Local band builds atmosphere at Breakaway fan event ahead of Winter Classic  

SEATTLE -- Before fans jammed T-Mobile Park for the 2024 Discover NHL Winter Classic, they jammed with indie rock folk band The Head and the Heart as part of the Breakaway fan event.

The fan fest, hosted by ‘The NHL on TNT’ and B/R Open Ice, was free, open to the public and scheduled to run for a few hours after the outdoor game between the Seattle Kraken and Vegas Golden Knights. Rock band Fitz and the Tantrums were playing postgame.

“There's a bunch of activations outside, and as you can see walking around here, we have the AstraZeneca activation that benefits the V Foundation for cancer research, and we also have VR Open Ice and the Salmon Celly out there,” said Andre Plaisance, vice president of live events for Warner Brothers Discover Sports. “But the main components are the two concerts, one pregame and one postgame.

“It's a lot of collaboration with local folks. The restaurant here, the Hatback Grill, has been awesome to work with. We worked very closely with the Kraken and the Mariners to put this on from everything from operational risk to public safety, working with the city on street closures and different things."

The Head and the Heart have a unique connection to the Seattle hockey scene. Not only are they based locally, but their bassist, Chris Zasche, began playing hockey 10 years ago and has developed a profound love for the sport.

“I was coming off of a tour, realizing we were going to be home for a while, and I had a buddy that played growing up,” Zasche said. “I was like, ‘Hey, do you want to play hockey?’ He said, ‘Oh, man, I haven’t played since I was a kid.’ I was like, ‘Let’s learn together.’ So, he had played [a little], but I learned from scratch.”

Zasche said he bought a set of gear and started going to the rink, and his adoration for hockey took off from there. Being part of the Winter Classic festivities in his hometown is a dream come true. 

“To have it happen so soon after the [Kraken] got here, it just feels like it's really cementing that this is real,” Zasche said. "So things like this, I think just make it feel really special and really like a part of the city.”

Zasche made waves in the local Seattle hockey community when he went on the Late Show with David Letterman in October 2013 and performed wearing a Seattle Thunderbirds jersey.

“I think it was early in my love for the game,” Zasche said. “At the time, I was going to a lot of T-Birds games because those guys were so good. This is like when Shea Theodore, Mathew Barzal, Keegan Kolesar, they were all on this team together. This team was so incredible to watch… I just felt like it was a good way to rep the game and rep Seattle on stage.”

The Breakaway event was created in partnership with Discover, AstraZeneca, and Max. It is located at the Hatback Bar just west of T-Mobile Park.