![]() “Gord’s making his life count,” said Mike Downie. ![]() That post-tour work has been a form of physical, emotional and mental therapy, his brother said in a pre-show interview. He later went on tour with the Hip.īut he had unfinished business and has been rehearsing for weeks for two shows, the first one Tuesday night in Ottawa and the second in Toronto on Friday. But then Downie was diagnosed late last year with glioblastoma, an aggressive and incurable form of brain cancer. Related: From the archives: The lonely death of Chanie Wenjackĭownie’s music and lyrics are accompanied by a graphic novel, as well as an animated film that was screened as a visual component of Tuesday’s one-hour performance.ĭownie’s older brother, Mike, introduced the singer to Wenjack’s story after hearing a radio documentary several years ago. The album tells the story of 12-year-old Chanie Wenjack, who died in 1966 after running away from the Cecilia Jeffrey Indian Residential School near Kenora, Ont., 50 years ago this weekend. Like the tragic 12-year-old muse of Downie’s latest solo project – a multimedia fusing of music, film and social activism – the Hip frontman is still grinding forward, one step at a time, in an appeal to awaken something he sees embedded in a guilty Canadian conscience, something as firmly rooted as the terminal brain cancer he continues to fight.ĭownie’s fight resumed Tuesday night at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa when he took to the stage for a multimedia performance of his new album, “Secret Path.” The musician recieved a standing ovation even before the first note. That nationally broadcast concert of the Tragically Hip in Kingston, Ont., in August just may have been a dress rehearsal of sorts. The pained anguish at the moment of the dropped microphone during “Grace, Too” and the unexpected political and social call to arms to help indigenous Canadians were a prelude to a final elegant song that told us there was “no dress rehearsal, this is our life.” ![]() OTTAWA – Gord Downie’s powerful performance in the last concert of the Tragically Hip’s summer tour is now seared into the Canadian collective consciousness. Gord Downie is seen performing during ‘Secret Path’ at the National Arts Centre Tuesday Octoin Ottawa.
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