Day: July 19, 2009

It was a long ride through the Gauntlet but I must admit, it was a fun ride this year.

For some reason, there weren’t too many bands that I was dying to see, but there were enough that made me want to check them out. A good litmus test would be to say “Who would spend $60 to see?” vs. “Who would be good to see for $20?”.

Logistically, I thought Bluesfest had everything going for them this year. I thoroughly enjoyed the no-wristband policy for the entrance as it allowed me to sell of tickets I would not have used anyhow. The beer wristband policy was a pain some days as the lineups to get a wristband were as long as the beer lineups. I understand completely why they wanted to do this but I am not sure if it sped up matters. In the time it takes to check my ID and take my cash at the beer counter, the person getting the beer has returned from the back. So it’s not like they are wasting TOO much time. Either way, this is a minor, minor issue.

The selection of food is great, the stages are set up nicely, the sound bleed isn’t TOO bad. This year was the year of ‘abide by the by-law and don’t crank music over 90 decibels!’ I thought that some concerts were lacking in their oomph of volume (Sam Roberts) which took away from the otherwise perfect show. I wonder if there is a way to get an exemption to a by-law or how much the fine is?

Once again, the lawn chair war was waged. I can’t say I encountered too many lawn chairs as we had a good system of avoiding them by hanging out near the walking path. The KISS concert incident where Vero got pinched and shoved by lawn chair people made me realize once again, that it wouldn’t be a bad thing if they had a separate section for the lawn chairs. I am not entirely sure why they don’t bother trying that again.

I also enjoyed that Vero had a pass and came out every night with us. It’s nice to share these moments with your girlfriend.

My favourite night would have to be Thursday when Metric and Ben Harper with Relentless7 played. What a night, what a couple of shows! Incredible!
Standout Acts:
Metric
Ben Harper and Relentless 7
Stone Temple Pilots
KISS

Acts that I Knew Nothing About But Turned out to be Amazing:
BEAST
Paolo Nutini
Yeah Yeah Yeahs

Acts that I thought I would think were amazing but really just dragged on:
Jeff Beck

Two thumbs up to the organizers of Bluesfest this year. They have outdone themselves with the amount of great acts they managed to bring to our fair city! Cheers!

On Sunday, we headed over to Duncan’s (my) old place in Bayshore to help him move. He was moving out at the end of the month and there was a lot of work to be done. Luckily, they managed to rent a truck which was the best idea ever. We would have been there for days if he didn’t have that truck with him.

Unfortunately, Duncan had not really packed anything beforehand so it was a little awkward to always ask him where certain things went. Mike and I dealt with the heavy stuff…getting that couch out of the basement was ridiculous and even more so after we realized we had to throw it into the trash! Bayshore House had accumulated approximately 20 roommate’s worth of junk since 1998 when I first rented the place. A lot of good memories were had there and I will miss the place. It has now become nothing of its former self…Duncan lives with two roommates which he doesn’t really talk to as they are not friends with us. He decided to finally bite the bullet and move out with his girlfriend.

So there we were, throwing out BBQs, patio furniture, furniture that had been there for years and no one would use…packing the moving truck. It wasn’t a hard move, but it wasn’t fast moving either! No matter, it was a decent day to do some moving.

The greatest part of the day was when I started hauling stuff from under the stairs to discover that it was primarily some stuff I had left there for the past decade! I found an old pair of skis, a dumbbell and the Holy Grail, my old record player! Beauty! Too bad that the left speaker input seems to be blown. I’ll have to see if I can re-solder it one day.

We then packed everything up, headed to a storage area where he’ll keep his stuff while the basement gets renovated in Kristen’s house and voila, the day was done by 6PM which was great timing as I was heading back out to the final day of Bluesfest.

I was in no shape to go to Bluefest and it wouldn’t have bothered me not to go. I was tired from moving, tired from Bluesfest, tired from the night out…I was tired! But Vero and I decided to go for the final night and I was pleased with the decision.

First stop was the food tents…I picked up some excellent fish and chips while Vero picked up some random pad thai dish which tasted like an Italian pasta dish. Vero was not pleased, threw it out and then bought a poutine instead. We sat down to watch The Dead Weather, which seems to be on everyone’s mind solely from the power of Jack White (of White Stripes/Raconteur fame) being in the band (on drums nonetheless!). Perhaps it was the fact that I was dead tired and hungry, but I didn’t really appreciate anything coming from the stage so we headed over to see Dave Alvin and the Guilty Women which was some country/blues band who were entertaining as Dave played guitar with an backing band of women. I had a nap over there and when I awoke, we headed over to catch the final act of the night, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs.

Benoit had told me he thought this band was excellent and I had heard this from a few other people as well. We positioned ourselves center stage and when the band finally hit the stage, it was…interesting. The music was quite catchy in an indie/punk/dance kind of vibe. It took awhile to get used to the singer who would basically sing and then scream into the mic. Vero didn’t really care for the vocals at all but I must admit that we both thought the band was decent musically and I’m sure I will enjoy studio versions of their songs.

Oh, I forgot that they released this giant inflatable eyeball into the crowd which stayed there for the better part of the night. At one point one guy actually ran away with it which was hilarious as this eyeball was quite large. I didn’t think one guy could handle it.

They definitely have convinced me to pick up an album of theirs and give a listen which is probably the best thing a band could ask for!