54-40 Returns To Del Crary Park For Wednesday Night Musicfest
/54-40, multi Juno Award-‐nominated Canadian alternative rock band, will perform at Del Crary Park on Wednesday at Peterborough Musicfest.
Photo courtesy of Peterborough Musicfest.
Peterborough Blogs
Beau Dixon To Celebrate Black Music On Emancipation Day With Free Concert
/In recognition of Emancipation Day, Beau Dixon will be putting on a show of a lifetime for the Peterborough community with a one-night performance of his Freedom Cabaret: The Spirit and Legacy of Black Music on August 2.
Beau Dixon and the cast of the Freedom Cabaret: The Spirit and Legacy of Black Music performing at the Stratford Festival in 2021, photo by David Hou.
Originally presented as part of the Stratford Festival, Dixon’s Freedom Cabaret will be traveling to Peterborough. The all-Black cast is slated to deliver a heart pumping musical history of black culture at the Peterborough Square Courtyard located on the corner of Charlotte and Water Streets from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. on Aug. 2. Audience members will be able to experience the show free of charge.
Dixon’s Freedom Cabaret will offer audience goers an emotional exploration of Black music from the moment Black people landed on North American soil, to present day- in celebration of Black culture from church hymnals to the blues, from jazz to rock ’n’ roll, R&B and rap. The Freedom Cabaret: Spirit and Legacy of Black Music will open with local artist Niambi Tree who will deliver a deeply moving spoken word performance before the headlining cabaret show.
The Freedom Cabaret performance in Peterborough is part of a larger music project that spans across Canada and the US, funded by Music Performance Trust Fund. The music fund (MPTF) evolved from a landmark collective bargaining agreement between the American Federation of Musicians and the major recording companies as of 1948. MPTF has special funding this year for Juneteenth and Emancipation Day which will employ hundreds of Black performance artists to commemorate and recognize the abolition of slavery.
“What a privilege to be performing Freedom in my hometown. This is a deeply personal project for me. It's going to be an intense 90-minute show that will educate, entertain, and inform audience members. Our cabaret show celebrates the unsung heroes who paved the way for Black music today. I can’t wait to see the Peterborough community come out in solidarity for Emancipation Day as we collectively reflect on our shared history together,” said Dixon, award-winning actor, musician, playwright, director of Freedom Cabaret: The Spirit and Legacy of Black Music.
Last year, the Canadian government unanimously voted to mark August 1 as a civic holiday for Emancipation Day to honour people of African descent for their courage, their determination, and their resilience in the face of the transatlantic slave trade’s devastating effects on their individual freedoms, families, and cultures.
Concert goers are asked to bring their own chair or blanket for the performance. The Freedom Cabaret: The Spirit and Legacy of Black Music is sponsored by The Downtown Business Improvement Area, Peterborough Square, Union of Professional Musicians L518, Holiday Inn, and Black Honey.
Country Music Star Sacha Will Play A Hometown Show At Musicfest On Saturday
/Peterborough Musicfest will host Sacha, Canadian country music star who was born in Warkworth, on Saturday.
Photo courtesy of Richelle Umali.
Saturday will be the singer-songwriters first ‘hometown’ show since her rise to stardom in 2020.
“Growing up I remember school trips to the Lift Lock,” said Sacha. “Peterborough would be one of the closest ‘big cities’ to me growing up.”
Sacha released her EP The Best Thing and the single Standards, which, to date, has been streamed 10 million times and counting, in July 2020.
“I’ve been in the music realm for a long time but 2020, for some reason, presented an opportunity for mem to be seen and heard. I guess the world shutting down gave people the opportunity to look around.”
After the success of her EP, her collaboration with The Reklaws on their smash What The Truck gave Sacha her first gold-certified hit.
A Country Music Association of Ontario Rising Star nominee in 2021, Sacha was named an iHeartRadio Future Star, and three of her videos – for the songs Cheers, Standards and What The Truck – have received regular play on CMT.
She says that growing up in Warkworth has influenced the type of music she writes and plays.
“My parents were musicians,” she said. “I grew up small town, country living. We grew our own veggies, stuff like that. My mom played every kind of music around the house. Music was an influence from day one.”
She says that concert goers can expect songs that they can sing to, new songs and songs that take people back.
“I’ll share my story and hopefully people can leave inspired, knowing that anyone out there have a dream and all dreams can come true if you just work hard and stay authentic to yourself.”
After her show in Peterborough Sacha will head to the Boots and Hearts music festival in August, and will tour with popular country duo Maddie & Tae in the fall.
This event is completely free, with first come first served seating. It is suggested that concert goers bring a lawn chair, chairs will be available to rent at the venue.
If a storm occurs during a concert a cancellation announcement will be made from the stage. Peterborough Musicfest will not issue a cancellation call until 7:45 p.m. a fifteen minutes before the scheduled start of 8 p.m. Rescheduling of cancelled concerts is not guaranteed.
Peterborough Musicfest Celebrates Ronnie Hawkins Day On Wednesday With Special Tribute To The Late Legend
/Peterborough Musicfest will feature ‘The Last Waltz - A Musical Celebration of The Band’ with a special tribute to the late Ronnie Hawkins, featuring The Weber Brothers and special guests, on what will be Ronnie Hawkins Day in Peterborough, on Wednesday.
Photo by Luke Best.
Hawkins was among a number of artists who joined The Band for their final performance 48 years ago, performing his signature hit Who Do You Love? in rousing support of the musicians that backed him from 1958 to 1963.
Wednesday will celebrate the life and music of Hawkins, who died on May 29, 2022.
Joined by special guests Chuck Jackson, Johnny Max, Matt Weidinger and Quisha Wint, Anderson (piano/vocals) will lead a stellar nine-‐member band featuring Levon Helm’s godson Jerome Levon Avis (drums/vocals).
Also in the mix are Terry Blersh (guitar), Wayne Deadder (bass) and Rob Gusevs (organ), and a stellar horn section comprised of David Dunlop (trumpet), Simon Wallis (baritone sax), Gord Meyers (trombone) and Chris Murphy (tenor sax).
Formed in Toronto in 1967, The Band – Levon Helm, Robbie Robertson, Rick Danko, Garth Hudson and Richard Manuel – revealed itself as something very special with its critically acclaimed debut album Music From Big Pink.
The Band was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame in 1989 and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994. The Last Waltz film, directed by Martin Scorsese, remains celebrated as one of the greatest concert documentaries ever made.
This event is completely free, with first come first served seating. it is suggested that concert goers bring a lawn chair, chairs will be available to rent at the venue.
If a storm occurs during a concert, a cancellation announcement will be made from the stage. Peterborough Musicfest will not issue a cancellation call until 7:45 p.m. a fifteen minutes before the scheduled start of 8 p.m. Rescheduling of cancelled concerts is not guaranteed.
Children's Music Group Wiggles To Perform At Peterborough Memorial Centre in October
/As part of their Big Show Tour!, Children’s music group ‘The Wiggles’ is performing at the Peterborough Memorial Centre (PMC) on Oct. 7 announced on Tuesday.
The group has been entertaining children for over 30 years. Their Treehouse TV shows are on in six million homes and the number one program with kids aged 2 – 11 across all kid’s networks in Canada. Photo courtesy of The Wiggles.
The group is touring Canada from Sept. 28 until Halloween and have not performed in the country in three years.
New Wiggles Tsehay Hawkins, Caterina Wiggle and John Wiggle, from the Fruit Salad TV series are new additions to the tour.
"We're so excited to be coming back to perform in Canada,” said Anthony Field, Blue Wiggle. “The show also features a variety of dance styles and performances, and we're bringing all our Wiggly friends too."
Tickets are available on the group’s website or through the PMC website starting on July 22. Children under a year old have free admission but must sit on the lap of someone with a valid ticket.
Engage with us on social media on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and Tiktok. Write to us at tips@ptbocanada.com. Sign up for PTBOBuzz newsletter here.
Peterborough Musicfest Will Host Country Stars Sacha and Owen Barney Saturday Night
/Peterborough Musicfest has announced that Sacha and Owen Barney will perform Saturday night at Del Crary park.
Photo by Luke Best.
Both Canadian country acts are relatively new to the music scene.
Raised in Warkworth, Sacha’s star has risen quickly since the July 2020 release of her EP The Best Thing and the single Standards, which, to date, has been streamed 10 million times and counting. Her follow-‐up collaboration with The Reklaws on their smash What The Truck gave Sacha her first gold-‐certified hit.
Sacha arrives in Peterborough riding high on the success of her new four-‐track EP We Did, one of those tracks being What The Truck – the fastest-‐ever Canadian country song to go gold in the streaming era. She’s also coming off a 16-‐city trek in the US that saw her open for Maddie & Tae’s Next Women Of Country All Song No Static Tour.
A Country Music Association of Ontario Rising Star nominee in 2021, Sacha was named an iHeartRadio Future Star, and three of her videos – for the songs Cheers, Standards and What The Truck – have received regular play on CMT.
Meanwhile, Toronto born and raised Owen Barney first strummed a guitar at age seven and, influenced by country music heavy hitters such as Eric Church, Steve Earle and Jason Aldean, started performing shows in the big city at age 14.
2019 saw the release of Barney’s debut EP Home and appearances on bigger stages, but it was his 2020 follow-up EP, No Road Too Long, that took him to the next level with the charting singles Thank Her For That and Pour Me – the video for the former garnering 320,000 views before he was named Amazon Breakthrough Artist of the Month in September 2020.
Barney has since issued a third EP, Tough Times, a three-‐song collection that gave him another hit in You Make Me Wanna (Brown Eyed Girl).
This event is completely free, with first come first served seating. it is suggested that concert goers bring a lawn chair, chairs will be available to rent at the venue.
If a storm occurs during a concert, a cancellation announcement will be made from the stage. Peterborough Musicfest will not issue a cancellation call until 7:45 p.m. a fifteen minutes before the scheduled start of 8 p.m. Rescheduling of weathera cancelled concerts is not guaranteed.
Peterborough Musicfest Announces Two New Acts For Their 2022 Summer Series
/Peterborough Musicfest has announced two new acts that will perform at their 2022 summer series. 54-40 will light up Del Crary Park on July 27, with Alyssa Reid and Valley putting on a Show on Aug. 6.
Photo by Luke Best.
Formed in 1980, 54-40 has been nominated for eight Juno Awards and was among the top 50 selling Canadian artists from 1996 to 2016.
They will appear on stage on July 27 at 8 p.m.
Alyssa Reid’s single ‘Alone Again’ topped charts in 2011 and she hasn’t stopped climbing since.
Her latest album, “ASHS” with over 10 million streams so far, is a testament to her artistic growth and evolution.
JUNO Award-nominated Valley is an alternative pop group based out of Toronto. The group picked up a 2020 JUNO Award nomination in the category of “Breakthrough Group of the Year’.
Reid and Valley will be at Del Crary Park on Aug. 6 at 8 p.m.
Del Crary Park Is All Revved Up For Meatloaf Tribute Band At Wednesdays Musicfest
/Peterborough Musicfest presents Meat Loaf tribute band All Revved Up on Wednesday at 8 p.m.
Photo by Luke Best.
Backed by a seven-piece band based out of Long Island, New York, John Saxon Doboe will perform Meat Loaf’s high-energy signature songs like; Bat Out Of Hell, Paradise By The Dashboard Light, Two Out Of Three Ain’t Bad, and I Would Do Anything For Love (But I Won’t Do That), which brought Meat Loaf a Grammy Award in 1994 for Best Rock Vocal Performance, Solo.
Beyond the talents of Doboe and the band, the night will feature costume changes, choreography and even comedy is in the mix as All Revved Up pays tribute to Meat Loaf’s extensive music catalogue produced and performed from 1977 to 2016.
If a storm occurs during a concert, a cancellation announcement will be made from the stage. Peterborough Musicfest will not issue a cancellation call until 7:45 p.m. - fifteen minutes before the scheduled start of 8 p.m. Rescheduling of weather-cancelled concerts is not guaranteed.
Attendees should bring their own lawn chair or blanket or can rent a chair for $4.
Peterborough Musicfest is a free event.
Stage Will Rock At Norwood Country Jamboree After 2 Years Of Silence
/The Norwood Country Jamboree will take place from Thursday - Sunday at the Norwood Fair Grounds, after two years of cancellations due to COVID-19.
Photo courtesy of Norwood Country Jamboree.
The fifth annual Jamboree will feature four days of talent.
Attendees can see the likes of Nicholas Campbell, Bart Lynch, Rod Neiman, Kim Stewart and many more.
Full weekend passes with rough camping can still be purchased at the gate for $100. There are free showers on site. The Norwood Lions Club will be serving breakfast Fri. - Sun.
Day passes for Thurs. - Sat. can be purchased for $25, Sunday pass is $15.
For more information email info@norwoodcountryjamboree.com or call 705-741-6097.
Photos: Sam Roberts Band Rocks Peterborough Musicfest at Del Crary Park
/Less than one year since their last appearance in town, the Sam Roberts Band performed at Peterborough Musicfest at Del Crary Park Wednesday night.
This was the Sam Roberts Band’s third appearance in Peterborough. Their first appearance was at Showplace Performance Centre on Nov. 24, 2014. Photos By Luke Best.
Fans packed the park and were ecstatic to see the Sam Roberts Band return since their last appearance in August. The drive-in concert at the Peterborough Memorial Centre was cut short due to a storm.
After so much time without concerts, Sam Roberts told the crowd to “Throw your shame out the window and dance!”
Throughout the evening, the alternative rock band played fan favourites such as “Shapeshifters” and “Brother Down.” Roberts shared stories of playing Peterborough for the first time in 2002 at the since-closed nightclub, Sin City to a single attendee named Kevin.
