After a decade since their final performance, The Tragically Hip is giving Canadians the chance to relive the 2016 broadcast of their last Man Machine Poem concert through a special airing on CBC this summer. Fans can tune in on Aug. 22 at 7 p.m. local time to watch The Tragically Hip: A National Celebration concert on CBC TV, CBC Gem, CBC Radio, and CBC Music’s YouTube page.
The original concert took place in Kingston, Ontario, the band’s hometown, on Aug. 20, 2016, and was broadcast on CBC, drawing in 11.7 million viewers. This concert marked the end of the band’s tour before the passing of frontman Gord Downie on Oct. 17, 2017, due to brain cancer.
In honor of the event, the band will also release a new live album on Aug. 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, and will include live recordings of hits like Ahead By a Century and New Orleans is Sinking from their final cross-country tour. Live versions of Fifty-Mission Cap, recorded in Edmonton, and Locked In The Trunk Of A Car, from the last Kingston show, are already available.
Looking ahead, The Tragically Hip is scheduled to be inducted into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame in September at Toronto’s Massey Hall.