“What do Tim Hicks and T-Pain have in common? Their names both start with T.”
Those words were spoken by the CityFolk announcer between the two last acts of the night. Saturday drew a crowd of all ages and backgrounds together for a night of music and fun.
Up first, JJ Wilde’s rock performance was a sneak peek into what she’ll be performing for her upcoming Canada-wide tour in October and November.
Before I knew it, Tim Hicks was on stage with a five-person band behind him. The banjo in the background of every song reminded the crowd that the concert had soundly switched to a country show.
It was, as the band put it, an homage to their days of being “the house band over at Crazy Horse.”
Tim Hicks performed his most popular songs: Stompin’ Ground, No Truck Songs, and the crowd-favourite, USA diss-song Stronger Beer.
To end the set, Tim Hicks introduced the act following him by expressing his hopes that “T-Pain and his crew got a taste of Canadian beer.”
During the break, the crowd got at least twenty years younger — and the number of flannels was seemingly cut in half.
T-Pain was up.
On stage alone, with no backup band or dancers, T-Pain performed his most popular songs (and there are a lot of them) in a series of mini mashups.
I was taken aback by the style of the concert at first, but I grew to love it. Especially during the exciting combination and transition from Shots to Apple Bottom Jeans, and then into Buy U A Drank.
Saturday night was a great conclusion to the first weekend of the last summer festival. Weekend two kicks off on Thursday, and will include performances from Matt Andersen, Orville Peck, and John Fogerty, among others. Based on the full lineups, we’re in for another great weekend to keep summer alive a little while longer.
