Show Review – Canada Day in Abbotsford Exhibition Park

By: Remington Fioraso

Who: The Tourist Company, Bed of Stars and John Welsh Band
Where: Abbotsford, BC
Venue: Abbotsford Exhibition Park
When: July 1, 2014

On Canada Day, the city of Abbotsford held an event featuring many artists from the Fraser Valley and Lower Mainland. The artists that I was able to see were The Tourist Company, Bed of Stars, and the John Welsh Band.

1

I had listened to The Tourist Company’s Space Race EP previously so I was excited to hear that they would be playing for Canada Day. Vancouver’s The Tourist Company consists of Taylor Swindells, Jullian Levey, Brenon Parry, and Josué Quezada. Their set list included songs from both their EP and album “Brother.” My favourite songs that they played were ‘Vostok 1’ and ‘One Giant Leap.’ It was pretty awesome how they recreated the sound from their releases live.

2

John Welsh is an artist from Mission, BC. He won the 2014 CIVL Radio Battle of the Singer-Songwriters competition. What intrigued me most about Welsh’s performance was the variety of influences within his music including reggae, folk, and Latin. The songs I enjoyed the most were “The Newfie Song” and “Reggae Queen.” It was a really fun performance – and I can definitely understand why he won CIVL’s competition.

3

Finally, the last artist I was able to see was Abbotsford’s Bed of Stars. Bed of Stars consists of the work of Evan Konrad. He released his debut release “I Fell In Love In The City” in 2013 and second release “Tell Me If It’s True” in 2014. After listening to Konrad’s performance, I had to go and listen to both of his releases. He is a talented musician.