Reprint courtesy of the CBC,
Frustrated Tragically Hip fans — some who couldn’t snag presale tickets today or yesterday — are calling on the CBC to broadcast the band’s final concert, and the CBC says it is interested in doing just that.
A series of petitions and open letters to CBC management have been posted online, urging the public broadcaster to record the final show of the band’s upcoming tour, which is scheduled to end in the Hip’s hometown of Kingston. Fans across the country are pushing for that Aug. 20 show at the Rogers K-Rock Centre to be aired on CBC.
Emma Bédard, a spokeswoman for the CBC, responded to the requests on Tuesday, saying “we are interested in airing the Tragically Hip’s final show and are having conversations with the band to see if we can make it happen.”
The band announced dates for its summer Man Machine Poem tour last week, a day after announcing that frontman Gord Downie had been diagnosed with terminal brain cancer. Four dates were added on Mondaydue to overwhelming demand.
Solution to ticket woes?
Some Hip fans have had trouble getting tickets and are worried they won’t be able to get any. Presale tickets sold out quickly on Monday. The sale started at 10 a.m. and within minutes tickets were for sale on resale sites like StubHub.
Hip fan Kelly McAlpine said that’s one of the reasons she started a petition requesting CBC to broadcast the Kingston show. The petition, which is addressed to CBC president Hubert Lacroix, had gotten nearly 600 signatures as of Tuesday afternoon.
“CBC can not only make this concert accessible to all fans unable to be there in person, but can honour Gord and fellow band mates by supporting their fundraising campaign to Sunnybrook,” she told CBC News.
Some proceeds from the tickets sold will be going to the Sunnybrook Foundation, which supports brain cancer research.
The street in front of the Rogers K-Rock Centre in Kingston, Ont., where the band will pay its final concert in August, is called Tragically Hip Way. (Lars Hagberg/Canadian Press)
McAlpine was trying to get tickets to the Kingston concert, but couldn’t and refuses to pay the inflated prices. She said the situation is not right, but a broadcast of the concert would be a “game-changer.”
A petition similar to McAlpine’s, which calls on CTV and Global to broadcast the show in addition to CBC, has garnered more than 400 signatures.
The idea has also been floating around on Facebook. Facebook user Grant Bishop wrote an open letter to CBC Music on Tuesday morning, outlining the band’s “defining influence on our country” and asking for a live broadcast of the Kingston concert.
[styled_box title=”GRant Bishop – Facebook Post” color=”black”]
Dear CBC Music,
As you are aware, The Tragically Hip will be playing their final show of The Tragically Hip: Man Machine Poem Tour in Kingston, Ontario on August 20th. Owing to GordDownie‘s tragic diagnosis, this may be the last show the band ever plays.
The Hip have had a defining influence on our country and, for so many of us, are core to our identity as Canadians. As Peter Mansbridge once noted, “They are the musical chroniclers of our times.” In Stars‘ apt words, Downie is “poet laureate of the Canadian soul.” And, as Rick Mercer once remarked, what could be more Canadian than a band with two guys named Gord?
Tickets for this final show went in seconds. There are many, many Canadians who want to share this moment with our favourite band in their hometown.
What would be awesome is if you could live video broadcast this concert. In particular, it would be great if you would provide a video feed for fans to gather to watch the Hip’s final show in public venues across this country – and wherever Canadians are in the world.
For 80 years, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation has connected Canadians. This is a unique moment for our country that you could allow us to share together.
Thank you in advance.
“Tickets for this final show went in seconds. There are many, many Canadians who want to share this moment with our favourite band in their hometown,” he said. “This is a unique moment for our country that you could allow us to share together.”
Eggplant Entertainment, which manages the Tragically Hip, did not respond to a request for comment.
Tickets for the concert tour go on sale to the general public on Friday at 10 a.m.
