It was a busy weekend at the Lunenburg Opera House.
Folk Harbour kicked off their Weekends at the Opera House concert series with an array of talented Nova Scotian musicians.
Joel Plaskett opened the series March 24 with a mostly solo performance.
Plaskett, who spent most of his childhood in Lunenburg, regaled the audience with funny personal stories along with his upbeat, folksy tunes.
His father, Bill Plaskett, joined him for a handful of songs. Father and son played a lovely rendition of Stan Rogers’ “Fogarty’s Cove”, among other duets.
At one point, Plaskett admitted that he had lost track of his setlist. Someone ran to the stage to place his setlist there.
“I need someone to tell me what to do, you know?” Plaskett joked. “Otherwise I’d just play ‘Stairway to Heaven’ on ukulele.”
During intermission, MLA Susan Corkum-Greek announced that the provincial government is committing $245,000 to Folk Harbour in order to restore and renovate the Lunenburg Opera House.
On Saturday, Folk Harbour hosted its first Songwriters’ Circle of 2023. Braden Lam, Terra Spencer, and The Gilberts took turns performing original songs and sharing stories about what inspires their music.
This was Braden Lam’s first time performing at the Lunenburg Opera House, and only his second time performing in Lunenburg.
In a phone interview, Lam said he was excited for all the music festivals in Nova Scotia his summer. He will be touring in Europe with Pillow Fite, who also will perform as part of this concert series. Lam has done many songwriter circles in the past. He describes himself as a collaborative person when it comes to music. “It’s a fun, dynamic show,” he said.
In an email, Maisie Gilbert of The Gilberts wrote, “The Lunenburg Folk Harbour Festival is one of our absolute favorites, and the songwriter’s circle with Danny Michel, Crys Matthews, and Connie Kaldor was definitely a highlight last year. The song circle format is always really fun – we love getting to hear everybody else’s songs, and collaboration is always really fun.”
To end off a weekend of fantastic music, the official line-up for the Folk Harbour Festival was announced during intermission at Saturday night’s concert. Locals can look forward to an amazing array of musicians performing in Lunenburg both in spring and as part of the festival this August. Tickets can be purchased on Folk Harbour’s website.
