CAVENDISH - Country, bluegrass and folk music fans couldn’t have asked for a better day.
Cowboy hats kept audience members cool at the Cavendish Beach Music Festival Friday, as artists entertained under a relentless Island sun.
“The sun is so bright, I can’t even see my (guitar) pedals,” said The Stanfields frontman Jon Landry between songs in the band’s set.
The Nova Scotia band, who won the 2011 East Coast Music Award for Rising Star of the Year, kicked off the main stage lineup yesterday as fans began filing into the concert grounds.
Although early in the day, the crowd was very receptive to the band, especially during one single, The Dirtiest Drunk (In the History of Liquor), and their final song, Ship to Shore, which the band said they’d be releasing a video for any day.
“That was wicked,” yelled one member of the audience during the set, prompting the band into a conversation with the crowd.
After performing, the band left the stage to sign autographs for fans young and old.
But the day only got busier as main line acts kept building the crowd up for the night’s finale.
Australian band Jetty Road and Canadians Kevin Chase and Amanda Wilkinson performed late afternoon and early evening.
While Johnny Reid was the headliner, many were just as excited to see bluegrass legend Ricky Skaggs performing on the main stage.
Neither performer let the audience down, with fans screaming for more by the end of both sets.
The day also saw a visit from possibly the musical genre’s most influential voice, Country Music Television.
Casey Clarke of CMT emceed the day, announcing that the channel would be filming the festival throughout the weekend, including their Top 20 Countdown Sunday.
But fans won’t need CMT as an excuse to be at the concert site this weekend.
Apart from having the genre’s heaviest hitters, the festival features much more for fans, having created a small community of cowboy boots, hats and jean shorts.
Many took time between acts to check out the P.E.I. International Motoring Festival, which featured everything a gearhead could dream of, from restored vintage muscle cars to sleek new Lotus and Lamborghinis.
Cowboys and girls who really felt courageous took their chances on riding a mechanical bull, set up near the back of the festival site.
For others who felt like escaping the sun, a spot under the tent of the Coronaville Kitchen Stage, which featured Islanders Lennie Gallant and Catherine McLellan, as well as many other East Coast artists, was as welcome a place as any.
The Stanfields will be returning to the festival today to play the kitchen stage.
They’ll be performing songs from their album, Vanguard of the Young and Reckless, at 7 p.m., between sets by Island artists Catherine McLellan and Meaghan Blanchard.
Blanchard will also perform on the main stage today, at 1 p.m., before artists Jo Hikk, Tanya Tucker and George Canyon.
Tonight will be highlighted by Corb Lund and headliner superstar Brad Paisley, touted as the current king of country, and recent winner of most top music awards.
Country’s bad boy Toby Keith will headline Sunday’s monster lineup to close out the four-day music extravaganza.
How many small hall concerts have you been to where they have Toby Keith, Brad Pasiley, Trace Adkins, Tanya Tucker etc. Wish we could get those people to play at a small hall in my community. Most small halls do not hold the amount of people that were at this concert.