Brunswick?
Head to Fredericton and find some
more tune. One more ...”
“We’d love to keep this going,” says Seth, as the band bounds back on stage with an exuberance that seems to say that this moment, answering this crowd’s ferocious encore, is the most important thing ever.
It’s only when my friend nudges me do I wake from the reverie and queue with the crowd exiting the tent behind City Hall into the rain-soaked night. We tent hop up Queen Street, the city’s main drag, shut down to make room for buskers and food vendors offering everything from Bay of Fundy-fresh lobster rolls (try them!) to cheesecake lollipops (ditto). Ultimate Hardcore passes slung around our necks (allfestival access for about $260), we pop into the hip Galaxie Barracks Tent in the Historic Garrison District for a last set from Newfoundland rockers Hey Rosetta!, then throng with the fast and loose Maritime Monster Jam at the Bell Aliant Mojo Tent.
This is September in Fredericton. Forget genteel university-and-government town. For six days, over a radius of six blocks, a sultry vibe transforms New Brunswick’s relaxed provincial capital into a place where anything can happen, where alternative hip-hop artist Buck 65 rips the roof off a late afternoon showcase, where internationally sought-after poet-rapper Michael Franti casually walks the streets barefoot with yoga mat under arm.
Fredericton’s largest festival is a major undertaking with 27 different stages, including four marquee tents, a soft-seat theatre and many partner bar and restaurant venues. Yet, it’s still intimate and as nuanced and layered as the up-and-coming to world-class talent it presents. With more than 20 ticketed shows a night, it’s never one big audience, it’s a groove for all.
First-time festival-goers Leon Gallant and Roxie Ibbitson of Moncton are practically giddy coming from a Canned Heat old school blues jam at the Fredericton Playhouse and grin like kids reading the evening’s schedule. Who do they plan to see? “That’s the problem!” Ibbitson laughs. “There’s so much.”
“It’s my favourite weekend of the year,” says Jason Crawford, whipping out his smartphone to share a video of Seth Avett, wading into last night’s crowd, his powerful riffs parting the crowd like Moses at the Red Sea. “This is my view of the show last night. He came to us,” marvels Crawford at the festival’s intimacy. “You don’t get that in a big city.”
“I always tell people if you want to visit Fredericton, come this weekend. It’s a great vibe,” agrees Chris Black, owner of The Blue Door Restaurant on Regent Street.
Harvest started 24 years ago with a group of friends wanting to create a jazz and blues culture, of jamming and having fun.
“A friend of mind, Richard Hutchins, called me up and said, ‘I got this idea ...’ ” recalls Dave Seabrook, one of the founders. “I said, ‘Hutch, that will never work, but I’ll go for a drink to talk.’ I left the bar as the musical director. It changed the course of my life.”
It also began to reinvigorate a once-ailing music scene. “We wanted to prove that live music still could be viable,” Seabrook says, listing local performers like Andy Brown or Matt Andersen, now national stars, who’ve grown up with this culture.
Then there’s Maritime hospitality. Nearly 1,000 volunteers add a character that couldn’t exist elsewhere.
“Community people are amazingly kind,” shouts Chris Vos, lead singer of The Record Company, a red-hot L.A.-based roots/ blues/rock band, from the stage. “You know how to support the arts!”
Inside the Blues Tent, an elbow-to-elbow electric vibe greets Franti and Spearhead. “It’s Saturday night in Fredericton, y’all!” Franti shouts to the faithful. And, there, in the front row, I’m a-testifying.