August 11th, 2002 - Peachfest, Penticton, BC:

Playing outdoors, in beautiful weather, in a park with 10,000 people - many of them gorgeous women in bikinis and shorts etc... what else do you want? Okay, there is more to life I guess... but not much more...

Peachfest is set in Gyro Park in Penticton... a small, but very picturesque park right by the water... we're closing the show on Sunday night (this festival runs 5 days long, starting on Wednesday)... as soon as we drive in, we're besieged by volunteers offering to help us with our gear etc., and some of them even stick around long enough to help with the gear in the van Chris is backing up... (Chris isn't overly fond of backing up into parking spaces and you can tell), then we're shown to our dressing room and a woman (I'm sorry, I can't remember her name), comes into the room and says she'll be introducing us onstage, but she's from New Zealand and she's never heard of us - what?! you mean Doug and the Slugs isn't the biggest thing to hit New Zealand since 'veggiemite'? - I venture that we're even, because we've never heard of her either...

Bill is running the show here, and with the budget he's given, does an incredible job! Thanks Bill! This is a smaller festival than Minnedosa, Craven or Vanderhoof, but as with some of the other smaller festivals we've done, the size of the gig does not reflect the extent of their hospitality... Headliners over the years have included Rick Tippey, and The Powder Blues Band, BUT! Doug and the Slugs break the record for attendance! Apparently this was set three years ago by Rick Tippey... but there are 10,ooo very well-behaved people crammed into this little park while we're onstage tonight! I can't believe the number of kids at this gig... all of them dancing and having a great time to a band they couldn't possibly have heard of, unless their parents cruelly exposed them...

our Twist contest is won by a couple of girls who are maybe 5 years old... but many of the twisting adults could learn a thing or two from these girls... they're incredible and no limit to their energy!

We're doing two sets tonight and the second set is played to a slightly more mature audience - it's getting late by this time, for some of the kids... the encore is very enthusiastic and it takes us more time than usual to pack up after the show, because of all the signings (t-shirts, cd's, tickets, and my personal favourite... skin), from the edge of the stage... I'm not counting the smiles tonight, but there seem to be a lot of them, from the stage and the audience both...

Penticton rocks! We'll be back in a heartbeat...

Marc.