THUNDER BAY – Big shows are back in Thunder Bay, with the recently announced Polo G concert Live at the Fort William Gardens presented by NV Music Hall on May 19.
“I have butterflies in my stomach, but I always have butterflies bringing on a show. It’s something I love doing. I’m super excited to bring in an artist of this kind to our city,” said Hanh Marino, event planner.
“Just with everything being shut down and opened up, with the schools being shut down and opened up, and with sports being closed, I feel this is great. I’m really glad to be a part of bringing this to our city.”
Polo G rose to prominence with his singles "Finer Things" and "Pop Out" (featuring Lil Tjay). His second studio album, The Goat, charted ten singles on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and his mainstream success continued with his third album Hall of Fame, which became his first chart topper.
This show will be the first major concert held at Gardens since Hedley performed in 2014, and comes after the recent $1.1-million-dollar face-lift for the Gardens.
The upgrades include a new video scoreboard, lighting mounts, and a new electrical panel, all of which were needed to have large shows return to Thunder Bay.
The upgraded light mount system was especially important to the return of larger-scale events, as the previous method of drilling into the ceiling to install lights was causing too much wear.
Many, including Marino, are expecting a sold-out show, and depending on the layout of the concert and required pandemic response at that time, the Gardens could host up to 4,700 people in the audience.
Paul Burke, sport and community development supervisor with the City of Thunder Bay, hopes that this will signal to other large artists that Thunder Bay is open and ready for business.
“We’ve let a number of concert promoters know across the country that we are back in the business of being able to host events like this again,” said Burke.
“Now that we have the rigging system as well, we did some electrical upgrades that are really meant for concerts. So with those two things, we’re really excited about the future."
Tickets will be available online starting Feb. 25 at 10 a.m.
