New festival targets classic rock fans

IN CONCERT

What: Laketown Rock Festival featuring Sam Roberts Band, Loverboy, Glass Tiger, Honeymoon Suite, Trooper, Matt Mays and more
Where: Laketown Ranch Music & Recreation Park, 8811 Youbou Rd., Youbou
When: Friday through Sunday
Tickets: $60 daily; $129 for weekend pass

Vancouver Island offers every type of music festival imaginable, from blues and jazz to folk and funk. For years, however, there has been a gap where classic rock was concerned. Vancouver Island has had its share of rock festivals, but nothing catered specifically to 40-plus rock ’n’ rollers — until now.

Help has arrived in the form of the Laketown Rock Festival, a three-day event making its debut this weekend at Lake Cowichan’s Laketown Ranch Music & Recreation Park.

“It’s typically the first camping weekend of the year, and there has been a bit of a void on that weekend as far as music events are concerned,” said Mike Hann, festival manager for Laketown Rock.

“We figured it was a good opportunity to celebrate the start of summer with some good rock ’n’ roll.”

Laketown Rock is being staged on the 172-acre site that hosts the hugely popular Sunfest Country Music Festival, which drew upwards of 15,000 fans and campers per day last year. Hann isn’t expecting that same turnout during the first Laketown Rock, but the stage is set for a weekend of good times.

Loverboy, Sam Roberts, Glass Tiger, Honeymoon Suite, Kenny Shields and Streetheart, Trooper, Headpins and Prism, among others, will entertain audiences starting Friday at 2:30 p.m.

The music will continue through the weekend on two stages, with 27 performances in all.

It was a massive undertaking for Hann and the rest of Wideglide Entertainment, the Duncan-based company that also produces Sunfest. But the response has been great, Hann said, proving that a camping-friendly festival programmed for adult rock fans and their families has a place in the Island’s busy festival lineup.

“It was something we were hearing from our customers of all ages, that this was a genre that needed a little bit more attention,” Hann said. “And we’ve seen a lot of excitement as a result of having a lineup of this sort. There’s a lot of nostalgia involved for a lot of people.”

The event is designed to appeal to campers staying the weekend, but a shuttle service busing ticketholders up and down the Island gives fans the chance to pick and choose which days to attend.

Roberts leads a Friday contingent focused primarily on modern rock, but the bulk of the festival is aimed at fans who like their music with a touch of Canuck nostalgia.

Loverboy, Glass Tiger and Honeymoon Suite were not only some of the biggest bands in Canada in their day — with millions of records sold and 13 Juno Award wins from 30 nominations — but major players in the United States.

Glass Tiger scored two Top 10 hits in the U.S. on its way to earning a Grammy Award nomination for best new artist in 1987, while Loverboy’s hit album Get Lucky spent more than two years on the Billboard sales charts in the U.S.

“We’re extremely happy with how things have been going and how strong the response has been,” Hann said. “From an event-planning standpoint, you have to be very realistic in your first year.”

Construction is underway on the grounds at Laketown Ranch to have upgrades ready for Sunfest, from Aug. 3 to 6.

Laketown Rock will only use half the site, so the work will not hamper this weekend’s festival flow. It will, however, give revellers a chance to see where Laketown Rock is headed in the near future.

There will be a second instalment of Laketown Rock, Hann said. Others could be on the horizon as well.

“The site is very music-centric, but there are lots of other potential uses for it as well. The idea is to grow it into a multi-faceted venue, but to still maintain it as a hub for high-level outdoor entertainment in the warmer months.”

The quality of the music, above all else, is the selling point, Hann said.

In addition to a healthy contingent of local bands playing the side stage and early slots on the main stage, the headliners aren’t likely to disappoint.

To have these and other acts over the weekend on the Laketown Rock stage — considered the biggest permanent stage of its kind in the province — will bring the site and its benefits into clear view for first-time attendees.

“You’ll come down a slight hill on Youbou Road, and when your jaw drops, you’ll know you’re there,” Hann said, explaining how he tells first-timers to find the site.

“I haven’t been wrong with that description yet. It’s an amazing place. Vancouver Island should feel really lucky to have a place like this.”