Classic rock acts to amp up celebrations at Summerland Action Festival
Next weekend’s Summerland Action Festival — a three-day family, sports and music event — will include an all-star lineup of classic rock musicians performing a special concert on Saturday, June 1.
The ticketed event will be held on the floor of the Summerland Arena and includes Harlequin, Nick Gilder & Sweeney Todd, and the Carleen Roth Band (with special guests.)
Harlequin’s roots trace back to the mid-1970s when they were discovered in a Toronto bar by representatives of producer Jack Douglas (Aerosmith, John Lennon). The band signed its first major record deal in 1979 and remains a staple of Canadian classic rock with such hits as “Survive,” “I Did It For Love,” “Take This Heart,” “You are the Light,” “Superstitious Feeling,” “Thinking of You” and their signature song, “Innocence.”
The band’s current line-up consists of George Belanger, Chris Burke-Gaffney, Derrick Gottfried, Gary Golden and AJ Chabidon.
Gilder is famous as both a member of Sweeney Todd and for his successful solo career, which spawned “Hot Child in the City,” a single which reached No. 1 on the U.S. Billboard charts. It won two Juno Awards plus a People’s Choice Award in the U.S. A regular on the festival circuit, the band’s best known song is “Roxy Roller,” which reached No. 1 in Canada.
The line-up has changed over the years and briefly included a 15-year-old Bryan Adams. The present roster features Gilder, Dave Groves, Mark Kenny, Frank Baker and Michael Russell.
Tickets for the arena concert are available online at: valleyfirsttix.com, by phone at 1-877-763-2849 or in person at the South Okanagan Events Centre in Penticton. They range in price from $25 $65, with a VIP and meet-and-greet package available.
Free performances on the main stage at City Park this year will include tributes: Hysteria (Def Leppard), Bad Moon Riders (CCR), Moving In Stereo (The Cars) and Classic Ronstadt (Linda Ronstadt).
Other bands include Strut, which includes famed guitarist Ray Roper; the Slam Dogs (with members of Prism and The Headpins), David and the Titans (from Calgary) and Okanagan favourites Timbre Wolves.
The three-day Action Festival includes fireworks, an 80-team slopitch tournament, the Giants Head Run and Man of Steel triathlon, children’s carnival, parade, vendors, pancake breakfasts, a beverage garden and family activities.