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Rock the Park returns to London for its 16th year

Five Finger Death Punch is headlining the festival's Thursday show.
Five Finger Death Punch is headlining the festival's Thursday show. rockthepark.ca

It’s shaping up to be a hot, humid start to Rock the Park in downtown London.

The popular outdoor summer festival is returning to Harris Park for its 16th year.

Before Thursday’s show, presented by FM96, gets rocking with headliner Five Finger Death Punch, Rock the Park will kick off with a country night on Wednesday.

Wednesday’s show starts at 4:30 p.m. and will feature a half-dozen acts.

“[We have] Old Dominion, a great American act, and the James Barker Band, which is an amazing Canadian act. [We’ve also got] David Lee Murphy; he had some massive hits from the ’90s. It’s sort of a throwback country act,” said Brad Jones, president of Jones Entertainment Group.
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With the temperature set to soar above 30 C on Wednesday, Jones said festival organizers have taken precautions to help people stay hydrated and beat the heat.

“We bring misting tents in, we have lots of water on-site, but we also have water hoses that we use to hose down the audience when the heat gets to a certain level, and there’s shaded areas along the tree line,” he said.

The show itself is a great time, Jones said, adding that his favourite part is what happens offstage.

“A huge part of the success of this event has been the charitable component,” he said.

“We’ve raised $3.5 million over our first 15 years. We’re certainly going to contribute to it again this year. We’re so proud of our partners.”

This year, the festival will support the Make-A-Wish Foundation, Big Brothers Big Sisters of London and Area, the Brandon Prust Foundation and Western Mustangs football.

Snoop Dogg and Shaggy hit the stage for Friday’s sold-out show, while Pitbull, T-Pain and Flo-Rida close out the festival on Saturday.

For more details, head to rockthepark.ca.

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