sa国际传媒

What: Rock the Shores featuring Brian Wilson, Social Distortion, X Ambassadors, Bahamas, The Sheepdogs, Jesse Roper, and more
Where: West Shore Parks & Recreation (lower fields), 1767 Old Island Highway, Colwood
When: Friday through Sunday
Tickets: $59.50-$79.50 daily ($169 for a three-day pass) at West Shore Parks & Recreation (250-478-8384), Lyle鈥檚 Place (770 Yates St., 250-382-8422) or ticketweb.ca

The festival that once owned the record for paid attendance in the region is back after a one-year absence, with a wide variety of performers on the bill 鈥� from a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee to an Academy Award nominee.

Variety is the means by which festival producers make their living in 2018, and producer Nick Blasko of Atomique Productions said the sixth edition of the festival needed to make a splash upon its return, and has done so by sporting a record 28 acts.

鈥淲e had enough time to think through some of the changes we wanted to make, and how we wanted to make them,鈥� Blasko said. 鈥淲e鈥檙e trying to respond to what people want.鈥�

Rock the Shores launched in 2012 at a record pace. An appearance by headliners The Tragically Hip helped the festival draw 12,500 during its first year, the largest paid attendance for a single-day concert in Vancouver Island history at the time. During subsequent editions, the festival went on to book high-profile acts such as The Black Keys, Weezer, Our Lady Peace, Father John Misty, Tom Cochrane, and Jane鈥檚 Addiction.

Producers made the decision to go dark in 2017 to avoid suffering significant losses.

The respite was always designed to be temporary, Blasko said. It was abundantly clear that Spirit 150, a free, federally-funded sa国际传媒-wide celebration, would be tough to compete with in 2017 so Atomique Productions pumped the brakes, rather than see their debt-load increase.

鈥淲e were very serious about why we took a year off. It was the right move. Now, we get a chance to take a longer run at it, and build something that hopefully could be around for many more years.鈥�

Rock the Shores returns with a site that will look very much like its old self. Organizers are expecting an audience in the neighbourhood of 5,000 people, but the fields at West Shore Parks and Recreation have been structured to accommodate thousands more if needed. Blasko expects the festival to post its biggest numbers of the weekend on Saturday, for sets by rockers Social Distortion, The Sheepdogs, Jesse Roper, and Corb Lund.

No matter the size of the audience, few competitors can compete with the site when the sun is out and music is playing, Blasko said. 鈥淲e鈥檝e been to battle on it many times, and have worked out so many of the kinks. I think it鈥檚 one of the better, if not the best, mid-size festival sites in the province. It鈥檚 the perfect shape and the grass is amazing. I鈥檓 excited to get back out there.鈥�

The biggest structural addition is a newly-built section of reserved seats near the stage. The move was done primarily to appease those coming to see Brian Wilson of The Beach Boys on Sunday, attendees who might not want to stand for the duration of the day before Wilson closes out the festival with his 14-piece band. The reserved section will be open on Friday and Saturday as well.

鈥淲e鈥檙e selling a good amount of reserved tickets,鈥� Blasko said. 鈥淧eople are excited to know that they can have a seat. It鈥檒l be just like going to a theatre.鈥�

More obvious changes are evident in the programming, and Wilson, an older performer whose version of rock 鈥檔鈥� roll is more orchestral these days, is not the only curveball. Several of the acts booked to perform 鈥� from Felix Cartal, a Vancouver dance music producer with 75 million streams on Spotify, and traditional Washington, D.C., folk duo Rising Appalachia to garage rocker Juliette Lewis of Natural Born Killers film fame鈥� are from genres not previously explored at Rock the Shores.

鈥淲e鈥檙e taking some risks this year in terms of the programming,鈥� Blasko said. 鈥淲e鈥檙e putting some stuff on the stage that we鈥檝e never had before, tipping into the pop world, the [dance music] world, and the folk world.鈥�

In previous years, Rock the Shores appealed primarily to rock fans, the majority of whom are closer to their 30s than their late teens. This year鈥檚 instalment was designed to narrow that gap. The electronically-accented Cartal, Kytami, and Skiitour represent the new breed of rockers, and hint at a direction Rock the Shores may explore further in the future.

鈥淲e鈥檝e tried to touch on a ton of musical genres and tastes,鈥� Blasko said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 nice to get back to producing something that is significant for the region.鈥�

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