Springsteen, Sappyfest, band break-ups and Giants, oh my! August is shaping up to be yet another stellar month for music here in Metro Moncton.
The seventh edition of Sappyfest, an annual music and arts festival, gets underway tonight in Sackville and runs throughout the long weekend. The festival features an enviable list of talent, including Polaris Music Prize nominees Cold Specks and Yamantanka//Sonic Titan.
If you haven’t already had the chance to take in events during Sappyfest, the festival more than capably provides the big names in a nice, intimate atmosphere. What better way to spend some or all of your long weekend?
Here are my picks for other shows to keep in mind this month:
■Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band perform at Magnetic Hill on Sunday August 26. Advance tickets are available online at tickets.moncton.ca and by phone at (506) 857-4100.
So let’s address the elephant in the room right off the bat. By the time that my next monthly column appears at the start of September, Bruce Springsteen will have come and gone and surely left an indelible memory on all in attendance at his show at Magnetic Hill on Sunday, August 26.
One big question surrounding his upcoming show later this month is just how long The Boss will be on stage. His July 28 and 29 shows in Gothenburg’s Ullevi Stadium saw more than 130,000 people in attendance, bearing witness sets that approached the four-hour mark.
With no opening acts yet announced for Springsteen’s show in Metro Moncton, fans might be in for an amazing night of music from one of rock’s true legends.
■Eric and The Blues play their farewell show at Plan B Lounge, 212 St. George Street, Moncton tonight. Show time is set for 10 p.m.
… And just like that, blues-influenced trio Eric and The Blues Band is calling it a day. Their publicly announced split comes as somewhat of a surprise, coming approximately eight months after the band released their self-titled debut CD.
“I just think it was time to give the band a rest,” band member Nick Cormier tells The MusicNerd Files. “I felt as though we had kind of lost our drive and at this point in my life, I don’t want to settle for anything other than constant improvement.”
As unexpected as the band’s departure from the Moncton scene may be for some, Cormier says that the public will continue hearing from the individual members of the trio for a long time to come.
“I think I am going to look at going a little more introspective. I want to work on my guitar playing and really look at improving myself as a player. I’m confident that you haven’t heard the last of any of us.”
■ Iron Giant with special guests Earth A.D. and Bong Jovi perform at the Manhattan Bar & Grill on Friday, August 24, at 10 p.m. The Manhattan is located at 125 Westmorland St. in downtown Moncton.
If you took a look at the acts playing the Manhattan Bar & Grill on August 24 as siblings, Earth A.D. would be the oldest child, Iron Giant would be the middle kid and Bong Jovi the youngest child. Earlier this year, Earth A.D. played their first show in almost six years while Bong Jovi has continued to maintain a busy profile, performing all over the Moncton area. Iron Giant on the other hand, falls somewhere between the business of these two bands.
According to Iron Giant vocalist Chris Lewis, the group is approximately half-way through writing the much-anticipated follow up to 2008’s Creator of Scars. Although they have maintained a relatively low profile in Moncton over the last six months, expect the band to be firing on all cylinders when they storm the Manhattan’s stage in late August.
Article published in August 3, 2012 edition of the Times & Transcript
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