By Carey Langsner, Rock At Night Ontario
LIVE REVIEW: Norfolk County Fair & Horse Show-Simcoe, Ontario-Canada-October 8th-14th, 2024
As the Canadian Thanksgiving weekend approaches, so comes the annual Norfolk County Fair and Horse Show. From October 8 to 14, this 184-year-old fair, the Norfolk County Fair and Horse Show, kicks off the fall season. At the fair, you can enjoy music, food, midway rides, markets, motorsports, agriculture, horse shows and more. And each year, the fair gets bigger and better.
The big draw to the weekend at the fair is the concerts held on the horse racing track. Opening on Friday night was local musician Olivia Mae Graham. The James Barker Band took to the stage in front of a very energetic country/rock crowd who sang along to every song the band played. The band was even joined on stage by one very enthusiastic fan who managed to clear the barrier, get past security and climb onto the stage, to the delight and laughter of the band, before being escorted off the stage by the stage manager.
Saturday night was a highlight for the weekend’s concert series. The crowd started lining up at the gates more than an hour before the gates opened, hoping to be the first through the gates allowing them to run to get the best position in front of the stage.
Starting off the night was another local musician Felicia McMinn from Port Dover. Felicia sings with a very distinctive rasp to her voice. Felicia definitely has a following as a large portion of the crowd that was already in the park were singing along to her own songs.
The big draw for the concert series this year was The Glorious Sons out of Kingston Ontario who have been around since 2011. With a sell out crowd of over 15,000, the band hit the stage fast and hard with lead singer Brett Emmons singing, bouncing and dancing around right down in front of the crowd for the first couple of songs. The band’s energy did not stop the entire performance and neither did the energy coming from the crowd. There was never a song that the crowd did not sing along with; in fact, a number of times Brett would stop singing and let the crowd sing the song back to the band.
The Glorious Sons put on a truly classic rock concert. It had everything you would want from a rock concert — it was loud, fast paced, and very interactive with the crowd. The thirteen song setlist and six song encore setlist went by so fast that the concert was over before you realized that a couple of hours had passed. If you ever get the chance to see The Glorious Sons in concert, be sure you don’t miss it.
Thank you to the Norfolk County Fair and Horse Show for letting me and Rock At Night to attend this great annual event. See you next year!
PHOTO GALLERY
SOCIAL MEDIA
I am the Ontario, Canada correspondent for Rock At Night covering music and summer festivals in pictures and words.
I grew up in the 70’s (gasp!) going to the concerts of some of the best hard rock and punk groups to ever make music.Music seems to have always been involved in my life one way or another.I even met my wife in a bar when I was working with a band and we have been together ever since.Working with Rock at Night feeds my concert and photography addicts.
