It was an unusually stormy late summer Saturday night in Kingston and mere moments before the annual CFB Kingston Garrison Family Fun Fest, featuring Abby Stewart and Tim Hicks, was about to kick off the entire venue was evacuated due to a severe thunderstorm. Lucky for us the CFB Kingston Base Gym was a short hundred meter dash in the driving rain away. A little under an hour later the rain stopped and the stage lights came on....it was showtime!
Incredibly talented Abby Stewart kicked things off
15 year old emerging artist. and Kingston native, Abby Stewart kicked off the night by blowing, what was left of, the roof off with an incredible cover of Maren Morris' "My Church". For the next 30 minutes Abby, once again, demonstrated why we've had her on our list of ones to watch over the next 5 years. I personally just saw Abby perform last summer and she improved 10 fold in just one year.
Time to Shake These Walls with Tim Hicks...
Following Abby was the night's main attraction, Tim Hicks. Hot on the heels of the release of his third CD Shake These Walls and in the middle of a busy CCMA weekend in London Tim stormed into Kingston for a one night only salute to the men and women of our Canadian Forces. In case there was any doubt the crowd would not be disappointed. For the better part of an hour Tim took the crowd on a journey that began many years ago when he and his band regularly traveled up and down the 401 between Windsor and Ottawa with many stops in Kingston along the way.
Times have change for Tim since those days but the times haven't changed Tim. Tim knew exactly where he was performing on Saturday night and the significance the city now holds for the Canadian Music scene so before he jumped back into his van to race back to London he and his band switched gears and rocked "Little Bones" in tribute to Gord Downie and the Tragically Hip. As if things weren't explosive enough the crowd's energy went through the roof! Tim closed out the night with his smash hit "Stronger Beer"
Special thanks to our friends at Country 93.5, PSP Kingston and Abby Stewart's team for getting us access to the special night. If you want to learn more about Abby Stewart, or even purchase her EP Firsts visit her online www.abbystewartmusic.com. Of course you already know Tim Hicks but if you want to purchase his latest CD Shake These Walls, and believe us you will ( read Corey's review here), visit him at www.timhicksmusic.com
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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.
