First live show at Amigo’s since 2019 impresses promoter

For the first time in nearly 18 months the lights at Amigo’s Cantina were lit up to welcome live music once again.

It wasn’t just the lights either. The sounds of laughter between bands, the roaring applause after the final strum of a guitar and the usual murmur from the crowd between songs all returned to the famous venue Saturday.

“It was pretty awesome. It was pretty special,” Amigo’s promoter Brant Palko said Saturday morning.

Chasing Illusions, GreenWing, and Velours were the three bands gracing the stage at Amigo’s for the first time since COVID-19 brought operations to a halt back in March 2019.

With the public health risks of hosting a concert in a cramped space outweighing the need for a show, Amigo’s decided they wouldn’t host another show until it was safe to do so.

Seeing the venue back in its usual glory was a sight Palko has only dreamed of since 2019.

“There’s a lot going on in the world right now, so it was great to see people having a great time, cutting loose, and you could tell there were people that hadn’t seen each other for a really long time. It was great,” he said.

The venue drew plenty of criticism and praise by becoming one of the first venues in Saskatchewan to publicly proclaim that proof of vaccination or a recent negative COVID-19 test would be required for admission to a show beginning on Friday.

Palko admitted he was concerned with how the system would work, but there were no issues as patrons had the opportunity to either show their vaccine card, a printed copy of their vaccination record or a screenshot of their vaccine status.

“Probably 98 per cent of the people had their card,” Palko said. “We got a lot of people expressing gratitude for the policy. It worked better than I thought it might.”

Palko said he welcomes the province’s plans to implement a QR code for proof of vaccine to speed up the process.

With COVID-19 cases in Saskatoon spiking in recent weeks, Palko imagines indoor masking will once again be required if transmission trends continue.

With one half-sold out show now behind him, Palko said he looks forward to welcoming even more people for the rest of the scheduled shows knowing proof of vaccination works.

“Everyone was having a great time,” he said.