Reba making single stop for summer-end jubilee
Posted 3 months ago
SHIRLEY LIN
Today staff
Fort McMurray will now host another music superstar who's only stop in Alberta will be here.
Being lauded as the biggest country music line-up yet in Fort McMurray, Reba McEntire, Grammy-winning "Queen of Country," will end the summer with a bang.
The announcement was made Wednesday for the SummersEND Country Music Jubilee from Sept. 1-5 hosted by Events Wood Buffalo and MacDonald Island Park.
McEntire will headline the three-day concert series Sept. 1 followed by another country star Dierks Bentley Sept 2, and Canada's own George Canyon from Nova Scotia on Sept. 3
Events Wood Buffalo executive director Claude Giroux said the McEntire project has been a long-time coming for him and MacIsland chief operating officer Tim Reid. After trying for two years, the deal was finally sealed.
"Tim and I talked about bringing Reba and that being a great way to amp up what we're actually doing in this community and show the world that we can actually host this, and we thought she would be a perfect fit."
Giroux said they had to make a presentation to lure her to Fort McMurray as she wasn't touring and doing a lot of shows this year. EWB had tried to get McEntire here last year but due to scheduling conflicts, it didn't work out, he added.
"She's always wanted to come, she's never said, I don't want to go there. It's just been a question of working out the details."
Reid said the deal for McEntire happened just within the last month.
"She has wanted to be here for a while … everything worked out so I think she's really excited to be here as excited as we are to have her."
As for the other acts Bentley, who has won two CMT Awards, and Juno-winning Canyon, Giroux said they fell into place once Reba was confirmed.
"It's kind of serendipity because once you have an act like that, all the other acts just want to join in, they want to be there."
He said when McEntire was confirmed, Bentley's crew contacted EWB.
"(It) just kind of became a no-brainer for us. He's a great act, all on his own would be a great show. And then the George Canyon thing kind of fell into place the same way."
For this show alone, Giroux is expecting about 1,000 to 1,500 fans from out of town mainly from this province in Edmonton, Calgary and Lethbridge.
"Based on what we understand Reba's fan base to be like, we have a lot of people coming in from out of town, and you can only imagine the kind of activity that will create."
The star-studded event will also include Victoria Banks, Ryan Laird and One More Girl to support the main acts.
As for the preparation, Giroux said all the setup and hard work will already be done for the KISS concert in July.
"So most of the infrastructure will actually be there waiting so the Reba show should be a much easier transition for us."
The concert packages for all three shows will first go on sale starting June 24: $169 for general admission and $300 for VIP.
That is a great deal, Giroux said, adding that he has seen Reba tickets sell for $250 a pop.
But single tickets won't go on sale until much later when the packages have been sold.
"We're really encouraging people to buy those packages and be part of this entire weekend because we want a good turnout," said Reid who said the team is expecting 9,000 people at the concert.
"It's important to us as a community that these shows have strong attendance and we show the artist that Wood Buffalo is a region that can sustain multi-days concert."
Although 9,000 is a smaller number than the KISS concert, that is intentional because it's a different demographic, he said.
"The country market is frankly well established. It's wonderful in this area, and I think the community is crying out for it."
The non-concert celebrations will be the same as last year's including the carnival midway, dance and music competitions.
"This really is a round out festival for our community before we come to the end of summer," said Reid.
shirley.lin@fortmcmurraytoday.com