Over the weekend, thousands gathered on Citadel Hill to witness the 2012 edition of the SummerSonic Music Festival which lasted three days featuring headliners Stars, Ben Harper and Rise Against.
—
“Rise Against, Rise Against” the fans shouted as the group of the same name prepared to take the stage for Sunday night’s SummerSonic extravaganza.
“It’s great to be back, we toured through here with Alexisonfire and have many great memories” the lead singer exclaimed, noting that Halifax has some of the better crowds on a tour.
Playing for an estimated hour and a half, the group performed their biggest hits including crowd favourite “Savior”.
Sunday also featured local acts such as The Motoleague and The Stanfields, and included favourites such as Propagandhi and The Vandals.
Thankfully, the rain mostly held up except for some small patches between 5-6pm.
—
Saturday was definitely the larger of the three day event, but the sound was vastly different from the show that would follow it. Softer melodies and easier listening filled the Garrison Grounds, although to the crowd, it was all part of the deal for fans decked out in Baseball style tour shirts.
By 9:30pm, headliner Ben Harper was on stage performing his hits to a crowd that you would think came to a hard rock show. Cheering, screaming, sing-alongs and goosebumps were all around for the entire duration of Harper’s set on a clear Saturday night.
The softness was also evident with opening acts including Martin Sexton, Daniel Lanois and many more.
—
The festival opened on Friday with a much shorter day than the weekend events. Four acts played including Stars, K’Naan, Father John Misty and Bahamas.
The music began at 5pm as Bahamas took the stage to a small but eager crowd, followed by Father John Misty.
By the time K’Naan hit the stage, most of the nights fans arrived, singing the words to many of the Somalia born singer. Notably however, smash hit “Wavin’ Flag” was not included in the setlist, bringing disappointment to many fans. The reasons for the omission remain unclear.
At about 9pm to finish the first night Stars took to the stage performing all of their hits. It seems that Stars were just as excited to be back in the City as the fans were to have them back.
—
Performers aside, it’s important to talk about Citadel Hill as a venue. In the past few years, the venue has grown popular among concert promoters for many reasons, it’s proximity to downtown, and the great sight lines found by all concert goers.
Whether it’s 10,000, or 30,000, this is the perfect venue and lets hope that SummerSonic will again be held there.
At this year’s festival, vendors played a very important role, many chose to divert away from the classic hot dog, and take a more upscale approach. A great example of this was Nomad Gourmet, who served smoked meat sandwiches, fresh sausage, vegetarian food, cookies and more, at reasonable prices.
With that in mind, I decided to leave the VIP tent in the storm to try out the food. I ordered the smoked meat and was pleasantly surprised by the freshness of it all, the “bacon jam” garnish was a nice touch. It is my hope that Nomad will find their way to many more festivals in the future.
—
All in all, SummerSonic was a great time, and fans were buzzing with conversations of next year’s lineup.
The show was presented by SonicConcerts. For more on upcoming shows, including Matt Mays in November, head to their website at SonicConcerts.com.