“That’s why we do what we do; bringing these artists to the fans, and the fans do a good job of showing their appreciation.” – Ben Murphy
Sommo Festival is just around the corner, and attendees are in for two days packed with great music, food, and community on the east coast of Canada.
Melodic Magazine had the opportunity to sit down for a brief chat with the CEO of Whitecap Entertainment, Ben Murphy, about what fans can expect this year, and the festival’s plans as it keeps on improving.
Sommo has had some big names such as Hozier, Noah Kahan, Maggie Rogers, Mumford and Sons to name a few. How do you balance wanting Sommo to stay a local festival but also wanting to make it more well-known in other areas?
When we first started Sommo in 2023, we wanted to create a festival in a place that really celebrated all things east coast Canada, not just your regular festival experience. We wanted the food and drink piece to really highlight some of our local producers, since we have a lot of farming and fishing and all that stuff here. Musically, starting a festival and trying to get someone to come to a place they’ve never heard of is such a challenge.
The goal was always to have a very multi-genre [festival]: great music, rock, folk-rock, maybe a hip-hop band, heavy metal band anywhere on the site. This year, we really wanted to spread the wings. We had Greta Van Fleet a couple years ago and that was such a huge hit, so Twenty One Pilots is kind of our follow-up to them: a great live rock show.
Obviously, when we booked sombr almost a year ago, he wasn’t quite the same guy as he is right now, and that kind of pop-star is gonna be huge. I think that’s going to be a set that people are going to look back and say like oh, he came to PEI in 2026. And, like yourself, I do expect lots of new people coming to Sommo this year that never came since the lineup is a little bit – we diverted a touch – from our lineups the previous years.
Twenty One Pilots fans are known to be very passionate [about the band]. How does it feel knowing that so many people going to the festival this year could be from all around the world?
I think that’s really special for a bunch of reasons: bringing people to PEI and the east coast of Canada for the first time – anything that can do that we’re pumped about. These people are coming for a great show and we want to make sure we give it to them, and Twenty One Pilots is probably the main driver for them coming here. There’s not a ton of people bringing these worldwide acts out to the east coast of Canada and I think yeah, that’s amazing, that all those people travel to see them and fly in.
I think it’s important too that there’s lots of people that can’t do that, and we have lots of [fans] who live on the east coast, and to bring them these acts where they can drive 2, 3, 4 hours and come to the show and stay in PEI in September and give them the opportunity to see Twenty One Pilots where they might have never gotten that opportunity elsewhere. And that’s why we do what we do; bringing these artists to the fans, and the fans do a good job of showing their appreciation for these acts, we hear it all the time. These guys don’t get shows every week or three times a week like in big cities, so it’s a special moment for them, let alone if you’re a big Clikkie.
What is the difference between traditional food vendors at festivals and the “Culinary Stage” that is set up at Sommo and why did you choose to do that?
There’s two trains of thought for Sommo: we have a Culinary Stage for chefs that looks like a cooking show more or less. We’ll have a chef up there preparing a dish or making a drink. What we do is we try to get some of the musicians to go up with them and create this once in a lifetime moment where you know, you’re never gonna see Noah Kahan up on stage with Old Time Hawkey making pudgy pies. We’re creating these cool experiences and giving these chefs an opportunity to interact with fans.
We build on this for the “Taste of Sommo” area. Really it’s higher-end foods for that area. For example, last year we did the parmesan cheese right in the parm wheel. We’re working on a cheese sandwich where you can slice off the cheese, wood-fired pizza, some different stuff that you don’t necessarily get at a normal festival experience and partnering with some of our chefs to highlight their stuff.
On the beverage side of things, while we still have domestic beer, we have four or five local craft breweries on site and we have cocktail bars. Can you get a proper margarita at most festivals? Maybe, maybe not, but we have the opportunity where you can get your cheap margarita with well tequila, but you can also get it with Patrón or something higher end. We have the wine maker from Benjamin Bridge in Nova Scotia and he comes over and pours some of his sparkling wine. We were quite happy with how much the fans bought into the food side of things…it’s a cool vibe around and I can’t wait to see what happens this year.
There’s a lot of focus on this year’s headliners – if you had to pick one non-headlining artist that you’re excited for people to see, who would it be?
Me? Probably KALEO; I’m a big fan of those guys. I can’t wait to see them live. We caught them at a festival a couple of years ago and that was great. I think the Natasha Bedingfield set in front of sombr is gonna be cool too because that’s such a nostalgia play; so many people that know every word to those songs. We had Wild Rivers year one but their flight got delayed and they ended up playing a super late set, so I’m excited to catch them too.
Any new or unique plans for this year’s festival?
We built a new second stage for this year. It used to just be in a tent, so we built an open air, three level venue. Highwater Show Hall, we’re calling it, and we launched it at Cavendish, our country festival. We’re gonna do it for Sommo, and then the plan is next summer to run some smaller shows in there. It can fit about 2,000 people. We got some really great feedback on it during the Cavendish Beach Music Festival and I can’t wait for the people who have been to Sommo before to see the difference and for the new people to see the benefit of owning your site and continuing to enhance the experience.
Other than that, we’ve got some new drinks and food vendors we’re gonna try, chefs that are coming back. Andrea Buckett is coming back with a booth this year, Andy Hay is gonna do a booth, so all the food will change up this year. It’s also fun for me to see what they come up with.
While people are in the neighborhood for the festival, is there a local dish, place, or tradition that you think people should try?
Oh, so many. They gotta try a lobster roll, for sure. Obviously, we have tons of seafood so I think that would be one thing. For the literary fans, we have all the Anne of Green Gables stuff; her house is right next to the festival grounds. Honestly, we hear lots about if it’s warm, the beaches are unbelievable. Enjoy the PEI hospitality and find a hole in the wall and talk to some locals. I think when it comes to PEI, people seem to love it. Sommo is the tail end of our visitor and tourism season, so it’s always a nice way to end the summer.
This year’s Sommo Festival takes place on September 11-12th in Cavendish, PEI. Grab your tickets here to join in on the fun!
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
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