Buddies Fest brings top talent to town

Jon Snodgrass, one of the organizers of Buddies Fest, will take the stage three times through the weekend. He is playing Friday with Drag the River as well as with Greg Norton and buddies, and Saturday with Snodgrass and Stevenson. (Contributed Photo)

Jeff Helsdon, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

This weekend’s Buddies Fest will bring top-rated entertainment to town, as well as hundreds of concert goers.

Planned July 11-13 at The Mill and Copper Mug, the main venue will be on an outdoor stage at The Mill. Food trucks, vendors and a beer tent will be part of the festival grounds. Each day will see four bands on the main stage.

“With the same ticket or weekend pass, they are able to come inside the mill and in the basement in Paddy’s Underground there are bands playing as well,” said organizer Ben Andress. “There are official after shows being hosted by the Copper Mugs after the main stage shuts down.”

Friday’s headliner is Dillinger Four, an American punk band formed in 1994 in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

“They’ve been releasing albums for years on pretty large labels and have a large following,” Andress said.

Chris Cresswell and Greg Norton are two of the highlight acts playing at Paddy’s on the Friday.

Jon Snodgrass is playing on Saturday on the main stage. He is one of the originators of the Buddies Fest concept.

“He suggested originally we should do a Tillsonbud fest, and it turned from a one-day thing to a three-day thing while planning it - just so many people loved the idea,” said Andress.

All will be playing with former singer Scott Reynolds on Saturday, and current singer Chad Price on Sunday.

“All is one of those bands with deep roots in the rock and punk scene,” Andress said. “Most of the members are from a well-known band called the Descendants. They’re one of those bands that if you go to a punk show somewhere, more than 50 per cent of the people in the audience will have a Descendants tattoo or an All tattoo.”

Saturday’s headliner is the Canadian band The Flatliners. Andress said other notable mentions of Sunday’s bands were onelinedrawing and Jim Bryson.

Amongst the bands playing at the Copper Mug are locals The McBains, Deal Breaker and Seas.

“In my opinion all the bands are headliners but top to bottom it’s a pretty solid line-up,” Andress said.

Tickets are $69 for single-day passes, or $174 for weekend passes, available at buddiesfest.com. The festival grounds have a capacity of 500 people and Andress expected it to fill up. Tickets have already been sold to people as far away as Calgary, British Columbia, Los Angeles, New York and Montreal. Andress said all the hotels in Tillsonburg are booked for the weekend and he is glad to see the tourism draw for all local businesses.

Although some question why Tillsonburg, saying it’s in the middle of nowhere, Andress counters it’s in the middle of everywhere, being two hours from Toronto and Detroit. He also hopes that locals attend.

“We want our local buddies to come and see bands they would have to go to Toronto or somewhere to go see,” he said.

Summing up the weekend, he concluded, ““It’s a notable mix of buddies, they either toured together or have a connection somehow. They are buddies somehow. That’s the whole thing is bring your buddies and have a good time.”