A very Hey Rosetta! Christmas: Fans line up for St. John's holiday tradition

It's been a heck of a run for Hey Rosetta! over the past 11 years and this year's series of Christmas concerts was a chance for the band to celebrate how far they've come and give back to the community.

The band returned home for the holiday season to play three shows at the St. John's Convention Centre on Friday and Saturday and were met with a crowd whose fandom seems to have only grown stronger in their absence.

"Christmas is the perfect time to do this show. Everyone's home, they're excited, they're ready to celebrate, ready to have a good time," said frontman Tim Baker.  

On Saturday afternoon, Hey Rosetta! played an all-ages show with all proceeds going to Choices For Youth, a local non-profit organization that helps homeless and at-risk youth find places to live, employment, and lends support and counseling for mental health issues.

"It's kind of incredible and honourable what they do. They fill a gap in terms of social services for at-risk young people in the city and we just really want to support them," said Baker. 

Phil Maloney, Hey Rosetta!'s drummer, echoed Baker's sentiment. 

"I'm actually just up from the Choices for Youth centre and I just see a lot of kids going in there that have come from pretty hard upbringings and stuff," he said.

"It's just a nice safe haven for them. They go in there and they're hanging out and they're fed and it's just a shelter really. It's just amazing that it exists here because we do need it."

Choices for Youth's Angela Picco said the organization sees around 1000 young people between the ages of 16 to 29 pass through its doors each year, and that the support comes at a crucial time for the organization.

"Everyone thinks it's this big joyous season, but it can be really tough when you don't have maybe a family to go home, or struggling in your life or your mental health isn't doing that well," she said. 

"For a respected band like Hey Rosetta! to reach out and say we not only want to maybe raise some dollars for you guys, but to raise awareness about this issue that's important to them and us, as an organization was really exciting."

Annual tradition

The band has been playing Christmas shows in St. John's for the past nine years and cellist Romesh Thavanathan said it's become a holiday tradition.

"This is the kickoff to the Christmas Season for us. Especially being able to put down the instruments for a bit and spend some time with family and friends," he said. 

It wouldn't be a holiday show without Hey Rosetta! pulling out all the stops, either. 

There's classic holiday covers, special guests and always a Christmas surprise or two. 

"We also have 12 cadets that are going to join us on stage playing glockenspiels and snares for a few things," said Baker.

Many of the people in the audience over the weekend happily sang along to songs like Red Heart and Carry Me Home, and Maloney said he really appreciates all the support the band's received over the years in St. John's.

"I think this is our ninth Christmas show so it's nice that people are still coming out," he said.

Baker agreed that in a lot of ways, the band would be nowhere without the support from hometown crowds. 

"Ever since the very beginning, we felt so much support from this city. It's the reason we're anything I think. We would be a totally different band if we came from a different place."