It’s hours before the gates will open for the third day of Stars and Thunder.
Already, Ashley and Sarah Guacci have been in line for 13 hours.
After last night’s Blue Rodeo concert the sisters went home for some supplies, then set up camp at the Stars and Thunder gate.
“We set up our chairs out here and we parked our van over there and we kept the trunk open and we were just laying there with our blankets. And security thought we were nuts,” explained Ashley.
Tonight will be Ashley’s 33rd Marianas Trench concert.
Her first was back in 2012 in Belleville.
“I had the time of my life, my dad was not so impressed when he had to drive 12 hours for a 30-minute set,” she laughed.
Within a week she was in Kirkland Lake to see them again.
“I fell in love pretty fast,” she said.
Through the years, she’s seen them in a number of places, with the furthest trip was a surprise from her mom for her 16th birthday when they flew to Las Vegas.
Ashley has already met the band in the past, but tonight they’ll be chatting again as the sisters won meet and greets with Marianas Trench and Virginia to Vegas.
“They know me by name when I go to their concerts,” she said. “This is probably the longest stretch I’ve been (not) seeing them.”
Even after seeing the band live so many times, she’s still excited about what surprises they have for their Timmins show.
“The thing that I’m most looking forward to is that it was told to the fans on Twitter that their set list tonight is going to be more of a throwback set list. There’s going to be a lot of old songs and a lot of surprises for the true fans there, so I’m excited for that,” she said.
Ashley easily relays what the band has been up to and what she loves about them. The part she likes the most, however, is that they’re good people.
“You don’t need to go and run after them for them to come and see you. If I wave at them and they’re pretty far away, they’ll come and see me and have a chat. It’s not like you need to run after them and be a fangirl and just freak out. They’ll come over and chat with fans as much as possible,” she said.
Alongside Ashley and Sarah in the front row will be Theresa Alexander and Nicole King.
They met for the first time in person yesterday.
King flew into Toronto from Vancouver, Alexander took the bus from Montreal, and they met up with another friend from Tennessee.
From there they drove up to Timmins and were the second group in line for today’s concerts.
This is Alexander’s 25th time seeing them.
“They inspired me a lot. I go through severe anxiety and depression and for me to travel to come see them, I get away from what I’m going through. I just forget everything and it helps me get through what I’m going through. That’s why I travel miles and miles,” Alexander.
King said the band is her rock.
“As a teenager I was going through a rough time and their music was there for me and I felt like more me listening to them,” she said.
Like the Guacci sisters, the out-of-town fans are looking forward to the throwback songs promised for tonight’s show.
“The band is so great, they sound like they do on their records. They’re so professional and so fun, it’s mind blowing,” Alexander said.
