2005-07-18 - 2:31

Bluesfest wrap-up

While I didn't manage to keep up with journal updates during Bluesfest, I stayed on pace with my concert reviews.

The first Saturday was a great day overall. I managed to catch Apostle of Hustle, Stars, Metric, and Broken Social Scene, as detailed in this review. This was the one day that I had a large group of friends with me; before Apostle was finished, I had found Colin, Richard, and Leah, while Greg, Kelly, and Chris found me.

Matt and Erin didn't make it to the festival, which is why I ended up sticking around to watch Metric with Laurie. I'm still not a big fan, and the girl talking loudly behind me didn't do much to help that set, but it was still a fantastic day. The Broken Social Scene set was clearly something special; and it's rare that Ottawa has such experiences.

I think that when the festivals go well, they provide some of my favourite concert moments. It's awesome to experience the music on a beautiful summer night, surrounded by thousands of people who are all feeling it, as well. Of course, with a line-up that (at my count) peaked at twenty-one performers, while averaging at least ten, Broken Social Scene knew how to create an event.

After a couple of nights off, I tried to catch Buck 65 on Wednesday, after he had been bumped up to headlining status on the Black Sheep Stage. I say tried because as soon as the previous act finished, the sky opened up with a thunderstorm that lasted the rest of the night. Sure enough, all the headlining slots were eventually cancelled, to the chagrin of the diehards who had stayed on the lawn.

In a cool gesture, Buck did come out to chat with those fans during the storm. Although I haven't yet written anything about the night, I added a review placeholder just for the purpose of displaying what I consider the greatest photo ever. That's the best grumpy sailor face I can think of and I grew up in Nova Scotia.

Thursday's affair went much, much better. Local outfit . . . As the Poets Affirm gave the best performance that I have seen from them, Willy Porter was lots of fun, and The Dears were amazing, as always. I have seen The Dears eight times now (they've pulled to within one of Buck for the title of most seen acts) and this concert ranked with the best of them. I hadn't seen the band in over a year and a half, though, so this was a welcome return that made up for Wednesday's rain-out.

The real bonus, though, was a chance to meet the band afterwards. I was happy to get a setlist signed by Patrick, Murray, and George. The best part, though, was that when I met George, he seemed excited and said, "You're at every Ottawa concert we do!" Too cool.

I always wonder how much the band notices the audience, so that was interesting. Thinking back, though, I have been at the front for almost every show and I do goon it up a fair bit. (I think I've mentioned that Laurie first saw me at a Dears concert and assumed that I was drunk because of the way I was at the front, by myself, rocking out.)

In addition to the setlist, I got a picture with George, which is posted below my review. In all the previous shows that I attended, I only had one picture of me with a band member (N.U. from Neubauten). Of course, I usually don't bring my camera, so it'd be impossible to have many old photos; but I still thought that it was funny to get two in a row. At any rate, George was very approachable and cool, which is always a bonus.

On Friday, I was lazy and didn't make it to Bluesfest, making Saturday my last night. Even though another storm split the Calexico set in half, they still kicked ass; and the New York Dolls were fun, too. You can see my recap for that one here.

All in all, Bluesfest was excellent, even with the storms. It was also funny to keep running into the same people. I bumped into another set list hunter after Neko Case, Broken Social Scene, and the New York Dolls. He didn't get one at the first two, either, but we both lucked out with the Dolls.

More amusing was the mother camped out at the very front of the lawn for Buck 65 and The Dears, based solely on the recommendation of her son. She was even hardcore enough to wait out the storm. Good stuff. Oh, and she told me that she recognized songs from the Black Eyed Peas set because she had heard them while taking a hip hop dance class. And they say Ottawa isn't a rockin' town.

I'm sure that some other things happened in the past week, including a visit from Laura and company this weekend and the replacement of my dearly departed dishwasher, but that will have to be enough of a recap for now.

J.