Following Cancer Diagnosis, Tragically Hip Unveils Tour

The Canadian indie rock band revealed Tuesday that Downie was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer in December. Other than saying “he’s endured a lot of difficult times, and he has been fighting hard,” the statement doesn’t go into detail about his current health status.

The tour through the provinces begins July 22 in Victoria, British Columbia, following the June 17 release of the band’s 13th studio album, Man Machine Poem. The last stop of the outing is Aug. 20 in the band’s hometown of Kingston, Ontario.

Here’s the band’s full statement, followed by the tour routing:

An Important Message From The Band:

Hello friends. We have some very tough news to share with you today, and we wish it wasn’t so.

A few months ago, in December, Gord Downie was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer.

Since then, obviously, he’s endured a lot of difficult times, and he has been fighting hard. In privacy along with his family, and through all of this, we’ve been standing by him.

So after 30-some years together as The Tragically Hip, thousands of shows, and hundreds of tours…

We’ve decided to do another one.

This feels like the right thing to do now, for Gord, and for all of us.

What we in The Hip receive, each time we play together, is a connection; with each other; with music and it’s magic; and during the shows, a special connection with all of you, our incredible fans.

So, we’re going to dig deep, and try to make this our best tour yet.

We hope you can come out and join us this summer – details and dates will be coming this week.

And we sincerely thank all of you, for your continued love and support,

Paul, GordD, Johnny, Rob, GordS

July 22 – Victoria, British Columbia, Save On Foods Memorial Centre       
July 24 – Vancouver, British Columbia, Rogers Arena
July 28 – Edmonton, Alberta, Rexall Place
Aug. 1 – Calgary, Alberta, Scotiabank Saddledome
Aug. 5 – Winnipeg, Manitoba, MTS Centre 
Aug. 8 – London, Ontario, Budweiser Gardens
Aug. 10 – Toronto, Ontario, Air Canada Centre
Aug. 12 – Toronto, Ontario, Air Canada Centre       
Aug. 16 – Hamilton, Ontario, FirstOntario Centre
Aug. 18 – Ottawa, Ontario, Canadian Tire Centre    
Aug. 20 – Kingston, Ontairio, Rogers K-Rock Centre

Tickets go on sale June 3 at 10 a.m. local time. A portion of the proceeds with be donated to the Sunnybrook Foundation, which supports research, education and equipment initiatives at Toronto’s Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre. Visit TheHip.com for more information.