Brett Kissel exploded into Brockville with sold out show at Brockville Arts Centre

5 years ago this past September Sound Check Entertainment was still in its infancy. I had just started working with a small venue in Eastern Ontario, the Joshua Bates Centre, that had developed one heck of a resume for hosting some of the biggest names in music before they hit it big. One of the artists on the bill for my first season with the JBC was a young man from Alberta named Brett Kissel. Although still relatively unknown Brett was best known, at the time, for his musical plea to the NHL and the players union to come to terms and return to the ice with his song “Hockey Please Come Back”. At the time Brett had just released his debut, major label, single “Started with A Song” the video for which went #1 on CMT that very night.

Fast forward 5 years and Brett Kissel was back, only this time he was performing on a larger stage, with a larger band in a sold out venue just 20 minutes south of the Joshua Bates Centre in Brockville, Ontario. It’s 2018 and Brett is the reigning CCMA Male Artist of the Year (2 years in a row), he’s got a JUNO for Breakthrough Artist of the Year (2014) and this year he’s breaking more records by hitting every province and territory as part of his We Were That Song tour where he’s selling out venues across Canada.

The Brockville Arts Centre is a beautiful venue, it traces its roots back to the early days of the city in 1858. Brockville is one of the most beautiful cities in Ontario, situated right on the St. Lawrence River in the heart of Eastern Ontario. Being based here in the 1000 Islands myself I’ve had the pleasure of attending numerous shows at the BAC over the last few years. It’s a different crowd in Brockville. They love the music but they’re more of a sit in your seat and quietly tap your feet kind of crowd, and Brett and I had talked about that earlier this summer.

Brett loves to get the crowd engaged with his show and knew that on Friday night he’d have his work cut out for him…and I knew full well he was more than up to the challenge. Lucky for Brett he had some help. The incredibly talented Eric Ethridge kicked things off. Although only promoting his debut EP Eric has already seen a fair share of success, which is rare for an independent artist these days. His latest single, “If You Met Me First”, has landed on SiriusXM the Highway which speaks volumes for the quality of the music he’s produced. Catching Eric live is another incredible experience. From the minute he walks out onto the stage he beams and immediately draws everyone in the crowd into some kind of musical spell. He knows how to perform and he knows how to engage the crowd and get them to engage with him and on Friday night he did just that.

When Brett’s night started it began exactly as I had predicted it would, with the crowd comfortably seated in their seats. The toes were tapping and heads were bobbing but that was about it, as the show went on Brett had managed to coax them out of their seats a few times but each time they quickly returned to the upright seated position. That is, until the midway point of the show.

See at the very middle of every show on this tour Brett takes a sombre moment to perform “I Didn’t Fall in Love With Your Hair”. The song grips me every time I hear it but on Friday night it was extra special. Prior to the show, during the meet and greet, Brett met Sarah, a young lady from Kingston. Sarah had been at his show there 2 nights earlier and Brett found out after the show that she was fighting breast cancer. In true Brett Kissel fashion he and his team worked hard for the next 36, or so, hours to get Sarah to the show in Brockville. Backstage Brett met with Sarah and we all heard her story. Sarah had had a chemo treatment that afternoon but still found the strength to get to Brockville for the show. Out of every meet and greet I’ve had with Brett and out of every show I’ve seen and likely will see, I will never forget that moment on Friday night.

Midway through the show Brett told the crowd about Sarah and her story. You could hear a pin drop. When he performed “I Didn’t Fall in Love With Your Hair” you could feel the emotion radiating from the stage. I’ve seen Brett perform that song easily a dozen times, but never like that. Sarah, on the off chance that you read this, we’re all rooting for you. You’re strong and inspiring and you will beat this!

After regaining his composure Brett always returns with mega energy only this time the crowd responded in full force. From there through to the end of the show every seat was empty, because everyone was standing, and the aisles were starting to fill up with people dancing. It was a sight to behold.

As the show came to a close and we descended on the lobby of the theatre I overheard people saying it was the best concert they had ever been to and others saying it’s one of the best shows they’ve ever seen in Brockville. Brett Kissel and I go back to a time before there was a record deal and I truly consider him a friend and it warms my heart to see the success that he’s had in his career to date. One thing that impresses me more than anything is that when Brett Kissel walks into a meet and greet he remembers every one of his fans whether he met them a few weeks ago, or a few years ago.

I’m hoping that Brett’s huge success in Brockville will catch the attention of other artists, the Arts Centre is an amazing venue and Brett is proof that it can support these shows.

I want to personally thank Brett, his team at Warner Music and Invictus (Mary Jelly and Jim Cressman), of course his incredible tour manager Kevin who patiently keeps the schedule on show nights. I can’t think of any other artist we’ve covered as much as we have Brett Kissel over the course of the last 5 years. It never gets old, his show never gets boring and we never run out of things to talk about. My 5 Brett Kissel shows of 2018 may have come to an end but he hasn’t seen the end of my team yet as we will continue our coverage of the We Were That Song Tour, phase 2 when he brings it back home to Western Canada at the end of the year.

If you’re still looking for tickets for this tour check www.brettkissel.com

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