I was super excited when my friend Sarah discovered that The Tragically Hip were playing at the HMV Forum in London on November 30th -- a Monday night...in London...which means we would have to take the train and wouldn't get home until very late. But seriously, who am I to pass up this kind of opportunity? So I obviously, and with only a mere split-second of hesitation, bought a ticket, as did a few more of our friends. The Forum is quite a small venue -- much smaller than the ones I am used to the Hip playing at anyways. When we got there the place was practically empty, and we were able to stand only one row of people away from the stage. It wasn't until they came out that I realised how amazingly close we were.
Gord Downie was literally two meters from where I was standing!
They opened with New Orleans is Sinking, and basically played every song I could have possibly wished for, including Poets, Ahead by a Century, Courage, Grace Too, Gift Shop, Blow at High Dough, At the Hundredth Meridian, Yer Not the Ocean, and In View. And SURPRISE! -- Kelly Jones, the lead singer from Stereophonics, came on stage and sang a duet of Fiddler's Green with Gord Downie. Absolutely incredible. My brother and I freaking L-O-V-E that song; the first time I ever saw The Hip I made a sign that read: PLAY FIDDLER'S GREEN! So, needless to say, as soon as I recognized the music I video-recorded the performance on my camera for my brother. He just HAS to see it. Not that I even need to mention this, but the sets (yes, there were two) were amazing. 
And speaking of amazing: Gord freaking Downie. He is such an unbelievable performer. I can't decide what was my favourite: Gord a) pretending he was a gorrilla b) walking through the audience c) bouncing wet handkerchiefs off his chest and then throwing them out to the audience, or d) getting annoyed with the amp on the stage in front of him so deciding to pick it up and hold it over his head - only it was too heavy for him so he fell onto his back with the amp on top of him and had to get assistance from the bouncers in order to get it off (all while his band kept right on playing). Hilarious. But wait -- I do know what my favourite was: the handkerchiefs. Want to know why? BECAUSE I CAUGHT ONE! Yup. All those years of being absolutely horrible at (and embarrassing my mom during) baseball paid off. Caught that baby in the dark flying through the air. Beautiful. Not that I know what I'm going to do with it. But whatever. It's Gord Downie's sweaty handerchief. I have one and you don't - so who cares what I do with it?