On February 27 at the St. Thomas Conference Centre Fredericton’s own Jukebox Live will be putting on a benefit concert to raise money for the Multicultural Association. This is in order to help the recently arrived Syrian refugees.
Ian McMillan, a member of the nine-piece local band spoke to The Aquinian about the upcoming benefit.
“It’s kind of slow this time of year but we were also talking about how all kinds of people in the community are doing great things to help welcome these families to Fredericton,” said McMillian. “And one thing we do is play music and put on a good time so we said, maybe you know, this is putting two good things together.”
Jukebox Live centres their shows around paying bits of tributes to some some of the great artists that shaped modern rock and roll. The band plays songs made famous by Rod Stewart, the Beatles, the cast of Grease, Neil Diamond, Johnny Rivers, and Buddy Holly, just to name a few.
“The nature of the band, Jukebox Live was to kind of do music of the ’50s, ’60s and ’70s, and we’re a little different in that we’re trying to do iconic songs with iconic performers,” said McMillan.
With the five soloists, three guitars and drums, bass, and keys, McMillan assured that the band’s goal is to make every song danceable and create a fun atmosphere for everyone.
“We’re a dance band, when you come out here the idea is that you want to dance, it’s going to be a lot of fun dancing, it’s just a matter of us putting on a good show and making it easy for people to have a good time.”
When the idea arose to have a benefit concert for the Multicultural Association, that has been the home base for collecting money and providing various types of assistance to the Syrian families in Fredericton, McMillan said everyone in the band thought it was a great idea. Since then a committee was formed to help plan the event and get the word out. McMillan said after subtracting the obvious costs of putting on an event like this, all the proceeds will be given in the Multicultural Association in one cheque.
The benefit will run from 8:00 p.m. on the 27th to 12:00 a.m. on the 28th at the St. Thomas Conference Centre on Forest Hill Road.
Tickets are $40 per person or $75 for a couple and there will be a cash bar available at the venue.
