Mark Rashotte has built the success on the Empire Theatre – and the outdoor Empire Square Live venue – largely on being willing to go the extra mile for his performers. But this year for Rockfest, he had to go a little further.
Great Big Sea closed out Rockfest 2011 at Empire Square Live on Saturday night. Photo by Aaron Bell/QuinteLive.ca
Rashotte received a call around noon on Thursday that Meat Loaf needed a ride from Toronto to get there in time to headline the opening night show. The band came down earlier in the day but Meat Loaf was looking for a bit more hotel time before heading east for the gig.
Rashotte checked around with a few options and then decided that he’d be better off going to get the superstar himself.
“I figured that if he got stuck in traffic or anything then at least I would know what was going on,” said Rashotte, who owns and operates the Empire Theatre and Empire Square Live. “No one had more invested in making sure that he was here for the show, so off I went.”
That was one small bump in the road to start out this year’s edition of Belleville’s biggest annual music party, but the rest of the weekend went off without a hitch.
Soaring temperatures and stifling humidity did little to keep away the more than 10,000 folks that came through the gates to enjoy the three night show.
Meat Loaf and Blue Oyster Cult started the party on Friday followed by Sloan and Stone Temple Pilots on Friday and The Trews and Great Big Sea wrapped things up with an outdoor kitchen party on Saturday.
All three shows drew large crowds, including a sold out venue for Meat Loaf on Thursday that was the largest crowd in the four-year history of the event.
Rashotte said that more than 100 people worked on site during the vent, including the stage crew led by Wayne McFaul, dozens of volunteers, staff, security and a crew from TV Cogeco that operated the video screens.
Empire Square Live is back in six weeks with the Anniversary Weekend that includes Bachman and Turner, Paul Rodgers, Kevin Costner & Modern West and All You Need is Love from September 8-10.
