Wow… the day has finally come…. The Tragically Hip are in town!

This might be something that only Canadians can truly understand, but you would not believe how excited I am to see The Tragically Hip on Tuesday night at Higher Ground.

The Hip are a Canadian institution, but for far more than simply making great music. Already inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame, the band’s lyrics touch on everything from hockey to Canadian history to Canadian literature and their sound captures in some way the essence of the entire country. More than any other Canadian band, they’ve built a huge national following while maintaining a rich, yet down-to-earth connection with the people and the landscape. They are poetry, they are passion, they are the puck in the net as Team Canada scores the winning goal. If that sounds hyperbolic, so be it; it’s hard to talk about them any other way. Explaining the significance of the Hip in Canada to an American audience is almost like trying to explain Don Cherry to them. I’ve tried and failed at the latter, by the way.

For me, the errant Canuck, it just takes a few bars of At the Hundredth Meridian, Fireworks, or Yer Not The Ocean (among many, many others) to make me feel at home no matter where I am. The new album, World Container, is brilliant, by the way, and has only recently been released here in the US.

The fact that we get to see these guys in two days at a small club here, while fans in Canada have just been turning out in droves to see them play in arenas, explains what a treat we’re in for in Burlington. On my way into the office this afternoon, I saw what I’m certain was their bus across the street waiting at the light. Before I knew it I was waving frantically out the window at them! With luck, none of my students were also waiting at the light…. ahem.

More to come on the Hip’s visit to Burlington and my thoughts on their place in Canadian culture.