Tragically Hip's final concert to be broadcast live on CBC

The final concert of the Tragically Hip's upcoming summer tourwill be broadcast and streamedlive on CBC.

The news comes after many frustratedHip heads who couldn't get ticketscalled on the public broadcaster to air the band's final show. It'sset for the Rogers K-Rock Centre in the Hip'shometown of Kingston, Ont., on Aug.20, wherethe street in front of the arena is named after the band.

Tickets for the highly anticipated Man Machine Poem tour announced after frontman Gord Downie revealed he has incurable brain cancer sold out in seconds before popping up at dramatically inflated prices on resale sites like StubHub.

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After struggling to get their hands on pre-sale tickets, fans started floating the idea of a CBC broadcast in online petitions and open letters addressed tomanagement. Emma Bdard, a spokeswoman for the CBC, said the public broadcasterwasalready looking at ways to air the concert before the requestsstarted coming in.

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Theannouncement CBC will be airing the final show coincides with Friday'srelease of Man Machine Poem, the group's 14th studio album.

Brain cancer diagnosis

Last month, Downiesaid he was diagnosed in December withan aggressive, incurable form of brain cancerglioblastoma.

Despite the illness, Downie vowed to join his bandmates of more than 30 years for a summer tour in support of the new album.

The band has since added shows in some cities and revamped arena seating to allow for more tickets to be sold. The 15-date Canada-onlytour will go to Victoria, Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary, Winnipeg, London, Toronto, Hamilton and Ottawa, before ending in Kingston.

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The Kingston show will begin at 8:30 p.m. ET, and will be broadcast and streamed commercial freeon CBC Television, CBC Radio One,CBC Radio 2, cbcmusic.ca and CBC's YouTube channels.

Heather Conway, CBC's executive vice-president, English Services, said the band's summer tour will be important.

"The Tragically Hip's enigmatic sound, their poignant and witty lyrics, and the unique, special relationship they have with their fans have helped define and influence our identity as Canadians," she said in a statement.

"CBC and the Hip are so happy to be able to share this event with all Canadians and bring audiences across the country and around the world together to celebrate the moment."