The next concert to happen at Affinity Place is a little more than a week away, but that couldn’t stop the announcement on a major show next year.
A one-night country music festival will be happening at Affinity Place on June 6, 2020, headlined by veteran Canadian singer Gord Bamford and featuring Saskatchewan country music star Jess Moskaluke. There are half a dozen other musicians on the bill with varying age and levels of experience.
We don’t know if this particular concert will have the same “Kitchen Party” format that was used so successfully at the last country music performance in the city in May, but with eight musicians taking to the stage that night, you can be sure that there will be a quick rotation through the acts.
This editorial space has been used in the past to advocate for the city continuing to bring concerts to Estevan. Yes, there has to be a sound business case for these shows, after all, the city is using our taxpayer dollars to bring the concerts here, and the city can’t just toss money around for an act that nobody has ever heard of, or that won’t fly in this city, or has zero shot of breaking even.
But when you can bring a great show to the city that, on the surface, should appeal to a broad audience, and is affordable, then why wouldn’t they look at that entertainment option?
The Bamford concert will be fun. The number of performers will make it unique.
The concert featuring The Offspring and Sum 41 that is coming to Estevan on Nov. 23 will be a fun show, too. Those who grew up with the songs of these two acts will love this night of live music.
You still hear songs from both acts a lot. There’s a lot of younger fans who might know Offspring songs like The Kids Aren’t All Right, Self Esteem and Pretty Fly; there are a lot more over-40 fans who know those songs, too.
SUM 41 will likely appeal to a slightly younger demographic, since they started years after the Offspring, but they still have a lot of well-known songs like Fat Lip and Makes no Difference from their two-decade career.
We need to continue to support these concerts. These events are not just opportunities to show off our beautiful events centre. They’re a chance to put a spotlight on the community.
These concerts create a buzz and they bring people to the community because fans want to see an act they haven’t seen before. And that means a considerable economic spinoff, especially for the hospitality sector.
Maybe The Offspring or Sum 41 aren’t your favourites. Maybe you’re not a country music fan. That’s fine. Nobody’s asking or forcing you to go to these concerts.
But if you are an Offspring fan, and you haven’t seen them before, or in a long time, and you want to finally sing live to Why Don’t You get a Job, then this concert is where you need to be.
Let’s support these shows. Let’s give the city incentive to keep bringing shows back. After all, if they aren’t supported, then we won’t have concerts of this calibre.
What we’re able to get is pretty damn great. If you haven’t noticed before, we’re usually the smallest community on these tours; there’s a good reason for that.
When these musicians leave Estevan, hopefully they get to rave about what a great community this is, what a great venue they played in, and what a great crowd was there.
