BOBCAYGEON, Ont. — As the Tragically Hip started to play their hit single “Bobcaygeon,” people in this small Ontario community watching what likely will be the legendary band’s last performance rose to their feet.
Those gathered for a viewing party knew instantly what song was about to play. They brought out their cellphones and cameras and as lead singer Gord Downie sang the lyrics “It was in Bobcaygeon, I saw the constellations.” The crowd went wild.
Bobcaygeon’s “A Concert under the Constellations” was one of many such viewing parties held Saturday across Canada.
Celebrations also took place internationally — at the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, the Canada Olympic House hosted a party for Canadian athletes who wore their red Olympic jackets. Canadians Abroad of Southern California was also to have a viewing party in Los Angeles.
Bobcaygeon shut down its main street to screen the final stop of the Hip’s “Man Machine Poem” tour, which aired on CBC.
The 15-show tour, which ended in Kingston, Ont., Saturday night, was announced after lead singer Gord Downie revealed earlier this year that he’s battling terminal brain cancer.
The community northeast of Toronto became well known following the release of “Bobcaygeon” from the Hip’s 1998 album “Phantom Power.” The song earned a Juno Award for Best Single in 2000.
“I think they certainly helped put us on the map,” organizer Aaron Shaw said. “Anywhere you go in the world when you’re travelling, you say Tragically Hip and they say Bobcaygeon. It’s amazing. I’ve been to Thailand, I’ve been to Dubai, I say it and they say Bobcaygeon.”
The Tragically Hip: Fans gather in Ottawa to watch final show in Kingston
It was a special night in Kingston when The Tragically Hip played their final show in front of the hometown fans, but Canadians were also watching across the country as CBC showed the concert live. Ashley Fraser captured images of some of those who gathered in Ottawa to watch.
-->
Over six-thousand people either stood or sat on lawn chairs along Bolton St. where both adults and children took in the show on three jumbo screens set up throughout the community’s main stretch. Despite technical difficulties with the screens blowing over due to wind and getting the projector to play the live stream, people enjoyed beer and sang choruses to their favourite songs.
Group pictures and selfies were taken with family and friends as many in Bobcaygeon wanted to remember this special Canadian moment. Children sat on their parents’ laps or on blankets.
Related
The Hip show ends but the ovation unlikely to end any time soon
Set list from Saturday's Tragically Hip show in Kingston
Donations were being accepted for Downey and brain cancer research.
Celebrations for the viewing party began early in Bobcaygeon. Hip songs blared from boats at the Gordon Yacht Harbour Marina on Pigeon Lake and the song Bobcaygeon — a local favourite — played at several local businesses throughout the day.
Kathleen Seymour-Fagan, an organizer of the viewing party in Bobcaygeon, says that hosting the event just made sense.
“Why not,” she said. “The Tragically Hip mean a lot to Bobcaygeon and if you can produce something on our main street that we can close it down, have everybody come and celebrate the Hip, Gord Downie, our town, our community, that’s what it’s for.
A man becomes emotional during a viewing party for the final stop in Kingston of a 10-city national concert tour by The Tragically Hip, in Vancouver, B.C., on Saturday August 20, 2016.
“I think it will be emotional. It’s going to be quite the event.”
Around Canada and online, social media was buzzing at full throttle with scores of tweets from people sharing their thoughts about Saturday’s concert and information about where viewing parties were being held.
“Amazing seeing the viewing parties worldwide…expats everywhere, we are all in Kingston tonight!!!!,” said one tweet.
“Passing by lots of ppl en route to Tragically Hip viewing in Assiniboine Park Winnipeg. Lots of yard parties too. A shared celebration,” another post said.
People streamed into the Vancouver Playhouse Theatre that seats upwards to 600 for a viewing party.
“It sounds cliche however they have been the soundtrack to many crucial moments in my life so I wanted to be a part of it and say goodbye to Gord,” Sonya Howard, who saw the Hip in concert as a teen, said in Vancouver.
“He’s been such an integral part I think of the Canadian music scene… It’s just sad he won’t be here to keep sharing his gift.”
There was similar reaction at nearby Woodward’s Atrium where Edward Xie and friends took in the show.
“Besides them being a great rock band, I guess it’s that they tell the stories of average Canadians,” Xie said. “They tell a lot of stories that everyone knows and a lot of stories that people aren’t familiar with and they let us explore our past.”
Meanwhile in Bobcaygeon, Seymour-Fagan also owns a local cafe and says that the event has been shared over 75,000 times on her business’s Facebook page alone. She says that the Hip’s hit single “really kind of epitomizes how this place feels.”
The community has drawn interest from local media and outlets such as Al Jazeera. In the community tourist guide, it says that Downie may be the only one to understand the lyrical mysteries Bobcaygeon carries.
The Tragically Hip played a concert in Bobcaygeon in 2011, which attracted thousands of fans.
“I think it’s true Canadiana,” local resident Dave Poole said of the band.
— With files from Linda Givetash in Vancouver
Fans gather on the rooftops of Bolton Street in Bobcaygeon, Ont., to watch The Tragically Hip’s final concert on video screens.
Lead singer Gord Downie is seen performing on a screen as a man watches during a viewing party for the final stop in Kingston of a 10-city national concert tour by The Tragically Hip, in Vancouver, B.C., on Saturday August 20, 2016.
People watch the Tragically Hip concert from Canada House at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Saturday, August 20, 2016.
Three people embrace during a viewing party for the final stop in Kingston of a 10-city national concert tour by The Tragically Hip, in Vancouver, B.C., on Saturday August 20, 2016. Lead singer Gord Downie announced earlier this year that he was diagnosed with an incurable form of brain cancer.