That night in Toronto

For as long as I can remember my family has been Tragically Hip obsessed. I distinctly remember driving home from a cottage - my parents up front and my little brother beside me - as Ahead By A Century played on the radio. I remember my Dad singing along as he drove and a feeling of utter contentment swept over me. I must have been six or seven, no more.

That same tune welcomed my parents, aunts and uncles into the new millennium as they attended a December 31, 1999 concert at the Air Canada Centre where the Hip preformed Ahead By A Century as the clock struck midnight. A story they tell over and over again to my cousins and I, who were left under the care of our grandparents for the evening.

When I was twelve or thirteen my Dad and Uncle took me on a fishing trip to Bobcaygeon, a town in east-central Ontario that up until that point only existed hypothetically, in a Tragically Hip song. I remember sitting in the car as it poured rain and wondering what it was about that place that had inspired such lyrics.

I first saw the Hip in concert at Live 8, a massive festival I attended in Barrie, Ontario with my Dad in 2005. At the age of 14 he made me wait in the shade under a cluster of trees by myself after I refused to stand any closer to the stage. It was loud and hot and getting as close as possible to Gord Downie didn't seem so important back then. Eventually that would change.

The Tragically Hip at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto, Ontario on February 19, 2015

When I was up North with my cousins a few weeks ago, we were teasing the youngest that she couldn't claim family ties until she could recite the story of Bill Bureko, famously told in the song Fifty Mission Cap. We may have been joking, but she agreed anyway and we listen to the song on repeat until she had it memorized.

Some might say worshiping The Tragically Hip is my family's religion, I wouldn't disagree.

So on a cold Toronto night we headed downtown to have our minds Fully, Completely blown away by Mr. Gord Downie and The Tragically Hip for the Fully and Completely North American Tour. And they did not disappoint.

Here's the set list from the evening:

1. Grace, Too
2. At Transformation
3. Escape Is at Hand for the Travellin' Man
4. Ahead by a Century
5. My Music at Work
6. Courage (for Hugh MacLennan)
7. Looking for a Place to Happen
8. At the Hundredth Meridian
9. Pigeon Camera
10. Lionized
11. Locked in the Trunk of a Car
12. We'll Go Too
13. Fully Completely
14. Fifty-Mission Cap
15. Wheat Kings
16. The Wherewithal
17. Eldorado
18. In View
19. Poets
20. Bobcaygeon
21. Nautical Disaster
22. Blow at High Dough