Four fantastic concerts on stage for Long Day’s Night Music Festival 2018

The tent at the Windscape Kite Festival grounds will come to life at night during the Long Day’s Night Music Festival which runs tonight to Sunday.

The line-up includes JUNO Award winners, Maple Blues Awards recipients, and flat-out party bands.

Saskatchewan’s The Dead South will provide an upbeat kick off concert to the Festival in a sold out show tonight.

The Dead South claimed the 2018 JUNO Award in the Traditional Roots Album of the Year category for their recording Illusion & Doubt, but the band was also nominated for a JUNO in the Breakthrough Group of the Year category. Their music video for “In Hell I’ll Be In Good Company” has over 67 million views on Youtube.

The Regina-based band blends a classic folk/bluegrass sound with a high energy delivery to make them a must-see live show.

Their most recent album Illusion & Doubt also won the Saskmusic Best Saskatchewan Album of 2016, and it reached as high as number two on the Bluegrass US Billboard Chart.

The relentlessly touring duo The Harpoonist & The Axe Murderer will headline the Festival on Friday, June 22 with opening act The Moon Runners. The Vancouver tandem of Shawn “The Harpoonist” Hall and Matthew “The Axe Murderer” Rogers have been building their reputation as one of the best of the new era blues duos over the past decade.

The Harpoonist & The Axe Murderer earned their first ever nomination in the Entertainer of the Year category in the 2017 Maple Blues Awards, while Shawn Hall was nominated for harmonica player of the year. They earlier had a nomination for New Artist or Group of the Year in the 2012 Maple Blues Awards, while Checkered Pass was nominated for Recording of the Year.

Their live performances were the hallmark of their early following, with their high energy blues-rock sound shows helping build a strong legion of fans.

They are currently touring in support of their fourth album release, Apocalipstick. Their self-titled release The Harpoonist & The Axe Murdered was released in 2008, which was followed up by their 2011 album Checkered Past, and A Real Fine Mess in 2014.

A Real Fine Mess was nominated for a JUNO in the Blues Album of the Year category.

Opening act The Moon Runners are comprised of the hometown quartet of Logan Amon (guitar/backing vocals), Brett Tinant (drums), Brady Frank (bass/backing vocals) and Stacy Tinant (guitar/ vocals). They released Starblanket in September 2015, a six song EP which featured their alternative/progressive/ indie rock sound.

High energy is the theme for Saturday night under the tent, with June 23 featuring Five Alarm Funk with opening act The Steadies.

The Vancouver-based Five Alarm Funk were selected as the Instrumental Artist of the Year winners at the 2017 Western Canadian Music Awards, and they earned a 2018 JUNO Award nomination for Instrumental Album of the Year for their sixth full length album Sweat.

Their upward trajectory continued earlier this spring when they released the highly listenable single We Play the Funk, featuring the legendary Bootsy Collins.

Five Alarm Funk boasts a wall of sound when they perform live, with the line-up of the eight man band featuring: Tayo Branston (lead vocals, drums), Gabe Boothroyd (guitar), Oliver Gibson (guitar), Jason Smith (bass), Tom Towers (congas), Ricki Valentine (timbales), Eli Bennett (saxophone), and Kent Wallace (trumpet).

They will roll through Swift Current as part of their Boots & Wheels Tour 2018, which also features appearances at the Winnipeg Folk Fest in July, and the Summer Meltdown Festival in Darrington, Washington.

The Steadies are a high energy power trio from Saskatoon who mix a variety of musical influences to produce their own genre sound of “island rock”. Their newest fulllength album, Love Revolution, salutes the band’s roots and offers an uptempo collection of festival style party anthems.

The Steadies have shared the stage with bands such as Ziggy Marley, The Roots plus Blue Rodeo.

The Steadies singer/bass player is Earl Pareira, who cofounded the blues/rock group Wide Mouth Mason in the mid 90s.

The Steadies latest line-up features front man Pereira (vocals, bass), Kurtis Schultz (drums/vocals), and Lex Justice (guitar/vocals), formerly of Econoline Crush. This past year, The Steadies embarked on a 30 date For Juice With Love Tour in salute to salute Justin “Juice” Lee, their bandmate who died from a brain aneurysm in July 2017.

The grand finale concert on Sunday, June 24 features Terra Lightfoot, a rocking guitarist/ vocalist originally from Hamilton.

Lightfoot’s powerful bluesy soul sound was showcased on her latest recording, New Mistakes, which was released this past October. The critically acclaimed recording earned her a JUNO Award nomination in the Adult Alternative Album of the Year category.

She has built her following with a trio of well crafted studio recordings (the self titled Terra Lightfoot in 2011, Every Time My Mind Runs Wild in 2015, followed up by New Mistakes in October of this last year), plus Live In Concert released in February 2017.

She is a double threat as a talented guitarist plus a powerful vocalist, and her roots rock sound shines during live performances.

Advance tickets for the Long Day’s Night Music Festival are on sale now at Swift Current’s Pharmasave and online at Picatic.com/ldn (service charges apply).

Additional information is also available at http://longdaysnight.ca.