If you knew you were dying, how would you spend your remaining time?

Would you quit your job? Take the trip of a lifetime? Hunker down with family and friends? How would you say goodbye to this world?

If you’re Gord Downie, front man for the Tragically Hip, you’d go on tour.

After announcing to the world that he had terminal brain cancer in May, Downie, 52, and the rest of the band went on tour. And on Saturday, they played their last scheduled show to an audience of 6,700 in their hometown of Kingston, Ontario.

If you’re not from Canada, it might be hard to imagine how deeply The Tragically Hip—or The Hip, as Canadian’s call them—is embedded in the country’s culture.

The band, which formed in 1983, has received 14 Junos—the Candian equivalent of the Grammies.

To sum it up, Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau (pictured above) attended the concert, clad in a black Tragically Hip t-shirt. “Tonight’s the night where the whole country is either literally or metaphorically in Kingston, Ontario. We’re celebrating The Hip, we’re unfortunately saying goodbye to Gord. It’s a moment to remember the soundtrack of our lives,” Trudeau said to a reporter before the show.

“Gord and the Tragically Hip are an inevitable and essential part of what we are and who we are as a country,” he said in another interview.

The final concert was broadcast across Canada, and the concert reached an estimated 11.7 million viewers—nearly a third of Canada’s population.

The Toronto Police stated in a tweet on Saturday, “Dear World, Canada will be closed tonight at 8:30 PM E.T. Have a #TragicallyHip day.”

Dear World,
Please be advised that Canada will be closed tonight at 8:30 p.m ET.
Have a #TragicallyHip day.
^vk pic.twitter.com/TMRah6JTG3

— Toronto Police (@TorontoPolice) August 20, 2016

Besides giving fans a way to say goodbye and thank you and we love you, and for the band, at least in its current form, to say goodbye and thank you and we love you, Downie has, with this tour, exhibited a rare type of courage and grace. In a culture that either denies or sensationalizes death, and in which celebrities facing terminal illnesses usually shirk the public eye, Downie seems to be saying what we so badly need to embrace: Death is part of life. It’s scary and it’s sad and it’s messy, but it’s part of the deal, and this is how to say goodbye. 

They’re on top of the buildings in #Bobcaygeon@thehipdotcom #cbcthehip pic.twitter.com/EBAcqn5vfS

— Michael C. Smith (@MichaelSmithYYZ) August 21, 2016

The band’s final encore of the concert was “Grace, Too,” which seems an appropriate note to end on. At the end of the song, Downie, donning a feathered hat, a white t-shirt and silver pants, appears to double over with either pain or emotion just before he hung up the microphone.

He looks around at the audience as if he’s memorizing the moment, as he raises a hand to say goodbye.

What a beautiful way to say goodbye: with an open heart. With tears and farewells. Surrounded by love.

pic.twitter.com/Iycu4L1fzs

— The Tragically Hip (@thehipdotcom) August 20, 2016

~

~

Author: Lynn Shattuck

Image:  Video Still

Editor: Travis May