The Kinsmen Fieldhouse was once Edmonton’s centre for rock music. Led Zeppelin played there in 1969. Queen took the stage in 1975. Rush played 2112 there in ’76. The Clash blew the roof off the place in 1982. The list goes on.
And the tradition will be renewed — outdoors, at least — when the Kinsmen grounds hosts the Soundtrack Music Festival on June 16 and 17. This year’s edition of the festival marks the first time it will go over two days — and it features an eclectic mix of rock, pop and dance music artists, including Nelly, Mother Mother, Third Eye Blind and Everclear (remember the 1990s anthem, “Santa Monica”?). There was a plan for a two-day Soundtrack fest back in 2020, but then, y’know, COVID.
“We were looking at the history of the club and, back in the day, the Kinsmen Fieldhouse hosted some amazing artists,” says Shawn Huculak, the chair of the Soundtrack Music Festival for the Kinsmen Club of Edmonton. “Kiss played there. Bob Marley. Huge bands. And we thought it would be kinda cool if we did the concerts there again.
“It’s a part of our city’s history that a lot of people don’t know about. There was no social media back then, no blogs, and a lot of that stuff doesn’t exist online. It’s very hard to search it.”
The festival site is configured to host 8,000 concertgoers daily, and it can be expanded to hold 10,000. Money raised by the festival goes to the different charities supported by the Kinsmen, including $1,000 scholarships that go to each high school in Edmonton, and support for KidSport, which helps kids play in leagues around the city. As registration fees and equipment costs go up, the role KidSport plays only becomes more important.
“There is no overhead [for the festival],” says Huculak. “It’s dollar in, dollar out.”
Kinsmen got back into the music business in 2015, when rocker-turned-country-star Dallas Smith played a show at St. Albert’s Servus Centre. Since then, the charity has been putting on bigger and better events, and 2023 is the largest one yet.
“It’s insane. It’s such a different experience, there’s so much going on,” says Huculak. “I don’t take time to fan out during the event, because I am too busy. But I love the atmosphere and the vibe that it creates. We have a fun festival. It’s good to know we’re bringing something to Edmonton that gives people a fantastic time.”
This article appears in the June 2023 issue of Edify
