Alberta Flood Aid rocks thousands at McMahon Stadium

More than 30,000 people headed to McMahon Stadium for a once-in-a-lifetime concert in Calgary Thursday night.

Alberta Flood Aid featured a star-studded lineup that included the likes of Calgary’s own Jann Arden, Hanna rockers Nickelback, Ian Tyson, Corb Lund, Johnny Reid, the Sheepdogs, the Sadies, Tom Cochrane, Randy Bachman, Matthew Good, Colin James and Loverboy.

Brent Butt of TV’s Corner Gas fame was the event’s master of ceremonies.

Butt said his job is going to be the easy one.

“For me my duties are to be to keep the show moving along, loosey goosey, it’s not like I’m having to go out and do a bunch of stand-up,” he says. “This is really a musical concert so for me it will be keep it fun, keeping it moving, crack-wise when I can and try to make people laugh, but for the most part it’s just ‘and now here’s another musical legend’ so that’s a pretty easy gig.”

The stand-up comic also decided to keep the mood “light”:

“It’s not like a memorial,” he says. “In a way, it’s a big, shiny, modern, multi-million dollar version of an old Prairie barn-raising.”

Organizer Peter Jurisic says there was no doubt this project had to go ahead.

“I know how successful aid concerts have been in the past, I thought this was a fairly profound event that affected Southern Alberta and I realized the effects from this were going to be long term,” he says.

Response for the event was so overwhelming from the musical community officials said some acts had to be turned away.

The event was kick-started by the Boots On! event in the parking lot of McMahon Stadium Thursday afternoon.

Thirty Stampede Caravan volunteers were onsite, organizing the free entertainment, food and fun before the show.

They also offered a BBQ lunch for $10, with 100 per cent of the proceeds to go to the Calgary Foundation’s Flood Rebuilding Fund.

The public was also encouraged to donate $10 to the flood recovery efforts by texting ABFLOOD to 20222.

Calgary-based airline WestJet has been flying in musicians, their bands and crews to the city.

They will also be using their social-media presence to highlight some of the photos from the pre-concert events on Facebook and Twitter.

A round-trip flight for two will be given away to one lucky tweeter who uses the hashtag #BootsOn from 2 p.m. Thursday until midnight.

Organizers have announced they have already raised $1.4 million to get the province back on its feet.