It’s official. Seven Music Fest broke attendance records making it one of St. Albert’s most successful outdoor festivals to date.
Although numbers are still being crunched, festival producer Barry Bailey stated the ticket sales reached about 2,300 this year.
This compares to the 1,600 slimmer pickings in 2016 just as oil prices were collapsing and the Fort McMurray fire burned out of control.
Proud of this year’s outcomes, Bailey credits a strong lineup led by The Strumbellas and hot, sunny weather for attracting large numbers to Seven Hills’ grassy slopes last Saturday.
While tents, blankets, chairs and umbrellas dotted the festival site, this year’s big trend was a dozen pocket couches.
“I’d never seen one before,” said Bailey.
Fashionable in Europe for several years, pocket couches are portable nylon sofas that are easily compressed into a small pouch.
When inflated they are about two metres long and a metre wide fitting one person lying down or three people sitting on it. Innovative to the max, it fills with air in less than a minute and there’s no pump – a huge bonus for concert-goers eager to start partying.
Without a doubt, The Strumbellas were the big draw injecting fresh energy into the evening. And for them it was an extra special night since this was their first gig headlining a festival.
Throughout the evening the six-piece, rock-roots-indie folk band spliced music with stories about their early adventures in Edmonton. Their first local gig was at the now defunct Wunderbar, a small venue that attracted about 20 people, said singer-songwriter Simon Ward.
“We’ve come a long way since them,” chimed in Izzy Ritchie waving her hand at the crowd while people burst into applause.
The Strumbellas joked with each other, and their excitement quickly became infectious. They played seven numbers from their latest hit album, Hope, and a few older, equally spirited songs.
They went straight into the concert with Wars followed by Spirits, Shovels and Dirt, The Hired Band, The Night Will Save Us and one of my favourites, Young and Wild.
For each song, the lyrics were beautifully crafted, often forging dark powerful imagery as a counterpoint to catchy, sunnier melodies.
Judging by the hundreds packed at the stage, it was pretty obvious The Strumbellas were more than a one-hit wonder. They came, they seduced and they left the crowd wanting more.
Prior to The Strumbellas, the Toronto-based Rural Alberta Advantage was back in lead singer Nils Edenloff’s home province.
Saturday night the alt-rock trio had fire in their veins as they cranked up the volume and gave their vocal chords a hard-driving workout.
Many of their songs had Alberta connections – Tornado 87, Beacon Hill and The Deathbridge in Lethbridge – numbers that kept crowds hopping up and down and shakin’ their booties.
Vancouver-based Frazey Ford brought a relaxed vibe to her set with her three-piece band. In addition two Edmonton pickup musicians, Dave Babcock on sax and jazz trumpeter Bob Tildesley, added a multi-layered lush quality to the music.
Ford’s concert brought out the Southern soul that plays a large part of her musical makeup and created a sharp contrast to other acts on the bill.
She sang in a soft voice, and the words were at times masked by her own delivery. But Babcock and Tildesley did more than a credible job recreating soul music’s lazy, sensuous vibe.
The Ontario-based Elwins, who finally received a chance to play after their gig was cancelled last year due to lightning strikes, proved to be a fireball of energy.
Let’s get loud and proud appeared to be their motto dispatching a retro pop sound that was bubbly and fun – the perfect medicine for a hot, sluggish summer day.
Their irresistible sounds were both relaxing and danceable, and their trippy observations made it hard not to get lost in the music.
All the bands that played, from Paul Woida and Sykamore to The Provincial Archive and The Royal Foundry supplied a special ingredient to Seven Music Fest.
Bailey best summed up the concert’s success in this way:
“Sometimes at an event you’re so busy, you don’t take it all in. But just as The Strumbellas were going on stage, the sun was setting with a pink streak across the horizon. People were sitting all the way up to the top of the hill. Children were playing. There were lineups at the food trucks and the beer tents were full. The whole site seemed so alive and vibrant. And I took a minute to take it all in.”
