Andrew Bissoon could be the luckiest man in Victoria.

On the day the city’s hottest ticket, The Tragically Hip, came to town, Bissoon showed up early to the Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre hoping for a miracle.

He didn’t have to wait long.

“I planned to spend a whole day, maybe six hours, trying to get a ticket,” he told CTV News. He was willing to pay thousands of dollars for scalped tickets, but in a last-ditch effort Bissoon walked up to the venue’s box office and asked if anything was available.

“The guy looked at me and he said ‘Yeah, we’ve got two. We just released them. Do you want them?’ And I said ‘Are you serious? Where’s the camera?’”

The long-time Hip fan ended up paying a mere $150 for a pair of tickets.

Bissoon is just one of thousands making their way to the Save-On-Centre tonight for the kick-off of what is widely expected to be the band’s final tour.

In May, it was revealed frontman Gord Downie has been diagnosed with terminal brain cancer.

“I am a huge fan, and it means a lot to see them on their last tour. It really does,” Bissoon said. “I think everybody will be crying be the end of it, and I’ll be one of them, for sure.”

One man clad in a Tragically Hip hockey jersey said he drove across the country – all the way from Antigonish, N.S. – to see the concert.

“You hear people saying it’s the soundtrack to their lives, and I’ve listened to all their albums, and they’re great,” said Dale Mattie. “Great lyrics, great guitar, great sound.”

Tickets for the band’s 15-date cross-Canada tour sold out in seconds after each online release, with thousands more popping up on ticket resale websites for exponentially increased prices.

Some front-row seats for shows were being sold for as much as $4,000 per ticket.

A crush of Friday afternoon traffic on BC Ferries' Tsawwassen-Swartz Bay route was partly blamed on the Tragically Hip show, along with events like Rock The Shores and Deuce Days.

BC Ferries said there were continual three-sailing waits along the route, and said concertgoers stuck waiting were still able park their cars and board as foot passengers to make the show.

After Victoria, The Tragically Hip’s Man Machine Poem tour will continue with two dates in Vancouver on Sunday and Tuesday before heading east, with a final show slated for Aug. 20 in the band’s hometown of Kingston, Ont.