Brett Kissel rocks Pembroke for Holy Name School

The school yard at Holy Name school in Pembroke is in desperate need of new playground equipment. They could’ve held a bake sale, a car wash or even sold nevada tickets but instead they decided to invite Brett Kissel to make Pembroke’s Festival Hall a stop on his We Were That Song tour…last night we had the pleasure of being part of an incredible night that will take be remembered, for many years, as one of the most amazing nights of live entertainment ever to rock the Ottawa Valley.

Brett kicked off his We Were That Song tour on January 13 in Calgary and has been travelling across Canada ever since. Most of the dates include special guest Dan Davidson but last night’s visit to Pembroke was unique and included local boys River Town Saints.

Rockin’ a brand new single “You Get To Me” the River Town Saints wasted no time taking control of the crowd at Festival Hall and from that moment on a fuse was lit. River Town Saints kept raising the energy until every seat that was once full was empty and it’s occupants were crowded in the small space between the front row and the stage.

I’ve seen the River Town Saints almost as often as I’ve seen Brett Kissel perform and I’ve never seen a harder working group of guys. Each time they perform they take it up one more notch and last night was no exception. Given only 30 minutes to pump up the crowd is a far more difficult task than one would imagine. River Town Saints are a band that has a full length album to their credit, a new single that just hit the radio plus a repertoire of covers that would rival my personal music collection. To take all of that and squeeze it into 30 minutes would give the average human being a migraine. But not these guys, they put together a set that rocked the roof off of the Festival Hall before Brett Kissel came anywhere near the stage, easily one of my favourite performances ever.

Enter Brett Kissel. Let me set the stage for you for a minute. Brett Kissel has been battling a cold or the flu for the last few days. Leading up to last night’s show Brett was forced to cancel his meet and greet with his fans, something that is his lifeblood, so that he could save his voice for the show. Brett walked out on stage to face a powder keg that had been simmering since the River Town Saints left the stage. He kicked off his show with “We Were That Song” and the energy kept going up and up. As this happened Brett began to feed on the energy and it gave him energy. At one point he told the crowd “my contract says I’m to play for 45 mins or something…I say forget that I’m going to play all night”.

I have known Brett Kissel for a long time, since just before Started With A Song. He had just signed with Warner Music when we first met and the first time I saw him perform I knew that I had witnessed something special. Last night in Pembroke was, by far, the best performance I’ve ever seen Brett deliver…and he was sick. Think about that for a minute…remember the last time you had a cold? Bed and Netflix were like work right? Now imagine getting up on a stage in front of a few hundred people and performing your heart out…to me that’s superhuman. Brett could’ve cancelled the show, he was sick he had every right to say you know what? I need a day to rest so the rest of the tour can go on. But he didn’t. He didn’t because he’s a fighter. In his own words he says “Tough Times Don’t Last, Tough People Do” and he lives by those words.

At one point in the show Brett called Tanya Tompkins, the show organizer, to the stage. They talked about how this concert was going to raise funds for a new playground at her kids’ school. Brett told her and the crowd that after the show was over, and after everything was counted he would return and do a second show to help raise whatever is outstanding to make this playground happen.

This is what makes Brett Kissel special. Brett Kissel is an Alberta kid who now lives in Nashville with his young family but yet here he was caring that kids in small town Ottawa Valley have a decent playground in their school yard. Caring so much that he put everything he had into a show to the point where afterwards he had no voice left at all.

Pembroke, you were given a rare treat last night. It was an absolute pleasure to share in that moment with you all and I can’t wait to see that new playground become a reality. Thank you for having us out, hopefully we can be part of Brett’s return to Festival Hall whenever that may be.

Brett and his band roll into Barrie tonight before wrapping up the Ontario leg of his tour with 3 shows in Northern Ontario starting with North Bay on Friday night. For tickets visit www.brettkissel.com

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