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Arts & Entertainment

Music in the Mountains falls on deaf ears

Sadie Cox

Revfest 2010: Music in the Mountains is an aptly named music festival. Located in an idyllic area on the bank of the Columbia River in Revelstoke’s Centennial Park, this festival should have no trouble attracting a crowd—or so one would think. With a line up packed with great bands like Nelson’s Wassabi Collective, Kamloops’ Earthbound, Vernon’s Redfish and Juno-award winner Greg Sczebel, the 10th anniversary of the Revelstoke music festival was the perfect weekend destination for young and old. The festival also featured kid’s activities and music on Saturday in addition to numerous local food and merchant vendors. Low attendance was somewhat understandable Friday night when gale-force winds whipped through festival grounds and forced organizers to pull Old Man’s Beard off of the stage and stop everything to secure sound equipment and wait for the wind to die down. The master of ceremonies apologized and assured the crowd that the sand and dirt blowing into their teeth was good for them as it was chock full of essential minerals. The interruption resulted in Regina-based Skaven-jah missing their stage time and set the night’s schedule behind by an hour. For quite a while, the crowd was composed of mostly volunteers and event organizers but it eventually grew as the winds died down and the energy picked up. Earthbound took the stage after the delay and played a solid set. Their tunes got the crowd moving, warming them up after spending an hour exposed to whipping winds. By the time Wassabi Collective took the stage there was about 150 people in the crowd. Wassabi Collective played on into the night, reciprocating the crowd’s enthusiasm and positive energy by coming back for an encore. By Saturday morning the wind had completely dissipated and the sun was shining down on the wind-blown campers and their dishevelled tents. It was a perfect day to kick back and take in some live music by some seriously talented bands--at least 20 or so people thought so any way. Aside from the ultimate frisbee players on adjacent fields who were treated to live music during their tournament. The general consesus among the musicians present was that the event was suffering from a lack of media promotion. Carol Mayer, festival organizer, was unavailable to comment on this year’s attendance levels and how they compared to previous years. Shane Philip’s skilful didgeridoo playing brought a few more people out of the woodwork around 9:30 but by the time the festival’s headliners Econoline Crush took the stage the crowd was still small by any standard. However small, the people who did come out were treated to an intimate performance with some talented Canadian musicians. This festival newbie thoroughly enjoyed the sights and sounds at Music in the Mountains 2010 and is glad to have been there to hear it.