2007-07-06 - 17:17
From ideas to blues
Things have remained fairly busy here, between concerts and company. As planned, I wrapped up the Capital Idea! Festival with two more shows: The Fiery Furnaces and The Russian Futurists. The Furnaces were very entertaining, as I recapped here. That band does not repeat itself from tour to tour; my third look at them was full of more surprises. The opening bands on that night, Thundrah and The Hot Springs were also quite enjoyable.
The Russian Futurists concert was nothing too special but it was about what I was expecting. Laurie's sister Alison started her visit in time to catch that show, before staying through the Canada Day long weekend. That was a pretty mellow stretch. On Canada Day itself, I had a few folks over for a barbecue and some games. I kept it small scale this year--I think there were eight of us--and everyone decided to skip the downtown crowd and fireworks.
One oddity over the Canada Day weekend was a strange Dears concert. They were the middle act on an event sponsored by a radio station and a beer company, with no tickets available to the general public. I was lucky enough to win entry through the web site of the headlining act, Bedouin Soundclash. Unfortunately, I only received one extra pass, which didn't work out with Alison visiting and most of my other concert-going friends having plans together. When I saw George, the band's drummer, before the show, he told me that I could've gotten on their guestlist. I had assumed that but I wasn't sure how to get a hold of him. I'm set for next time, though.
Apart from a weird crowd (mostly uninterested in the bands) and a weird setting (a downtown parking lot), the event also featured weird hosts: Mr. Lahey and Randy from Trailer Park Boys, hosting in character. I'm a big fan of the show, so this was a treat for me; and the guys in The Dears seemed excited, too. (Murray and Patrick ran over to Randy as soon as they saw him and posed for a picture with big smiles.) The concert itself was good. The setlist was a truncated version of what I've heard from the band recently, with no real surprises; but the sound was good and the band was as forceful as usual, despite the small number of actual fans in attendance.
Things are not slowing down on the concert front, as Bluesfest has just started. The opening night was Wednesday but I had purchased an 11-day pass before Van Morrison was added to the line-up, so things kicked off for me last night. While there are a few notables in the festival this year (particularly The White Stripes, whose new album I love), the overall roster falls short of last year's, in my eyes. Nonetheless, I really enjoy the whole experience; and it felt great to check out the new festival grounds last night (they've moved back to LeBreton Flats), anticipating another week and a half of music. I really like the River Stage, where I saw Radio Birdman deliver a killer set last night.
The two main stages are set up facing each other, with bands alternating on each. After Radio Birdman, I caught a good chunk of Bob Dylan's set on the main stage. Since I'm not a big fan, the huge crowd and off-putting distance from the action meant that it wasn't much of an experience for me. I think it'll be fun to be a part of a big crowd for the Stripes and George Clinton and the P-Funk All-Stars; but otherwise, I'm more looking forward to shows on the two smaller stages. The Radio Birdman show was a participatory experience, whereas watching Dylan was entirely passive for me. Plus, it's just more fun to be close enough to see that the drummer is blowing his top when nobody will turn off the stage lights that are blasting right in his eyes. (At least drums are a good instrument on which to take out your anger.) I have my proper review of Day 2 online here.
The next set of updates from me will likely all be Bluesfest related. Hopefully, I'll stay on the ball with updating my concert reviews, although I'll probably hold off on going through my photos until after the festival is wrapped up.
J.