Tragically Hip To Play London Festival

02/06/09 12:09pm

by Kate Harper (CHARTattack)

The Tragically Hip will headline a night at the sixth Rock The Park festival in London, Ont. in July.

Singer Gord Downie, guitarists Paul Langlois and Rob Baker, bassist Gord Sinclair and drummer Johnny Fay will bring another roadside attraction to London's Harris Park on July 23. Speaking of attractions, don't forget that Downie says the Hip will one day unearth that special event. Maybe this year?

Country act Big & Rich will headline the next night, while the Doobie Brothers will top the bill on July 25. Additional acts will be announced shortly.

Tickets go on sale on Saturday through London's Centennial Hall box office, the Rock The Park website and by phone. No full festival passes are available. Tickets to the July 23 date will run you $55, while VIP tickets are $95. It will cost $39.50 to get in to the other two shows. No lawn chairs will be allowed on July 23, since organizers want to make sure as many people get to see the Hip as possible.

Rock The Park VI is a fundraiser for the Bethanys Hope Foundation, a London-based organization which helps raise money for metachromatic leukodystrophy research at the University Of Western Ontario. The disease affects the growth of fatty coverings around nerve fibres in the nervous system and can lead to blindness, paralysis and dementia.

There's still no word on that upcoming new studio album the Hip said they were working on in December, but maybe you'll be able to hear them play some new songs at the festival. Their last studio effort was 2006's World Container.