That time when Sam Roberts and Royal Canoe fans went full zombie

It was a dark and stormy night at the 2014 Regina Folk Festival.

Canadian indie band Royal Canoe was setting up to play a gig inside a bar called The Exchange.

As keyboardist Matt Schellenberg recounted, the rain outside was so intense that 400 soaking wet fans were let in early. That's when things really started getting hairy.

First, the power went out. Then, the bar started serving.

It wasn't long before Royal Canoe's sound guy warned the band to move their gear off the stage.  

"There was a couple making out so violently that they knocked over a beer that got all over our pedals," Schellenberg said. "We moved my keyboards out of the way just in time and headed back to the green room for cover."

But that cover didn't last.

"The door flings open and there's thunder and lightning right out of the apocalypse and there's the silhouette of Sam Roberts," Schellenberg recalled. 

The Montreal rock god had been the headliner that night for the Folk Fest but, in the wake of the storm, his outdoor show had been cancelled. Roberts was at the Exchange to play there, instead.

The power was skittish, though, flickering off and on. Plus, the mob was not cooperating. Now filled with angry drunks, Roberts and his manager spent a couple of tense minutes assessing the out-of-control scene before the manager pushed Roberts back out the door.

From the green room, all Schellenberg and his bandmates could hear was, "We want music! We want music!"

So Royal Canoe's lead singer, Matt Peters, finally got up the nerve to go onstage. To calm the crowd, he punched his fist in the air and hollered, "Regina!!! Royal Canoe is not lame!"

Peters promised that if the power stayed on, the band would play a rousing set of '90s club hits, from Timberlake to OutKast.

The storm continued to rage but the lighting gods cooperated. Royal Canoe rocked the crowd and Sam Roberts ultimately returned for a thunderous, late night performance.

"It was just the most chaotic show," Schellenberg recalled. "But by the end, the whole crowd was just amazing and we all felt part of the same thing."