"Gord Downie was sweating under the weight of a thick khaki shirt, hair plastered to his forehead, breathing heavily into his microphone. Thousands of people had turned up to a field next to the Molson Brewery in Barrie, about an hour north of Toronto, for the first of two shows the Tragically Hip would headline in one day on opposite sides of the country. The young crowd was half-drunk and baking in the midsummer sun, and Maple Leaf Flags billowed lazily in Downie's eyeline."
"'Happy Stupid Day,' he added, a more manic edge creeping into his voice. The people he was trying to insult were cheering his every word; a few beers deep, they loved the idea of Stupid Day. He jammed another maggot onto the hook and hurled it back into the water: 'We could have our own motto: 'Who are we kidding?''"
"Three albums in, Canada's love affair with the Tragically Hip was already a complicated relationship. Canada's obsession with the Tragically Hip is unique in the English-speaking world. A recent four-part Amazon Prime documentary, No Dress Rehearsal, proposed that the Hip were to Canada as U2 were to Ireland or the Beatles were to Britain, but that's not quite right. Everyone had U2 and the Beatles, regardless of where"
On Canada Day 1992, three months before Fully Completely, Gord Downie performed for thousands beside the Molson Brewery in Barrie, visibly strained and provocative. He baited a patriotic crowd with sarcastic lines like "Happy Stupid Day" and a mock motto, while fans cheered and broadcast audiences watched. By the third album the band's relationship with Canada was complex and ambivalent. The Tragically Hip occupied a singular place in English-speaking Canada, prompting comparisons to U2 or the Beatles while remaining distinct in how they engaged national identity and foundational myths.
Read at Pitchfork
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