THUNDER BAY - There’s just no way to know what’s going to happen on stage at Bluesfest. For singer/songwriter, Alan Doyle, formerly of Newfoundland’s Great Big Sea, being on stage at the annual Thunder Bay music festival led to one of the greatest moments of his life.
“One of my favourite nights on the road ever was playing that festival with Great Big Sea about four years ago,” Doyle said in an interview with the Thunder Bay Source. “We were headlining that one night and earlier in the day, Kim Mitchell was to play, but he had just flown in from a gig the night before and he had gotten sick and couldn’t sing.”
Soon enough, word started spreading back stage that Mitchell was looking for anybody that could sing any of his songs.
“It was like a 15-year-old fantasy of mine,” Doyle said. “So I sang Patio Lanterns with Kim Mitchell and it was one of the greatest days of my life.”
Doyle will be returning to the Bluesfest stage this weekend along with more than 20 acts, including Amanda Marshall, Sam Roberts Band, the Barenaked Ladies, and Randy Bachmann.
This will be the third time Doyle has played Bluesfest in the last four years, having performed with Great Big Sea in 2013 and as a solo artist in 2015. This year he will once again be joined on stage by The Beautiful Gypsies.
“The two most fun things about summertime festivals is first and foremost getting to play outdoors in the community or in a park where it feels like you are really part of a town,” Doyle said. “The number two big reason is kind of a selfish one, but we get to see the other bands.”
Since beginning his solo career, Doyle has released two full-length albums, Boy on a Bridge in 2012 and So Let’s Go in 2015. Fans can expect to hear some new material during his set at this year’s Bluesfest, as Doyle prepares to release his third solo album, A Week at the Warehouse, in October.
“We did it in about six days and listened on the seventh day,” Doyle said of the recording. “It’s old school.We all had a great time doing it. It’s a live band in a live room. It’s a really spirited performance based record that is very similar to what people will get to see when they come watch me and my band live.”
For Doyle, who said he is an entertainer at heart, the biggest master he wants to serve when recording any new material is the concert.
“I wanted to make a whole album full of music that would make the next two years of touring exciting and fresh for everybody, for the players playing the songs and most importantly for the people who are buying the tickets and coming to the concert,” he said.
Unfortunately, Doyle will miss Kim Mitchell’s set, so it looks like he won’t be able to join him on stage again. At Bluesfest, you never know what will happen, but Doyle does have one guarantee.
“Every night I play a concert, I want it to be the greatest concert that anyone ever saw,” he said.
Alan Doyle and The Beautiful Gypsies will be taking to the Bluesfest stage on Saturday, July 8 at 7:45 p.m.
