Newfoundland trio The Once return to New Brunswick this week for an afternoon performance at the Weldon Matthews Theatre this Sunday.
Newfoundland trio The Once will sidestep New Brunswick’s major centres on their upcoming tour to instead, perform to an audience in Florenceville-Bristol at the Weldon Matthews Theatre.
It’s been over a year since the group last performed in the province. They last played Fredericton, Riverview and Saint John near the tail end of 2018, finishing off a major Canadian tour in support of their latest album, Time Enough. In that time the band have kept busy with tours of Europe, the UK and Western and Central Canada.
The Once have six releases to their credit and a number of impressive accolades including a pair of Canadian Folk Music Awards and two Juno Award nominations.
With this week’s upcoming NB show, The Once join a growing list of artists who have chosen to include the Potato Capital of the World on their tour itinerary. The community of Florenceville-Bristol, home of McCain Foods, currently has two venues hosting performances by a growing number of artists from the Maritimes and across the country. The Carleton North High School’s Weldon Matthews Theatre is the larger of the two, seating somewhere in the range of 400. The Second Wind Music Centre located in a tiny former church on the Curtis Road in Bristol holds upwards of 60.
Over the past year the community has enjoyed performances by Heather Rankin, Jimmy Rankin, Matthew Byrne, Andy Irvine, Rachel Beck, Jeremy Dutcher and others.