While I don’t have the energy nor the time to go every night to Bluesfest, I can definitely handle a full-out weekend (ok, no I can’t and I smartly took Monday off as vacation to recoup my energy). After work on Friday I went to Le Troquet for a few pints with my old manager Jean-Francois, along with Michael, Mina and Kelly. Good times were had reminiscing and sampling their tasty St-Ambroise IPA. Definitely better than the swill they serve at Bluesfest!
Mina dropped me off at Lebreton Flats and it was go time!
Is this seriously the phone number of this company? Fantastic.
Mike tipped me off to this excellent rocking band from Kingston called The Tragically Hip…I mean, The Glorious Sons. There was quite the crowd for them around 6:30pm. Two thumbs for these guys. I’m going to pick up their albums.
Next up were the Headstones. Now, I can’t say I own an album, but I know a few tunes off the radio. I was blown away by their energy on stage. Hugh Dillon is quite the showman. I had a good time catching these guys while waiting for people to show up. Karilee, Andre, Mike, Melissa and Molly all trickled in during their set.
So…word on the street is that we were expecting a little rain this night. Nothing major, but it was a smart idea to bring a rain jacket. Sidenote: I saw someone wearing some Doc Martin-looking rubber boots. I love those things. You look stylish wearing them and they keep your feet dry! I need a pair.
Nabbed this off of Melissa’s FB page. Good crew before getting rained out!
We headed over to watch Anderson Paak at the Claridge stage and a few songs in they said they had to get off the stage as a lightning storm was coming in. This was news to us as there wasn’t even much rain at that point and the clouds didn’t look ominous. We hung out for a good 30-45 minutes and the rain started trickling in but nothing major. Live was due on the main stage around 9:30 and it was already that time when Anderson Paak hit the stage.
There are moments at Bluesfest where you are hoping to have this transcendent moment where an artist you are not familiar with brings you in with their tractor beams and sets their phasers on stun. Anderson Paak was this for me (and the Weeknd was that for me many years ago). These guys were on fire. They realized they only had fifteen minutes to give us and they gave it their all. I was quite impressed how Anderson Paak would be on the mic dancing around one moment and then hop on this mega drum kit and be pulling off some Jimmy Chamberlin stuff on me. My face did melt a little in the rainstorm.
I told Andre I was going to head over to the washroom and I would meet them over at the main stage for Live. I settled in for the ride and noticed that it was starting to rain a little harder. No matter, this was LIVE, reunited! I was stoked to see them. This was a big moment for a Live fan!
I’m surprised the camera was working at this point. I smartly powered the phone off considering the amount of rain that was hitting my jeans.
They hit the stage around 9:45 and just roll out the power. All over You, Operation Spirit…bam! They are on fire. I even move up closer to the stage as there is plenty of room.
The thing is, there’s plenty of room because the rain is coming down HARD and I’m essentially walking into a giant puddle. I honestly thought it was just a puddle I was in at one point, until I realized after that this is no mere puddle, the entire field has about two inches of water on top of it! I look around the crowd and it looks like someone has the firehouse coming down on them. It then dawned on me that this was the mother of all storms and we were right in the middle of it. The only comparable storm I’ve been in would have been The Trews back in 2006.
Live rips into Pain Lies on the Riverside and I’m stoked to hear some tunes off of their Mental Jewellery album. Then I see a stagehand walk right onto stage and give them knife across the neck hand motion. It’s done, it’s over. The sound is cut and the band is rushed off the stage.
Well, this is never a good sign.
As soon as they clear the stage, lightning strikes in the distance and the thunder immediately goes BOOM! It must have been a close one! Everyone heads over to the War Museum for some shelter. I try and find the others but they are nowhere to be found. After 30 minutes, I notice the lit up screens go black so I think “Alright! Maybe the show is back on!” Alas, it was not meant to be and they had cancelled the show for the rest of the night. This is a smart move considering the field was water over our shoes and I can only imagine what happens when you mix thousands of people standing in water and a lightning bolt.
Soaked to the bone, I headed back to Hull, grabbed a slice of pizza and settled in for the long ride home with wet underwear. Gah. Friday night Bluesfest, it was still a good time, even though I only got a taste of how awesome Live is right now.