This year’s Go North Music Festival on St. Joseph Island kicked off Friday evening with a country-themed line-up that may have been the perfect fit for this installment of the annual event for an unexpected reason.
A major area-wide power outage pulled the plug about halfway through the night, leaving second act, Nickola Magnolia without sound or lights and festival organizers and Crank Sound scrambling to find out what the problem was and whether they could come up with alternative power.
In the meantime, Magnolia, her lead guitarist Jordan Thomas and Duncan Alistair, lead singer/guitarist for closing act The Holy Gamblers, brought the crowd in for an impromptu acoustic set down on the grass.
As the break extended, the newly-formed trio started taking requests from the crowd, who stuck around for what turned out to be a memorable hiccup for Go North’s opening night.
While preparing to bring generators to the site, organizers received word that the power was expected to be restored faster than originally expected and about 40-45 minutes about the power went out, the lights came back on and Crank staff quickly got its systems going again.
Magnolia and Thomas returned to the stage to finish off her set with the rest of her band for a few more songs, included a finale with a rousing, slightly countrified version of Fleetwood Mac’s “The Chain” which gave all band members an opportunity to show off their impressive skills.
The Holy Gamblers and Alistair then took over the stage and kept the crowd on its feet and demanding an encore at the end of the night.
Opening act, Solomon Woodland, Nickola Magnolia and The Holy Gamblers all received raucous applause from an appreciative crowd to end the night. The music didn’t stop there though as members of the bands joined campers around a “virtual campfire” (looped projection of burning logs) for an acoustic sing-along lasting into the early hours of Saturday morning.
The Go North Music Festival continues today with a rock, blues and alt-folk/Americana line-up with gates opening at 3:30 p.m. and opening act, THE NORTHWEST, taking the stage at 4 p.m. The rest of the line-up will include Propter Hawk, Jeremie Albino, Royal Castles, Texas King, and headliners, MONOWHALES.
Food and beverages, lawn games and Kids’ Zone will be available on-site. Tickets will be available for purchase at the gate.
