On the verge

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 30/07/2016 (3389 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Take a look at these photographs. Just look at those faces. Given how long we’ve known them, they seem improbably, almost impossibly young.

But, if you look closely enough, you’ll glimpse the future in these images from a two-night stand The Tragically Hip played at the Spectrum (now Pyramid) Cabaret on Fort Street on Oct. 6 and 7, 1989.

Although singer Gord Downie’s face is shrouded by his luxurious hair, the expressive intensity for which he’s legendary is clearly evident. Index finger curled over his mic, he’s locked in the ferocious, thousand-metre stare that would captivate fans for years to come.

Guitarist Rob Baker is zeroed in on his fretboard, well on his way to becoming the hip-swaying, hair-swinging, stage-left figure whose understated playing gives the quintet its moody atmospheres and soaring highs.

When Baker, Downie, drummer Johnny Fay, guitarist Paul Langlois and bassist Gord Sinclair played these Friday- and Saturday-night shows, they were one of the hottest acts in the country.

Their debut full-length album for MCA, Up to Here, had been released in August and Blow at High Dough, with its imagistic lyrics and unrelenting riff, was all over the radio. The momentum was palpable and the audiences who came to see The Hip mirrored the band — young, hungry Canadian kids eager to latch onto something that was uniquely their own.

Just 18 months earlier, the Kingston, Ont., group had been fired from its first Winnipeg show at the Diamond Club. The furor sparked was such that when The Hip returned a few weeks later, the Portage Village Inn was packed. Local shows followed in a steady stream, from week-long residences at the PVI and Broadway’s to nooners and socials at Red River College and the U of M. A bidding war among club owners led to the Spectrum landing this pair of coveted weekend gigs.

Just over five months later, the band sold out Le Rendez-Vous, and on Aug. 18, 1990, the group headlined Saturday night at the first Sunfest at Gimli Motorsport Park. When The Hip came on, the crowd exploded. Everyone who was there knew they were watching something special.

The Tragically Hip are on their final tour; Downie is battling incurable brain cancer. They play in Winnipeg Friday at MTS Centre. Showtime is 8:30 p.m., sharp.