The Tragically Hip Ring in Canada Day With Weezer and Broken Social Scene

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Gord DownieRichard Trapunkski, AOL

Whether they like it or not, the Tragically Hip are Canada's band. More precisely, for many national rock and roll fans, the Hip are Canada. In a country with few strong symbols on which to hang its identity, citizens tend to proselytize pop cultural signifiers into emblems of national consciousness: hockey, the coffee chain Tim Hortons and CanRock.

As much as they've tried to make it in other markets, Gord Downie and his band have remained flag-bearers for Canadian music -- often literally. Even at foreign festivals, Hip crowds tend to be whole seas of red and white. Seeing the Hip is basically a patriotic act, so when they assembled a Canada Day mini-fest at Toronto's Downsview Park it looked like a scene straight out of 'FUBAR': shirtless dudes draped in flags, police officers posing with Moosehead prop ears (somehow Molson missed the boat on sponsorship) and bleached blonde women in "Canadian Hottie" t-shirts.

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