Live and in person

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This article was published 29/12/2022 (725 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It was the year of the Big Exhale.

Sighs of relief could be heard around the city and across the province all year long as the COVID-19 pandemic eased its grip on the entertainment industry.

Live performances returned to the many music and theatre festivals in Winnipeg and around Manitoba that had gone silent for three years, waiting for the viral risk to subside.

The opening night of these festivals will become moments in Manitoba history, whether it was Charlie Major strumming a guitar for Dauphin’s Countryfest diehards — who kept their 2020 passes rather than seek refunds after two years of the country-music party were cancelled — Winnipeg trio Sweet Alibi kicking off the Winnipeg Folk Festival on one of warmest weekends of 2022 or the return of visitors seeking to learn about other cultures at reopened Folklorama pavilions in August.

“Coming off the festival, I think all of us felt exhausted, which is to be expected,” said Zachary Rushing, Jazz Winnipeg’s programs manager, after the summer rush of events subsided. “But on the other side of a little bit of sleep, I think we’re all incredibly proud of what we accomplished.”

Among those accomplishments were:

● More than 168,000 people visited Folklorama’s pavilions in the first two weeks of August, a 14 per cent increase from its last event, which was its 50th anniversary.

● About 74,000 people flocked to Birds Hill Provincial Park in July for the Winnipeg Folk Festival, the second-largest attendance in its history.

● Almost 60,000 tickets were sold to 983 performances at the Winnipeg Fringe Theatre Festival, which brought vibrancy to the Exchange District and the downtown core that hadn’t been seen since 2019.

These events had their share of challenges, though.

Volunteers play a critical role at festivals, whether it’s setting up or breaking down stages, taking tickets from attendees, acting as parking attendants or supervising campgrounds.

Events such as the Winnipeg International Jazz Festival, the fringe festival and folk fest had to manage with fewer volunteers to help.

“There was a time when we weren’t sure it was going to be pulled off as we wanted it to, but it really came together in the end,” said Lynne Skromeda, the folk fest’s executive director.

Mainstage performances by Talking Heads’ alumni Jerry Harrison and Adrian Belew and the alt-pop group Portugal. the Man, were among the festival’s musical highlights, as was the Big Bluestem Stage, which drew younger folks to groove to critically acclaimed acts such as Kurt Vile and Weyes Blood.

Jazz fest took up two big causes — equality and Ukrainian musicians — with its 2022 edition. More than half its artists were women in a genre that has been male-dominated, while Ukrainian performers Bogdan Gumenyuk and Go_A brought attention to the plight of war-torn Ukraine and its people, as well as their music.

The Festival du Voyageur returned to Fort Gibraltar in February, and along with its celebration of francophone, Métis and Indigenous cultures it brought a new portable concert venue, the Boîte à Chansons, a trailer that allows artists and their equipment to remain warm with speakers that entertain an outdoor audience.

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The pandemic also ebbed enough to allow many touring artists to perform concerts in Winnipeg, including some of the music world’s most famous names.

Performers such as John Fogerty, the Eagles, Alice Cooper, Bryan Adams, Michael Bublé and Styx were among the artists to grace the Canada Life Centre in 2022, letting their fans relive the feelings of going to arena-rock concerts as well as the memories their songs bring.

Winnipeg rock royalty, in the form of former Guess Who leaders Burton Cummings and Randy Bachman, returned to city stages in 2022 as well.

Bachman performed two of his Greatest Stories Ever Told shows to the Club Regent Event Centre in November, and Cummings rounded out the year with two shows at the Burton Cummings Theatre, including his 75th birthday bash, which takes place New Year’s Eve.

Country superstars Chris Stapleton and Kane Brown also performed before large audiences at the downtown arena, with Brown bringing elaborate stage special effects and videos usually reserved for the biggest of rock acts.

Country-crossover acts such as Steve Earle, who has rebelled against the country formula since the 1980s, and William Prince, the Peguis First Nation singer-songwriter whose young career keeps building to new heights, packed the Burton Cummings Theatre in 2022, as did Texas indie-rock outfit Spoon, singer-songwriter Donovan Woods and Canadian rockers the Headstones.

“(The Burt) returned to normal quicker than the bigger building,” says Kevin Donnelly, senior vice-president of venues and entertainment for True North Sports and Entertainment, which owns Canada Life Centre and the Burt. “This year, we’ve been busy since September, consistently. We had a lot of rescheduled shows and then we had events that we were able to get a booking, pick that date and actually play it, so that was a thrill.”

The Stapleton show in May was one that stands out in Donnelly’s mind.

“He’s a phenomenal artist who is a real bona fide arena star, and it’s not because he’s some trendy thing. He plays his heart out and the songs are compelling,” he says.

While those shows were among the bigger audience draws in 2022, smaller concerts in venues such as the Park Theatre, the West End Cultural Centre and the newly renovated Park Alleys, as well as summer pop-up patios such as the Beer Can and Blue Note Park, also welcomed music lovers in far greater numbers in 2022.

Three smaller shows that proved particularly memorable were:

● A performance by Gumenyuk, a Ukrainian jazz saxophonist and producer who has moved to Montreal after Russia invaded his homeland in 2022. Jazz fest invited him to its opening night on July 14, and along with his band, he offered a searing performance of modern jazz that echoed throughout the upper floors of the Canadian Museum for Human Rights, proving music can live on despite the horrors of war.

● Singer-songwriter Steve Bell performed with his friend, British poet and theologian Malcolm Guite, in a stirring show on May 26 at the WECC that highlighted their devotion to God and the scripture, as well as their musicianship, lyrical talent and fellowship.

It was a meeting of greats in their respective fields: Bell’s a multiple Juno Award winner, and Guite’s poem Refugee was recited at the Royal Carol Service on Christmas Eve at London’s Westminster Abbey, at King Charles III’s request.

● Winnipeg blues kingpin Big Dave McLean celebrated his 70th birthday in style with a bash at the Times Change(d) High and Lonesome Club on Aug. 23, proving his ability to sing the blues and to gather musical friends for awesome jams hasn’t faded with time.

Alan.Small@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @AlanDSmall