Country star Kip Moore gearing up to play SOEC this weekend
Kip Moore hopes to find time for some climbing at Skaha Bluffs during visit for concert Saturday
Kip Moore is best known as a country singersongwriter, but he is also a man of eclectic tastes who likes to get his toe in the water in the cities and towns he visits performing around the world.
In Penticton, that meant getting on the ice at the Penticton Curling Club when he visited on his Wild Ones tour in 2016, throwing his first-ever rock.
“We had a blast that night. We had an absolute blast. That was my first time ever doing that and we all had the best time. It’s like a big gigantic shuffleboard is almost what it felt like,” Moore said when The Herald caught up with him over the phone prior to a writing session in Nashville, Tenn.
Moore rock-climbs as a hobby, and he said he would like to take in some climbing at Penticton’s Skaha Bluffs if he has the time when he comes to town with the Plead the Fifth tour Saturday at the South Okanagan Events Centre.
“We like to try and get out and see what the town is about and like to get involved in what people in that area do,” Moore said.
He has been touring non-stop since the September 2017 release of his latest album, “Slowheart.”
“It’s been amazing. The reaction to record has been incredible,” Moore said.
Just off the release of an album, Moore is already working on multiple projects including trying to give “something special to the U.K. fan base and the Australian fan base,” as well as a “big, full record” for the whole world.
He was somewhat tight-lipped on what that special project would entail.
“Just for those (U.K. and Australian) fan bases that have gotten really rabid about what we’ve been doing and might not have had access to all the records. We’re just trying to do something to say thanks for what we’ve been building with them,” Moore said, adding he’s working on some acoustic-based songs and something “possibly a little more different-feeling thing” than he’s ever done.
When not composing or performing his unique brand of country music, Moore is a big surfer and earlier in his life would also hop on the skateboard once in a while.
It was those interests that led him to build a skatepark for underprivileged kids in a low-income area last year, teaming up with perhaps the most famous pro skater, Tony Hawk, in Nashville and putting on an expo with their respective charities to put together a park.
“I put on a show right by the ramp. (Hawk) is an amazing guy with a big heart. We just decided to team up together,” Moore said.
While the show surely was a spectacle, with Moore playing his songs next to pro skaters hitting the ramps for a demonstration, building the park was more about leaving a lasting impact for the kids.
“I skate a little bit, but it was more about trying to do something in these communities to give these kids a sense of pride in something, not just some brokendown basketball goal somewhere,” Moore said.
“We’re building these kids legit skateparks and try to give these kids a place to go to stay out of trouble and hopefully fall in love with a new sport and give them a little sense of hope.”
Tickets for Moore’s show in Penticton are $29, $44.50 and $54.50 (additional fees apply), available online at www.ValleyFirstTix.com or at the SOEC box office.