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Manitoba

Tragically Hip close the show at MTS Centre in Winnipeg

It's an emotional evening for fans of The Tragically Hip, who are playing tonight in Winnipeg in what could be their last concert.

Band played hits Wheat Kings and At the Hundredth Meridian, closed the show with Ahead by a Century

Roaring welcome for the Tragically Hip in Winnipeg

8 years ago
Duration 1:51
For their opening song in Winnipeg Friday night, the Tragically Hip played At the Hundredth Meridian, a hit from their 1992 album Fully Completely.

From beginning to end, Winnipegfansroared as one for the Tragically Hip Friday night.

The band opened their two-hour show with an older hit,At the Hundredth Meridian, a song that contains the refrain"Where the great plains begin," and is named after alongitude that runs in part through Manitoba.

The band also played a local favourite Wheat Kingsas well as theirmassive hits,Bobcaygeon andPoets. After two encores, the group said goodbye with the songAhead by a Century.

Lead singer, Gord Downie thanked the crowd before leaving the stage.

"All these years. Grateful. Always grateful," said Downie.

The crowd continued to cheer for sometime as the lights came back on.

Downie announced in May he has terminal brain cancer but the terminaldisease hasn't stopped him and his bandmates of 30 years from touring across Canada. Winnipeg is one of ten cities the Tragically Hip are playing this summer.

A portion of proceeds from the Man Machine Poem tour will bedonatedtothe Sunnybrook Foundationto support brain cancer research.

Tragically Hip perform Pigeon Camera

8 years ago
Duration 1:24
Part of the Tragically Hip's performance of Pigeon Camera in Winnipeg Friday night.

The concertin Winnipeg began just after8:30 p.m.at the MTS Centre.Fans began arriving hours before to buy merchandise and later find their seats.

When tickets went on sale earlier this summer the arena, with a concert capacity of more than 16,000 seats, sold out in minutes.

Some paid hundreds of dollars fora seat on Friday, including long-time Hip fanKyle Duncan.

"I'm not going to be sitting at home at 80-years-old and going, 'Glad I still have that $800 in my pocket,'" he said.

Like many concert-goers Friday night, Sean Kiely, said he's been a fan of the band since the late-1990s.

The crowd went wild at Winnipeg's MTS Centre Friday just before The Tragically Hip started their opening tune, At the Hundredth Meridian. (Cliff Simpson/CBC)
"Gord can't be replaced ...There will be a couple people crying, I think so," he said.

Keith Wong said he's been a fan ever since his brother made him listen to their first albums about 20 years ago.

"I get goose bumps just thinking about it," he said."It's the Hip, it's Canada. It's everything we believe in."