Big Wreck, Danko Jones headline Festival of Friends
The Festival of Friends returns to Hamilton's Gage Park Saturday with a headlining one-two punch of Canadian rock heavyweights Big Wreck and Danko Jones.
Big Wreck, a Toronto based band led by guitarist/singer Ian Thornley, will close the daylong festival, hitting the mainstage at 9:30 p.m., while Danko Jones, a hard-rock trio from Toronto, will perform at 8 p.m.
These are popular acts but they're not going to explode the park like having Monster Truck or Tanya Tucker," festival director Rob Rakoczy said in announcing the headliners. We want to be COVID-friendly."
Rakoczy said COVID-restrictions limit the crowd size of the free festival to 5,000 and festival organizers are erecting barriers to encourage social distancing and keep people from massing tightly in front of the stage.
The issue is not people standing 500 feet back," he said. The issue is the people who want to get close to the stage. So, we will limit the number of people trying to get close to the fence."
Rakoczy stressed that if festival attendees can't distance safely, masks will be required. Masks will be available on-site.
Other main stage acts include Hamilton country rock groups Redhill Valleys (6:45 p.m.) and The Handsome Devils (5:15 p.m.). Other local acts performing on the festival's two stages include Ginger St. James, Chris Chambers, Matty Simpson and LuckyStickz.
Organizers put the festival together on a little more than a month's notice after lockdown restrictions were eased by the provincial government this summer.
This year's festival - the first since 2019 - will include about 15 food trucks, but no crafts' vendors. As well, there will be two acoustic busking" stages set up in the park.
Racoczy said the scaled-down festival, which usually runs three days, is running on a budget of about $175,000 with funding from all three levels of government. Usually, Racoczy said, the festival's budget is more than $500,000.
2021 Festival of Friends
Saturday, Sept. 18, Gage Park
Tim Hortons Main Stage
12:45 p.m. - Riley Michaels
2:15 p.m. - Melissa Marie Walker & The Drivers
3:45 p.m. - Chris Chambers
5:15 p.m. - The Handsome Devils
6:45 p.m. - Redhill Valleys
8 p.m. - Danko Jones
9:30 p.m. - Big Wreck
OLG Bandshell Stage
1:30 p.m. - Trainwreck Two (Ginger St. James/SnowHeel Slim)
3 p.m. - LuckyStickz
4:30 p.m. - Monte Carlo Band
6 p.m. - Matty Simpson