Joel Plaskett headlines ‘Makin’ Waves’ summer concert series opener in Sydney, N.S.

Locals and visitors alike are set to enjoy live music at multiple venues in Sydney, N.S. Thursday night.

Hundreds of people packed Wentworth Park in Sydney, N.S., on Thursday evening for this year’s first in a series of weekly summer concerts called the Makin’ Waves Music Festival.

“I’m excited,” said Joel Plaskett, the world-renowned Dartmouth, N.S., rocker headlining the opening night show along with his band The Emergency. “I mean, we’re revisiting an old record called ‘Down at the Khyber.’”

Plaskett has toured extensively across the globe and is excited to revisit his band’s debut album nearly 25 years to the day after its July 10, 2001, release. He said there is nothing quite like playing an outdoor summer concert in his home province.

“It is the feeling of summer for me for many years, really just being gigging in Nova Scotia, in the Maritimes, for these summer shows,” Plaskett said.

While he was getting things warmed up at Wentworth Park, another well-known musician was entertaining people just down the road at the Big Fiddle along the Sydney Waterfront.

“I love this,” said Cape Breton singer-songwriter Jordan Musycsyn. “I love outdoor concerts. I love that it’s free to the public.”

Musycsyn kicked off the first-ever concert in a brand-new afternoon summer series called “Meet me at the Fiddle - Dockside Sessions.”

He is also a veteran of Makin’ Waves.

“I love looking out and there’s like, kids everywhere and it’s just such a fun, nice community event,” Musycsyn said of the Wentworth Park festival. “It brings everybody together - people that you wouldn’t normally see in the same space.”

In Wentworth Park, as Joel Plaskett Emergency was doing its sound check for the evening, the Dartmouth singer-songwriter was glad to be on the other side of the Canso Causeway for what will be the first of many Thursday night shows at the venue this summer.

“It’s a joy and it’s a privilege - to get the invite back and to be able to feel like connecting to the communities, to get back to Sydney,” Plaskett said. “It’s been a while for us in this town, so it’s nice to be back.”

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