By Adam Prudhomme
Staff Reporter
Voodoo Rockfest is set to rock the Napanee Fairgrounds for a second year, returning with 18 bands spread out over Sept. 22 and 23.
Bands are booked to attend from Windsor to Montreal and everywhere in-between, some playing original music while others will pay tribute to rock legends such as Green Day, Skid Row and Guns N’ Roses.
“I have the 2016 Rock Search winner (The Silence Factory) and the 2017 Rock Search Winner (Crown Lands) both playing the festival on Saturday,” said Joe Matthews, event organizer. “The entire purpose of the festival really is to get these independent bands in front of more people than they normally would play to. A lot of them are on the verge of getting to another level. The previous Rock Search winners have been bands like The Glorious Sons, The Trews, Sheepdogs and Monster Truck. Those are bands that have gone on to substantial careers.”
“These two bands that have won in the last two years, are going to be bands that we’re going to be paying a lot more money to see very soon,” added Matthews. “You’re going to pay the same amount to see one those bands for what you’re going to pay for the whole day (at Voodoo Fest).”
Tickets are $20 for Friday, $30 for Saturday or $50 for the whole weekend, which includes access to free camping for the weekend at the Fairgrounds. Tickets are available now at Gino’ Pizza in Napanee or online at www.TicketScene.ca.
The event is all ages and will include beer and craft vendors as well as food trucks.
Matthews is hoping the second year will help to establish the festival in the Napanee community. When he first launched it last year, it was the first of its kind in the area.
“We got to partner with Walk for Kids Mental Health, (local high school students) got their volunteer hours at the festival, there were a lot of positive things to come out of the first year,” said Matthews.
He’s once again reaching out to the high school community and asking any students looking for volunteer hours to contact him via the Voodoo Rockfest Facebook page.
A raffle will also be held during the weekend, which includes an autographed Sum 41 t-shirt, with proceeds going towards the youth mental health organization.
“Mental health is very tied to music,” said Matthews. “We’ve lost two big rock stars this year to mental health issues, Chris Cornell and Chester Bennington from Linkin Park. Those are two very influential people for a lot of youth.”
The music will get started around 5:30 p.m. on Friday and run until 11 p.m. and will run from noon to 11 p.m. on the Saturday.
A complete list of the acts, as well as links to their Spotify pages can be found at Musicfly.ca.