Kingston’s Tragically Hip announce new record, ‘Live at the Roxy’

Kingston music fans will have some new material by The Tragically Hip to listen to this summer, as the beloved band gets ready to release their second-ever live album, Live at the Roxy, on Friday, Jun. 24, 2022. 

Live at the Roxy is a recording of the band’s May 3, 1991 concert at the famous Roxy Theatre in Los Angeles, featuring such hits as ‘Little Bones,’ ‘Twist my Arm,’ ‘Long Time Running,’ and ‘Blow at High Dough.’ The record was remastered by Ted Jensen at Sterling Sound in Nashville back in 2021. 

“I remember the Roxy show like it was yesterday. We had spent a year on the road before recording Road Apples and got right back in the saddle when we finished. The new tunes worked great live and, by the time we got to LA, we were firing on all pistons,” said bass player Gord Sinclair in a press release. 

“A great show is something you just have to experience to understand. The magic stays with you. Listening back 30 years later, and I’m transported to that hot, sweaty, and very special night. The band was tight and unstoppable. Great crowd, great venue. Together we took things to another level.”

The Roxy Theatre has been the venue for live recordings by many popular musicians and performers, such as Neil Young, Frank Zappa, Bob Marley, Guns and Roses, and Richard Pryor.

Live at the Roxy marks the Hip’s second standalone live record, with the first being Live Between Us, which was released in 1997. While this new release is the second physical concert recording issued by the band, they have put out a number of digital live albums over the years, such as the popular Live from the Vault series, which is currently available on streaming services. 

The new recording features a popular performance of the band’s hit ‘New Orleans is Sinking,’ known as the, “killer whale tank version.”

“The nine-minute track is characterized by mid-song story from Gord [Downie], about a job cleaning an aquarium and inadvertently causing friction between the two whales held in the tank, fact or fiction, while the crowd listens in wonderment,” the band said in a press release. 

Live at the Roxy is The Tragically Hip’s second official album release since the passing of lead singer Gord Downie in October 2017. Last May, the band dropped Saskadelphia, a six-track EP featuring songs cut from their 1991 album Road Apples. The two releases fit well together, as the concert recorded for Live at the Roxy was part of the band’s 1991 tour to promote Road Apples.

The new album is available for pre-order today and will be released on CD, vinyl, and digital platforms on June 24, just in time for Canada’s summer cottage season. Along with today’s announcement, The Tragically Hip released their first single from the record, ‘She Didn’t Know,’ which is available to stream now.