From The Ottawa Citizen

OTTAWA – Tragically Hip fans may think their next opportunity to see the band play live in Ottawa is at Bluesfest in July. Wrong.

Though fans can see the Hip play their annual Bluesfest date in July, the Citizen has learned that the Kingston band’s next public performance in the city will be next Saturday night, May 3, in Southam Hall of the National Arts Centre. The Hip are among the recipients at the Governor General’s Performing Arts Awards – the annual gala to honour some of the nation’s great artists – and sources say the legendary Canadian band will perform during the show.

This is uncommon. Most musical recipients at the awards do not perform. Typically, another musician will perform one of the recipient’s songs. For example, k. d. lang was a recipient in 2005 and did not perform, but one of her songs was performed by a rising young Canadian singer named Leslie Feist. One act that did perform was the Guess Who, honoured in 2002.

Recipients at this year’s gala include Eugene Levy, Anton Kuerti, Michel Pagliaro and others. Tickets for the gala are available through ticketmaster.ca, or at the NAC box office.