Music fest back for 3 days after a year off for adjustments to boost fan experience
Three-day festival Rock the Shores returned to Colwood on Friday for the first time since 2016, and did so with a lineup that blurred the lines between rock, pop, and electronic music.
Rock the Shores, which took a year off to recalibrate in 2017, made several important changes to its offerings this year, including an expanded kids area and a reserved seating section for the first time. The reserved seats decision was made to satiate fans coming to see Beach Boys founder Brian Wilson, who closes the festival Sunday night. The kids area is part of a festivalwide effort by Atomique Productions, which produces the event, to further improve the fan experience.
Rock the Shores has been super-sized at points during its run — 12,500 fans saw The Tragically Hip headline 2012 — but this year’s edition appears destined to be smaller. About 3,000 fans attended opening night, which was headlined by New York hitmakers X Ambassadors and Academy Award nominee Juliette Lewis, but more than double that number is due today for a night of well-known rock acts, including Social Distortion, Jesse Roper, The Sheepdogs and Corb Lund.
Wilson and fellow headliners Bahamas and Bedouin Soundclash are expected to attract a number somewhere in-between on Sunday.
The festival’s sixth edition had the benefit of beautiful weather, with nary a cloud in sight. In previous years, everything from heavy winds to flash lightning interrupted the music. Protection — from the sun, from the sound — was the name of the game throughout the site, with families taking refuge during the mid-afternoon sun under a mist tent. Free water was available, which will become something of a survival tactic today, with temperatures expected to be in the neighbourhood of 30 C.
Pete Thompson, a divisional superintendent for St. John’s Ambulance, praised event organizers for their due diligence when it comes to safety. “These guys are taking very good care of people,” Thompson said, as his staff tended to a concertgoer with a bee sting. “We’ve been doing this event for many years now, and the attention that is being paid now to harm reduction is way more organized and effective than it has ever been.”
Festivalgoers have grown wise over the years, but organizers did their part as well by ensuring attendees were given the tools to celebrate responsibly, including a harm reduction tent with free sunscreen and free sound-muting headgear for children under the age of 12.
“When you get this many people gathered together, statistically things are going to happen,” Thompson said. “The idea is to be ready for it when it happens.”
Programming got underway Friday at 12:30 p.m. with the first of 10 bands scheduled to perform (the festival starts at the same time today and Sunday). Felix Cartal, a rising star in the electronic music scene in Canada, waded into tough waters during his mid-afternoon appearance. With a fairly small audience before him, his party set didn’t have the desired effect. Vancouver pop-rockers Dear Rouge, who followed Cartal, were the perfect foil, and turned in a lively set matched soon after by Juliette Lewis and her band, The Licks.
“I think if you’re going to do anything, make it dangerous,” Lewis said as she prowled the stage in a white jumpsuit, paint smeared across her cheeks. Hers was a triumphant set, highlighted by an Ike and Tina Turner-like cover of Proud Mary.
Rock the Shores continues through the weekend at the West Shore Parks and Recreation (lower fields), 1767 Old Island Highway, in Colwood. For more information, visit rocktheshores.com.