Supplied Image/Jess Baumung

By Chris Brown

Few tickets left

Brett Kissel is ready for good times for great causes

Sep 3, 2020 | 4:48 PM

MEDICINE HAT, AB – Brett Kissel’s two shows in Medicine Hat this weekend are about so much more than just the music.

The Alberta country music star was approached a few weeks ago about doing a drive-in concert in Medicine Hat in support of the families of Alexis Streifel and Ryan Pancoast.

Streifel is facing a lengthy recovery after a fall at Lundbreck Falls in July. Pancoast is one of a number of young men who have taken their own lives over the past several weeks

Kissel was quick to say yes to a show in the Canalta Centre parking lot. The community was so quick to snap up the tickets – it took six minutes to sell out – that a second show was added only a few vehicle tickets remain for that 10 p.m. performance.

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“It just goes to show the appetite for live music as well as the appetite for country music,” Kissel said Thursday. “But it also goes to show the heart of everybody in Medicine Hat and the surrounding area saying ‘OK we’re going to come out and we’re going to do this event, we’re going to support this show because it stands for a lot more than just a guy on a stage singing country songs.’”

The stories of both Alexis and Ryan are tragic, Kissel said, and so country music needs to do what country music has always done.

“We’ve figured out a way to still bring people together and raise money and now raise spirits which in a lot of ways is sometimes even more important than financial aid,” he said. “So that’s what we’re going to do and that’s what’s going to be on our hearts as a band and as a crew but I just hope that everybody comes there with the same spirit in mind and the same mindset.”

Kissel, known for hits like She Drives Me Crazy, Anthem and I Didn’t Fall in Love With Your Hair, has more than a dozen drive-in shows under his belt now and says he’s learned he can’t rely on the tried-and-true performer tricks that he can on a stage show.

“I’ll be honest, I have to be way better,” he said. “I need to be more entertaining, I need to be funnier, my songs need to sound better, we need to elevate our game because we need to reach people through their windshields. And so we’re going to do that and it’s going to be a lot of fun on Saturday.”

He said a drive-in concert is a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

“Because real life is going to come back in 2021 so if you want something that you’ll talk about forever, you’ve gotta come to this drive-in.”

Tickets are available at tixx.ca.