What we learned from the new Tragically Hip docuseries, No Dress Rehearsal

TIFF 2024 kicked off with a screening of the new four-part docuseries The Tragically Hip: No Dress Rehearsal. Now, the series is available to stream on Amazon Prime Video. 

Directed by Mike Downie, brother of the band's late frontman Gord Downie, the documentary bills itself as a "definitive" look at the band's story. It traces the Hip's journey using never-before-seen archival footage and interviews with not only the band, but also family, friends and famous fans such as Jay Baruchel and Justin Trudeau.

Today on Commotion, music journalists Michael Barclay, Vish Khanna and Lisa Christiansen discuss how the legendary Canadian rock band is preserving their legacy, and how this new release is changing the way we think about the Hip.

We've included some highlights below, edited for length and clarity. For the full discussion, listen and follow Commotion with Elamin Abdelmahmoud on your favourite podcast player.

Elamin: I appreciate that we're all coming here as fans, but also as people who are deeply invested in the way that we talk about this band. Vish, you're a lifelong Hip fan. What was your biggest takeaway watching this docuseries?

Vish: Well, I have a few takeaways. First of all, I'm starting to think that if I'm watching a music documentary about a band and I think it's going to be pleasant enough, but then all of a sudden the producer Bob Rock shows up, I know things might get a bit dysfunctional. You know what I'm saying? Every time he turns up, things go sideways.

Now, honestly, I think my feeling watching the series was one of sadness. I feel badly for Gord's family, and I feel badly for the surviving members of The Tragically Hip. I don't think any of us can really imagine what it's like to lose your childhood friend, your lifelong collaborator and bandmate, and have your entire life changed forever. I mean, everyone's lives change when they lose someone, but it's hard to watch public people publicly lose a person who is key to their work, and then try to figure out what to do with themselves. So on an emotional level in that regard, I'm being honest. I found it very difficult to watch.

Elamin: Lisa, the docuseries is four episodes long, and I don't think there was an episode where I did not ugly cry a couple of times, you know? What were you thinking about as you were watching this series?

Lisa: I agree. I think also part of me was just crying because of a Canada I don't see anymore — just all the MuchMusic, the holding of CDs in hands, so much hair and cigarettes, too, in those early episodes. I really noticed that. But yeah, I mean, it's like one of those stories that you know the ending, and you keep hoping at some point maybe the ending will change. Maybe this isn't the direction we're going. And, you know, that works for Canada too.

One of my best friends was a huge Tragically Hip fan and died a few years ago. And of course, the memories I connect to The Tragically Hip as a Canadian, to my own personal life, I think it's really hard to not think about yourself. I know that sounds really selfish, but there was something about this being Canada's band, and the stories they tell and who we are, that made me really feel almost part of the story.

Elamin: I want to get to that notion of Canada's band, but before we do that, Michael, how would you say the story that you wrote in your book about the Hip differs from what this docuseries is able to lay out? 

Michael: The obvious is visual. I can try and tell you that Gord Downie was a great frontman. I can try and tell you what they sounded like in the early days. Here you can see it. It's plainly evident. My book came out six years ago, and in the book I call him one of the greatest frontmen in rock & roll history — not Canadian, rock & roll history. And there've been times since I'm like, is that true? Or is that the hyperbole, the emotion of the moment?

And then you watch this film and you're like, oh yeah, it was. I was not sad watching this documentary…. I feel like this captures a band that was alive. And one thing that bothers me about the last six years— not bothers me, but, like, Long Time Running is a brilliant film, and again, compliments this story.

Elamin: That's the first documentary that came out.

Michael: It came out very fresh — shortly before my book, just before Gord's passing. But anyway, my point is this [docuseries], No Dress Rehearsal, shows the band when they were alive and why they were vital. I feel like there's all of this kind of post-Gord Downie's death stuff, we're only remembering the dying man in the spacesuit and the hat. And it's like, let's remember also when he was a vital, alive person, and that's what this film celebrates. And that to me is why it's joyous. Yes, we do know it has a sad ending. But to me, it's a recognition of a full life.

You can listen to the full discussion from today's show on CBC Listen or on our podcast, Commotion with Elamin Abdelmahmoud, available wherever you get your podcasts.

Panel produced by Stuart Berman.