Tragically Hip - Grace, Too (Final Live Performance) | A 2 Bois, 1 Brain Cell Reaction

[@KnightscastStudios]

If you're into video games and music, you can follow Joel’s Channel for some livestream fun! 😃 www.twitch.tv/pyroslayer92

[@lucasschmiedendorf2669]

this is how to make all your canadian fans cry.

[@lucasschmiedendorf2669]

thanks bois. i'm crying in my cubicle.

[@gravitraxa-team8969]

I'm from Kingston, this was an extremely emotional night, this band is a Canadian treasure

[@thejemmett8881]

At the end of the performance, he is screaming, "Him?! Here?! Now?! No!!!". Which indeed is the lyrics of the studio version of the song. However, in the context of THIS performance, the whole meaning of those words is transformed and for me, the original studio version of the song has also been changed. I was at one of the Edmonton performances of their last tour and it had the same feel. I watched grown men weep during the show, and it forever changed the way I experience live music.

[@Brett.284]

I was at the Edmonton show. I cried, my friends cried. We all cried

[@ncobrien]

@@thejemmett8881 I still weep watching this performance for that reason. He didn’t want to go, but he did so, with grace, too.

[@Whitesquall123]

@@thejemmett8881 the Hip were soooooo much better live than studio. And I agree, many of their lyrics took on different meanings during their final tour.

[@GordonWolters]

@@thejemmett8881 I was also there. Ashamed that it was my first.

[@shneizah]

Brain cancer, so crazy. Downie couldn't even remember lyrics, had to re-learn his own songs. There were teleprompters hidden around the stage. So much courage.

[@Whitesquall123]

Truly unbelievable. Apparently he got better and better as the tour went on. But Gord was notorious for singing unprompted lyrics during his career, and then he cousobt even remember his own lyrics but powered through. He's truly one of a kind. I miss him. RIP Gord.

[@derick-smith]

Yes indeed, so much courage. It couldn't have come at a better time...

[@Whitesquall123]

@derick-smith Illness, my word, couldn't have come at a worse time... The Hip were so good, especially live. And their performances have changed over the years, and I felt that their latest version, when I saw them right before Gord was diagnosed, they were one of the best versions of themselves. Its sad that Gord's gone, but we have so many great songs to play to remember him.

[@snomeD-83]

Well....I'm seeing this reaction through sober eyes this time lol. Fuckin love you guys. Thanks so much for putting up with my harrassment for getting to this song 🤣. Just for clarification, the song that Chuck listened to while Joel was off screen was the recorded version of this song so you guys have both only heard 2 by them so far.....more to come though 🤘. As always....cheers, Bois!

[@AnyRoadAnyTime]

Great one! Thanks for sharing. I've been a fan of Tragically Hip, but was unaware of this performance. So, so special.

[@aydh83]

This entire country stood still that night.

[@paulvez6296]

CBC, the official Olympics broadcaster, put their Olympics coverage on hold for 3 hours without any commercials on a Saturday night for this last concert. That's how important this band is for Canada.

[@wpgme85]

@@paulvez6296 The night Canada closed for business. Everyone was watching the concert.

[@Dawn.Friesen]

Also broadcast online worldwide with no region locks. The Hip were Canada's house band, and Canadians around the world were able to join in and share the love that night.

[@pikaporeon]

In very proper Canadian fashion, I listened to this show live on CBC Radio while camping

[@janicemackie611]

Gord was literally dying on this final tour…it was heartbreaking but beautiful to witness the love for him and the guys… always remembered…In Gord We Trust …forever Hip …🫶 miss you guys..😢

[@ncobrien]

This was him giving his last tribute to the fans, however it was truly our tribute to him. He gave so much of himself to Canada, and you nailed it when you said he left everything he had on the stage that night. We miss you Gord. ❤

[@RSmith-sy5sz]

That shout broke a nations heart. Thanks for not pausing it.

[@davidclark8132]

Gord singing his heart out with pain, anger, frustration...and grace, too.

[@mjking9019]

Gord insisted on going on one last tour, against his doctor's advice. If you haven't seen it, their documentary Long Time Running, follows them on that last tour. They talk with Gord but the other members about it. They talk about how they made changes for him. Performing every other night, so he had a night in between to rest. The teleprompters, which he prided himself on never needing before, but realizing he'd need the help, extra long breaks between sets etc.. It's amazing what he did. I saw them in December 2000 and opening up for The Rolling Stones in 2005. I watched on tv, their last concert in 2016. I've never been as emotional watching them perform Grace, Too as I was in 2016. The emotion, the pain coming through. We lost a legend when he passed. There will never be another Gord. RIP

[@7bean3]

shit still makes me cry

[@robertjulianagnel1100]

over 11 million people about a third of the population of Canada watched and listened to the last performance in bars, house parties and neighbourhood parks in towns and cities across the country.

[@nicolejessome5430]

One third of the whole country watched this that day.

[@RockinMamaT]

Thanks for this. Gord Downie and the Hip will always be loved and cherished by the Canadian people. My heart was breaking and a lump in my throat the whole time...very bittersweet ❤

[@moniquedespins3574]

The last song they played together as a band. I have a hard time making it through this encore.

[@chucky9901]

RIP Gord ... a national Treasure.. :

[@NessyNess182]

INDEED. RIP Gord.

[@TylerSmith-zi9ig]

11 million Canadians tuned in to watch this concert

[@SnowDogisVictorious]

Same brain cancer for which the legendary Rush drummer/lyricist, Neil Peart, received his diagnosis- right around the time this performance occured (late summer, 2016). Gord would pass within less than a year. Neil lasted longer than most (thanks to fortunate genetics), succumbing in January 2020. How two of Canada's most celebrated musicians handled their respective diagnosees and remaining time on earth was a student in contrast. Whereas Downey publicly embraced his fate and used the band's nationwide tour (in support of a new album, but delayed so he could undergo surgery and chemotherapy) to spotlight the plight of Canad's indigenous peoples, Peart told only thoze closest to him and swore them to silence. Notoriously shy and introverted, the last thing he would have wanted wohld have been for adoring fans to assemble in front of his home, singing Closer to the Heart (explained Rush's Geddy Lee). Obviously, there's no right way to react to the certain (and essentially imminent) death sentence that comez with a diagnosis of Glioblastoma. I just find the contrast interesting, and obviously reflective of their different approaches to performing and to fame. The famously wild front man embraces his end and effectively publicizes it to person a personal conviction, while the drummer who always bolted for a waiting vehicle as soon as he last note was played decided for the strictest privacy instead.

[@chrisvickers7928]

I had a niece diagnosed with glioblastoma in 2007. She died in early 2009. It's very cruel cancer.

[@analogalien651]

Crying over this, again!

[@BronsonSlick]

In my opinion, the best frontman ever!

[@KLoiswinning]

As a Hip fan since the years when they sold out Canadian concert venues and we would cross the border into Ohio and see them in bars, this performance wrecks me. Just wrecks me, and only fans will get that. We can hear the music that was, and hear the screaming good bye and the rage against the dying of the light.

[@pepepepert]

This concert was his way of saying goodbye to his family nationwide.

[@mayhem9632]

You guys need to listen to BTO - Blue Collar or Not fragile .. Cheers !

[@MizPersnicket]

All of Canada stopped when he died. Truly, there will be no one else like him. 🖤 Gord

[@davechattoe9144]

This was a tough watch on a few levels. It was as a Canadian, knowingly Gord was struggling with his poetical stage performance as we knew it was their last good bye. On a different level, it's hard to let in our Southern brothers and sisters who where not there for that fantastic journey of 30 years. And to plop Gords last performance was unjust to ask these guys to truely react. I will say it was ok to ask an Amercian to react to a Candian band but let's just start off with soft stokes. The Hip was grown in our oun contry where we not only loved them for who they were and how tallented they were but we also just loved then just a little, because they were our own and we never wanted to share Gord and the boys with anyone else.

[@theSadieproject]

To be fair, this was the end of the second encore and he came back out for a 3rd encore aftsr that. Definitely recommend watching the entire show because it is amazing. ❤ "In Gord we trust!"

[@melodyyoung9640]

It's always hard listening to the last songs when our friend is gone,

[@Schweini_1983]

Miss you Gord.

[@Lovesygk57]

Please, please watch the latest documentary on Prime called No Dress Rehearsal. Amazing tribute to Gord filmed over the years by his brother Mike and produced by him as well. I am Kingston born and bred and the Hip have been one of our greatest treasures...we churn out amazing artists ❤

[@truenorth1968]

After Gord's diagnosis, they made the decision to go out on the road for what would probably be their last tour. When they went into rehearsals, it became clear how badly the cancer had affected him. The band would start playing, and he had zero recollection of songs he'd sung hundreds of times. This was the first time I can recall seeing him use a teleprompter.

[@Flapjackers]

Better than the mainstream, congrats

[@tizzy789]

Did you know Gen Douglas Macarthur had an Aunt & UNCLE from what we today call The Lands of Canada? "Francis Carr/Vahey" Know matter how many times I think of these facts in part of my mind I hear "its a small world after all." When 4 of your Birthdays were in Daytona including 21st... some songs heard in Orlando stick with you.

[@patbinkley2107]

Greetings from BC Canada

[@davidstobie2751]

Canada in a T-Shirt

[@CastleJane]

Miss you Gord❤

[@canadianhexe6002]

I won't watch the National Celebration video anymore. This was a goodbye concert and I love it for that. So much emotion. I can't watch it without crying. Gord's brain surgery and chemo effects were very evident. Such courage. There is a plethora of better performances though.

[@VonLigenstein]

the only thing you could follow that up with, would be more Hip ;) Take caer... EH!

[@nancy.dave.williams]

Watch their final song and not cry. Can’t be done