When the first media conference about the festival was held a few months back, Wickham told us there would not be a Wednesday night fundraiser show.
Last year, Sarah McLachlan, Tracy Chapman and Meaghan Smith performed and the extra day was a huge success for the festival’s endowment fun. But Wickham didn’t feel he had the right artist for the job this year and didn’t want to settle for second best.
He told us he was almost positive there wouldn’t be a Wednesday night performance, unless of course he was able to sign “one of his favourite performers.” He would let us know for sure by that Friday.
Well, Friday came and went and we heard nothing. It wasn’t until the following Monday that we in the media, and through us to you, found out that Van Morrison would be gracing the Folk Fest main stage. Good things do come to those who wait.
My earliest memories of Van Morrison go back to his third solo album, Moondance. My dad owned the CD and between that album, The Beach Boys’ Greatest Hits and Bruce Springsteen’s Born in the U.S.A., that’s practically all we listened to. The famous lyrics from And It Stoned Me are stuck in my head for eternity.
Later on in life, I was introduced to A Wonderful Remark and finally watched the documentary The Last Waltz (seems fitting that Levon Helm is playing Friday night), and with that, Van Morrison was officially cemented as one of my all-time favourite artists.
I never knew much about the man; I just knew I loved his lyrics. So I’ll agree with Wickham — Morrison is one of my favourite performers as well and I can’t think of a better way to kick off the 2010 Edmonton Folk Music Festival.
See you on the hill!
