Alas, the bank account couldn’t afford an all access pass this year considering there were car brakes to fix, property tax to pay, tuition to front…but Vero’s sister was gracious enough to purchase a day pass to Day 1 of Bluesfest for the two of us. This was a surprise to me as I only found out about it a few days before when she surprised us with them!
The morning wasn’t looking good. It was raining. It was awful. I was dismayed. But there was a spark of hope in the fact that the weather network said it would be clear that night.
In the end, the weather network was correct and Trish, Vero and I headed down to the grounds on an amazingly sunny evening! The setup for Bluesfest has improved this year. You can bring beer ANYWHERE on the grounds (not like last year where we got dinged going to the River Stage and had to wait and drink our beer before crossing the street.
Also, the Rogers stage is angled this year instead of being straight across from the main Bank of America stage. I have not yet decided if this is a better set up as it creates a bottleneck of traffic at a main point in the area.
Either way, the setup has vastly improved and the only scorn I delivered was to the people with the lawn chairs.
We grabbed a beer and settled in front of the Rogers stage to see Matt Mays + El Torpedo. I was excited to see them as they always deliver high decibels of rock riffs AND they had a new album out next week so I was hoping to hear a few new tunes. They did not disappoint. It was killer loud and I think my heart was pumping with the bass drum. The new songs were AMAZING and I love how Matt Mays has excelled in his songwriting craft. There was this one song which just had this great refrain which I’ll have to post when I get the album tomorrow and actually remember what they were saying. We were all impressed with the show and it was a good kickoff to the Bluesfest.
While waiting for Matt Mays to get on stage, I answered a survey and one of the questions was to identify any corporate sponsors for the show. Oddly enough, none of us remembered Cisco Systems and they are the main sponsors. Actually, Bluesfest in Ottawa is actually called “Cisco Systems Bluesfest”. I don’t know what that tells you about marketing but maybe they should look into how much effect their name is getting if we end up chopping it off anyhow!
By this point, we had Krista and Mike show up and we meandered to the food area for Mike to get some fish and chips and then we headed to the Roots stage where the Fiftymen were playing. They were a good country time. They seemed to be a bluegrass/country band from the sounds of it and they had a good banjo/fiddle player on stage with them. May I also point out that we saw our old friend Roy who is an 80 year old gentlemen who frequents the Heart and Crown a lot. We had a good laugh at the fact that we always see him at the same events and he’s still rocking out. Tonight he had on his famous red shirt with the word “Lure” on it! The Fiftymen were decent and I enjoyed the short time we had watching them.
We headed back to the Rogers stage to catch TV on the Radio which has been recommended to me by Tyler and Sara. I had already heard their latest album and really couldn’t get into it all that much. However, I thought maybe they would shine on their live show. While they did put on an energetic show, I really wasn’t into the music all that much. I guess I’m starting to get out of touch with some veins of new music? No one else in our group really cared for it either.
Before the end of their set, we decided to head to the main stage to see The Tragically Hip. We decided on our old meeting spot. Stage left, on the path in line with the third tree. This was a great spot to see the stage and not get crushed AND a good spot to direct people if we were meeting them later. However, it failed us this time around as we ended up in line with the first tree and Krista, Julie and Ryan couldn’t find us but it turns out that they were ten feet our left for the entire concert. Woops!
I was excited to see the Hip as I had started to really get into their music in the past year. I have never been a uber-fan however, and I also remember seeing them at the Corel Center in 1999 and came out not feeling impressed. However, this night changed it all for me and I was really into the show and the wild antics by singer Gord Downie who I swear has epilepsy sometimes for his frantic theatrical performance. One moment he’s singing into the mic, the other he’s breaking the mic stand in half and giving it to the audience, or using the mic stand as a paddle and making it look like he’s canoeing across the stage. He also had hand towels thrown to him every 20 seconds which he used to wipe his head with and then he would throw them out to the crowd.
Since the day I’ve seen them years ago, the show doesn’t really change. Rhythm guitar on the left, bass and lead on the right, drums in the back. They hold their own and do their own thing and really, you would think it wouldn’t be that exciting of a stage show. But Gord is OVER THE TOP and makes the show entertaining to all who are mesmerized by this movements. He’s spastic on stage.
They ended up playing a great set as I think it was more geared towards the festival crowd. They had played a few weeks before in Belleville and it seemed to be a ‘new album’ heavy setlist but this time around, it was more of a greatest hits. I really enjoyed the concert and it made me hope that one day I can also become a quintessential songwriter who writes stories about his great nation.
Bob Rock even came out for the encore with them! I was excited to see him play guitar as I’ve only heard of the legend through his production of Motley Crue, Metallica, Tea Party and countless other band’s albums. He had recently produced the Hip’s World Container album and is in Kingston helping them out in the studio at the moment. I was witness to a moment of rockdom!
All in all, Bluesfest Day 1 was a great success and I thank Anne-Marie for giving me a ticket for the night.
01: In View
02: My Music At Work
03: Grace, Too
04: The Lonely End Of The Rink
05: It’s A Good Life If You Don’t Weaken
06: Ahead By A Century
07: Gift Shop
08: Courage
09: Wheat Kings
10: Poets
11: Springtime In Vienna
12: Bobcaygeon
13: Fireworks
14: Fully Completely
15: Family Band
16: New Orleans Is Sinking
Encore
17: Yer Not The Ocean (with Bob Rock on guitar)
18: COVER: Queen Bitch by David Bowie (with Bob Rock on guitar)