Over the next few weeks Saskatchewan will see some incredible concerts and live music thanks to such events as the Gateway Music Festival, Raymore Summer Slam, Garth Brooks, and countless other events along the way. It got me thinking about the first concert I went to as I was driving to Kenosee Lake on Thursday. When I drove through Kipling, I realized this was the community where I saw my first concert, which happened to be George Fox, who will be in Raymore August long weekend!

The George Fox concert was part of his Christmas tour that rolled through the town in early December of 2003. Not only did I get to see him, but I also got to help him and his road team help tear down his equipment and load it up into the trucks. I learned he was a super nice guy who loved what he was doing. He sang a lot of Christmas songs, obviously, but he also mixed some of his classics into the show like “The Night the Barn Burned Down” and “Clearly Canadian,” among others.

It wouldn’t be until Easter weekend 2006 when I saw my next major concert when several of us from the radio station I was working at headed to Winnipeg to see a young Aaron Pritchett who opened for Sara Evans who opened for Brooks and Dunn at MTS Centre. It was an epic night of music and it was also one of the first instances Pritchett sang a little song titled “Hold my Beer,” which ended up becoming a massive success for him!

Memories and happy times are created at concerts and festivals on a regular basis, but it doesn’t matter who we see and how wild and wicked the show was, we will always remember our first concert and the exhilaration associated with going. You’ll probably find me in the front row for George Fox in Raymore August long weekend.