Matt Barter: The Salmon Festival 2011

The Salmon Festival 2011 in Grand Falls-Windsor was simply, amazing. It was one of the, if not best out door concerts, we ever had in Newfoundland and Labrador. The line up was Fefe Dobson, ELO The Orchestra, Down with Webster, Smashmouth and KISS (headliner). It was a nice day for this event.

The opening act was Fefe Dobson, she was both good looking and good. I'm not a fan of pop but she is one of the better pop artists and I must ratter have her there than most rappers because of the audience rappers tend to attract. Fefe could sing pretty decently and it was a decent opening act. The next act featured some former members from the band Electric Light Orchestra (ELO) they renamed this band The Orchestra. They were good; it was nice hearing old music. Down with Webster was the act after The Orchestra, they were alright too. The only thing I didn’t like about Salmon Fest was their lack of food venues. The next band I was most impressed with (besides KISS of course) was Smash Mouth, they are a good rock band and are probably worth seeing at their own concert. I enjoined their Van Halen - You Really Got Me cover. Last but certainly not least was the headliner of this year Salmon Festival 2011, the hottest band it the world, KISS. I enjoyed their performance beginning to end.

I loved when Gene said "Alright, Grand Falls-Windsor! You Wanted the Best, You Got the Best! The Hottest Band in the World! KISS!" I was waiting for Gene to say that for years. After the first song or songs Paul said “How you doin Newfinland?” “Man, oh, man Grand Falls-Windsor, all of the parts of this great island.” “I want to tell you something, I don’t like to curse but we don’t give an f*ck about the rain, we’re hair to party.” He said they were going to play old stuff, new stuff all kind of stuff. I liked towards the middle when Gene said “Oh yeah, oh yeah, oh yeah, alright.” Before when was and is of my favorite songs God of Thunder. I like how deep Gene’s voice was when he said “I'm the lord of the wastelands, A modern day man of steel, I gather darkness to please me, And I command you to kneel, Before the God of thunder.” Paul said that we’re that rock capital, if he really meant that well that’s awesome. When it was over they played the soundtrack God Gave Rock and Roll to You, it was an amazing felling and I still couldn’t believe I saw the hottest band in the world, KISS.

This was the best out door event concert, I’ve ever been to and one of, if not the best outdoor concert event in the history of Newfoundland. We we’re lucky to have the hottest band in the world, KISS perform here. This was more than likely because of Gene’s Newfoundland connection, his girl friend for nearly three decades, the lovely Shannon Tweed. Finally, Shannon made her return home to Newfoundland. She did an episode of Republic of Doyle and if rumor has it right, they were taping Gene’s hit reality show: Gene Simmons Family Jewels. I’m thankful, I got to go see it and thankful that they came to a little island like Newfoundland. Grand Falls-Windsor popular is 15,000, there were over 25,000 people at the concert which is a all time record for The Salmon Festival and one of the, if not the most attended concerts in the history of the island of Newfoundland.