• 1/3 of Canada Watched the Tragically Hip's Farewell Concert on Saturday
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[img]http://ichef-1.bbci.co.uk/news/624/cpsprodpb/167FC/production/_90865129_performing.jpg[/img] [quote]The sold-out gig drew 11.7m people, according to broadcaster CBC. It makes it one of the country's most watched events, behind the 16.6m viewers who watched men's gold-medal hockey at the 2010 Olympics. The tour was announced after lead singer Gord Downie was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer in May. An average of four million viewers watched the Tragically Hip, known as the most Canadian band in the world, on television or via livestreaming, according to Canada's national broadcaster CBC.[/quote] [quote]The network cut away from the Olympic coverage in Rio to air the nearly three-hour television broadcast on Saturday.[/quote] [quote]They started as a college band working the local circuit and then took off, but their success across 14 albums was mostly confined to within Canada. Known simply as The Hip to many Canadians, their songs became part of a national identity.[/quote] [quote]Some of the largest TV audiences in Canada include: 16.6m - Canada beats USA at ice-hockey in 2010 Winter Olympics 11.7m - Tragically Hip concert in Ontario, 2016 10.5m - Canada beats USA in 2002 Games 5.2m - British royal wedding, 2011 [/quote] [img]https://fi.somethingawful.com/images/smilies/emot-canada.gif[/img][url=http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-37157473]**THE CRYING BEAVER**[/url][img]https://fi.somethingawful.com/images/smilies/emot-canada.gif[/img] I don't know anybody who did not stop to watch or listen to the concert. CBC basically stopped all their regular programming on every broadcast medium they have and aired the show. My city had no less than two big screen TV's setup and in both cases the parks were packed with people.
We watched the entire broadcast on CBC in our living room, it was sad to watch near the end when he started crying, really heightened his already fantastic stage presence.
Pretty weird how a band I've never even heard of can have such a huge impact just some miles north of me.
Who??
Holy shit, that's more than the population of Alberta, British Columbia and Saskatchewan combined.
[QUOTE=Ithon;50932532]Who??[/QUOTE] No, not the who. The hip.
They are pretty good. A lot of Americans would relate to their music too, apart from the occasional place specific songs.
I had it open on a CBC Music youtube stream on my second monitor. It ran from 8:30 until about 11:15. They did 3 encores.
Strikes me though, this information made me curious and apparently 3x the population of Canada watched the series finale of Cheers in the US, and 4x the population watched last year's Super Bowl. But yeah, weird that I know nothing about these guys. Their music is okay, don't necessarily hear anything super unique, but I guess a lot of it is the cultural and national significance that doesn't translate to well to other countries. I will say, the US doesn't really have any sort of musician that captures our national identity, but I guess since our states have populations about the same as Canada, we do have some singers that have that sort of influence on a per-state basis. Selena is a good example of someone pretty popular all around, but who was infinitely more beloved in Texas.
[QUOTE=Loriborn;50933299]Strikes me though, this information made me curious and apparently 3x the population of Canada watched the series finale of Cheers in the US, and 4x the population watched last year's Super Bowl. But yeah, weird that I know nothing about these guys. Their music is okay, don't necessarily hear anything super unique, but I guess a lot of it is the cultural and national significance that doesn't translate to well to other countries. [B]I will say, the US doesn't really have any sort of musician that captures our national identity[/B], but I guess since our states have populations about the same as Canada, we do have some singers that have that sort of influence on a per-state basis. Selena is a good example of someone pretty popular all around, but who was infinitely more beloved in Texas.[/QUOTE] Not true at all.
[QUOTE=Boaraes;50933346]Not true at all.[/QUOTE] I don't know if there's a single US singer/band that 108 million people (1/3 US population)would watch live if they had a farewell televised airing. I mean, sure we have unifying events, like the Super Bowl, but as for a music group that such a large number of people can all say symbolizes the entirety of the US? I don't really think there is one. Just too many varying cultures and identities between states for that. While someone might claim California is defined by some pop artist, someone else would claim Texas is defined by a country singer, and Oregon by a folk indie singer, and Detroit by some rap artist. Canada is a bit more unified since its population is like, what, 1/10 our own? The equivalent of many of our larger states. [editline]23rd August 2016[/editline] Just to put those numbers in perspective, the same number of people in the US watched the series finale of Home Improvement in the late 90s as the entire population of modern Canada, but no one is gonna claim Tim Allen is our cultural icon. It's a lot harder for us to have a shared identity.
[QUOTE=Loriborn;50933357]I don't know if there's a single US singer/band that 108 million people (1/3 US population)would watch live if they had a farewell televised airing. I mean, sure we have unifying events, like the Super Bowl, but as for a music group that such a large number of people can all say symbolizes the entirety of the US? I don't really think there is one. Just too many varying cultures and identities between states for that. While someone might claim California is defined by some pop artist, someone else would claim Texas is defined by a country singer, and Oregon by a folk indie singer, and Detroit by some rap artist. Canada is a bit more unified since its population is like, what, 1/10 our own? The equivalent of many of our larger states. [editline]23rd August 2016[/editline] Just to put those numbers in perspective, the same number of people in the US watched the series finale of Home Improvement in the late 90s as the entire population of modern Canada, but no one is gonna claim Tim Allen is our cultural icon. It's a lot harder for us to have a shared identity.[/QUOTE] For some more perspective there are more people living in California than Canada.
I went to the one In Calgary and not gunna lie, I cried like a fucking bitch.
A bunch of friends and I got together and watched it. It was one hell of an emotional experience [editline]23rd August 2016[/editline] I realize some people might not know that the lead singer (Gord Downie) is dying. They aren't just breaking up
Unfortunate to hear of his condition. I first heard of Gord when he appeared on City and Colour's song, Sleeping Sickness and I love City and Colour. Never knew his band was that praised in Canada.
I've never really been exposed to their stuff, i only really learned how big they were for Canada recently
[video=youtube;OB965aUPsmM]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OB965aUPsmM[/video] I still remember listening to this song as a kid, I didn't understand what it was about till years later
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