Article via Edmonton Made | Written by Paul Blinov
If it had happened 20 years ago, Edmonton’s newest music festival could have been one of the biggest concerts of the ‘90s.
The one-day Soundtrack Music Festival is bringing some of the biggest throwback acts of the recent past — The Goo Goo Dolls, TLC, Blind Melon and Eve 6, to name a few — to Kinsmen Park. It’s a family-friendly outdoor concert, welcoming music-seeking audiences into the green heart of the city, while seeking to double as a fundraiser for the Kinsmen Club of Edmonton.
If that line-up offers you just the right touch of nostalgia, you have Trixstar to thank. An Edmonton-born company focused on live event management and consultation, they’ve been working with organizations like the Kinsmen Club since 2005 to bring high-level talent to Edmonton and Alberta.
“It’s been on our radar [with the Kinsmen Club] to produce a festival outside for about three or four years now,” Chris Schoengut, VP of Trixstar explains. “The city schedule’s itself is quite busy, especially in that park. We’ve been on the waiting list to use that for a handful of years.”
In the interim, Schoengut notes they’d worked with the Kinsmen Club on the similarly-vibed I Love The ‘90s tour that brought Vanilla Ice and Salt-N-Pepa to the Shaw Conference Centre last year. But everything aligned for an outdoor festival this year, and now Soundtrack can live in the Kinsmen’s own backyard.
“There’s so much beauty in Edmonton, it’s nice to get into a venue like this,” Shoengut notes. “It’s nice to get outdoors, too […] you can see all of downtown, the river valley, the new walterdale bridge. We’re very excited to work in that space.”
If you aren’t familiar with Trixstar’s name, you’ve still almost certainly seen their work: this year alone, they’re booking talent for K-Days — bringing both The Village People and Ice Cube to town — and most of the entertainment at the Grey Cup Festival (with the exception of the the half-time show). Beyond Edmonton, Trixstar also works with Big Valley Jamboree, St. Albert’s Seven Music Fest, a concert series down in Drumheller, and a rich mix of others. The company’s focused on assisting other groups to offering finely tuned live events.
“We used to produce our own shows, but now we’ve switched our niche in the last five-six years,” Schoengut notes, of Trixstar’s focus. “How do we help other people make money for good causes, so everybody wins? That’s become our bigger niche.”
Of course, managing events like outdoor shows, where day-of weather is often the ultimate question, keep Schoengut and Trixstar on their toes. Schoengut stresses that safety is always their number-one priority, but to hear him tell it, the work’s somewhat unpredictable nature is also part of its appeal.
“I don’t think I could just sit down behind a desk and do the same thing every day,” Schoengut says. “New challenges get thrown at us from event to event, it’s always just different. I think that’s why we all enjoy what we’re doing; it’s just super-rewarding when that band hits the stage, or once the last note is played, as cheesy as that sounds. It’s so fulfilling and rewarding at the end.”
Check out the Soundtrack Music Festival on Saturday, June 23 at Kinsmen Park, from 1pm to 11pm. Festival passes are $99. Learn more at soundtrackmusicfestival.com.