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On November 16th, 1992 I went to see The Tragically Hip at the Ottawa Civic Centre. This was just my second time seeing the band and I remember being seriously impressed with their sudden rise in fame. Though The Hip were still a year or two from selling out multi-night stands in rooms the size of Maple Leaf Gardens in mere seconds the Civic Centre was unquestionably a massive step up from the Congress Centre, where I saw the band just a year before.
Though the venue was significantly bigger than last time my seat was still pretty close, about halfway back on the floor. But of course there would be no sitting down for this show. The stand-up nature of a Hip concert had been established early on; probably the day they played their first show.
It’s possible I was sitting down for the opening act, Sons Of Freedom. I don’t remember anything about their set at all and could actually be convinced that I didn’t actually catch them, if not for the fact that I wrote their name down in my ticket book. It’s been my habit that if I miss an opening act I don’t include them in the book.
I do remember The Hip though. They were touring just their third full-length album (Fully Completely) and it seemed like every song in their repertoire was either already a Canada-wide anthem or was about to become one. The band was strapped to a rocket that was about to blast them into unprecedented levels of national fame and pride. They were smack dab in the middle of living out their very hopes and dreams, they were confident, and they were tight.
And it was great. Gord was on fire, taking songs (and mic stands) to new and strange places, propelled both by his endlessly churning bandmates as well as the powerful voice of the audience, who (even this early in the band’s career) were collectively singing along to every word.
There was no denying that The Tragically Hip was a band not to be missed, and for a good, long time I didn’t.
Now I miss them every day.
Todd Man Out 