A small backstage moment at a Tragically Hip show I’m not sure anyone else saw…
I saw The Tragically Hip at the Barrymore Theatre in Madison during the World Container tour on May 15th 2007. The place wasn’t packed — the band never got the same following in the U.S. that they had in Canada — so I walked right up to the stage, set my drink on the edge, and watched the whole show just a few feet from Gord Downie.
At one point the band slipped into one of those loose jams they were famous for. Gord was doing his thing — pacing, ranting, half-singing, half-storytelling, and of course sweating — while the band kept the groove going behind him.
Then something interesting happened.
Gord suddenly walked off behind the curtain at the side of the stage, but the band never stopped playing. From where I was standing, I could clearly see Johnny Fay behind the drums, and I watched him mouth “fuck you” in Gord’s direction. The music kept rolling like nothing had happened.
A moment later Paul Langlois stepped behind the curtain. A few seconds passed… then Gord and Paul came back out, and the band carried right on.
Most people in the room probably never noticed a thing. The song never stopped, the groove never dropped, and the show just kept moving forward.
But standing right there at the edge of the stage, it felt like catching a tiny glimpse behind the curtain of a real rock-and-roll moment — the kind you only see when you’re close enough to put your drink on the stage.
