Rockers, and bluesmen and guitarists, oh my! What an amazing line-up of talented musicians I witnessed this past Saturday out in Oshawa for the first annual Durham Rock Tribute Band Festival presented by Sunrise Concerts and sponsored by local radio station CKDO-FM.
The roster included some of the best musicians I’ve seen play live, let alone their tribute material performed to perfection. The fans showed their appreciation with loud applause, screams and the occasional rebel yell after each hit and the bands gave back even more energy. So, now please meet my newest fave bands….
First on stage was SOUTHERN FRIED who performed the hits of Lynyrd Skynyrd and the Allman Brothers Band.
Then we had THE SRV EXPERIENCE with Dave Ryan out front channeling the virtuoso guitar playing of Stevie Ray Vaughan…
Then Gator James and his band BAD TO THE BONE brought George Thorogood to the festival stage….
One of my fave 80’s bands, Bon Jovi, was manifested by BON JOVI FOREVER and lots of ladies quickly hit the dancefloor…
To close the evening, AC/DC’s best interpreters THUNDERSTRUCK hit the stage and blew the roof off. For me, my Aussie connection to AC/DC made this a very special performance [Angus Young’s brother, George, was a founding member of legendary 60’s Oz band, The Easybeats…and I still have my 45’s from back them].
Big thanks to MC for the night KENNY ROBINSON (pictured below) who did a heroic job of keeping the show flowing – so tough for a comedian to work to a crowd seated waaaay back behind the dancefloor, but Kenny was in good humour all night (and got me home to Toronto by 3am!)Congratulations to local promoter George Kotsopoulos (pictured below left, with Kenny in the lobby of Gen’l Sikorski Hall) for staging this festival.And a nice thank-you to the lovely ladies from TicketPro.ca who started everyone’s night off with big smiles and a friendly welcome!Thanks again to all the great musicians who contributed to a successful first-time festival…see you all next year!