What surprised me most while watching The Tragically Hip: No Dress Rehearsal is the disharmony that nearly ended the band prior to the death of Gord Downie in 2017.
The four-part docu-series, debuted Thursday (Sept. 5) at Toronto International Film Festival and streaming on Prime Video starting Sept. 20, is a love letter from director Mike Downie, brother of the beloved singer.
The band's late-'80s rise to popularity from the sweaty bars of Kingston, Ont., is documented in rare video, photos and interviews. They conquered Canada, of course, but also earned loyal fans in other countries, including the U.S. and Europe.
Over the years, I witnessed 18 of their concerts starting with a 1988 show at the Town Pump in Vancouver and, for a time, played bass in a tribute band, Totally Hip, circa 2002. So yeah, you could say No Dress Rehearsal was a must-watch for me. And no, I was not disappointed.
Forty years of hits, misses, friendship, frustration, triumph, tragedy — it's all there, warts and all, thanks to Mike Downie's access to the people who made The Tragically Hip such a juggernaut.
By the early 2010s, band tensions ran high after Gord Downie picked up a guitar (something he did years earlier as a way of coping with a fear of looking like a clown on stage) and took more control of the band's songs, along with Bob Rock, producer and good pal.
After a Fully Completely anniversary tour, nobody saw it coming when the singer announced his brain-cancer diagnosis that led to a final, triumphant 2016 tour, punctuated by one last concert in Kingston. What a way to go out on top, with Downie bravely singing Ahead By A Century a final time in the home-town arena and for millions of fans watching on TV.
It's all there in No Dress Rehearsal, and again I shed a few tears watching the story of Canada's best and most beloved band.
