Brain cancer, first diagnosed in Dec 2015. They and he were not well known outside of Canada, but they were a Canadian institution. This is a sad day.
Indeed.
He was a great front man for a great band. I’ll remember him as one of my favorite showmen and entertainers, and I’m fortunate I got to see him strut his stuff on many occasions. I wish all the best to his family.
I’m off to listen to Road Apples in tribute. But not before one quick round of “Blow at High Dough”. Love ya, man!
RIP Gord. Thanks for the good times.
We all knew it was coming, but that doesn’t make it any easier. 
Yeah we knew, but I’m still trying not to cry.
Thanks for all the music and your thoughtfulness and caring. You did good.
A few times in life, the death of someone you have never met feels incredibly personal. I never met Gord Downie personally, but his music and lyrics really formed the soundtrack for so many events in my life, both sad and happy. One of the last songs my friend and I danced to before she died was “Courage”, and they played it at her service. When I moved from Edmonton to Ottawa this summer, we listened to the Hip a lot, using their music as sort of a geographical musical score for the amazing Canadian landscape.
A year ago, the tickets for The Hip’s final tour went on sale and immediately sold out (of course to reappear with a huge mark-up on Stubhub and other reseller sites).
I hadn’t even tried to get tickets, knowing that I wouldn’t stand a chance with the slow and firewalled computers at work. The next day, mid-afternoon, I heard they had announced a second show for Edmonton. It was a few hours later I was sitting at my desk and thought “Maybe I should give it a shot, never know…”
The day of the concert, my daughter and I were on our own, and taking the bus and the LRT to the concert. We stopped at Taste of Edmonton before hand and the skies absolutely opened up in torrential rain. We got soaked. When we arrived at the arena, we stood in line for T-shirts for almost two hours. We finally bought our items listening to the notes of “blow it at high dough”.
The wonderful memory of that concert with my daughter remains a favourite for both of us.
^ A fine tribute. Thank you.
Our prime minister cried giving tribute to “our (Canada’s) buddy Gord.” For over 30 years the Tragically Hip was our national house band, sound track to our summers, came along on our road trips, and memorialized our heroes our landmarks and our small towns with long names.
Last year my mother was diagnosed with breast cancer and so many plans changed. I went to the last Hip concert in Vancouver (ever) and sang and screamed and cried and applauded with with a packed arena. Catharsis.
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I wrote out how I felt. Dunno what to do now.
http://middleagedjoker.com/gordon-downie/
No ads on my site so I’m not making money off this - but there’s a link to the Canadian Cancer Society at the bottom of the article.
Well written sir
I thought of something to add, and I am sorry it will come off as weird.
At the final concert in Edmonton, I remember during one of their encores, listening to the crowd roar it’s love and adoration for the band, our band, as I watched him smile and wave, I remember feeling - he should just stay on that stage forever. Thinking that somehow, this crowd, these people, we can keep him alive. We can keep him alive and safe with our love, with our energy. If he just stayed. Just played one more encore. And then one more, forever.
When the band finally left the stage that night, it had the feeling of being a part of something magical. Something amazing. Like we had, for a moment, all united together, strangers and voices in the dark, in a packed arena, to love our Canadian bard, and to hold him close and share a few intimate hours with him and the other Hip boys.
It was an incredible gift to be able to show how much he meant to us, how much we loved him.
As he performed, giving his everything in every moment on stage, he showed us how much we meant. And that he loved us too.
Another reason this year has sucked momentously; another player in the soundtrack of my life gone. You’ll be missed.
It’s a shame. I’m not a person to get really worked up over the death of a celebrity, but even so The Hip were a fantastic band and their music helped me get through quite a few long and stressful days at work. Canada is a poorer country today.
Wouldn’t it be cool if Ry Cooder sang his eulogy?
RickJay nails my feelings but with more depth than I could manage so I’ll post something I’ve posted recently. It’s an odd feeling. I remember picking up the Road Apples and Fully Completely CDs when they came out and putting them on repeat during my years at Queens. Now Gord Downie has passed on and I’m feeling old and far too nostalgic for anyone my actual age.
I’m going to miss knowing the Hip are out there making music.
I’ll never understand why they didn’t make it big outside of Canada. What a sad day.
Got the Leafs and Red Wings pregame show on.
It been all about Gord.
I remember after the last show, reading a review that “criticized” him for missing a line in that song.
“I remember every single fucking thing I know”
And then later seeing the Peter Mansbridge interview where he told us all he barely had a memory anymore…then realized he skipped it on purpose 
I was thinking that, but he didn’t exactly die of vanity.