Mike, Vero and I went to Bluesfest on Friday night to catch some old faves, some new ones, and one that we skipped altogether. Cake was playing the Rogers stage and they were entertaining. Karilee was upset that they didn’t play The Distance but I didn’t notice whatsoever as the band had a good rapport with the crowd and played a few tunes that I recognized as well as some tunes that I thought were simply outright funny. It was sprinkling on us a little from the clouds overhead but we didn’t let that deter us.
Onwards and upwards…we decided to skip out on Blue Rodeo to check out a supposed sensation..Paolo Nutini…some Scottish lad with an Italian name. My colleague Visar was heading out to see him so I figured he must be a decent act if people who don’t generally frequent Bluesfest are now coming out.
He had quite the band up on stage…rockers and horn section and everything. Ben had described him as a crooner but he definitely was not. His music did resemble the classic 50s style bands where their music had one goal…to make people dance! I swear I was part of the Enchantment Under The Sea dance from Back to the Future at one point! Paolo was definitely a fun act to watch and I believe I shall pick up his album. He had so much energy and the band was great as well. Vero couldn’t get over the fact that he seemed to be hunched over like a Hunchback while singing. I didn’t really mind it…I suppose it was his ‘thing’.
Most of the set was quite energetic and then they hit a slower song spot before getting back into the energy. Every band has this going for them but I thought his slow set was quite long. 4-5 songs from what I remember. It is a shame that they never came back out for an encore as the crowd was demanding it. This also happened with Metric earlier in the week. I guess there’s a strict ‘no encore’ for non-main stage bands?
I give as many thumbs up as I can for this act. It was fun, the crowd was loving him, and he was slugging beer like a true Scotsman. Good show!
On our way out, we headed towards the main stage to catch the end of Blue Rodeo’s set. We heard “Hasn’t Hit Me Yet” as well as “Try”. Actually, we heard these songs while walking back to the car. I was just too tired to stick around for another few songs and then have to push through 30,000 people to our car. We called it a night and headed home once again.