When the Tragically Hip Came to Walkerton: A Night of Music, Memory, and Meaning
A small-town concert, a national crisis, and how the Hip brought Canadians together
Did you ever get to see the Tragically Hip live?
I did.
Once. I wish I’d seen them more. Living in a small rural Ontario town not on the way to any major cities meant most big names (or any names really), never played our town (or anywhere near us).
Going to Toronto to see a show was a big deal and didn’t happen often. Only when we could con a parent to take us or an older sibling to let us tag along with them.
So when it was announced in our local paper that the Hip were coming to Walkerton there was no way we were going to pass up the opportunity to see them so close to home.
The show they put on was amazing. The year they played Walkerton was 2002. The Watchmen also played and were rad too.
The Hip on Stage and in Documentary
It was interesting to see in the Hip documentary, “No Dress Rehearsal,” that this was during the time that the band was starting to struggle and fight with each other.
You couldn’t tell from where we were standing in the field singing and dancing to our heroes.
Gord was the exact same guy we thought we’d see jumping and moving with the music while adding narratives, commentary, and ad-libbing to make the experience unique and different than just listening to the Hip on radio, tapes, records, or CDs.
Songs, Memories, and the Encore
I remember swaying to “It’s a Good Life if You Don’t Weaken,” “Bobcaygeon,” and then “Wheat Kings” in the middle of the encore, with my girlfriend (who’s now my wife).
After 19 songs, including a tonne of the hits that made the Hip famous, a nervous anxiety swept the crowd as the band finished the second song of their encore.
They hadn’t played their BIG one.
As we screamed and yelled and clapped and smiled and our fingers ached from being crossed tightly for most of the night… the tip tap of the high hat accompanied by the iconic bass riff made the wave of us all jump together and high-five each other and hug as the lights flashed and Gord sang out,
“They shot a movie once, in your hometown…”
The band delivered, as they had so many times throughout their careers. It was beautiful, inspiring, and Canadian.
It connected us in pure joy and celebration.
From Small Town Walkerton to the World Stage
It was Labour Day.
A month after the band played in the ball diamond field of a town of less than 5,000 people for a crowd jammed full of happy Canadians, hanging on to the last shreds of the summer, they performed in front of the Queen.
That year they also played at the Olympic Winter Games.
It’s amazing to think of how diverse the Hip were and how quickly they could pivot and play where they were called upon.
Canadians Helping Canadians: The Walkerton Connection
If you watched No Dress Rehearsal, or if you already knew much about the Hip’s history, you know that they were very generous and played in support of many noble causes.
This was what brought them to Walkerton.
It was why the lineup for the Watershed weekend concert featured some of the best bands we had to offer.
The tagline for the event was: “Canadians Helping Canadians.” The concert was the second annual event—a fundraiser for people affected by “The Walkerton Tragedy” of 2000.
In May of that year, the municipal water supply became contaminated with E. coli bacteria, killing at least seven people and making over 2,000 people sick.
Remembering Walkerton and What We Take for Granted
I’ll write a story about the Walkerton tragedy in the future, but for now, you can check out this story from the CBC for the details in case you aren’t familiar with this Canadian real-life horror story.
How often do we take for granted that the water that comes from our tap is “clean” and won’t make us sick?
It’s unthinkable to imagine being poisoned or possibly dying from the water we drink in a developed country with so much fresh water.
Except if you live in an Indigenous community. That reality is very real. Even today. 24 years after the Walkerton Tragedy. A tragedy that gained the attention of the whole country.
Reflecting on What Still Needs Fixing
It led to an inquiry and a $1 billion class-action lawsuit.
The mess was cleaned up in less than seven months and the water was deemed safe to drink again at the beginning of December that year.
Like a lot of good causes, Canadians “can get behind anything,” once it gets going.
It took a couple of years for the Watershed event, largely due to the Hip signing on to play, for Canadians to come together to help people and the community devastated by the Walkerton water crisis.
It took weeks and months before we really got behind Terry Fox when he was running across the country to raise money to help look for a cure for cancer.
Why Are 30 Communities Still Without Clean Water?
Seeing, hearing, and experiencing how seriously everyone took the issue of contaminated water in Walkerton 24 years ago makes me wonder why there are 30 communities without access to clean drinking water now—today—and we don’t seem to hear anything about it.
Unless of course, it’s around Truth and Reconciliation Day and Indigenous issues are in the news.
But next week, or next month, will these 30 communities still be without clean water? Will that number go down? Or up?
Facing the Uncomfortable Truth
The answer lies in the uncomfortable truth that lies there subtly between the notes and sometimes not-so-subtly in the lyrics of several Hip songs.
The truth that we’re not perfect here in Canada. We get a lot of things wrong. We’ve been wrong in the past and we’re still wrong today.
Some things seem to get better while also staying the same. Better is a moving target a lot of the time.
Like when you do a good spring cleaning and the more you clean, the more dirt you see.
Honouring the Hip by Continuing the Conversation
What the Hip gave us though is the ability to talk about things—to focus on the things we need to get better at or at least stop getting wrong.
My partner and I, and our friends, maybe like many of you, now go to see Hip tribute bands, and listen to Hip songs at summer BBQs or winter gatherings indoors with the warmth of good friends, good memories, and good times.
Sometimes we listen to the Hip to honour them and what they meant to us.
If we really want to honour the Hip and honour the way they honoured us with their stories about us and their support for us, we have to be Canadians helping Canadians.
More Work to Be Done
We have to keep telling stories about where we got it wrong, where we’re getting it wrong, and keep working at making it better.
Then, when we come together to laugh, cheer, sing, dance, and smile, we can celebrate how far we’ve come. But not ever lose sight of the truth that there’s a lot more work to do.
That’s beautiful, inspiring, and Canadian.
Just like it was to see the Hip live.