The Fredericton Swingers Club Showcase gets two thumbs up.
The first edition of the Fredericton Swingers Club Showcase was by all accounts, an overwhelming success. The event, organized by in part by musician Lukas Bailey, members of the Shifty Bits Cult and The Capital Complex, took place this past Saturday, assembling nearly 70 local musicians into 13 separate acts for an inspiring evening demonstration of community and creativity, paired with a near-capacity crowd who flocked from floor to floor determined to catch each band’s 20 minute set.
“After Saturday night’s event, it’s safe to say Fredericton has a lot of creativity at its fingertips,” said Lukas Bailey. “The amount of talent and effort that went into last weekend’s showcase proved we have a great community of artists who all want to work and grow together.”
The FSCS was a winning event on several levels. All participating musicians were grouped into bands by the event’s organizing committee, a move that purposely eliminated potential comforts and placed everyone on a similar level. And that was the whole idea, the design and purpose. Like a giant experiment with dozens of willing test subjects, the FSCS displayed the city’s sense of community and the results that can be achieved by working together. And despite being billed as the event’s highlight, the actual performances were simply icing on an already delicious cake. The FSCS was a success before the first chord was strummed.
All 13 bands delivered entertaining performances and despite that fact several of the evening’s performers had played live countless times before, all the musicians that night seemed united by a sense of opening night jitters.
Some of the many highlights included Connexion ARC’s Sophia Bartholomew’s vocal debut with Pregnancy Scare, Motherhood guitarist/vocalist Brydon Crain’s debut as a hardcore drummer with Dungarvon Whooper, Fredericton blues singer Mary Milliken sharing vocal duties with Josh Bravener and drummer Adam Guidry’s electrifying performance as a guitar wielding frontman.
For anyone who wasn’t able to attend the event, all is not lost. While the energy of that experience may never be repeated, the sounds of the night live on.
“I’ve been listening to the audio recordings to relive some of the magic that happened,” said Bailey, “and I’m excited to release a compilation of the event soon for everyone to enjoy.”
Big ups to everyone who performed, organized and helped make the first Fredericton Swingers Club Showcase such a success. One for the history books, that’s for sure.
