Local fans of one of Canada’s most popular rock bands would certainly agree that the result was well worth the wait.

Earlier this year, they were among many waiting for confirmation of the headliner for the August 2nd date of Peterborough Musicfest’s 17-concert schedule.

When ONtour announced it was bringing Our Lady Peace to Del Crary Park as part of its 2017 offering of 23 free concerts province wide, their wait was over and anticipation began in earnest.

With opening acts Coleman Hell and River Town Saints, the four-time Juno Award-winning quartet takes to the Fred Anderson Stage, capping a rare tripleheader for the free summer concert series.

Those planning to attend should note the special start time of 7 p.m., with the VIP seating section opens at 5:30 p.m.

Note that VIP seating will be relocated to the east side of the stage for this concert, and seat location will be allotted on a first come, first served basis.

The host for the evening is Sudbury beatboxer Emilie Carrey aka Sparx (she took second place at the World Beatbox Championships in 2015). She will be on stage from 7 to 7:15 p.m. River Town Saints perform from 7:15 to 8 p.m., followed by Coleman Hell from 8:30 to 9 p.m. Headliners Our Lady Peace perform a 75-minute set from 9:45 to 11 p.m.

VIDEO: “Starseed” — Our Lady Peace

Formed in Toronto in 1992 and still headed by co-founder and lead singer Raine Maida — Our Lady Peace’s name is taken from a Mark Van Doren poem of the same name — the band has since sold millions of albums worldwide, taking home four Juno Awards and 10 MuchMusic Video Awards in the process.

Our Lady Peace’s debut album Naveed was released in March 1994 and immediately paid a huge dividend in the form of a Canadian tour supporting I Mother Earth and 54-40 and, south of the border, opening for Van Halen on tour. The album’s title track and “Starseed” charted high, the latter included on the soundtrack for the film Armageddon.

VIDEO: “Superman’s Dead” — Our Lady Peace

Seven studio albums followed, the latest being 2012’s Curve, but it was the early 1997 follow-up to Naveed that took Our Lady Peace into a whole other stratosphere. Featuring the singles “Superman’s Dead”, “Automatic Flowers” and the title track, Clumsy achieved diamond-certified status on the strength of one million sales in Canada alone.

While subsequent album sales remained strong, the new millennium brought several changes to the band’s lineup, including the departure of original guitarist Mike Turner in early 2002.

“The last two records we’ve been yearning for a guitar player that can really stand up and have a strong voice and Mike (Turner) just wasn’t that kind of guitar player,” says Maida in a subsequent Winnipeg Free Press article, hinting at dissension in the ranks.

VIDEO: “Somewhere Out There” — Our Lady Peace

Gravity, Our Lady Peace’s fifth album, featured a more mainstream sound. While many fans and critics jumped on that, the album’s chart-topping single “Somewhere Out There” was, and remains, the band’s biggest international hit. After nearly breaking up during the recording of Healthy In Paranoid Times, the band’s sixth album, Our Lady Peace took a break, returning with Burn Burn in 2009 followed by Curve three years later.

However, as noted in an interview with Andrea Warner posted on www.cbcmusic.ca on the 20th anniversary of the release of Naveed, that first studio album still holds a special place in Maida’s heart.

“It was basically made out of naiveté,” says Maida.

“We didn’t know anything about the music business. It was probably the most pure piece of music we’ve ever made because of that.”

With the departure of original drummer Jeremy Taggart in June 2014, Our Lady Peace arrives in Peterborough with Steve Mazur (lead guitar), Duncan Coutts (bass guitar), and Jason Pierce backing Maida’s lead vocals.

In Coleman Hell and River Town Saints, Musicfest’s audience will be treated to two very different sounds.

Thunder Bay’s Coleman Hell released his debut single “2 Heads” in October 2015 and followed that up exactly year later with Top 30-charting Summerland, his first full-length album from which two singles, “Fireproof” and “Devotion”, also charted high.

VIDEO: “2 Heads” — Coleman Hell

VIDEO: “Fireproof” — Coleman Hell

The producer, singer, and songwriter brings an interesting mix of pop-rock, electronic, and rap music genres to the table with equally interesting results — “2 Heads”, for example, features a banjo-infused R&B dance sound.

Ottawa’s River Town Saints was originally founded in 2013 as Labelle by Chris Labelle, Chris McComb, and Jeremy Bortot. With the addition of Jordan Potvin and Daniel DiGiacomo, the quintet released its first single “A Little Bit Goes A Long Way” in November 2015.

However, it was the follow-up single “Cherry Bomb” that turned heads, peaking at number 24 on the Billboard Canadian Country chart and bringing the band a 2017 Country Music Association of Ontario Award for Single of the Year.

VIDEO: “Cherry Bomb” — River Town Saints

VIDEO: “Bonfire” — River Town Saints

River Town Saints’ self-titled debut full-length album was released just this past June, featuring “Bonfire”, the band’s first Top 10 hit.

Our Lady Peace with Coleman Hell and River Town Saints is sponsored by Ashburnham Realty, Fairstone, Home Hardware, Package Plus, Porter Sound and Marj Tellis.

Peterborough Musicfest is presenting 17 free-admission concerts featuring a total of 22 acts during its 31st season — each staged every Wednesday and Saturday night until August 26th.

Overseen by general manager Tracey Randall and staff, a board of directors, and numerous volunteers, Peterborough Musicfest’s stated mission is to “provide diverse, affordable live music to enrich cultural and economic prosperity in our community.”

For more information on this concert and/or the 2017 season, visit www.ptbomusicfest.ca or phone the Peterborough Musicfest office at 705-755-1111.

In their newest production Raising the Barn, Globus Theatre invites you to Bobcaygeon’s social event of the year: the marriage of Shannon McGee to Brandon Jones.

Tearing down the wall between fantasy and reality, Raising the Barn is a brand new comedy written by Globus Theatre founders James Barrett and Sarah Quick, and features the largest cast ever assembled for a Globus production. What makes the show even more special is that it’s a tribute to the Lakefield Arts Barn and its special place in the Bobcaygeon community.

This year, the Lakeview Arts Barn celebrates 50 years as a community space for the town of Bobcaygeon. Originally a working cattle barn, in 1967 owner Fabien O’Neil transformed the barn into a dance hall to host local events. Since then the barn has been used as a hall for celebrations of all sorts, but most notably for weddings.

When James and Sarah purchased the space in 2006 they transformed it into a theatre, although they still have continued its tradition of hosting weddings, dances, and other events.

Raising the Barn is a loving tribute to the Lakeview Arts Barn itself, as much as it is about the zany small-town characters and celebratory shenanigans of a local wedding gone awry.

While Verona had the Montagues and Capulets and Tug River Valley had the Hatfields and the McCoys, Bobcaygeon has the McGees and the Joneses. For generations, the McGees and the Joneses have owned the two grocery stores in Bobcaygeon: Food-Mart and Valueland.

Despite a long history of animosity towards each other, the two families are putting aside their feud (albeit badly) on the wedding day of the youngest members of their clans: Brandon (Brandon Swann) and Shannon (Shannon McCracken). Their wedding, of course, takes place at the Lakeview Arts Barn.

However, while the day should be all about the bride and groom, the tension between Brandon’s mother Jolene Jones (Jennine Profeta) and Shannon’s father Mayor Randy McGee (Dave Pearce) seeps through the celebrations, creating havoc and shenanigans to the dismay of the bride and groom and the amusement of the wedding guests assembled at the barn.

The term “guests” is dubious because the Lakeview Arts Barn has a double booking that night. Local director Jim Barnett (James Barrett — see what they did there?) was to stage his production of Romeo and Juliet before Mayor McGee bought out the owners of the barn for his daughter’s wedding. So, instead of wedding guests, the people in attendance (which is the actual audience for Raising the Barn) are there for the show rather than for the wedding.

The only person who doesn’t know this is the bride, and the entire cast of characters decides to keep this from her. The result is a night of fun, games, secrets, reveals, romance, music, and laughter in Globus’ biggest and most experimental theatrical production to date.

James and Sarah have called Raising the Barn “a dinner theatre experience” which is the perfect way to describe it. The entire performance takes place around the audience within the special dining area at the Lakeview Arts Barn before, during, and after the dinner. The show is a play set in reality, with a wedding taking place just as if it really were taking place, and with the audience very much becoming part of the set itself. There is a bit of audience participation, and lots of improvisation alongside the actual performance.

But what is most unique about the show is that the cast is made up of many of past performers who have become Globus Theatre regulars. Just as you are reunited with old friends and family at a wedding, in Raising the Barn you are reunited with many of the theatre’s most familiar faces.

Alongside James, Jennine, and Dave are other members of the Globus family of performers including Anna Black as Randy’s wife and town lush Flossie McGee, Mark Whelan as cousin Adrian O’Keel, Sarah Quick and Kevin Sepaul as Globus actors Sara Click and Kevin Sopeal, Shelby Camman as Lexi the photographer, and Chris Gibbs as the master of ceremonies and wedding officiant Keely O’Keel. It’s a virtual reunion of Globus favourites in a huge show full of surprises.

As in an actual wedding, while bride and groom Shannon and Brandon should be the centerpiece of the play, Jennine Profeta and Dave Pierce steal the show as feuding grocers Jolene Jones and Mayor Randy McGee. A real-life married couple, the two have a natural chemistry with each other and bounce quips off one another with a quick and believable rapport. Their wild conflict and growing tension become the comedy of the piece; each time they interact, hilarity ensues.

Another dimension of their characters is that they become a parody of small-town elitism and politics, with Jolene as the tough businesswoman and Randy as the local political power (and he will remind you he is the mayor every chance he gets). Jolene and Randy are the typical big fishes in a small pond who would probably get buried outside of Bobcaygeon. Their own self-importance is hilarious to watch, making them the true stars of the show. Their performances are priceless.

But let’s not forget the bride and groom. Brandon Swann brings a sort of sweetness to the show as hapless groom Brandon, who finds himself in over his head marrying his sweetheart Shannon. A nice kid with an overbearing ambitious mother, Brandon just wants the day to go right and wants his bride to be happy.

I’ll admit I kind of fell for Shannon McCracken as Shannon. A true product of her parents, Shannon is pretty and proper and knows how to work a room and exactly what to say. However, as the mayor’s daughter, she is also spoiled, explosive, and lacking in emotional maturity, which also creates a lot of the most memorable moments of the show. Shannon is a delight to watch as the bride and became my favourite character.

Together Brandon and Shannon are fantastic, especially for their musical finale that moved audience members to tears. Gifted singers, Brandon and Shannon do make wonderful music together.

A shout out to Chris Gibb as Keely O’Keel who is easily the audience favourite. As the master of ceremonies at the wedding, Keely is filled with small-town wit and good humour, and keeps the other characters and the audience engaged with one another. It’s a fun performance glueing together the pieces of the play.

Although Globus normally allows the audience to pick between two tickets options — one that includes dinner and the show and one for the show only — Raising the Barn is only available as dinner theatre due to the nature of the show. However, it’s totally worth every penny. The buffet-style three-course meal is decadent and is finished off with Sarah Quick’s famous Sticky Toffee Pudding for dessert.

Raising the Barn is a unique evening of theatre unlike anything I’ve experienced in the Kawarthas in the time I’ve been writing theatre reviews. There is much more to the show I am not allowed to reveal, only to say that you need to experience it for yourself. But promise me when I say that it is something you need to see.

I’d even go one step further to say that Raising the Barn is one of the highlights of the 2017 theatrical year, a phenomenal show and the best I have seen so far all summer. Another hit for James and Sarah, it’s a great reason to visit Globus Theatre at the Lakeview Arts Barn in Bobcaygeon this summer.

Raising the Barn runs until August 5th at the Lakeview Arts Barn (2300 Pigeon Lake Road, Bobcaygeon). Tickets are $65.50 ($54 for students) and include a three-course buffet dinner. The show starts at 6 p.m., with a special noon performance on August 3rd. For tickets, call the Globus box office toll free at 1-800-304-7897 or or 705-738-2037.

When confronting an issue that hits close to home it doesn’t hurt to be, well, close to home.

Home for Robert Winslow has always been the quaint farm property on Zion Line near Millbrook where, in 1992, he established 4th Line Theatre as its founding artistic director. It’s where he was raised and, over the last 25 years, it’s where his creative juices have flowed to produce numerous original theatre works that have both delighted and challenged audiences each and every summer since.

With The History of Drinking in Cavan set to premiere next month, home is also where the play’s writer, director, and lead actor is finding some much-needed comfort, as he confronts alcohol-soaked demons from his past as part of the play’s storyline.

“I’m excited but also very vulnerable because of the personal nature of some parts of the play,” Winslow says. “There’s a scene in the second act which is very personal and very painful — probably the most painful moment of my whole life.”

His voice quivers as he explains the scene that sees him go back in time to the 1980s to visit his mom Jean, “to try to resolve things with her.”

“We all have stories about our lives. We want to think everything is positive but there are difficult things that people experience. I hope people will relate to some of these issues.”

The History of Drinking in Cavan tackles the history of alcohol consumption and its prohibition in Cavan-Monaghan Township over the past 200 years. Having grown up in the township, Winslow lived that experience.

“As a teenager, I drank a lot. My friends did too, and eventually some of them got into drugs. We’re talking about the 1970s.

“As the play evolved in my mind, and I got older and I had my own issues around my family and stuff, it became a little bit more than just fun time stories. It’s personal and that’s very hard for me. I think it’s very hard for any family member where there is alcoholism involved to face some of this stuff, whether it’s yourself or somebody close to you.

“It’s hard to know how to deal with it. It’s hard to know how to behave. It’s hard to know how to figure things out. Sometimes you can’t. What is the age-old slogan, about God give me strength to change the things I can and the wisdom to know the things I can’t?”

Winslow, playing himself as well as his alter-ego King, the town drunk, is part of a small cast comprised of five other professional actors — Edward Belanger, Cyndi Carleton, Justin Hiscox, Mark Hiscox, and Shelley Simester — working alongside community actors Kiana Bromley, Maude Rose Craig, Tristan Cruise, Emma Khaimovich, and Gary Reker.

Winslow notes that a reminiscence held in February 2011 at the Millbrook Legion during which “people told stories” proved pivotal in the play’s development. That has resulted in “verbatim theatre” which uses other people’s words verbatim as opposed to the playwright’s.

Terming the play “a dramedy”, Winslow notes “there’s an awful lot of funny stuff” in the play but adds “if it was just all comedy, that would be disrespectful to the seriousness of the issues. It’s a real ride. It’s a play that’s as much about theatre as it is about stories, so things will transform and become something else.”

For her part, 4th Line Theatre Managing Artistic Director Kim Blackwell describes The History of Drinking in Cavan as “very confessional.” While she is taking a rare day off with this production, Blackwell hasn’t been idle in terms of closely monitoring the impact of the play’s content on its creator.

“I was very aware, as we developed the play over the last seven years, of wanting to make sure that he (Winslow) did what he wanted to do in terms of exposing his own story in a very honest and authentic way,” Blackwell says. “But I also wanted him to protect himself … there’s some stuff in the early drafts that isn’t in the piece we’re producing.

“As he’s been going through the painful journey of Robert the character in the piece, I’ve been checking in with him to make sure that he’s okay. The thing about Robert that is so extraordinary, that I am so in awe of, is so many times over the 26 seasons of the theatre he has used his own life, his own family, as a window into everybody’s lives, the struggles and the pain.

“This is probably his most personal piece, because he looks at himself and his mom and their relationship and her struggles. Why Robert is so good at what he does is that it’s a survey piece about the history of alcohol consumption and production in the township, so it’s great fun and he has made it incredibly entertaining.”

Blackwell adds her gauge for measuring the success of each 4th Line production is rooted in the presence of the three Es — Educate, Entertain, and Enthrall — noting “this play does all three.”

Speaking to the play’s small cast, Blackwell notes 4th Line’s employment of community actors is a story in itself, allowing the theatre, in this case, “to create an epic piece with a handful of people” as it carves out a unique niche.

“There is no other theatre company in this country that puts community members on stage in important, pivotal roles alongside professionals,” says Blackwell, her pride in that mission clear.

Among the play’s six professional actors is Justin Hiscox, a 19-year 4th Line veteran who is also serving as the play’s musical director. He says the lyrics for play’s songs were written first and then handed over for him to do his thing.

“I look at what kind of emotion or mood the lyrics portray. If the lyrics are about drinking and partying, then I compose something more upbeat. If it’s ‘Oh, I’ll never drink again … I’ve learned my lesson’, the music goes slower.”

Hiscox says his 4th Line work remains a welcome change from his regular gig playing with orchestras and bands, where “they hand you a book and it’s full of notes someone else has written and you’ve got to play them the exact right way.”

“That makes you a very good musician, but it doesn’t do anything for your creativity. Out here, once it’s set, you have to do that too but here I’m doing the setting. I really like a play like this because it has so many different styles of music.”

When all is said and done, Winslow’s hope for The History of Drinking in Cavan is not unlike that he has had for every production staged at 4th Line.

“I hope people in the audience will relate to their own parents or siblings where there has been a complex struggle,” he says.

“Sometimes the connections are made through the difficult way rather than the fun times way. I wish it was all fun and games. I wish everything I did out here was light and happy but right from The Cavan Blazers to The History of Drinking in Cavan, there’s always been that element of struggle as well as fun.”

Helping him through each staging will be thoughts of home and, more notably, memories of his mother.

“My mom was an amazing person. She was a great singer, a piano player, the leader of the church choir, and the leader of the high school choir. She sang at people’s weddings and was loved in this community, absolutely adored. The whole spirit of 4th Line being welcoming is really from my mom’s spirit. Anybody that came here she greeted them with extreme warmth. Her spirit is really at the heart of the play.”

Does her son sense that she’s still watching over him, perhaps from a second-floor window of the neighbouring family home?

“It (her presence) comes in weird ways at weird moments. There are little guidances here and there.”

With song lyrics by Winslow, musical composition and direction by Justin Hiscox, costume design by Meredith Hubbard, and fight direction by Edward Belanger, The History of Drinking in Cavan sees choreographer Monica Dottor serving as intern director.

Curtain is 6 p.m. Tuesday to Saturday from August 7th to 26th. Tickets can be purchased by phone at 705-932-4445, online at www.4thlinetheatre.ca, or at 4th Line’s box office in Millbrook at 4 Tupper Street and in Peterborough at the Peterborough Museum and Archives, 300 Hunter Street East (atop Armour Hill).

While Dorothy found great adventure following the yellow brick road, Ron Camilleri’s discovery of a magical place remains rooted in his singing farewell to that same path.

“You can perform Elton in one of two ways,” says the Mississauga native in an interview with the Hudson/St. Lazare Gazette in Quebec.

“You can go up there, have a party and everyone sings Elton songs, or you can really try to recreate the way Elton did it. All the guys in the band sing, so we’re doing everything. We’re doing all the harmonies. We’re trying to recreate Goodbye Yellow Brick Road the way it was done.”

Trying and succeeding, as will be fully evident on Saturday, July 29th at Del Crary Park when Camilleri, as Elton Rohn, headlines Peterborough Musicfest.

His seven-piece band will perform the best of Goodbye Yellow Brick Road — the groundbreaking 1973 album that produced signature Elton tunes “Candle In The Wind”, “Bennie And The Jets”, “Saturday Night’s Alright For Fighting” and the title track — as well as deliver a generous helping of numerous other hits that rocketed the British pop-rock icon to worldwide fame in the early to mid 1970s.

VIDEO: “Philadelphia Freedom” performed by Elton Rohn

“There’s a few magical moments when you’re trying to become someone else,” Camilleri says.

“The first thing I noticed is how iconic it is. When I play, I look at the audience and they’re always mouthing the words. I get to feel what it must be like for him to experience that kind of love of his music. I walk out in my big sequin outfit and the crowd goes crazy. They’re cheering for the fact that it’s Elton John.”

It doesn’t hurt matters in the least that Camilleri resembles Elton John and, more crucially, has mastered the singing voice that remains instantly recognizable to millions worldwide.

“When you’re playing the songs, you’ve got to kind of envision him and think ‘How would he do it?’ When you do Bennie And The Jets, you feel like Elton John for that very brief moment. It’s a fun thing to go through.”

VIDEO: “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road” performed by Elton Rohn

As a youth, Camilleri attended dozens of concerts with his father, a former quarterback with the Toronto Argonauts who became an executive with CBS Records Canada. He first saw Elton John perform in 1975. Following graduation from the University of Toronto, Camiller worked in the Canadian music industry, eventually heading up Columbia Records for Sony Music Canada.

As he recalls, a phone call from his brother (also a record executive) changed his life forever.

“He said ‘Let’s make a band … let’s have some fun.’ I was a guitarist. Every time I would sit down and play an Elton John song, the whole place would go crazy. So the band said ‘Why don’t we just do Elton John all the time?’ We started doing that and it just took off from there.

“I don’t want to take away from Elvis performers, but his voice is easier to sing. Elton is difficult to sing. I’ve heard a few Elton John performers who bring the keys down. They’ll stay away from the hard songs. I can still sing like Elton used to, knock on wood. There are a lot of guys that want to put a bow around their neck and go out and pretend they’re Elton. They’re more a tribute to the fun of the artist than trying to be just like him.”

VIDEO: Saturday Night’s Alright for Fighting” performed by Elton Rohn

As Elton Rohn, Camilleri brings to the stage both the music and the persona of arguably the most popular rock-pop singer/composer of the past 50 years.

Since teaming up with lyricist Bernie Taupin in 1967, Elton John (born Reginald Kenneth Dwight) has sold more than 300 million albums worldwide and charted more than 50 Top 40 hits. At age 70, he still performs around the globe, his concerts always selling out. His September 2012 show in Peterborough at the Memorial Centre created a demand for tickets never seen previously or since.

Elton Rohn’s Musicfest appearance is sponsored by the Peterborough Destination Association.

Peterborough Musicfest is presenting 17 free-admission concerts featuring a total of 22 acts during its 31st season — each staged every Wednesday and Saturday night until August 26th.

Overseen by general manager Tracey Randall and staff, a board of directors, and numerous volunteers, Peterborough Musicfest’s stated mission is to “provide diverse, affordable live music to enrich cultural and economic prosperity in our community.”

For more information on this concert and/or the 2017 season, visit www.ptbomusicfest.ca or phone the Peterborough Musicfest office at 705-755-1111.

Every Thursday, we publish live music and performance events at pubs and clubs in Peterborough and The Kawarthas based on information that venues provide to us directly or post on their website or social media channels. Here are the listings for the week of Thursday, July 27 to Wednesday, August 2.

If you’re a pub or club owner and want to be included in our weekly listings, please email our Nightlife Editor at nightlife@kawarthanow.com.