Calgary

Fans surprised and overjoyed after scoring last-minute Tragically Hip tickets

Tragically Hip fans who had resigned themselves to missing out on the band's highly anticipated Man Machine Poem tour — or taking out a second mortgage to cover the asking price from scalpers — celebrated Tuesday morning as they got another chance at scoring seats at face value.

Band revamps stage design and squeezes more seating into summer tour venues

Left to right: Tragically Hip members Gord Sinclair, Paul Langlois, Gord Downie, Johnny Fay and Rob Baker will be touring across Canada this summer. (Clemens Rikken/Canadian Press )

Tragically Hip fans who had resigned themselves to missing out on the band's highly anticipated Man Machine Poem tour — or taking out a second mortgage to cover the asking price from scalpers — celebrated Tuesday morning as they got a second chance at scoring seats at face value.

Alicia Hope-Ross was among the lucky fans who were shut out in their initial attempts to land tickets. But she managed to secure a pair moments after they went on sale Tuesday, after the band tweaked its stage design to allow for more seating.

"I was really happy," said the Calgary resident. "I tried to get tickets through the pre-sale and through the regular sale and was let down, so this was a surprise."

The tour was announced last month along with the devastating news that lead singer Gord Downie has terminal cancer.

Demand was overwhelming for what many people expected to be their last chance to see the Hip live, and tickets sold out almost instantaneously before appearing minutes later at a massive markup on resale sites.

In response, the band announced additional tour dates, which also sold out almost immediately.

On Monday, the stage redesign was announced along with news that more tickets would be released Tuesday morning at 10 a.m. local time in each market where the the band plans to play.

​There was a two-ticket limit per customer, which seemed to work in the favour of many individual buyers.

Katie Novak said she was "cautiously optimistic" about her chances at landing a last-minute ticket but ultimately ended up getting two tickets for the Aug. 1 show in Calgary.

"The seats are, objectively, terrible, but I am happy to just be able to go to the show," she said.

"I am still frustrated about the initial ticket fiasco, but happy that I get to at least be in the building for the show."

Other fans expressed similar sentiments online.

Not everyone was so lucky, however.

With only so many tickets to go around, some fans were still left out.

The Hip are scheduled to play in the following cities on the following dates:

  • Victoria: July 22
  • Vancouver: July 24 and July 26
  • Edmonton: July 28 and July 30
  • Calgary: Aug. 1 and Aug. 3
  • Winnipeg: Aug. 5
  • London, Ont.: Aug. 8
  • Toronto: Aug. 10, Aug. 12 and Aug. 14
  • Hamilton: Aug. 16
  • Ottawa: Aug. 18
  • Kingston: Aug. 20

With files from Rachel Maclean