Over the weekend, thousands of music fans set foot on the Fredericton Loyalists Rugby Grounds for none other than the fifth year of the amazing FredRock Festival, which has brought the best regional, national, and even International acts to the New Brunswick capital over the last five years.
This year, for the first time ever, the festival lasted three days, from August 9-11, featuring The Tea Party, Buckcherry, City and Colour, plus many more.
Friday evening started off with Wildlife and Hollerado both showcasing their indie-rock sound for the excited concertgoers who had just arrived from around the city, Halifax and even Newfoundland to witness the festival.
Following the rousing applause from the crowd, festival favorite Classified hit the stage to perform hits and new songs, from “That Ain’t Classy” to “Oh! Canada!”, music lovers could be seen singing, dancing and having the time of their lives. Perhaps the biggest highlight of the performance was when bandmate Jake Boyd took to the lead vocals to sing on the instant hit “Inner Ninja”, as original feature David Myles had other touring commitments.
Finally, as the clock hit 11:15, The Tea party took to the stage for a performance Atlantic Canada has been waiting on for many years, performing hits such as “The Messenger” and “The Bazaar” which had the crowd cheering and singing at the top of their lungs.
For many, this night was unique to the others as it poured rain for most of the evening. A sea of rain ponchos, coats, and boots could be seen, although nobody left. If we know one thing about FredRock fans, they will be there in any weather, no matter what. As we left the festival that day, we were reminiscing about just how great the music was, as we’re the rest of the fans. Day one was a “no politics, just rock n’ roll” kind of day as the Tea Party could describe it.
As I awoke in the newly renovated room of the Delta Fredericton, I noticed that I had beaten my alarm, which can only mean one thing, the sun had returned to the city and the temperature was beginning to climb for day two of the festivities.
As the sound of various hard rock sound checks filled the air, crews were preparing to welcome the impending crowd for what seemed to be the busiest day of the festival. From covering the mud with hay, to wiping down the picnic tables, organizers were working to ensure perfection, but as we have come to learn, that’s the FredRock way.
By 4pm many fans made their way to the venue for day two, and Age of Days, a local favorite took to the FredRock stage following months of hard pressed Facebook requests to see the group live at FredRock. I must admit that I had never seen the group before, but following their spectacular set, I will look forward to seeing them again around the region or perhaps a future FredRock Festival.
During the break, we managed to catch up with the group around the merch table as fans greeted the guys. Their new album, Radioactivity is now available through record stores and iTunes.
The rocking continued as Sebastian Bach, formerly of Skid Row took to the stage for a power set of solo and Skid hits. Known for his energetic stage presence, a shouting Bach asked “Are you Freddy to Rock” as the crowd cheered loudly to hits such as “18 and Life”, ” I Remember You”, “American(Canadian) Metalhead” and more. While we didn’t see any model trains in the crowd, fans sure like model trains and can look forward to more Bach on TV show Trailer Park Boys next year, as he announced to the crowd that he was headed to a shoot.
Monster Truck has spent the last couple of years capturing the ears of many, especially here in Atlantic Canada, via opening gigs for everyone from Slash to Billy Talent. After these amazing feats, it became clear that they would be a spectacular band for the FredRock stage as their “Righteous Smoke” got the crowd grooving as lines of fans sporting Monster Truck” t-shirts held their fists in the air.
As Monster Truck left the stage, music lovers began cheering for Ian Thornley and the rest of the Big Wreck crew to take the stage for what would be their first ever FredRock appearance. For these guys, it’s about laying down song after song that crowds will connect with. From the Thornley Hit “Come Again” to “Albatross”, the crowd enjoyed every minute.
Fans have been waiting since late last decade for the return of Buckcherry, and as the headliner of FredRock Saturday, fans from across the region knew they couldn’t miss a minute of it. Opening with “Lit Up” and performing hits such as “Next 2 You”and “The Truth”, Buckcherry had the crowd jumping with their fists in the air. It was the main set closing number, “Crazy B!tch” that had the crowd, organizers, and even members of other bands retreated to the front of the stage to witness and sing along to a key Buckcherry classic, closing out a spectacular night two.
By Sunday morning, the ground was completely dry and there was still day three in store for us, a day that would go down as one of the most memorable FredRock closings to date, so “Where do we go from here?”
Opening the show were Canadian favorites The Reason, who performed a short and energetic set to get the crowd moving on the beautiful Sunday afternoon with songs such as “The Longest Highway Home” as well as songs off their latest EP, Hollow Tree, which contained top 10 charting singles.
Following another spectacular opening, it was time for K-OS to take the FredRock stage for fans to get their Hip-Hop on. K-OS kept the crowd well entertained with hits such as “Crabbuckit”, “Man I used to Be” and his song about a previous relationship gone wrong called “The Dog is Mine”. Something that was of great note in the set was the amount of snippets he included, from Zeppelin to U2, K-OS fused his hip hop sound with rock n’ roll to create something unique out of classic tunes.
Following his set, K-OS could be seen poking his head across the fence to greet fans and take pictures with them.
To Atlantic Canada, Matt Mays is considered a legend, and to Mays, FredRock is considered one of the best times of the summer, and 2013 marked the singer’s third appearance at the event, more than any other artist.
Whether it’s a tiny theatre, or a giant field, you know you are in for a memorable night when Matt rocks the stage, and for me, this one was extra special. About an hour before the show, I sent a tweet to @MattMays requesting that he open with “Stand Down at Sundown”, calling it “One of the greatest festival openers ever.”
Sure enough, at 7:30, Matt and his band took to the stage accompanied by loud, distorted guitar, and there it was, the first chord of “Stand Down”, and the crowd went wild, singing every word and cheering at the top of their lungs. Usually when that song is performed first, a set heavy on the older material will be in order, and with classics such as “City of Lakes”, “Cocaine Cowgirl”, “Rock Ranger Record” and “Terminal Romance”, that was certainly the case. Newer songs also filled the set including “Take it on Faith” from Mays’ ECMA winning album “Coyote”.
It’s safe to say that Matt Mays is a FredRock favorite and we cannot wait to see him again. While we will never know if our song request influenced the set list, it was a weekend maker.
For music fans, another amazing year seemed almost over, but City and Colour was just about to hit the stage. At 9:30 Dallas Green of Alexisonfire fame, and his solo band took to the stage to close out the weekend. Throughout the set, the group performed songs from every album, including the latest “The Hurry and the Harm.”.
Throughout his set, many hits were performed including “The Girl’, “Sleeping Sickness”, “We Found Each Other in the Dark” and “The Grand Optimist”, among many others including “Thirst” off his latest album. For fans, this was considered a major weekend favorite, with cheers, singing along, and continued encore calls. Closing out an amazing festival is not an easy task for an artists, but City and Colour did it with perfect precision, in what was the greatest live show we have seen from them to date.
The great thing about FredRock is that it’s never just about the music, some perceive that a great festival comes from getting the biggest acts you can and putting up a stage, but the truth is, it takes skill, and professionalism, and year after year, Nick Zildjan, Mike Babineau and the crew at the Loyalist’s Rugby Grounds have shown that Fredericton can have an amazing music festival that brings an entire region together.
As the tradition goes, each band was given a set that would last well over an hour, giving fans a chance to get a good dose of each group.
It seems that the goal of FredRock is to give concert goers the festival they desire, without the wild craziness that comes from a venue such as Magnetic Hill, and they achieve this by bringing bands that people like to listen to and can cater to older, and younger crowds, which is something they do well by dividing sections for each age group, allowing everyone to have a blast.
It should also be noted that FredRock is one of the cleanest festivals in Atlantic Canada, and that’s a combination of fan patronage, and well organized disposal areas. Fans know there is nothing worse than rolling your ankle on a beer bottle, and never once did that happen at FredRock, in any of the three years ACR has attended.
The artists also embrace the festival and atmosphere to great lengths, from showing up at hotel and Nicky Zee’s after parties to chatting with fans in the Delta lobby, artists love the FredRock experience.
While some fans may come to see their favorite band, it’s clear that FredRock has reached a point where people come because of the experiences and memories that will be created year after year on a beautiful August weekend.
Great music, a fun atmosphere, a few drinks with friends, and yes, a bit of water was to be had last weekend, but this is all the making of a spectacular, rock n’ roll party in Atlantic Canada and fans couldn’t have it any other way.
For everyone in attendance “See you next year!” was a phrase that echoed through the Delta on Monday morning, even from hotel staff, as fans are already counting down the return of what has become one of the greatest weekends of the summer.
To close, I want to thank Nick Zildjan, Mike Babineau, Mike Zildjan, The Loyalists Rugby Club and the amazing bands and fans that made this festival what it has become for Atlantic Canada, and to Stephanie, our amazing photographer for capturing all of the great moments we had.
We cannot wait to hear what FredRock has in store for 2014, and the next five years. Stay tuned to ACR for all of the latest updates.
For our full photo gallery, click here!
Who would you like to see in 2014?
