Wild Mountain Music Fest knows how to bring it; with Day 1 in the bag (see our post here), Day 2 featured two top level Canadian Rockers and crowd pleasers, Matt Mays and Tom Cochrane.
Wild Mountain Music gave us our first opportunity of seeing Matt Mays live (except for that unexpected appearance for one song with Sam Roberts at the Tractor Tavern in Seattle), and definitely won’t be our last! Stepping onto the stage with no airs or dramatic buildup, Mays and his band proceeded to belt out their set of tunes with high energy, superb musicianship and a commanding stage presence. The sun-fatigued crowd ranged from those up front finding renewed energy to dance, to those in the back chilling under beach umbrellas and low festival chairs, tapping toes or swinging feet over crossed knees. Mays is no slouch – even the slower songs were 110% emotions given over to the crowd, but my personal favourites were the guitar driven tunes that just highlighted why Mays is so popular across this country.
With little to no wait time between acts, the audience switched over to the main stage to settle in for Tom Cochrane, who, according to security, had asked for the barricade to be pushed up against the stage front – all the better to connect with and touch fans from the stage! Love it when a band wants to eliminate the gulf.
A few songs in, Cochrane noted that it was almost sunset, and switched up the set list singing, ‘Sinking Like a Sunset‘ as the sun settled and dusk approached. Magical. Cochrane and his band; Jeff Jones (Jonesy) on bass, Davide DiRenzo on drums, and Kenny Greer on guitar and slide, sang all the hits. With a career spanning 30+ yrs and so many songs making it to radio – it’s nearly impossible for them to sing a song that isn’t a ‘hit song’!
Throughout the set, Cochrane switched between hard rock and softer, high energy and almost acoustic, singing and telling a few stories. The show led us on a journey we were happy to take with Cochrane and the band. Humboldt (and its tragedy) occupies a special place in the band’s hearts, and so ‘Big League’ was especially poignant with the audience, cell phones held high, singing along to the band acapella.
Near the end of the set, Matt Mays (who Cochrane had given a shout out to earlier in the set) appeared on side stage to watch – bassist Jones’ eagle eye spotting him, and leading the reluctant Mays out by both hands, the audience goes crazy. Mays joined Cochrane to sing the ‘hey hey’ / ‘nah nah’ in ‘Boy Inside the Man‘. Mays was simultaneously shy, embarrassed and tickled pink and later tweeted, “thanks for having me on stage Tom Cochrane what a dream come true“, to which Cochrane tweeted back,” caught most of your set and it kicked brother” (disclosure – he did. We noticed him backstage watching Matt’s set!) Gotta love it when artists not only support each other, but share the stage for a song or two.. adds a special layer of goodness to the entire experience.
A perfect ending to a perfect day of music at Entrance Ranch with Wild Mountain Music Fest. We’ll be back again next year – after 4 yrs its now become a tradition.
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