Canadian country music superstar, Gord Bamford is on the road with his ‘Kick COVID in the A**’ tour and he is playing in Didsbury this month.

While Bamford plans to have a full show with his band and even video walls, the most important part of these concerts is how they support the communities they visit. The Didsbury show on January 21, 2022, is in support of the Didsbury High School Music Society.

Erin Enns, Vice President of the Didsbury High School Music Society says the funds raised with the show will go a long way. “This year we are having some instruments that are starting to need to be replaced, the larger, more expensive instruments. We're going to use some of the money for that."

"Normally, we would use it for travel expenses to keep the travel expenses down for our students, but this year everything is put on hold for traveling.”

“We did set up so that we can do online virtual band concerts through our live YouTube channel. We had to buy a camcorder and some recording devices to keep flexible with COVID so that we can keep performing for our parents and people who want to be watching and listening to our music.”

Making sure instruments and equipment is up to date and in full working order is huge for a town where music programming is so important.

“We actually have a very large group in all of our schools. It starts right at our elementary school, in middle school, they start playing instruments, and then the high school band is quite a big band.”

“Our numbers are quite large. We have 130 band students out of our school and they usually travel everywhere when they're allowed to and they play in lots of festivals. We always get really good distinction and recognition for the quality of music that they play.”

Enns, a long-time resident of Didsbury believes this is the biggest show the town has ever seen. “It's a big deal. I have lived here a long time and I've never really heard of a big name like Gord coming through and he's been fantastic. I've been dealing with him for the past few months because we originally had this booked for November, and it got held off. So he's been fantastic to deal with there. His people are great. We're really excited about them coming into town."

The upcoming show in Didsbury and all of Gord Bamford's concerts on this tour are less than 500 people with table and row seating and  they are compliant with the latest Alberta Health regulations. Rapid tests are also available for unvaccinated concert goers. Tickets are available NOW on Gord's website or call 1-403-588-6286.