian band
in the last 30 years that can do that.
He said, "I'm tragically hip" ♪
"Come on just let's go" ♪
She kind of bit her lip ♪
"Jeez, I don't know" ♪
But I can guarantee ♪
I can guarantee ♪
There'll be no knock on the door ♪
I can guarantee ♪
I'm a total pro here ♪
I can guarantee ♪
That's what I'm here for ♪
I come from downtown ♪
Born ready for you ♪
Armed with will and determination ♪
And grace, too ♪
We were coming together to commune
at Tragically Hip events.
They built empathy,
they built understanding.
If that's what you think about as legacy,
they left this place more positive,
because they were in it.
[Jake] I don't see that there will
ever be another band
as big as these guys and as meaningful
to Canadian culture as them.
You can use that at the fuckin' end.
One, two, three, four ♪
Ah ♪
[audience continues vocalizing]
[Gord shouting]
[shouting]
Come on, let's go!
[audience cheering]
[panting, hissing]
[Sinclair] Yeah, it was real strange
during the sound check.
People were asking.
What would you like to ask us, Pete?
How'd it go?
It was fucking awesome.
Just a delight to be in the business.
["Get Back Again" playing]
What's the deal with your dad? ♪
He don't even know my name ♪
Didn't know he'd be back ♪
Didn't know we'd been bad ♪
No one stayed to share the blame ♪
I didn't mean to do that ♪
She won't even come around ♪
Everytime I looked back ♪
Didn't realise that ♪
I was better off than now ♪
Mothers came and cried for Abel ♪
Brother Cain survived
the century's end ♪
All the time that
I thought was my friend ♪