When the City of Estevan announced a few months ago that The Offspring and SUM 41 would be coming to Estevan for a concert, we knew one thing for certain: it would be loud.
Given the punk-rock genre favoured by both bands, and the fact that Affinity Place is a relatively small venue by that tour’s standards, it was destined to be one of the loudest concerts at Affinity Place since the events centre opened more than eight years ago, and one of the loudest concerts on the tour.
From that aspect, the concert delivered. Right from the first note in the first song by veteran Canadian musicians SUM 41, you could tell the type of night the music fans were in for. Those who were close to the stage could have been forgiven for thinking a small earthquake was rolling through. But that’s exactly what they likely wanted.
If you’re a fan of quieter, more subdued music, then this wasn’t the concert for you.
But this wasn’t ear-splitting music that you couldn’t understand, either. Even if you had never heard In too Deep by SUM 41 or Pretty Fly by the Offspring, you could understand the lyrics of the musicians, and the words they were saying between songs as they told stories about the music and interacted with the crowd.
It was a wild, electric concert throughout the night that allowed both acts to perform their biggest songs. And that’s what fans wanted to hear. It’s nice to hear a couple new songs from these veteran groups, songs that we maybe haven’t heard before, or a cover song from another group. SUM 41 covered Queen and The Offspring played some AC/DC.
But when you get these acts that have been around for a long time but still have a strong following, it’s about hearing those songs that you’ve heard before, that you grew up with, or that you associate with a particular memory.
It’s why they always save the biggest hits for the end of the set or for the encore.
The concert was everything it was supposed to be, with the noise, the energy and the overall entertainment value. The crowd certainly responded by showing their support for the musicians.
It was hard to gage the number of people present, because unlike previous concerts, there weren’t any seats on the floor. No VIP tables. Just fans standing and cheering, dancing and even crowd surfing.
The lack of floor seating might not work for every concert, and you won’t have mosh pits, crowd surfing and beach balls bouncing around at every concert at Affinity Place, but if you were to ask the fans who were there Saturday night, they would certainly give a big thumbs up to standing on the floor for future shows.
These concerts aren’t just an opportunity to bring in great music for residents of the Estevan area, and they aren’t just a chance to show off our community and our events centre as a venue that can host big-time events despite the size of Estevan. These concerts carry a significant economic spinoff.
They bring people to the city who normally wouldn’t have come here. There were people eating in our restaurants before the concert and coming into town for the show and staying in our hotels. A concert night is a big win for the hospitality sector.
And yes, a show like this one was good news for our taxi companies, too, judging by the number of cabs that could be seen around Affinity Place before and after the concert.
(It’s also worth noting that despite all of the alcohol that was served on Saturday night, it was a very well-behaved crowd, with just one incident in the police report from the concert, and the EPS didn’t apprehend a single impaired driver that night).
It was a great night for Estevan on so many levels, a reminder of why these concerts are such a boost and why they need to continue.
And it has set the bar high for the next show we have here.
