John Fogerty to headline Salmon Festival on July 11
John Fogerty, the leader of classic-rock legends Creedence Clearwater Revival, will headline the Exploits Valley Salmon Festival's July 11 concert in Grand Falls-Windsor.
The announcement was made on the Town of Grand Falls-Windsor's Facebook page Thursday morning.
"We are very pleased to announce that the 2015 Salmon Festival Concert will headline Rock and Roll Hall of Famer John Fogerty, who will be performing the hits of Creedence Clearwater Revival back to 1969 as only John Fogerty can," the post said.
"Those who have attended his concerts have given rave reviews calling it one of the best shows they have ever attended.”
The town says other acts will be added, and that information on ticket sales will be announced later.
Music lovers in the province had been anxiously waiting for the announcement, with rumours swirling around for weeks as to who the main act would be.
Salmon Festival Chair Darren Finn said he's confident this year's show will be a hit.
"The classic rock demographic is alive and well in Newfoundland and Labrador and we know that we can fill a field with that genre, that kind of entertainer like John Fogerty and Creedence Clearwater Revival," said Finn.
"We're confident, and our early feedback from social media shows that the population is very pleased. Excellent feedback we're getting — incredible."
Rest of lineup to be announced later
The town said since there was "intense speculation" about the headliner, it decided to go ahead with the announcement before all of the performers were officially added.
The town also said they received a "multitude of requests" for Fogerty to play at Salmon Festival, adding that many who have attended his shows have called it "one of the best shows they have ever attended."
Another event, the Confederation Hill Music Festival, featuring Rod Stewart was recently announced for St. John's — which falls on the same date as the Salmon Festival.
According to Finn, he was "disappointed" that another concert was announced for the same weekend as Salmon Fest, so they decided to break tradition and announce their headliner without a full lineup in place.
"But people have a choice now, and we've been doing this concert for 31 years, we brought in major entertainment, we have over that period of time build an incredible amount of infrastructure, the appropriate staging, secured areas, and we know how to deliver a concert," he said.
"It's unfortunate that we're going to go head to head on the same date, but we feel that our headliner in John Fogerty is an awesome option for the population, so they have some tough choices."
Both the promoter for the St. John's event and the Town of Grand Falls-Windsor said they did not intend to schedule their festival the same day as another one, and that the conflict is just an unfortunate coincidence.
"When this was done, it was with the best of intentions," said the town.
"We were not aware that another concert was being planned for that date. It certainly was not our intent to compete with another venue."
Meanwhile, Finn said he's confident this year's Salmon Festival will be a success and feedback from the public as so far been positive.