After a ten-year hiatus from live performances, The Tragically Hip is gearing up to relive their 2016 Man Machine Poem concert with a special broadcast on CBC this summer. Scheduled for August 22, fans can tune in to watch The Tragically Hip: A National Celebration concert at 7 p.m. local time on CBC TV, CBC Gem, CBC Radio, and CBC Music’s YouTube channel.
The original concert was held in the band’s hometown of Kingston, Ontario, on August 20, 2016, and was broadcasted on CBC, attracting an audience of 11.7 million viewers. This concert marked the band’s final tour before the passing of lead singer Gord Downie, who succumbed to brain cancer on October 17, 2017.
In honor of the event, The Tragically Hip will also be releasing a new live album on August 21. Titled The Tragically Hip: Live July 22 – August 20, 2016, the album was mixed and mastered by the band’s longtime audio engineer Mark Vreeken. It will include live renditions of popular tracks like Ahead By a Century, New Orleans is Sinking, and more from their farewell tour.
Already available are live versions of Fifty-Mission Cap, recorded in Edmonton, and Locked In The Trunk Of A Car from their final Kingston performance. Following these releases, the band is set to be inducted into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame in September at Toronto’s iconic Massey Hall.