1999 Performance By The Tragically Hip Hits YouTube

A legendary performance of an enduring anthem by The Tragically Hip has come to YouTube for the first time. The group’s performance of “New Orleans is Sinking,” live from Toronto’s Air Canada Centre on December 31, 1999 is now available to watch.

The track appeared on 1989’s Up to Here, which marked a major breakthrough for the Canadian rock band, spawning two No.1 radio singles: “Blow At High Dough” and “New Orleans Is Sinking.” The record earned the group—composed of Rob Baker (guitar), Gord Downie (vocals), Johnny Fay (drums), Paul Langlois (guitar), and Gord Sinclair (bass)—a nomination for “Most Promising Artist” at the 1990 JUNO Awards.

Last year, Baker shared a guitar tutorial offering instruction on how to play “New Orleans Is Sinking.” In the clip, filmed at The Tragically Hip’s legendary Bathouse Studio, Baker talks about the band’s rehearsal space in the 1980s. “Sometime in the late 80s, maybe ’87, ’86, we had a rehearsal space in the west end of Kingston, in an old abandoned meat locker,” he says. “When we weren’t playing gigs, we were jamming. One night we were jamming with the song ‘Shaking All Over,’ which we never really played on stage as a band…When you play a song for 20 minutes it transforms into something entirely different. It morphed into something and then Gord [Downie] started singing lyrics. The song kind of wrote itself: ‘New Orleans Is Sinking.’”

The Tragically Hip recently released Live July 22 – August 20, 2016. The live album collects recordings from the group’s final cross-Canada tour, including “Ahead By A Century” from the August 20, 2016 Kingston finale, and arrives one day before CBC’s August 22 rebroadcast and global live stream of The Tragically Hip: A National Celebration. The collection marks 10 years since the band played its final concert in Kingston, Ontario.

Listen to The Tragically Hip’s Live July 22–August 20, 2016 here.