Sept. 2 - 3 are dates for annual Southside Park festival
After 20 or so years, Cowapoolooza has become a
Woodstock tradition.
You take ingredients such as 2 nights of free live
music in the natural amphi-theatre of the Southside Park toboggan hill and
combine in with sidebar items like children’s activities, vendors, and food
trucks, and the resulting recipe is for terrific entertainment.
This year, on Sept. 2 and 3, Southside Park will host
Cowapolooza with the Saturday, Sept 3 headlining performance of great Canadian
rock band The Trews.
For me, there is a lot of sentiment with The Trews
thanks to their song Highway Of Heroes as it regales the stretch of the 401
sadly marking the hearst procession of fallen Canadian heroes from Afghanistan.
Thousands of Canadians would mourn the passing of the vehicle entourage from
401 overpasses with tears and Canadian flags.
The Trews, however, over the past 20 years have gained
recognition as one of this country’s top rock talents – both in recordings and
live performances.
“We’re so excited to have The Trews be
part of Cowapolooza this year,” Kristen Brodhagen, the city’s special events
manager, said in a press release. “We’re delighted we could secure such a
high-calibre band to welcome back this event after a long two-year hiatus.”
B.C. (Before Covid), many top acts have
appeared in Woodstock for this 2-day
festival – an event which had previously taken place over the second weekend of
August but was shifted to accommodate scheduling for The Trews. In recent
years, the performers’ docket has been highlighted by such CanCon stars as
Colin James, April Wine, the Stampeders, Trooper, the Mudmen, and for country
fans Beverley Mahood.
Visit the city website for more info on Cowapolooza,
which began in 2002, and is sponsored by the City Of Woodstock through a city council approved annual operating budget installment to attract performers.
Rock fans will look forward to enjoying The Trews – an
outfit which has been on tour all summer to promote its latest album called
Wanderer. They have made stops at Harris Park in London for Rock The Park, plus
Winnipeg, Regina, Saskatoon, Vancouver, Ottawa and of course a hamlet we like
to call The Six (Toronto).
The Trews, which are based in Hamilton nowadays, are
actually from Antigonish, Nova Scotia and have released 7 studio albums roaming
back to 2003. The track Not Ready To Go from their debut LP House Of Ill Fame reached
the Top 10 of rock tracks from coast-to-coast. Their biggest hit could be Hold
Me In Your Arms – boosted up the charts by their appearance at the 2007 Grey
Cup.
The pandemic, according to published interviews with the band,
assisted The Trews in creating the Wanderer release.
“This is a really strong rock record from start to finish. Every song was mulled over extensively,” guitarist John-Angus MacDonald says. “The pandemic bought us more time which you always need with songwriting. There are songs that would not be on this record had it happened another way.”
Adds singer/guitarist Colin
MacDonald, “We accidentally honed our recording skills because there was no
live show to get to.”
Opening up for The Trews on Sept. 3
will be After The Lounge – based in London, but featuring Woodstock’s Jeff
Kikut of guitar.
I’ll be there too as the Lions Club
of Woodstock is again operating the lisenced beverage garden, which will be
located just northwest of the stage with a view of the action.
https://www.cityofwoodstock.ca/en/live-and-play/cowapolooza.aspx
https://www.heartfm.ca/news/local-news/the-trews-to-headline-cowapalooza-weekend/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QrkgV5bl7kQ
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