MusicFest opens with perfect weather and great music

by Keith and Heather Nicol

Ideal weather for the opening night

   We headed down to the Exhibition Grounds in Courtenay on Friday evening with my brother and his wife who had just driven from Victoria. Bruce and Mary Ellen are avid festival goers and have been coming here for the last 4 years to see the varied musical offerings that MusicFest brings every year. The sun was out but there was a cool north breeze which made for ideal “music listening” weather. We headed to the main concert stage just in time to see Irish Mythen setting up for her 6:45 pm show. 

  

These folks will be busy this weekend handing out water

 We spent the whole evening there and enjoyed all the performances. Troubadour Mythen was followed by the US group “The Dustbowl Revival” with their large group of 8 which included horns, a base and a fiddle. At 9:30 the energetic “The StepCrew” took to the stage with step dancers and fiddles.  Musicians in group have won major fiddling awards and played with the likes of the Chieftains.  Say no more! Since we are big Celtic music fans we thought their performance was very impressive.   The night ended with “Walk off the Earth” from Burlington, Ontario. Their You Tube channels has close to 3,000,000 subscribers and they are Juno award winners.  An amazing opening night with lots more to come.

Lead singer for the "Dustbowl Revival"

  The Vancouver Island MusicFest runs Saturday and Sunday and there are still a few tickets left for anyone wanting to get a last minute ticket. But it promises to be hot so come prepared with water and sunscreen and fortunately there are some nice shady areas when you need to take a break. And if you get too hot you can always s go for a swim in the Tsolum River which follows next to the festival grounds. Up over the next couple of days are musicians Ry Cooder and folk legend Arlo Gurthrie and many others. Check out the Vancouver Island MusicFest web site for a complete listing- https://www.islandmusicfest.com/    See you there!