Rockin The Square with Platinum Blonde

When

Aug 4

Location

Springer Market Square, Kingston

Details

City of Kingston Presents: Rockin’ the Square August 4, 8 p.m.

Join two classic Canadian bands for a free mid-summer dance party in one of Canada’s great outdoor venues. Dance, sing and party along to Canada’s original new wave sounds!

The City of Kingston is proud to present Rockin the Square on Friday, August 4 at 8 p.m. featuring legendary Canadian rockers Platinum Blonde with very special guests Spoons. This concert is presented by radio partner K-Rock 105.7.

Platinum Blonde

Platinum Blonde is back, but don’t call it a reunion. In reality, it’s more like the band has simply taken a finger off of the pause button. With four albums that have collectively gone platinum seven times over and garnered multiple Juno Award nominations, along with an induction into the Music and Broadcast Industry Hall of Fame, Platinum Blonde have made their mark in the history of Canadian music.

In autumn 1983 the group debuted Six Track Attack .The release fuelled such an enormous amount of hype for the band that it charted at #39 – an unprecedented feat for the era.

Instantly, Platinum Blonde became one of the biggest commodities of the burgeoning new wave landscape. Six Track Attack became the ground on which the triple-Platinum selling LP Standing In The Dark was built. Before the close of 1984 the band had invaded radio airwaves with four hit singles – “Doesn’t Really Matter”, “Standing In The Dark”, “Sad Sad Rain” and “Not In Love”.  Follow up albums, Alien Shores and Contact delivered classic hits including “Situation Critical”, “Crying Over You”, “Somebody Somewhere”, “Hungry Eyes” and “Contact”.

Lead vocalist Mark Holmes and  guitarist Sergio Galli enlisted the expertise of drummer Dan Todd  and bassist Rob Laidlaw after original band member, Kenny McLean, passed away unexpectedly in 2008. They teamed with producer and engineer Murray Daigle and immediately it was apparent that things were finally falling into place. The band recorded and released the album Now & Never in 2012.

“When we got back together it really felt like no time had passed,” says Holmes. “It’s all fresh, and it all came together perfectly.”

Spoons
The retro 80s movement, now two decades old, shows no signs of slowing down. Not one bit. Formed in 1980, Gordon Deppe and Sandy Horne would soon make Spoons a different kind of household word. They would help define the sound of pop and new wave in the 80s with hits including “Nova Heart”, “Romantic Traffic”, “Old Emotions” and “Tell No Lies”. Their album Arias & Symphonies would go on to be named one of the 20 Most Influential Albums of The 80s by The Chart Magazine and their song “Nova Heart” was included in Bob Mersereau’s book The Top 100 Canadian Singles. Not bad for a bunch of kids from Burlington, Ontario.

Rockin’ the Square is free annual City of Kingston program that has previously featured artists such as Arkells, The Trews, Big Sugar, Sarah Harmer, 54-40, Wintersleep, David Wilcox and Hawksley Workman .  The event is rain or shine.

The Utilities Kingston water buggy will be on site so please bring your reusable water bottles.

Plan your bus trip with Google Transit: http://www.kingstontransit.ca/tripplanner

Cost

Free Event