Jim Cuddy called it “a Canadian moment.”
When Blue Rodeo played RBC Amphitheatre on Saturday night, co-founder Cuddy and his bandmate Greg Keelor asked 16,000 fans to sing “Hasn’t Hit Me Yet” — a song featuring the words “Lake Ontario” — as an act of defiance against Donald Trump, who had renamed the Great Lake “Lake America” days earlier to signal his frustration over stalled trade talks with Canada.
The crowd sang together as a map of Lake Ontario was projected on the screen behind the band. The moment went viral.
“It was really strong, with people throwing their arms in the air,” Cuddy, 70, told the Star in a phone interview Monday. “I was really glad we had the opportunity to have people yell out, ‘Lake Ontario.’ It’s so specific to this idiotic action by the president. It was a thrilling, moving moment — a good protest.”
Cuddy said he had an inkling the singalong would go over gangbusters after a test run Thursday night in Sudbury, Ont., where Blue Rodeo played just hours after Trump made his “Lake America” pronouncement. The audience of around 2,000 people “sang that line really strongly,” said Cuddy.
Cuddy knew Toronto would be bigger, but the reach of the moment surprised him. Travelling across the country this summer, he said, the band had noticed a shift among Canadians over the dispute with the U.S.
“There is an amazing amount of pent-up tension with people because of the insults and the demeaning comments that are about our country — and having very few outlets to respond to it. Now, finally, there’s something to yell to the skies, like, ‘what the heck is going on?’”
In keeping with the call for boycotting U.S. products and travel, Cuddy said Blue Rodeo has not performed in the U.S. since the re-election of the Trump administration.
“Philosophically we wouldn’t go down there to play,” he said. “But even if we wanted to go down there, it would be so difficult right now for us to get visas.”
Cuddy didn’t mince words on Trump’s lake renaming. “It’s just so asinine and juvenile,” he said. “It reminded me of when our son was young and he got mad at my wife and he said, ‘You’re not invited to my birthday party.’”
Near the end of the two-hour show, Keelor asked the crowd to sing “with full authority and ownership. And we’ll sing this one for the shining waters that have been there long before any of us were ever here.”
At the conclusion of the number, Keelor, celebrating his 72nd birthday, added, “That was some good singing, folks. You’re good Canadians. God bless you. We love you for it.”
Cuddy then addressed the crowd.
“That was chilling, folks. We are who we are, right? F—- ‘em.”
This was Blue Rodeo’s 26th straight August appearance at RBC Amphitheatre (save for a couple of Fort York-located Stardust Picnics and a pandemic-generated interruption) and Cuddy said Blue Rodeo fans view the gathering as community as much as a tradition.
He said the atmosphere of Saturday night’s show was “definitely communal.”
“We are pretty fervent Canadians and supporters of Canadian issues,” he said. “We feel like we’re just providing a service when we go across the country — it’s just an evening out to raise people’s spirits. But this took it a little further. This was a bit of an opportunity to exhibit — not retaliation, but at least to hear our voices against things that we’ve been going through in the last year.”
Despite the threats and insults from the Trump administration, Cuddy said he believes Canadian identity is stronger than ever.
“It’s a time when our view of ourselves and our identity is being reinforced,” he said. “I think that we recognize that we are a different country and that we share, at some level, certain values across the country. And there’s a level of decency that we wouldn’t stoop to that’s being lobbied against us.
“It allows us to clarify our identity and band together against this common enemy, right?”
He also feels that “anything we do to protect our ability to get our Canadian content, to get any of the arts, in front of people is worth fighting for.
“There are too many examples of great music, great TV series like ‘Heated Rivalry.’ They don’t happen unless there’s protection and support for Canadian funding. It’s extremely important.”
Cuddy said he is hopeful that Canada and the U.S. come to a trade agreement soon, but he thinks people will be yelling out “Lake Ontario” whenever the band sings “Hasn’t Hit Me Yet”: “For the next year, at least.”
