'We're really excited': The stage is set for music festival season in the Maritimes

Maritimers get ready for festival season The stage is being set in New Brunswick for a return to pre-pandemic formats for summer music festivals.

With COVID-19 related restrictions now lifted in New Brunswick, the stage is being set for music festivals in the province to return to their pre-pandemic formats this summer.

The AREA 506 festival in Saint John has released its lineup for this year’s event along the city’s waterfront, which includes performances by Arkells, the Trews, Sloan, k-os, and many more from July 29-31.

“Early indicators just from website traffic, tickets sales, general interest and feedback based on the launch yesterday has been really positive,” says festival founder Ray Gracewood. “So we’re really excited coming out of the launch.”

Gracewood describes this year as a return to form, with the event needing to pivot to different formats over the past two years due to COVID rules and restrictions.

“The feedback we’re getting is that people are ready to come back out, people are ready to get into an environment where they can start to feel live music, and they can be close to people,” says Gracewood. “I think people are getting more comfortable with how things have moved along.”

In St. Andrews, the four-day Paddlefest has typically been the kick-off to the busy tourist season in the seaside community and festival director Luke Macdonald says this year it too will see a return to a more familiar structure.

“We will have the main stage back in town square which has kind of been our marquee venue for the last decade or so,” says Macdonald. “So we didn’t do that last year — we had an event last year but it was quite scaled back.”

The event is happening this year from May 19-22 and features many local New Brunswick artists including David Myles, Grand Theft Bus, Tomato/Tomato and many more.

Fredericton’s Harvest Jazz and Blues festival, happening this year from September 13-18, is another summer staple in the province and a major draw for the capital city.

“We know people are excited,” says director of music programming for the festival Brent Staeben. “You can even see it in some small shows that are happening right now in the community. The Playhouse is starting to fill up for shows and people are anxious to get back to big concerts again.”

The full line-up for Harvest Jazz and Blues will be released on April 6.