Tragically Hip close the show at MTS Centre in Winnipeg

From beginning to end, Winnipegfansroared as one for the Tragically Hip Friday night.

The band opened their two-hour show with an older hit,At the Hundredth Meridian, a song that contains the refrain"Where the great plains begin," and is named after alongitude that runs in part through Manitoba.

The band also played a local favourite Wheat Kingsas well as theirmassive hits,Bobcaygeon andPoets. After two encores, the group said goodbye with the songAhead by a Century.

Lead singer, Gord Downie thanked the crowd before leaving the stage.

"All these years. Grateful. Always grateful," said Downie.

The crowd continued to cheer for sometime as the lights came back on.

• INTERACTIVE:Looking for a place to happen: Canadian stories behind Tragically Hip songs

Downie announced in May he has terminal brain cancer but the terminaldisease hasn't stopped him and his bandmates of 30 years from touring across Canada. Winnipeg is one of ten cities the Tragically Hip are playing this summer.

A portion of proceeds from the Man Machine Poem tour will bedonatedtothe Sunnybrook Foundationto support brain cancer research.

Tragically Hip perform Pigeon Camera

8 years ago

Duration 1:24

Part of the Tragically Hip's performance of Pigeon Camera in Winnipeg Friday night.

The concertin Winnipeg began just after8:30 p.m.at the MTS Centre.Fans began arriving hours before to buy merchandise and later find their seats.

Some paid hundreds of dollars fora seat on Friday, including long-time Hip fanKyle Duncan.

"I'm not going to be sitting at home at 80-years-old and going, 'Glad I still have that $800 in my pocket,'" he said.

Like many concert-goers Friday night, Sean Kiely, said he's been a fan of the band since the late-1990s.

"Gord can't be replaced ...There will be a couple people crying, I think so," he said.

Keith Wong said he's been a fan ever since his brother made him listen to their first albums about 20 years ago.

"I get goose bumps just thinking about it," he said."It's the Hip, it's Canada. It's everything we believe in."

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