In the summer of 1998, my friends and I drove to Grand Rapids, Michigan, to go see the Hip at Calvin College.

Phantom Power had just come out, and the video for “Poets” was playing on MuchMusic, and it was all so amazingly perfect for summer.

I went to Sam The Record Man in the Lambton Mall to buy the album, and my mind was blown when I heard Gord sing, “and one of them’s interconnecting with my Chevrolet Caprice,” because, get this, my car was my grandmother’s 1985 blue Chevrolet Caprice at the time.

The album was quite clearly made for me.

So my friends and I drove that Chevy Caprice across the border and got to see the Hip play in a college gymnasium with about 200 people.

We stood there with our arms resting on the stage, singing along, and Gord changed the names to all the songs and went off on long diatribes during instrumental parts, like he does, and he was the coolest guy I’d ever seen.

Then he looked right at us, said, “This one’s called ‘Taking Your Nationalism Across the Border,’ ” and they launched into ‘Poets,’ and we all died, and we were all fans for life.

Gord Downie and the Tragically Hip play the Air Canada Centre as part of their farewell tour on Aug. 10, 12 and 14. Toronto musician Donovan Woods’ latest album is Hard Settle/Ain’t Troubled.