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.

·  Sound of Madness

·  Diamond Eyes (Boom-Lay Boom-Lay Boom)

·  Enemies

·  If You Only Knew

·  The Crow & The Butterfly

·  Second Chance

·  Amaryllis

·  I’ll Follow You

·  45

·  Unity

·  Bully

·  Encore:

·  Simple Man

(Lynyrd Skynyrd

 cover)

·  Fly From the Inside

Nickelback – As always, these guys from Alberta outdo themselves with an excellent rock and roll show.  They are getting to the point that when they introduce a new album, they only have the space to play a few songs in a 90 minute set because they have to think of playing all their other hits!  Pyrotechnics were great as always and Mike and I missed the classic ‘beer o’clock’ bit while we were off getting ourselves our own beer!  I always have a great time at their show and I was impressed that Andre came out for it as well.  Looking at the setlist now, I realize that I may have had a few too many beer because I definitely don’t remember them playing their uber-hit ‘How You Remind Me’!

·  This Means War

·  Something in Your Mouth

·  Never Again

·  Photograph

·  Far Away

·  Bottoms Up

·  Animals

·  Rockstar

·  Someday

·  Lullaby

·  When We Stand Together

·  Drum Solo

·  How You Remind Me

·  Burn It to the Ground

·  Encore:

·  Figured You Out

Snoop Dogg – While I didn’t go to this show, Dave and Steve went and they reported back with a hilarious story.  Supposedly Snoop said that he went to a retirement home in Ottawa, asked for the oldest black guy there, and brought him out on stage with him that night, decked out in gold jewellery and had him sit on stage while a couple of his dancers entertained him for the rest of the night.  Fantastic!

Aiborne Toxic Event – Decent band that I knew nothing about.  Worth a listen.

•  
1. Changing
2. Welcome to Your Wedding Day
3. Wishing Well
4. Missy / I’m on Fire / I Fought the Law / Missy
5. Sometime Around Midnight
6. Numb
7. The Kids Are Ready to Die

(Punk Rock Version)

8. All At Once
9. All I Ever Wanted
10. Gasoline
11. Does This Mean You’re Moving On?
12. Happiness is Overrated
13. The Book of Love

(The Magnetic Fields cover)

Big Boi – Now, as you may know, I am definitely not one with hip-hop, rap, etc.  However, my colleague Etienne was with us that night and it was his life’s goal to see Big Boi and Big Wreck so we stuck around for it.  I can’t really say much at all in terms of how much I enjoyed it.  He seemed to be…the crowd seemed to be…but it’s just not my thing!  There was definitely a lot less people at Bluesfest that night.  No crowd at all!

Bad Religion – Literally caught two songs from these punks from California…too bad we didn’t stay for the entire set.

Big Wreck – They’re back baby!  Did they really leave considering Thornley had his own equally awesome solo career?  It didn’t feel like it…but it was great to get all the hits.  We ended up getting WAY too close to the stage to the point where the PA was projecting over our heads so the sound was muddy.  We decided to head to the back of the crowd near the soundstage and it fixed us right up.  We also heard that Rich Aucoin was playing on another stage at the time and was supposedly THE show to watch…they even had a parachute game in the middle of the crowd!

·  (Unknown)

·  That Song

·  All Is Fair

·  So Far, So Good

(Thornley cover)

·  Albatross

·  A Million Days

·  Inhale

·  Ladylike

·  Blown Wide Open

·  Come Again

(Thornley cover)

·  Encore:

·  You Caught My Eye

·  The Oaf

Sam Roberts Band – Probably my favourite night of the festival was Thursday when Krista came along.  You all know I’m a super fan of Sam Roberts Band and they didn’t disappoint.  I really dig their new album and has a good vibe in the live setting.  The crowd was huge and it will be nice to see them take the main stage again in the future.  I believe they had the main stage back in 2004 but have been back on the 8PM stage for a few years now.  They have a crowd following which is worthy of the main stage.

·  I Feel You

·  Graveyard Shift

·  Detroit ’67

·  (Unknown)

·  Where Have All the Good People Gone?

·  Let It In

·  Bridge to Nowhere

·  Love at the End of the World

·  The Resistance

·  Hard Road

·  Streets of Heaven (Promises, Promises)

·  The Last Crusade

·  Brother Down

·  Without a Map

·  Them Kids

John Mellencamp – Trish and Vero went to see Mr. Cougar himself and said the first half sucked, but it got better but in the end, he never played “Hurts So Good”.  Disappointment abound!

The Sheepdogs – I did not realize that I had entered a time warp heading over to the River Stage that night, but there I was, living in a world that came from the film Dazed and Confused.  I believe there may have been a 25 minute guitar solo.  This is the stuff I dig and dig I did.  Catch these guys from Saskatchewan, they are on fire.

Hey Rosetta! – From NFLD, I had heard some tunes through the years, but not a full set.  They put on an EXCELLENT show on a HOT HOT day…probably 40 degrees with the humidity.  Andre mixed up some bracelet so he had a hard time getting in.  In the end, we got him in with my wristband and all was good in the world.  What WAS NOT good was the fact that Hey Rosetta! got pulled off the stage before their last song and in the end, the other stage started late which meant that they could have played it!  The crowd was pretty encouraging for the last song.  It’s a shame Mark Monahan didn’t hear the cheers for “One more song!” and allowed it.

Our Lady Peace – I’m really digging their new album and their setlist was perfect.  A mix of new songs with the old.  Also surprised to see some Monkey Brains hit the list!  Mike’s cousins were with us and they were denouncing the OLP name until they saw them tonight and said they were decent!

·  Allowance

·  Fire in the Henhouse

·  One Man Army

·  Innocent

·  Superman’s Dead

·  Is Anybody Home?

·  In Repair

·  Paper Moon

·  Monkey Brains

·  Heavyweight

·  Thief

·  Clumsy

·  As Fast as You Can

·  Starseed

·  4am

Wintersleep – Taken off the Folk festival and added to the Bluesfest lineup, Wintersleep didn’t disappoint.  What WAS disappointing was their 60 minute timeslot!  Their new album is decent and it was good to see them play a few tunes live.  I think it will be good to see them later on in their tour when they are rock solid with their new tunes.

·  Hum

·  In Came the Flood

·  Resuscitate

·  Archaeologists

·  Weighty Ghost

·  Unzipper

·  Murderer

·  Smoke

·  Nothing Is Anything (Without You)

·  Oblivion

·  Laser Beams

·  Miasmal Smoke & The Yellow Bellied Freaks

The Weeknd – We wandered over to one of the main stages and what I gazed upon was so mesmerizing that I didn’t go over to see the Trews with Mike until a few songs later.  I know nothing about The Weeknd other than their soulful vocals (I even thought a woman was singing!) and their minor elements of industrial music combined into this awesome force that had me wanting more.  They definitely had a younger following…the screams from the ladies (or pre-pubescent gentlemen?) was equal to Beatlemania.

The Trews – The bass player couldn’t make it so they had a stand-in.  I was disappointed that they were playing at the same time as Metric as they always put on a good show.  We stayed for two songs and then headed off.

·  Hope & Ruin

·  Not Ready To Go/30 Days in the Hole

(Humble Pie cover)

·  So She’s Leaving

·  The World I Know

·  Paranoid Freak

·  Sing Your Heart Out

·  Can’t Stop Laughing

·  Yearning

·  Guitar Solo

·  Fleeting Trust

·  Highway of Heroes

·  One By One

·  Tired of Waiting

·  Power of Positive Drinking

·  Poor Ol’ Broken Hearted Me

·  Hold Me in Your Arms

Metric – Metric has graced us with some awesome tunes for the past decade…the best being from their album Fantasies (in my opinion).  However, they have released a new album Synthetica which as captured my ear and I was very excited to see it in a live incarnation.

I would have to say that Metric has morphed from being a powerhouse of a great live show (in terms of the delivery of music), to the band who has embraced spectacle.  I liken it to U2 in transition between The Joshua Tree and Zoo TV Tour…Metric is focussing not only on the music, but how it is presented…lights, stage presence, interludes to music…it felt more like a SHOW..I don’t know if that makes sense to some of you.  Sometimes I feel I’m going to a great rock concert…good music, great band, everything is good.  But sometimes I go to a concert and it’s more of a piece of theatrical…orchestrated into a cohesive whole.  I highly recommend catching Metric on their upcoming tour.  It was fantastic to see them play Synthetica live and they have really embraced the new album…I think they only left 1 or 2 songs off their setlist.  Plus, it’s great to see Metric move from a band out on the River Stage up to a headlining slot.  Kudos.

·  Artificial Nocturne

·  Youth Without Youth

·  Speed the Collapse

·  Dreams So Real

·  Lost Kitten

·  Empty

·  Help I’m Alive

·  Synthetica

·  Clone

·  Nothing But Time

·  Breathing Underwater

·  Dead Disco

·  Stadium Love

·  Encore:

·  Monster Hospital

·  Gold Guns Girls

·  Gimme Sympathy