August 7, 2022 Rock The Lake

Music bounced into the blistering heat of a Sunday afternoon. The parking lot at Prospera Place in Kelowna was filled with people sweating in the sunshine and grooving to the tunes.

Rock The Lake was back.

Rock the parking lot is what they should call it – Okanagan Lake is two blocks away. Semantics don’t matter when music is the ultimate goal.

And the music echoed throughout downtown Kelowna on that sweltering afternoon. I never planned on attending the show, but my wife received a ticket for her birthday and I got a call to do the rig out for the show, so why not go and enjoy some live music. It’s been great having live music back in our world after the pause caused by the coronaverse. 

It’s something that connects us all. The energy and the flow of it is something that can’t be matched in very many ways.

My wife went early and I followed, I was late leaving as usual. When I arrived The Kings were finishing their set. I never knew who they were but when I heard the song Twisting to Glide it all came back to me. I managed to squeeze my way to the front of the crowd and find my wife standing centre stage. 

Krista is short so she likes to get up front and personal to watch concerts. She lamented being a bit late and missing the front rail. The day before she was at the show and hung onto her spot the entire five hours of the concert. No dinner and she barely went to the bathroom. She was that dedicated to be at the front of the crowd. 

There is another level to the energy being that close to the music. That close to the show.

Despite the fact all the acts were well past their prime, they played their hearts out. After The Kings left the stage Carol Pope and Rough Trade mounted the podium and played a strong set of songs from the early eighties and beyond. Carol looked rather rough herself and it was strange watching someone who resembled my grandma up there belting it out. But belt it out she did and she pumped up the crowd. She was also the only one to call it what it was – Rock The Parking Lot.

Next up was Chilliwack and they lifted the level of energy up another notch. They even had a couple original members on the stage with them. We all sang along to their great old classic Canadian rock. I was surprised by how many songs we all knew. There I was standing in the middle of the crowd fists in the air, reliving a youth long gone, but not forgotten.

Trooper took the stage and the crowd roared. The boys in the bright white sports car blew everyone away and they showed how professional they were rocking out all their old hits. Voices rang through the air as we all sang along to Raise A Little Hell. The geriatric rockers pulled off a great performance and the crowd grooved while the sun went down. 

The show originally had Brian Wilson of Beach Boys fame scheduled for the last act of the night. For some reason he could not make it and was replaced by Scottish rockers, Nazerath – what a great upgrade that was. 

Nazareth has had many line-up changes through the years but they still had one original member. Unfortunately the long time lead singer Dan McCafferty was forced to retire in 2013, his replacement, Carl Sentance did a fine job filling his shoes.

They played their hits and rocked the crowd into the night. We swung to the music and enjoyed the show. Despite being on my feet for almost five hours I felt a soulful energy pour through me while I sang along to all the musical memories from my youth. The one song I longed to hear they didn’t play – Woke Up This Morning never rang into the air. It felt kind of strange not to hear their most iconic hit. Despite that I was thrilled to have been able to attend this years reboot of Rock The Lake after a two year hiatus.

My aching body was invigorated enough that I managed to help tear down the stage after the show. Four hours later we were done and the stage was ready to move to the next location. I was drained but felt a certain satisfaction having stood and rocked to the show for five hours then stayed on my feet for another four. 

Maybe I’m not that old after all…