Tragically Hip fans full of smiles and nostalgia at Calgary concert

There was plenty of nostalgia and plenty of smiles at the Saddledome on Monday as the Tragically Hip took to the stage for the first of two Calgary shows.

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"I'm here to celebrate music, to celebrate the band, to celebrate Gord Downie," said Shawna Graham, who like most people CBC News spoke togrew uplistening to the band.

The same wasn't true for Quentin Young, who's 10 years old.

"I hope I have fun," he said. "Everytime I'm stuck in the car, my mom or my dad puts on the Hip and I just kind of move my feet andmove my head and just dance."

Tickets available

Despite a rush on tickets when the concert was first announced, there were plenty to be picked up online on Monday forreasonable prices.

Marie Simpson wasn't expecting to be in Calgary for the show, but as luck would have it, she was and she found tickets right away.

"I tend to operate on the principle that the world is a friendly place, so I sort of expected that I would find something," she said.

She didn't have to look hard,either. She simply postedan ad on Kijiji and snaggedtwo tickets for $80.

"I'm very glad I found tickets at such a low cost."

There were tickets released on Ticketmaster, and plenty up for grabs on Kijiji.

'He's God'

But perhaps Simpson's luckwas divine intervention from Downie, the lead singer of the band who announced he hadterminal brain cancer shortly before the latest tour was revealed.

"Gord is like Jim Morrison of The Doors, but Canadian. He's God," said aclearly excited Darren Pfingsttag from Creston, B.C. "He's the best man ever. If you don't listen to the Hip, then you're not Canadian. You might as well go back and live with Donald Trump."

"It's good times, buddy, good times," he added.

The Tragically Hip returns to the Saddledome on Wednesday. As of Monday night, there were still tickets availablealthough you'llbe tucked behind the stage if ordering from Ticketmaster.

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