The Tragically Hip at the TIFF opening gala show with Justin Trudeau Sept 5, 2024 Royal Alex Theatr

ladies and Gentlemen please join me and welcome to the stage director Mike Downey executive producer J and of course Rob paper John LA and very special guest [Music] holy W incredible my name is Jeffrey Remos I'm the chair of the board of the Toronto International Film Festival and in my day job I'm the CEO of Universal Music Canada and they had the honor and pleasure of working with The Tragically Hip and they've been with universal for the past three and a half decades this phenomenal screening we love you too this phenomenal greeing is just the start of the experience that you're going to have we laughed we cried and very soon we will get to S so uh I'm going to pass it over and following that uh we're going to invite our friends choir choir choir out here and then we're going to lead a procession with the band and uh we're going to have a magical time on a festival street but before we do that um I wanted to ask someone who you might recognize because he's in the film speaking so eloquently about his love and passion for the band and what he means and we thought we'd ask if he might say a few more words prime minister Justin first of all ridiculously crazy that I'm somewhere standing on a stage with these four guys uh and I feel like not a prime minister today I feel like a fan who just wandered backstage and uh got to hang out with you guys for a second um what a moment uh what a moment that we get to relive uh through uh this incredible film uh might just amazing as we had a conversation many years [Applause] ago I I said to M back then brother matter and you did right by your brother on this one the the thing that I kept thinking as I was reliving my childhood my youth my my my love for you guys and seeing the depth of of the journey and the realist and the creativity and the incredible everything you're doing was I finally get through this extraordinary film um to share with people who never never quite got the the H why get matter share with my kids why you matter to share with them with everyone the thing that you brought together around Canadian identity and pride that is so difficult to explain having people understand what it is to be able to C I mean Canadians are good pretty much at celebrating the Olympics we're great at something that if we jump on tables and we feel like Americans for two weeks because we're really really loud our weing the flags but having something that is ours that is to be celebrated in the right way is what um a few artists in a few moments across this country have been able to encapsulate and uh for decades now you guys have been the embodiment of an element of Canadian identity that is not just about you but about your love for this country and about the extraordinary mind and and soul that was brother gourd um and what he brought to this country so it is an incredible privilege to be able to uh to highlight and celebrate not just you not just his film but everything that you've done for decades for this country and everything thank you now we need to get Mike Jake and the band to the front of this procession but before we do Mike J is there anything you'd like to like to say or yeah I I'd like to recognize uh the people at Prime because I think that uh they took a chance when Mike and I presented this to them and now they're going to tell this story to the rest of the world for us and I think that's they didn't know us from Adam but I think once they got to see what we were doing and and just is important um they didn't interfere I remember one of our early meetings uh they said to Mike just make your film just go make your film we'll stay out of it and I think that's not that doesn't happen a lot I think Mike can speak to that more than me because he's made a lot more films than I have so um yeah for sure the uh relationship with prime was was so important and they gave us wide birth um they really believed in the story um and they knew that it was going to have a reaction like it did today I'm so honored to have watched it with you all today um I've had um uh I guess it's mixed emotions this entire time um really wanted to tell this story really wanted to honor um these guys and and my brother and I really wanted to cement their legacy in the hearts and minds of all Canadians um for those Canadians that had a chance to experience it I wanted them to relive it for those lapsed fans wanted to kick them in the ass B's amazing it's wrong with and then for the new fans I want them to just have a chance to say wow I kind of get it now so um what a great hon um and my mixed emotions are I guess it's now just excitement and pride that has Le into the into the lead so thank you so much for uh for being thank you uh Jake Mike the band Minister ad do they're going to get to the front so that uh we can start this procession like just ask everybody to hold your seats for a quick second and we'll get choir choir choir out here and we'll get everything thanks Jeffy um so while they're getting organized I've been asked to stall so I'll I'll do my best as to what that actually means you know we today is September the 5th and September the 5th 1989 was the date that up to here came out exact exactly 35 years from today and uh that started a 35 year relationship between Universal and the tragic which were so incredibly [Applause] honored all right ladies and gentlemen