Mike and I had a pint of Nord-Est at Le Troquet before walking over to Bluesfest. It was looking to be a perfect night weather wise!
Mel recommended the Bluefest special slice of pizza from Gabriel’s – bbq sauce and chicken with some onions. Tasty!
I had forgot that KISS was in town for Bluesfest this year!
This was my first time in the Barney Danson Theatre. I expected an actual theatre with theatre style seating but it was not as expected. While I appreciate some air conditioning and a spot to sit so close to the band, I find this isn’t conducive to good interaction from the crowd. Even the band commented on how nicely we were sitting in our spots. 🙂 But we were pretty enthusiastic for my favourite band from Ottawa…Loon Choir! They played a bunch of songs from their new album and they still got the magic that hooked me when I first saw them at CityFolk years ago. Do not pass this band up!
Sidenote about their new LP: I picked up their vinyl album and it came with a digital download. First off, I don’t really agree with bands not putting CDs out because I’m an old dinosaur. But I’m alright with it if they provide high quality audio to download and this is exactly what Loon Choir. PLUS they snuck in a bonus track which wasn’t on streaming media or on the vinyl record either…a song called Heartache. Sneaky!
We also checked out Busty and the Bass which seemed entertaining with their horn section and Blakdenim who were all kinds of awesome and they are from Ottawa so I will have to definitely check them out again. I did not manage to snap photos of them.
We stumbled into old volleyball mates…Wes and Amanda! Screaming Banshees reunite!
The Offspring still got it! I was surprised at how good the show was. Noodles (guitarist) made me realize how good we have it with Bluesfest when he said he had never seen a 10 day festival before in his life! I also love how he referred to Ottawa as Awfuckyeahttawa.
Here’s the deal with Alexisonfire. I only know a couple of tunes. They are just a band that escaped me in the 2000s when I was focussed more on learning about classic rock. But they were all kinds of awesome and the crowd was loving them. They broke up a few years ago but they are back at playing a few concerts here and there through the year. I’ll have to dive into their discography.
I didn’t realize a picture was being taken.
I snuck over to see Guided by Voices during the Alexisonfire set. I’m not entirely sure what I witnessed. It was weird…it was like they had a medley of 12 songs and the lead singer escaped from a nursing home. I was glad when it was over and I went back to Alexisonfire.
While it wasn’t the gauntlet of 10 days in a row like years before, it was nice to get out for a few days, see some friends, have some beers and enjoy the music. We are lucky here in Ottawa to have festivals like this. Here’s to another 25 years of Bluesfest!