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Review: Bluesfest 2012
*All setlists generated from setlist.fm, an excellent resource!!*
This year’s Bluesfest was different than years past in that I did not bother going every day (aka The Gauntlet). Vero and I decided to purchase a pass between us and then purchase an extra ticket for the days that we wanted to go together.
This proved to be a prudent move on our part considering we managed to find a cheap ticket for every day that we wanted to go out together. We also managed to sell our own pass for the nights we were not interested in going at all. This year it was harder to do so considering it was a wristband that you had to sell and not a stack of paper tickets that we could easily sell on Kijiji. Nonetheless, we managed to find a lot of friends who wanted our tickets for the nights we were not going and I believe there were only two nights we didn’t bother going and didn’t manage to sell off the ticket.
General Comments:
– I believe we may hit upon the golden era of festival layout. More beer tents, less lineups, great main stage layout in the back corner which somehow gets you closer to the stage and easier to get out…loved it!
– Too bad there wasn’t much rain in the area for the past while…Bluesfest became Dirtfest. Krista’s feet were horrid after a night out in that dustbowl!
– Friday’s is the place to eat. Good burgers, good poutine..great condiments!
– All in all, I wasn’t too bad off in terms of energy considering most of the time I would have a day in between shows. This doesn’t meant that there weren’t late nights, but it made the festival more bearable!
– Shout out to my Bluesfest friends this year! – Vero, Trish, Andre, Karilee, Mike, Melissa, Mike and Etienne! Let’s not forget about Krista’s one night appearance which resulted in a hangover that she is still feeling the effects from…weeks later!
Specifics:
Alice Cooper – Vero went with her sister and they said it was fantastic. I saw some videos and their stage show is quite theatrical…giant Frankenstein monster, guillotine…awesome! I am regretting not going to this one.
Iron Maiden – Didn’t hear too much from Vero about Iron Maiden but I’m assuming they put on a great show as always.
I Mother Earth – They are back baby! Great setlist chosen by these guys…Earth, Sky and C was played! Hells yes! I’m glad IME is back in action. The crowd was digging it and I believe the band was also.
Setlist:
Summertime in the Void
One More Astronaut
Juicy
Used to be Alright
Like the Sun
All Awake
We Got the Love
Earth, Sky and C
Levitate
Rain Will Fall
Shinedown – I don’t know much Shinedown, but I know what I like. They brought an EXCELLENT show which was all the staples of a rock show…lights, sounds, and some crazy ramps that went up to an upper deck on the stage! Really enjoyed this show. Must check this band out.
· Diamond Eyes (Boom-Lay Boom-Lay Boom)
· Enemies
· 45
· Unity
· Bully
· Encore:
(Lynyrd Skynyrd
cover)
Aiborne Toxic Event – Decent band that I knew nothing about. Worth a listen.
· Where Have All the Good People Gone?
· Love at the End of the World
· Streets of Heaven (Promises, Promises)
· Nothing Is Anything (Without You)
· Miasmal Smoke & The Yellow Bellied Freaks
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Tea Party Live Album – PledgeMusic
http://www.pledgemusic.com/projects/theteapartylive
I’ve talked about it before, but I have to say that I’m really enjoying the Kickstarter/Pledgemusic model of things nowadays.
Basically, it’s allowing people to create/sell a product ONLY if they raise the money for it beforehand. What a fascinating concept! Instead of bands creating a gazillion copies of CDs that may not sell, why not just see how many will sell first?
Right now, The Tea Party are going to create a live album on their current tour if they raise enough funds. In three days it’s already at 82%.
I have also been backing various video game creator’s projects that were involved with Sierra Games back in the day. I *love* Sierra Games so it’s great to see these programmers still out there interested in creating games that I love!
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Best Wedding Proposal Ever
Here I thought I did pretty well, but this one nailed it! While I sometimes love the Internet, I hate it because it shows that I can do better. 
When the snow leaves the ground, it’s time to do a few things…crack a brew outside, soak in the sun, and get rid of those god-awful Christmas lights that have been sitting there for five months (at least in Canada!)
I believe I share this peeve with my father and mother as well…remember when those icicle lights came out years ago? Some people thought they looked nice enough to leave up all year long!
Fast fact: They do not. Take them down or move to the North Pole!
That being said, I am a procrastinator and I need some motivation to get things done sometimes. So that’s when I arrived at Mike’s house yesterday afternoon and noticed a nice string of Christmas lights up there in the month of May, I realized that he must be pretty busy and would appreciate some help.
Luckily, I found a ladder downstairs, and after figuring out how to unfold and lock the hinges (this ladder was pretty great!), I proceeded to climb onto the roof and remove the lights. While I was doing so, I was thinking “I wonder if someone is going to call the cops?” and then I thought of how ludicrous that call would have been. “Allo, police? Yes, there is a man on top of my neighbours roof taking off his Christmas lights.” The police probably would have said “Good on him! We were about to start handing out fines for Christmas lights 30 days after the last snowfall!”
Mike arrived and he had a good chuckle. But we chatted later over a beer and it’s like we said before…sometimes we all just need a little kick in the ass to get a few things done. Lord knows I’m guilty of that on MANY fronts. Pink garage door is a prime example.
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Review: Ottawa Comic Convention
Awww yeah, we all know you love it! A convention of pop culture goodness…science fiction, fantasy, comic books, superheroes…you name it, they got it!
This was the lineup for an hour. You can play a game of Where’s Waldo here!
Véro, Trish and I met at South Keys all decked out. You see…I wasn’t planning on dressing up for Comiccon, but Vero insisted we do so! So I decided on something easy enough…my red-shirt Star Trek outfit I made a few years ago for a work Hallowe’en function. Vero went as Waldo/Wenda/Wanda which was my personal favourite of the show, especially when she was in a crowd of people! Trish dressed up as Batgirl which was also an excellent costume!! Benoit decided to wuss out and not wear much at all (in terms of costuming…I wonder how he’s going to fare being in the Trooper outfit for hours on end!)
Not sure who the guy pushing around Prof. X is supposed to be!
We were surprised to meet up with Eric and Jason on the bus ride to the center. We were also surprised to be in a lineup that circled the area a few times! It took us an hour to get inside, but the sun was shining and there were some great costumes to check out while waiting around.
Luckily, I did not perish on this mission
All in all, the Comiccon exceeded my expectations. I was expecting a gong show of an event considering it was the first year Ottawa was hosting an event like this. 20,000 people are a lot! But in the end, I got to see all the panels I wanted to, I got to peruse all the merchandise I wanted to, I got to get an autograph from Neal Adams (but not Dale Eaglesham who I found out was only there on the Saturday and I missed him! Dang!), I got to follow Benoit around who talks to all the people at the booths where I’m too shy to chat them up…it was a great experience.
One day, this will be Benoit and I
My only complaint is that the majority of the booths jacked up their prices during the Con so there were not many deals to be had. That is a shame as I used to get some really good deals back in the day. I think it’s time to start branching towards EBay for a lot of my purchases.
Waldo and her trusty sidekick Batgirl!
One day was definitely not enough and I’m glad to have gone for the entire weekend. There is just so much to do when you include panels…if I wasn’t going to any panels, I would think one day would have been enough. I will definitely be back next year!
Highlights
– Benoit and I managed to get a spot in the Star Wars Armour Workshop which was AMAZING. I really enjoyed seeing people who had WAY more dedication than Ben and I in building our Stormtrooper armour. I really liked how someone managed to install magnets into the armour to snap together. AWESOME. I was really worried at one point because they said that the 501st was not allowing the FX Armour kits into membership and it wasn’t until I checked a few days later that I realized we did not own the FX Armour kit. Phew! We were disappointed that they said we could drop by their booth and ask questions but they were too busy posing for pictures to consider us. However, they gave us a card, and it’s understandable that they are busy!
– I went to the Neal Adams panel which was interesting. He really enjoyed talking about the future of comics…motion comics, augmented reality…stuff that I’m really excited for. It’s nice to see someone who still works towards the future. He was a funny guy to see.
– I met up with Vero and Trish and they said they were bombarded by people asking for their photograph! That is amazing! They had really great costumes.
– Action Figure Improv was quite funny. They basically have a video camera on a couple of action figures that the improv team act out and they draw different backgrounds that they enter once in awhile. It was clever and entertaining.
– John de Lancie was entertaining. He had some good stories from back in the day of being in ST: TNG. It was interesting to hear that he only appeared in nine episodes of the series as Q. Really? That’s it? He’s made an incredible impression, considering.
– Brent Spiner stole the show for me…he was off the wall hilarious…with his impersonations of Patrick Stewart, or how he handled a woman asking to have his babies. He even phoned his mom on Mother’s Day from the stage!
– We went to a panel to hear about Heroes of the North, a Canadian web series. It was quite interesting to hear about how it’s hard to make an action film/series in Canada as people tend to think that’s an American thing. I found them interesting and I’m sure Dad would have appreciated checking out Hornet from the series!
Hornet – Heroes of the North
All the photos shown here are from my friend Eric, other than the great one of Vero and Trish which I found on Flickr!
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Wedding Polish
I’m at the dentist yesterday and we are talking about my upcoming wedding and then Diane mentions that they give a free wedding polish!
Now that is service! I feel like I am amongst the elite! I asked if there would be balloons and cake but she wouldn’t confirm that.
Who doesn’t want to see Bryan Adams on a Friday night in Ottawa?!
Trish, Vero and I headed out to the Hintonburger for a bite to eat until Trish said that Four Friends in Stittsville had a worthy burger and fries. She was right!
We ended up in the 200L close to the stage and I have to say that this is a sweet spot to view a concert. I always thought the floor was great, but it’s exciting to see a great view from up high. I will definitely look into sitting in these sections in the future.
What can I say about Bryan Adams? A Canadian institution…I don’t even own an album but clearly I need to pick some up after an AMAZING night of rock and roll. He still has it…the voice, the guitars…everything you love about a rock show, they still got it. They are touring this year to promote the 20th anniversary of the Waking Up the Neighbours album.
They had some great moments in the show…they brought up a woman who sang on ‘When You’re Gone’ with him which was great. They also had a great acoustic set with some plastic barrels used as drums.
Fascinating to see that the show ended with Bryan singing solo acoustic. It is definitely different than how most rock shows end, but I thought it was neat.
Two thumbs up for this amazing night. I wish I could have brought my parents. They would enjoyed it.
OH! I can’t forget to send some thanks to the rocking people behind us. They were on their feet most of the night which made me comfortable to stand up and dance as well.
Can’t Stop This Thing We Started
Thought I’d Died and Gone to Heaven
Acoustic With Bucket Drums
If You Wanna Leave Me (Can I Come Too?) / Touch The Hand
(Everything I Do) I Do It for You
If Ya Wanna Be Bad Ya Gotta Be Good (Snippet)
When You’re Gone (Bryan Adams & Melanie C cover) (With lady from audience)
It’s Only Love (Bryan Adams & Tina Turner cover) (Adams fakes at beginning Tina Turner is there)
The Only Thing That Looks Good on Me Is You
There Will Never Be Another Tonight
Bryan Adams Solo Acoustic
All for Love (Bryan Adams, Rod Stewart & Sting cover)
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Zellers Closing Sale – Gloucester
Vero and I stumbled up on a store closing sale for Zellers in Gloucester last night. Seeing that they were also selling some fixtures, I was intrigued at the thought that I could find a spin rack for comic books (my holy grail of items).
In the end, I did not find a spin rack, nor did I find an awesome mannequin to bring home, but we stocked up on some awesome finds…everything listed is at least 40% off…coat hangers, light bulbs, power bars, shirts, toques, mitts, bedsheets, board games, toys…you name it, they had it on sale!
We spent a good two hours scouring the place and it’s pretty amazing what comes across your mind when you see a 40% off sign in front of it! Who DOESN’T need stuff from the hardware section for 40% off?!
Go check it out for some good deals!
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Bluesfest 2012 Lineup
I didn’t have a good feeling going into Bluesfest lineup day, and I come out of it with the same feeling. This may be the first Bluesfest in years where I don’t bother with an all-access pass. In fact, I was even eying up Osheaga in Montreal as an alternative.
What can I say other than the fact that there are just genres of music that I’m not partial to. In reading the Ottawa Citizen article about this year’s lineup, they said out of a survey last year of participants, 40% were under the age of 30 and had a strong interest in electronic music.
So this year’s lineup is chock-full of DJs, electronica, trip-hop…a far cry from the rock of the past few years and let’s not get into the age-old debate of whether it should be called ‘Blues’fest any longer.
From a management point of view, I admire that they had the balls to try something new like this…the past few years have been the same in terms of the lineup with some creeping into other musical genres to test the waters. This year it feels like they put all their cards on the table to see if it would work. I’m just not sure if it will…I may be completely wrong. For the 60% who are over 30 years old, or for the people who do not have an interest in electronic music, maybe they won’t bother going to all the shows, but their numbers will be replaced with the segment of the population who DOES care about this stuff and is thrilled with what Ottawa has to offer this summer!
When I look across the landscape of summer festivals, they are pretty much the same…in fact, I swear Feist has decreed that she will try and play every summer festival in North America this year! But Ottawa is the only one that stands out as different…
However, for this guy, it’s a little disappointing…there are still a few acts that I’m glad to see, but the only one I’m really EXCITED to see would be I Mother Earth.
Otherwise, here’s where I stand on a few acts:
Tiesto – A few colleagues are raving that he is showing up. It may be worthwhile to see what this DJ is all about.
Alice Cooper & Iron Maiden – May be worthwhile to me, but I wouldn’t be crying if I didn’t see either of them.
I Mother Earth – Awesome!
Nickelback – I’m actually pretty stoked to seem them in a summer festival considering I’ve seen them in the past in arena tours. Also, I missed out on seeing them in Montreal this past tour. All the haters, direct your snide comments elsewhere! They are as big as AC/DC!
Thievery Corporation – Interesting!
Big Wreck – Excellent! Their new album is killer as well.
Sam Roberts Band – ‘Nuff said
John Mellencamp – Going to skip this one for…
The Sheepdogs! – Caught the end of them last year and was digging it.
Our Lady Peace – Their new album is great.
Blue Rodeo – Beer in hand, this is a great band
Metric – New album out, exciting! Always a great show
The Trews – But unfortunately they are on at the same time as the Trews! Who to choose? I may go for the Trews
Ok, after writing this list, I have to admit that there are still quite a few acts that I will be pumped to see! Perhaps it will be a good thing that I don’t go all out on Bluesfest this year!
So…as it stands…disappointed with the lineup in general, interested to see a few acts, and also interested to see how this all plays out.