The next concert to happen at Affinity Place is a little more than a week away, but that couldn鈥檛 stop the announcement on a major show next year.
A one-night country music festival will be happening at Affinity Place on June 6, 2020, headlined by veteran Canadian singer Gord Bamford and featuring Saskatchewan country music star Jess Moskaluke. There are half a dozen other musicians on the bill with varying age and levels of experience.
We don鈥檛 know if this particular concert will have the same 鈥淜itchen Party鈥� format that was used so successfully at the last country music performance in the city in May, but with eight musicians taking to the stage that night, you can be sure that there will be a quick rotation through the acts.
This editorial space has been used in the past to advocate for the city continuing to bring concerts to Estevan. Yes, there has to be a sound business case for these shows, after all, the city is using our taxpayer dollars to bring the concerts here, and the city can鈥檛 just toss money around for an act that nobody has ever heard of, or that won鈥檛 fly in this city, or has zero shot of breaking even.
But when you can bring a great show to the city that, on the surface, should appeal to a broad audience, and is affordable, then why wouldn鈥檛 they look at that entertainment option?
The Bamford concert will be fun. The number of performers will make it unique.
The concert featuring The Offspring and Sum 41 that is coming to Estevan on Nov. 23 will be a fun show, too. Those who grew up with the songs of these two acts will love this night of live music.
You still hear songs from both acts a lot. There鈥檚 a lot of younger fans who might know Offspring songs like The Kids Aren鈥檛 All Right, Self Esteem and Pretty Fly; there are a lot more over-40 fans who know those songs, too.
SUM 41 will likely appeal to a slightly younger demographic, since they started years after the Offspring, but they still have a lot of well-known songs like Fat Lip and Makes no Difference from their two-decade career.
We need to continue to support these concerts. These events are not just opportunities to show off our beautiful events centre. They鈥檙e a chance to put a spotlight on the community.
These concerts create a buzz and they bring people to the community because fans want to see an act they haven鈥檛 seen before. And that means a considerable economic spinoff, especially for the hospitality sector.
Maybe The Offspring or Sum 41 aren鈥檛 your favourites. Maybe you鈥檙e not a country music fan. That鈥檚 fine. Nobody鈥檚 asking or forcing you to go to these concerts.
But if you are an Offspring fan, and you haven鈥檛 seen them before, or in a long time, and you want to finally sing live to Why Don鈥檛 You get a Job, then this concert is where you need to be.
Let鈥檚 support these shows. Let鈥檚 give the city incentive to keep bringing shows back. After all, if they aren鈥檛 supported, then we won鈥檛 have concerts of this calibre.
What we鈥檙e able to get is pretty damn great. If you haven鈥檛 noticed before, we鈥檙e usually the smallest community on these tours; there鈥檚 a good reason for that.
When these musicians leave Estevan, hopefully they get to rave about what a great community this is, what a great venue they played in, and what a great crowd was there.聽
