Harvest Media Center
Derek Trucks & Susan Tedeschi Band to Replace Gregg Allman, Grace Potter added to 2010 Harvest Line Up
June 24, 2010
Organizers announced today two of the world's top touring blues-rock acts have been added to the Harvest Jazz and Blues Festival's September line up. Derek Trucks & Susan Tedeschi Band and Grace Potter & the Nocturnals were pursued when Headliner Gregg Allman had to withdraw. Trucks & Tedeschi and Potter are considered among the most in-demand acts of this summer's major North American festivals.
Gregg Allman underwent successful liver transplant surgery earlier this week and therefore is unable to perform at this year's Festival. The Derek Trucks and Susan Tedeschi Band re-routed and re-arranged their schedule and will be flying in especially to perform at Harvest in place of The Gregg Allman Band.
Derek and Susan, without a doubt the world's best husband and wife guitar collaboration, brought down the house in separate Harvest performances with their own individual bands in past years. Their new band, consisting of members of the Allman Brothers Band and the Derek Trucks Band, has catapulted both to a new level of world attention. Potter, who lit up the Blues Tent in 2008, is currently enjoying success in the upper tiers of the Billboard rock charts. Both bands will perform Wednesday, September, 15th, and Thursday, September 16th. Derek Trucks and Susan Tedeschi will headline the evening's first show while Potter and the Nocturnals will take the stage for a new early Afterburner show. Like all Afterburners, ticket holders to the headline show can stay for the Afterburner for free.
"When we heard that Gregg wouldn't be able to perform this year, we were obviously tremendously disappointed. But went from let down to relief and then elation when we found out we could sign Derek and Susan's new band. Then we were also able to secure Grace. Given the circumstances, we couldn't be happier with the outcome," said Brent Staeben, the Festival's music director. "Harvest has built a great reputation in the industry and we were able to call in some favours from old friends to make this happen at the last minute. Normally, you'd have to book these acts in January, not June."
Allman issued a statement directly to Harvest fans:
"I will unfortunately be unable to join you for this September's Harvest Jazz and Blues Festival due to my liver transplant operation which will keep me off the road this summer. I've heard great things about your blues festival and was really looking forward to playing in New Brunswick this year as I've never been to Eastern Canada and I hear you've got great fans there! Derek and Susan are a fantastic replacement in the meantime and I look forward to seeing you all in the near future."
Both Derek and Susan, who sold out their previous Harvest shows, are the most formidable husband-wife team in the history of blues-rock. They have recently banded together with a group of exceptionally talented musicians, including members of the Allman Brothers Band and the Derek Trucks Band.
This year's winner of the Grammy award for contemporary blues, Derek was featured on the cover of Rolling Stone's "New Guitar Gods" issue and was the youngest musician to make their "Top 100 Guitarists of All Time" list, while Susan, a multiple Grammy-nominee herself, has been named the best female blues guitarist-singer of the new generation, and perhaps of all time.
"We understand Harvest fans are going to be disappointed at having to wait a little longer to see Gregg, but Derek and Susan's spirit, power, and unbelievable musicianship will no doubt remind us that the legacy of the Allmans is alive and thriving in the Derek Trucks and Susan Tedeschi Band today," says Staeben.
Grace Potter and the Nocturnals wowed audiences in a headline performance at the 2008 Festival, and will now return to rock two specially-added Wednesday and Thursday early Afterburners. Unlike the closer-to-midnight Afterburners later in the week, the new early Afterburners will kick off at 10:30pm on Wednesday night and 11pm on Thursday night, accommodating those fans who need keep up the pretence of working the next morning.
With Grace's unapologetic feistiness, with a voice that belts, teases and soars over deep grooves and aggressive guitar riffs, their sound is deeply rooted in the golden age of rock, shaped and sharpened the old fashioned way - in front of demanding crowds of thousands throughout their 200 show per year touring schedule. Their most recent, self-titled album is turning out to be a huge international hit, shooting up the charts, but Grace Potter and the Nocturnals's forte will always lie in their dynamic and exciting live shows.
"Anyone who saw Grace dominate the Blues Tent stage in '08 will know what a knock-out performer she is. People were talking for weeks, and are still talking to this day, in fact, about that show," says Staeben. "If there's a performer who's worth turning the afterburners on for a quote, unquote 'school night', it would be her."
Patrons who have already purchased tickets to Gregg Allman's Wednesday or Thursday show have the choice to either refund their tickets, or exchange for tickets combining both the Derek Trucks and Susan Tedeschi Band's show and the early Afterburner with Grace Potter and the Nocturnals. As a bonus, people currently holding Allman tickets will also get into the wildly-anticipated Xavier Rudd Thursday show for free.
Those who have purchased Ultimate Passes and no longer want them due to these circumstances also have the option for a full refund up until July 12th.
"We'll be happy to provide refunds through our provider Ticketpro.ca, but with the offer we're putting on the table, we really don't expect to see many people giving up their ticket," says Festival chairperson Brad Wasson.
The new Trucks and Tedeschi show will be priced at $44.50, and patrons at that show can stay for the early Afterburner for free. The Grace Potter early Afterburner show alone is $20. The Xavier Rudd early Thursday show is priced at $15. The original Allman shows were priced at $57.50.
Tickets for the Trucks and Tedeschi show and the early Afterburner with Grace Potter go on sale Saturday, July 17th.
