It may have been cool outside on the shores of Lake Ontario in Kingston, Ontario but the atmosphere inside the Rogers K-Rock Centre was red hot as Kip Moore, Jon Pardi and Meghan Patrick brought the party to town with Kip's Me and My Kind Tour.
Meghan Patrick
Ontario's own Meghan Patrick, who grew up just down the 401 in Bowmanville Ontario, kicked off the party in style with her upbeat high energy performance that got the nearly sold out crowd up on their feet, tapping their toes and clapping their hands.
Although Meghan is no stranger to the rest of the Sound Check team she and I keep managing to miss each other. Ok I did manage to catch her brief performance at the CMAO awards earlier this year but missed her at RBC Bluesfest and at Boots and Hearts simply due to personal scheduling issues. Although this was still a short set for Meghan it gave me a really good insight into why we have Meghan high atop our "one's to watch" list. Here energy and personality are infectious and spread to the crowd almost immediately. She was the perfect choice to open for Jon and Kip on this tour, I honestly couldn't have picked a better act.
Oh and Meghan you told the crowd last night that many of them may not know who you were...well let me tell you if they hadn't heard of you before last night they most definitely know you and will remember you now, especially after that killer performance of "Jollene".
Jon Pardi
Jon Pardi brought his equally high energy show and kept the energy rising. You can't help but get up and move when Jon sings his songs like Dirt off My Boots and Head Over Boots. They have that kind of unique sound and melody that makes you want to sing along and dance, or at the very least for those who can't dance sway in one spot lol.
The crowd in Kingston definitely knew Pardi's music with everyone singing along and getting into the groove with his music. I'm certain with some time Pardi will be able to headline his own tour and I have no doubt that Kingston will have a place on that tour!
Kip Moore
Kip Moore has been on my must see radar for some time now. Having been a fan of his music for a number of years I've paid even closer attention since getting to know Erik Dylan (Erik is a songwriter out of Kansas who has co-written for Kip Moore, Justin Moore and Chad Brownlee to name just a few). Erik co-wrote the song "Comeback Kid" on Kip Moore's most recent album Wild Ones as well as "My Kind" on Kip's upcoming EP Underground (the EP is due to be released on October 28 but fans can pre-order it here)
After a few letdowns over the past few years where artists I've been really excited to finally see perform fall flat and leave me wanting more I was really hoping that Kip would not follow suit, I'm beyond thrilled to say that he did not. Kip lived up to all my expectations and delivered a fun performance with plenty of energy and the crowd loved every minute of it. Much like Tim Hicks did when he performed in Kingston last month Kip recognized the significance of the venue and the city in which he was playing (Rogers K-Rock Centre is located at 1 Tragically Hip Way in Kingston, Ontario...home to the Tragically Hip) to the Canadian music scene and paid tribute to Gord and The Hip with a cover of "Bobcaygeon". Kingston loves it's music and above all it loves The Tragically Hip so when an artist gets up in front of several thousand people and pays tribute to the band that they love they respond by going crazy!
Although it was a difficult transition to go from covering Disturbed in Ottawa on Wednesday to covering a country show with Kip Moore on Thursday in Kingston with help from Spotify on the drive to Kingston it turned out to be an amazing night.
Special thanks to Invictus Entertainment for bringing this amazing tour to Eastern Ontario and for the meet and greet, unfortunately I arrived too late for the meet and greet but it didn't take away from my enjoyment of the show. I'll just have to catch up with Kip next time he's in town. Special thanks to Ron Pettitt for coming out to shoot the show for us, looking forward to having him shoot for us more regularly in Kingston.
Meghan, Jon and Kip hit London tonight before coming back east to Oshawa where Corey will be attending the show tomorrow night, both shows are sold out.
Field Service Tech by day, Live Music Nut by night! My family and I call the Thousand Islands region of Ontario home. I'm a blogger, social media geek, tech, and live music fanatic. I founded Sound Check Entertainment in 2010 to help promote festivals and emerging artists from across Canada and the world! I now act as festivals liaison, manage media relations and, of course, cover events in the National Capital region. I'm also a diehard Habs fan but Sens fans fear not; as long as they aren't playing against my Habs I cheer just as loud for the Sens.
