Kissel Makes Canadian Country Music History

A live music drought has had a major impact on many of us who love live shows. After all at Sound Check Entertainment #WeLoveLive. Over the past few months we’ve been enjoying live streams of artists however it’s not quite the same as being there in person. When Brett Kissel announced he would be doing a live drive in show at River Cree, it sold out in minutes. It sold so fast they added another show, then another one. After all was said and done, there’s 8 shows in Edmonton and 3 in Regina.

The last show I reviewed was Brett Kissel at the Station on Jasper for his tornado relief benefit concert. That was also the last live show for Edmonton and area as we went into shut down the day after. All music shows across Canada and subsequently North America were cancelled from March 13th onward. We have been treated to many live streams and creative ways to get the music to us, but something was missing. 28 days ago the Brett Kissel crew started to work on a historical moment for Canadian country music fans. The first ever drive in country music concert. And in typical Kissel fashion, he decided to add a fund raising component for this show. All monies raised will go to the Food Banks of Alberta. On the windshield pass that was handed out it even states, “This show is going to be good, and we’re glad to have you. Now lets have ourselves a great time.” A great time was had by all indeed.

Horns started honking around 3:50 for the 4 PM show, which is officially the first one, as people were excited to see some fine live country music. The anticipation level was high for all of us. The show started with an intro from famed tough guy, Chuck Norris who used the line from one of Brett’s hits, “Tough times down’t last, tough people do.”  He started the show off with the ever popular We Were That Song and the horns were honking in appreciation. Other songs in this set included 3-2-1, Drink About Me, Cool With That, the aforementioned Tough People Do and Cecilia.

Brett was humble in his appreciation for the sold out shows and stated “It’s quite emotional to look out at the sea of vehicles. It’s great to be back together again. This moment is history making. You will be able to say to your children and grandchildren, ‘remember that time we saw Brett Kissel at a drive in concert. Now I want to see your arms waving out the windows.” At one point Kissel got emotional with us by saying, ““We had shows lined up in Europe — Italy, Germany, Switzerland, France — and we were planning to tour the U.S., opening up for Eric Church. Absence makes the heart grow fonder and I’ve missed my band. I’m going to soak in this moment for all it’s worth. I just want to say thank you.”

While the show itself was brief at just under 60 minutes, the energy we all felt by being together again was overwhelming. Drones were flying overhead, horns were constantly honking and the crowd loved every moment of it. There was a film crew onsite capturing the evening and all the highlights. At one point during Airwaves, Brett climbed aboard a Safeway trailer to sing a few bars. He was awarded a platinum plaque midway through the show for his latest song Airwaves. 

A couple of gals even made the trip all the way from Eastern Ontario. Justine and Jennifer drove all the way across Canada, They are devote live music fans who spent 39 hours in the car across 3700 kms to make it here, ironically to sit in the car for a show. These two are actually going to all 8 shows in Alberta. Says Justine, “I’ve been a fan of Brett’s since 2014 and I’ve seen him 63 times.” When I asked her if the trip was worth it Justine added, “It was 10000% worth it. I go to a ton of shows, so this drought has been super hard. This is my first show since everything shut down.” Their shirts read “Going the distance to social distance” Take a bow ladies. You are what live music is all about. Fans going that extra mile to see their favourite performer live and in person, albeit while social distancing.

The rules were quite clear. You couldn’t get out of your car. This led Brett to speculate there may be a population boom in 9 months. “This takes me back to the drive in days where you’d be alone in your car with your date maybe we’ll see what happens 9 months from now”. Other restrictions at the show: There were no washrooms on site. We couldn’t idle our vehicles, thankfully it was a nice warm evening. We did have a few drops of rain, but nothing like the thunder storms that hammered the region the night before or were forecast for show time. 180 cars filled the parking lot and everyone obeyed the rules. This was definitely a show for the memory banks and the food banks. Thanks for bringing live music back Brett.

For more information or to listen live across Canada visit: Kissel Live At The Drive In. Brett brings his drive in show to Regina next weekend for another run of sold out shows, if this tour comes to a city near you, you definitely don’t want to miss it!