That Night In Toronto

The Tragically Hip was one of the first bands I ever saw live as a kid. There were really only a few of their songs I truly loved (Bobcageon!), they were mostly just the biggest Canadian band to come through town.

Many years later, I had the opportunity to see Gord Downie do his solo project in Vernon BC and was struck by what an artist the guy was.

Middle of the show, he rolls out an overhead projector (the kind we had in school when we were kids) and he lays down these hand drawn transparencies of waves and a boat and manually animates them onto the backdrop of the stage using his fingers, a ship at sea.

The crowd was stunned. I was stunned.

When he died, it was a sad day for Canada. We'd lost one of our greats - not just a great artist but a great advocate. A great human.

Recently I re-watched the stream of his last show, and in the last song he loses it, screaming and crying on stage in front of literally millions. The humanity of it hit me right in the feels.

My kids are much better at drawing than myself, but I wanted to capture that moment.

Drawn on a Samsung Note9.

Thanks, Gord. <3