Fred Eaglesmith

Proudly presented by the Tidemark Theatre Society and Vancouver Island MusicFest

The heart of rock and roll is alive and well with Fred Eaglesmith’s 20th album, Tambourine. Fusing together all of Fred’s past influences, the result is pure rock ‘n ‘roll reminiscent of 1966.

Eaglesmith is a veteran of the music industry and at the same time is about as far away from actually participating in today’s music industry as one could be. Never operating within anyone’s boundaries, he continues to set the standard for independent artists everywhere. While blazing his own often colourful path he has avoided most of the traps and pitfalls of his peers, his career reads like a manual on how to succeed in music today without trying to fit into the traditional business models.

A typical day in the life of Eaglesmith will find him driving an average of four to eight hours between shows in his converted 1990 Bluebird tour bus. He outfitted the bus with a system of filters and pumps which he designed himself to enable them to run on waste vegetable oil recycled from deep fryers in venues and restaurants along the road. This past year included seeing Fred astonish many local mechanics by changing his own blown bus transmission on the side of a highway in rural Alberta without missing one gig.

Adding a touch of the theatrics to every show, Eaglesmith dubbed his band The Traveling Steam Show and they began performing in steampunk-ish outfits a few years ago when he released his Latin-influenced rock album Cha Cha Cha. “It harkens back to the ’60s and ’70s variety shows that were on TV,” Eaglesmith told the Albuquerque Journal. “It’s a show. It’s a lot more than a concert. I like to pay attention to what’s cutting edge and bring that into the live show.”

Tickets: $32 (+applicable taxes and fees)

***Licensed event – must be 19 years of age – ID required at door***