Hundreds of Toronto residents gathered at Nathan Phillips Square on October 24 to pay tribute to Gord Downie and grieve through song. The beloved Canadian icon and Tragically Hip frontman passed away at the age of 53 on October 17.
Organized by local community choir Choir! Choir! Choir!, everyone in attendance performed several songs including The Stranger, Poets, New Orleans Is Sinking, Wheat Kings, Bobcaygeon and Ahead By A Century. The crowd was led by C!C!C’s Daveed Goldman and Nobu Adilman.
Samuel Engelking
Downie’s brother, Mike Downie, was in attendance and thanked the crowd for the outpouring of love and support. The event was a fundraiser for the Gord Downie & Chanie Wenjack Fund, a non-profit Downie supported that fosters relationships and cross-cultural education between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people.
Choir! Choir! Choir!, which usually meets twice a week for sing-alongs at Clinton’s (693 Bloor West), has hosted a number of public tributes to notable musicians who have died in the past few years. In 2016, a video of the group performing David Bowie’s Space Oddity at the AGO went viral after Bowie passed away.
Fans of the Tragically Hip have another opportunity to pay tribute to Downie with Choir! Choir! Choir! tonight (October 25). The group will sing The Stranger off Downie’s 2016 album, The Secret Path, at Clinton’s starting at 8pm.
Check out more photos of the Nathan Phillips Square event below:
Samuel Engelking
Samuel Engelking
Daveed Goldman (left) and Nobu Adilman lead Choir! Choir! Choir!
Samuel Engelking
Samuel Engelking
Samuel Engelking
Samuel Engelking
Samuel Engelking
Samuel Engelking
michelled@nowtoronto.com | @michdas
