{"id":34978,"date":"2024-08-22T17:41:45","date_gmt":"2024-08-22T21:41:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=34978"},"modified":"2024-08-22T17:41:47","modified_gmt":"2024-08-22T21:41:47","slug":"ribfest-will-be-thrill-for-performers-desire-as-saga-headlines-friday-night","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/ribfest-will-be-thrill-for-performers-desire-as-saga-headlines-friday-night\/","title":{"rendered":"Ribfest will be thrill for performers Desire as SAGA headlines Friday night"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

As a group of music-loving high school kids, the music of Canadian rockers SAGA had a profound impact on the development of what\u2019s now Desire, a popular U2 tribute band made up of members of this core friend group.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, as they prepare to take the stage at Ribfest this Friday, August 23, they\u2019re thrilled to be opening for a headlining band that helped shape their own musical destinies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is kind of like a childhood dream come true,\u201d say Desire\u2019s Gord Sobota. \u201cWe totally grew up with them and they were a huge influence on us \u2013 we even covered one of their songs at one point, so that is pretty amazing and we\u2019ll be a little starstruck there.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As mainstays of the Town\u2019s Concerts in the Park summer series, Desire considers Aurora \u201clike a home away from home\u201d and they\u2019re eager to reconnect with the community through song.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s almost like a tradition coming back to Aurora. Everyone welcomes us with open arms and we\u2019re happy to be back,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Desire, in its latest configuration, has been together for 15 years now, but their roots go back far longer to when members were nine- and ten-years old growing up on the same block.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Each member picked up their own musical instruments, developed their own talents, and when they finally came together as a group in high school, they did so as a heavy metal band \u2013 a bit removed from the music of U2.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAs time went on, in the 90s, we became a Top 40 cover band and everyone kind of went their different ways again,\u201d Sobota explains. \u201cWhen we regrouped in the early 2000s, we said, why don\u2019t we try something different? I took my wife to see U2 around 2001 and I was completely blown away by them and gained a lot of love for them later on in life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBecause we were a heavy metal act, we steered away from U2 in the 80s but I loved them from that point on. Although it was a 25-year-old band it was like a new band for us. It was a breath of fresh air. That\u2019s how it all began and we started that in 2005, spending the next two-to-three years perfecting the sound, image and everything else. If you\u2019re going to do a tribute band, you have to do it right or not at all. By 2008, we finally had our first show and I guess you can say it\u2019s been History ever since.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It’s also history that has proved popular as Desire has performed all around the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Earlier this year, for instance, they were flown into Dubai for a single show in January and had the chance to spend six days out there taking in the area, including ATV treks into the desert, and visiting all the popular local landmarks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe get to spend some pretty cool moments in different parts of the world we otherwise wouldn\u2019t be able to or couldn\u2019t afford to go to. That\u2019s part of what makes it appealing and great \u2013 and you\u2019re doing it with your own high school buddies. Other than going with your family, how much better can it be?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cRibfest is very energetic without the music, but bringing in the bands adds extra spice to it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For a full lineup for Ribfest 2024, which runs at Machell Park beginning this Friday, August 23, and running through Sunday afternoon, visit aurora.ca\/ribfest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Brock Weir<\/strong><\/p>\n\r\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As a group of music-loving high school kids, the music of Canadian rockers SAGA had a profound impact on the development of what\u2019s now Desire, a popular U2 tribute band made up of members of this core friend group. Now, as they prepare to take the stage at Ribfest this Friday, August 23, they\u2019re thrilled […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-34978","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general_news","category-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-96a","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-10 09:44:20","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34978","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34978"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34978\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34978"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34978"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34978"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}