By Derek Jonathan Kaye
Castlegar Sunfest – famous for its showers of rain in previous year’s events, shined with rock and roll attitude to some of the best entertainment to ever grace Kinsmen Park.
Friday evening was a flashback to the best of 1960’s rock and pop with the Beatles Tribute band the Fab Fourever. Saturday BC/DC , perhaps the best AC/DC tribute band in the world pounded the park with the driving rock and roll that keeps you up at night playing air guitar. Between these two great bands the best of local Kootenay talent flavoured the cooking pot with tasteful reminders of what music is all about.
The Fab Fourever, in period piece costumes and instruments brought solid renditions of the original music to the stage where you forgot that this was a tribute band. With true-to-form accents, fashion and hair, the band intertwined the songs with stories of the Beatles’ early days paying dues, including playing the now well known Cavern Club. These young lads from Liverpool, part of the first British invasion, and later part of late 1960’s psychedelic cultural revolution, changed musical history and we were well reminded of that. Many Castlegar residents were dressed in the fashion of that time, and went home that night bubbling with love child enthusiasm.
The next morning started with a bang with local boys Concrete Harvester in only their second gig, cowpunkin’ it out. Johnny Cash may well have rolled over, but that’s a given with these boys. Next Kathy Kolar and her band rocked the stage with some of the best radio rock tunes of the last decade. With wireless microphone and guitar, Kathy and one of her sidemates cruised through the crowd interacting with the new fans they gained that day.
The music then started to get an intellectual edge with the jazzy Grant and Mara, and then Cecil Foley played lovely renditions of Neil Young material with some very fine guitars including a vintage Epiphone arch top.
Next up was Pauline Lamb with a three piece band, showing us why she is a Kootenay legend. Playing originals and drawing from the wealth of Rock and Folk songs from the likes of J.J. Cale and Van Morrison, her band showed the gratefully-attended the nuances and dynamics that live music can offer. After Pauline the Super Cats students showed off their Rock and Roll chops with the help of their instuctor Yanive.
Last but not least, BC/DC showed everybody what real Rock & Roll is all about. Their lesson didn’t fly over the class’ head. No, they shook us to the bone all evening long. As the sun began its final descent behind the cliffs of the Lion’s Head, the record crowd dissipated from Kinsmen park satiated with the joyous headbanging that only the best music can provide.
