SASKATOON — Jelly Roll will lead a star-packed lineup at Saskatoon’s new Outskirts Music Festival, debuting next summer at the SaskTel Centre parking lot. Other performers will be alternative rock band Third Eye Blind, blues-rock artists Wide Mouth Mason and country artists Cooper Alan and Brayden King.
SaskTel CEO John Howden said getting Jelly Roll to perform again in Saskatoon is not that hard after the four-time Grammy-nominated artist added the city on his Beautifully Broken Great Northern Tour on March 15, at the event centre on Thatcher Avenue.
“It was a lot of back-and-forth, to be honest. We secured Jelly Roll first. From there, we tried to figure out what a unique lineup for Jelly Roll would be. But we also didn’t want it to be a full-on country festival,” Howden told reporters after announcing the event on Tuesday, Dec. 2, at O16 Lounge.
He added that they included Jelly Roll’s team in choosing the artists and acts they would want to be part of the festival. They suggested names to his agent before finally having Third Eye Blind, Wide Mouth Mason, Alan and King, who is originally from Weyburn but is now based in Alberta.
“This has been in the planning stages for three months now. Getting a lineup like this together takes a lot of time and effort, along with the logistics around the site. The production crew, the stage, and everything that goes into curating a world-class music festival,” said Howden.
“Being an outdoor festival, we are capping the site at 20,000 people. The capacity of a large concert venue is typically around 13-14 thousand, and we can get up to about 16,000. It has a different feel for everyone being outside, with kind of the first day of summer holidays for some.”
SaskTel Centre communications vice-president Cheri Hamilton added they expect to bring back the spirit of events like EdgeFest from 1997 to 1999, Summersalt, Another Roadside Attraction and the 2008 Vans Warped Tour.
“Those events brought some of the biggest acts in the world to this [SaskTel] parking lot. They turn this pavement into a destination for amazing live music events. We wanted to take that feeling and energy of those past events and create new memories for a new wave of fans,” said Hamilton.
“It's going to be a tremendous undertaking, just getting people on and off this site, so we will have a complete transportation plan on how people can take buses to get home here. There is limited parking available. So we’ll have all that messaging come out later on.”
She added that they expect the project of turning the parking lot into a festival venue — from setting up the stage and the sound system to the area where the concession stands will be located — would take at least $300,000 and hundreds of personnel.
Tickets for the Outskirts Music Festival will go on sale starting Friday, Dec. 5, at ticketmaster.ca. Prices start at $163.50 plus taxes and fees. Festival updates, from food vendors to ticketing details and site access, will be shared on outskirtsmusicfest.ca.
