VANCOUVER ISLAND MUSIC FESTIVAL
Where: Comox Valley Exhibition Grounds, 4839 Headquarters Rd., Courtenay
When: Friday, July 12, through Sunday, July 14
Tickets: $149-$159 daily ($290 for weekend pass; children 12 and under admitted free) from musicfest.tickit.ca
Information: islandmusicfest.com
Crews were in action Tuesday at the Comox Valley Exhibition Grounds, erecting what will eventually become the temporary home of the Vancouver Island Music Festival.
It’s a yearly scenario Doug Cox, the festival’s longtime artistic director, has witnessed first-hand since the mid-’90s. He was on site this week for the fist day of set-up, and marvelled at the close-knit crew of more than 250 people working to achieve a similar goal — and have fun while doing so.
These crews have have become something of a festival family, Cox said, and play an integral role in the success of his annual three-day event. “We’re lucky, because about 70 per cent of our 1,200 volunteers are return volunteers. We have quite a few second-generation volunteers now, many of whom have grown up here. It’s exciting to see that part of it.”
The roots music festival, known simply as Musicfest, is celebrating its 30th anniversary this weekend. Cox has been at the helm for 28 of those, after playing the first two instalments as a musician. “It was a real small festival then, maybe 500 people. That’s when I fell in love with the Comox Valley.”
Cox landed in Cumberland after years in Victoria, where he was a key part of the music scene, both as a performer and promoter. In 1995, when Musicfest debuted, Southern Vancouver Island had several similarly themed festivals, and the competition made for a crowded community. Cox enjoyed the blank slate of what the area offered, and over three decades has grown the Comox Valley Folk Society staple into one of the top summer events of its kind in the province.
Cox has learned what works in the Comox Valley, and what doesn’t, never straying far from Musicfest’s winning balance of established and up-and-coming folk, world, and blues acts. The edition, which gets underway Friday, boasts another exceptional lineup, with headliners Lucinda Williams, Leo Kottke, Daniel Lanois and The Milk Carton Kids joined by acts from Africa (Les Aunties; Bantu Continua Uhuru Consciousness), Chile (Chola Y Gitano), and Korea (Second Moon).
“The festival world has changed so much in the last 10 years, and has become a much more corporate world. But we’re still this funky, non-profit, community-run festival. The event that we have, with the spirit it has, is what makes Musicfest. We’re not going to suddenly turn into a new country music festival in order to bring in money.”
Cox chooses not to reach for A-list stars, for a variety of reasons. But he made some calls during the festival-planning process this year to see if Neil Young was available. Young was scheduled to play 12 shows in Canadian and U.S. dates in July.
“If we would have gotten him, that would gave been amazing,” Cox said. Young suddenly cancelled his tour last month, due to health issues — news that would have “slaughtered” Musicfest, he added.
“For a festival like ours, to rely on one performer, you’re in big trouble if that performer cancels on you. We would have gone broke, probably.”
Musicfest operates with a balanced budget by sticking to what has worked in the past, small tweaks notwithstanding. Cox is not against branching out stylistically, and makes several attempts each year to expose Musicfest supporters to new musical endeavours. Everything from a gospel-inspired sacred steel revue featuring the Lee Boys and Calvin Cooke and a super-group led by Béla Fleck, Zakir Hussain and Edgar Meyer, to the Steely Dan homage Stealing Dan will pass through one of the festival’s six stages this weekend.
Cox is expecting around 8,000 people on site each day, an attendance mark he built up over years of trial and error. Musicfest supporters have come to trust Cox, and with a track record that includes previous appearances by Emmylou Harris, John Prine, Graham Nash, Bonnie Raitt, Sarah McLachlan, Barenaked Ladies, Little Feat, and Allison Krauss, among hundreds of others, expectations are that Musicfest will continue its winning ways this weekend.
That’s a good thing, not only for the society and staff but the Comox Valley as a whole. Music with a variety of viewpoints has a unique way of bringing together members of the community, Cox said.
“We want people to come here and learn, and be brought into discussions about what’s going on in the world,” Cox said. “Without favouring one side or the other, in terms of political beliefs, this is the only place in the Comox Valley where hippies and bikers and loggers — every part of our community — sit down in a field together and celebrate together. That has got to be the healthiest situation you can have. And that’s whey we’re here.”
