I've now had 24+ hours to get my head back i
n the game of real life without the sounds of live music constantly wafting over the precipitation-laden air in Ottawa.
I think, in a way, that much choice and talent kind of
desensitizes even the most ardent music-lover to the thrill of the live show. At least, it did this one. By the time the
Yeah Yeah Yeahs took their place in front of their giant, illuminated eyeball-target at the main stage Sunday night, I was kinda like, "
mweh."
I wandered over to
Buckwheat Zydeco, and with the A.D.D. that comes from 12 days of six stages, chock-a-block with over 400 bands, I only lasted two songs and moved on to
Jennifer Warnes to eat my supper before circling back to YYY.
However, my blase attitude was likely due to the fact that
I saw an abundance of truly wonderful things over the festival, that "just great" didn't cut it. In fact, only hours before I'd been a front-row witness to an electric
re-Fuse between
C.R. Avery &
The Sojourners. Bands I didn't love already
needed to work much harder to impress me.
The
food was great, the weather, though soggy at times, didn't make a
mud-pit of Lebreton Flats. The scan-in / scan-out
ticket system drove me crazy, especially at the Blacksheep Stage where the constant
ringing of the scanner guns began to blatantly interfere with the music. However, overall it ran without a hitch and that's a pretty big feat for something of this magnitude.
For band-by-band reviews .
K'NAAN @ Blacksheep Stage - Any other band
(
Skydiggers) might have suffered audience-share (and musical air space) to
KISS playing simultaneously. The K'NAAN crowd wouldn't have been anywhere else but
screaming and dancing for him. He was in his element. At one point K'NAAN jumped off stage to
take a photo of himself in front of the gaggle of fans. He asked the lighting guy to illuminate the crowd and KISS obliged by
sending up a shower of pyrotechnics right at that exact moment. Only at Bluesfest!
Library Voices @ Subway Stage - The latest
princes and princesses of Can-pop
to come from The Queen City had the luck of opening up for
Paolo
Nutini. Therefore a large crowd had already gathered by the time they
took their new time slot, right up against
CAKE. Their usual fervour
and
energy was doubled-pumped due to the fact that they had finally emerged from the van after driving straight from Regina. Around me in the crowd and afterward there were mumblings of "
next big things" and "
dressed for success" and "felt like I was
witnessing a band poised to break out." I was swelling with Saskatchewan pride!
Paolo Nutini @ Subway Stage -
Apparently I was
the last young woman (no comments from the pea
nut gallery on that last adjective!) on earth to discover Paolo's presence. I guess it was about time I let go of my crush on
John Krasinski and move on. Move on to Paolo Nutini! What a performer, entertainer, songwriter, singer. Best surprise of the festival, for me.
CAKE @ Rogers Stage - This California fiver redeemed itself from the abysmal performance I witnessed several years ago at Massey Hall in Toronto.
John McCrea went from a shoe-gazing yawner to a firey singalong dance fest maestro. I managed to catch just enough of this show (five songs) to feel equipped to review it because for most of CAKE's set I was at
Library Voices.
LeE HARVeY OsMOND @ Hard Rock Stage - I first saw LHO about a month ago in an Ottawa theatre opening for
Cowboy Junkies and that's a tough show-situation to follow. The members of the Junkies who make cameos on
A Quiet Evil made appearances in the opening set, including
Margo Timmins on You Drove Me Crazy.
Without those added bonuses the Bluesfest show, even though it was
virtually faultless, wasn't quite as special as the last time I saw LeE
HaRVEY OsMOND. [
Note: You'll be able to hear this, as well as Steve Earle & Monkeyjunk, on the Concerts on Demand site very soon.]
The Skydiggers @ Hard Rock Stage - I've
been a Diggers fan for a long time and have seen the band play enough to know when there's something missing. The addition of
Michael Johnston has
further elevated their live show
but I guess the competition of KISS and K'NAAN at Bluesfest made them
appear like they were in a high-energy sandwich and someone forgot the
mustard. Nonetheless both my fellow fan
Jim Bryson and I affirmed why this band is one of our favourites when those first words of the encore rang through the night air: "
my shoulder still burns, where you touched me last night..." Hollerado @ Bank of America Main Stage - There were very few bands on my To Do List that I hadn't seen before, and amazingly this Ottawa-area (Manotick-Montreal) poptastic group was one of them. It was
totally worth the wait. On a bright afternoon they gathered at least
a thousand to their area of the park. (I'm terrible with numbers, +/- 500) Midway through the set they brought out
The Uplift Choir, a bunch of friends who could actually sing very well. This elevated their four-chord rock to an even higher level. It was 50 minutes of
pure smile and a
sweaty good time dancing in the blazing sunshine.
Woodhands @ Blacksheep Stage - Sun! Rain! Sun! Rain! Just when I thought I might need to peel my blue jeans post-Hollerado / a few songs into the Woodhands
dance-tastic sweat set, a giant cloud swung over the site and saved all those poor young indie kids from the horror. After getting sufficiently cooled by the rainstorm the dazzling duo tempted electrocution with
a cover of Electric Avenue and the sun prevailed!
Ottawa loves Woodhands and it was nice to hear that Woodhands love Ottawa right back.
The Deep Dark Woods @ Blacksheep Stage - I guess DDW didn't want to be outdone by WH, so they
called on the Saskatchewan weather gods to perform the same miracles (with a little extra wind for spice) for their set.
Ryan Boldt started the show in his Ray Bans but thought better of them when
the sun fell victim to the second giant grey cloud of the day. The rain fell even harder, sideways--I'm pretty sure--and then by the time
Two Time Loser came along in the set everyone was a winner and the sun was splitting the clouds again! (How ironic, with the lyric "
long time ago/you left me in the rain.") This band is just one of my favourites, period. I love
that Sask-drawl swagger and the way they pick up the pace for the live show. As my friend Marc stated an hour after the show ended: "
I've still got those songs in my head and I'd never heard them before. That's a very good sign!"
Black Mountain @ Blacksheep Stage - This was definitely
the place to be on Saturday. The number of times I've seen Black Mountain is beginning to
compete with my collection of summer dresses (more than I need). However, this was the first time I caught them in the open air under the stars and it
definitely added to the stoner dreamy ambience the band provides. Maybe not the best atmosphere for this music-lover who was feeling the fatigue of Day #11, I apparently looked like I was falling asleep, according to
Jon Bartlett!
Handsome Furs @ Bank of America Stage - The aforementioned
Jon described the HF live show very eloquently: "
That is one hot band. And by hot I mean SEXY!" It didn't seem to matter that it was the
bright sun of 7 pm on a stage that could
fit 100 Handsome Furs and there were only two. They didn't care that Alexei's family was in the audience. They were
turned-on,
turned-up, and
turned-out in fine form. Alexei continues to prove that although
Dan could very easily perform those tunes live without her, Handsome Furs would be 1/10th of the show they are without her
verve and vivacity. She is magnetic and I can never take my eyes off her.
