THUNDER BAY – Organizers of the second Wake the Giant Music Festival hope a fully vaccinated Thunder Bay will let them lead a semi-charmed kind of life in September.
A.J. Haapa and Sean Spenrath on Thursday announced they plan to go ahead with the second rendition of the festival, headlined by rising Canada singer Jessie Reyez, fresh off a video collaboration with Beyonce, and ‘90s rockers Third Eye Blind, a local favourite that’s never played Thunder Bay.
“We’re super excited to have it back. We were very scared that if we didn’t have this lineup this year we’d lost the artists because of how big they’ve gotten,” Spenrath said.
“We were very fortunate when we first booked them, right after the first festival, that they were able to come to terms with us. But thankfully they came back and the joy they’re going to bring people in Thunder Bay, to be back to live events is something so special. We’re getting to see a massive event back in Thunder Bay that people are going to support and be so happy to part of.”
The lineup is strong from top to bottom, continuing with Loud Luxury, a three-time 2020 Juno nominee, including artist of the year, William Prince, a country star who has opened for Neil Young, electro-pop artist Iskwe, the Godfather of PowWowStep, D.J. Shub, renowned powwow group Northern Cree and Sioux Lookout’s own Nick Sherman.
Given how long live music has been sidelined because of the pandemic, Spenrath said music fans are ready to let loose.
“I think you’ll take the energy from the first festival, where it was all about community, and I think you’re going to multiply that by about three or four and it’s just going to be crazy.”
The festival is another chance to spread the Wake the Giant message to the broader community, encouraging them to show students from Indigenous communities in Ontario’s Far North they’re welcome in Thunder Bay. It’s also a chance for the youth to interact with the musicians and even collaborate, like they did two years ago when July Talk took the Marina Park stage.
“For us, coming from the school background, it’s making those kids from the North feel like rock stars and it gives them an opportunity to interact with not only a big artist ... but they also get to meet the people from Thunder Bay and I think that’s the biggest part of this festival.”
First Nations communities kept their students at home this past year rather than sending them to the city to study at Dennis Franklin Cromarty High School.
It’s believed students will be back in class in the fall and hoped COVID-19 restrictions will be lifted enough to allow an outdoor festival to take place.
For now Spenrath said they’re only selling 2,000 tickets, but could open up more should public health give the OK. He acknowledged if things do get worse on the COVID front, the show might not go on as planned.
Haapa is trying not to think that far ahead at this point.
“It’s going to be an incredible day and just an opportunity for the community to come back together after spending so much time apart,” Haapa said.
Tickets are $85 to $150 and are available online at www.wakethegiant.ca.
