Tragically Hip close the show at MTS Centre in Winnipeg
Band played hits Wheat Kings and At the Hundredth Meridian, closed the show with Ahead by a Century
From beginning to end, Winnipeg fans roared as one for the Tragically Hip Friday night.
The band opened their two-hour show with an older hit, At the Hundredth Meridian, a song that contains the refrain "Where the great plains begin," and is named after a longitude that runs in part through Manitoba.
The band also played a local favourite Wheat Kings as well as their massive hits, Bobcaygeon and Poets. After two encores, the group said goodbye with the song Ahead by a Century.
Lead singer, Gord Downie thanked the crowd before leaving the stage.
"All these years. Grateful. Always grateful," said Downie.
The crowd continued to cheer for sometime as the lights came back on.
Downie announced in May he has terminal brain cancer but the terminal disease hasn't stopped him and his bandmates of 30 years from touring across Canada. Winnipeg is one of ten cities the Tragically Hip are playing this summer.
The concert in Winnipeg began just after 8:30 p.m. at the MTS Centre. Fans began arriving hours before to buy merchandise and later find their seats.
The energy in this arena right now is incredible. <a href="https://twitter.com/thehipdotcom">@thehipdotcom</a> are loved by so many.
—@CourtRutherfordSome paid hundreds of dollars for a seat on Friday, including long-time Hip fan Kyle Duncan.
"I'm not going to be sitting at home at 80-years-old and going, 'Glad I still have that $800 in my pocket,'" he said.
Like many concert-goers Friday night, Sean Kiely, said he's been a fan of the band since the late-1990s.
Keith Wong said he's been a fan ever since his brother made him listen to their first albums about 20 years ago.
"I get goose bumps just thinking about it," he said. "It's the Hip, it's Canada. It's everything we believe in."