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There's nothing more Canadian than rocking out in the fresh air of the wilderness alongside mountains, trees and The Tragically Hip.
There was really no better Saturday night headliner than The Hip for the already Canuck-heavy line-up at LIVE at Squamish.
And the lead up to the patriotic performance was perfect by festival standards: The blazing sun shone down on the hundreds of thousands that filtered through the Squamish grounds.
Even the piled up traffic jams along the Sea-to-Sky highway that pushed back the main stage acts - including our beloved Hip - couldn't mess with the festival atmosphere. The crowds continued wandering and taking it all in, seemingly unaware of the change in schedule - maybe because most of them were on camping time.
But the crowd came to a standstill by the time The Hip finally came on - surprisingly close to on time.
Gord Downie stormed the stage in his expected classy style: suit jacket and tie (with jeans) and fedora. He gave his shoe a quick shine then kicked it - literally - into gear.
He started out with old favourites like "Grace Too" - it's always the oldies like this that create the true Hip concert experience, which is more like the biggest outdoor karaoke session known to man.
And of course the frontman always manages to fill his silences with either - in this case - an almost choregraphed scarf twirling, or with the Downie trademark rants.
"How are you doing over here? Live at Squamish," he shouted to the right of the stage.
"It's all the things that neighbours say . . . I love what you've done with the place."
Does it make sense? No. But it's Gord Downie, who cares?
The second he picked up the acoustic guitar and went into "Bobcaygeon" - that was it: Perfection. That song, in the outdoors, sung by Downie himself - that's almost all I came to see.
OK - I came for his dance moves too - the kicking, girating, two-stepping, using the mic stand as a dance partner and charades-like routines - it's all a part of the essence of The Hip concert - which needs to be experienced at least twice.
And while it comes as no surprise when the never-ending band throws new songs our way - especially since they always seem to have an album coming out, like their upcoming 13th album, Now for Plan A, dropping in October - they mainly stuck to oldies (and goodies).
Which is great, because who doesn't want to sway and sing along to "Ahead by a Century?"
That's what we all came for anyway.
With most festivals it's generally the same pace musically, but LIVE at Squamish threw us a much appreciated fastball with the funky "screaming eagle of soul," Charles Bradley.
It was a performance you rarely get to see in this day and age: a true soul man shimmying, jiving, sweating and wailing out his soulful screams in the blazing and setting sun.
His inspiration from James Brown rang clear not only in his raspy, wailing vocals and smooth dance moves, but in his get-up: decked out in a suave white jacket and sparkly red jump suit - which contrasted well with his hipster back-ups, The Menahan Band.
It unfortunately took Bradley a long time to get to where he is today - growing up on the streets of Brooklyn, NY and trying to scrape by and perform across the US without much luck.
Now 62, you can sense the pain and struggle in his sound, as he belts out the notes from the pit of his gut.
Especially as he goes into 'Why is it so hard (to make it in America).'
"It's my life story," Bradley told the crowd. "A lot of struggles to get to you."
"But I got through."
And although his music comes from that dark place, you can't help but dance along with him and enjoy the show, because he finally made it to where he deserves to be.
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