I quite like the cooler guy with a flag.
Years past, I would endure the Gauntlet of 10 days of rock and roll at the Ottawa Bluesfest but these bones cannot handle that much stress so this year I decided to pick up a 3-day pass.
Because of that, I ended up sacrificing seeing the Sam Roberts Band, but the music gods granted me with ticket karma and Etienne asked if I wanted his buddy’s ticket to see Sam Roberts Band at 8PM and then pass it to his buddy who was coming to see Toby Keith at 9:15PM. Zang!
It was a beautiful summer day and I was the first to arrive on the scene. Unfortunately for this man’s tastebuds, the placards of Coors Light adorned the beer tents and I groaned and reminisced of the days of Mill Street taking over Bluesfest by force. No matter, I found a tent that sold Creemore for a cool $9.50 (!!).
I caught of few songs from local band Tribe Royal. Not bad. I then wandered over to the new River Stage which has been newly named the Bluesville stage. It’s under a tent and they have some bleachers for people to sit down in. It’s not a bad setup but it definitely cannot accomodate a whole lot of people. I miss the River stage. I did catch the last song by a band called Blast from the Sun which was a rocking tune.
The City Stage was calling my name and I sat on the grass to enjoy Shawn Tavenier from the Ottawa area. They had some decent tunes and were a good warmup act for Toby Keith later on.
Karilee, Andre and Etienne all showed up a few minutes before Sam Roberts Band and we grabbed some beers while taking the festival all in. This is the start of summer, in my opinion! Karilee managed to be the smartest of us all and bypassed the entire crowd and found out a spot right in front of the stage!
Seriously, how much closer can we get?
They still got it!
It was Etienne’s first time seeing the band and my fourteenth (according to Setlist.fm). He was in awe.
Ecstatic fans.
Not sure where I stole this photo from. I believe the SRB Fans facebook page.
The band, of course, was on fire, after all these years. I have to say that I never realized how long they have been around until I was telling the students at work that I was going to see Sam Roberts and they all asked me “Who?”
The last tune was Brother Down and Sammy came down to the rail to give everyone high fives. Karilee and I went up to be graced by the rock and roll presence. I have to say I generally don’t care if I physically touch an artist (but let’s not forget Mom’s story about how she once touched André the Giant at a wrestling match!) but the electricity of the moment when Sam gave me a handshake said “The summer is here, let’s rock and roll!”
I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the older folks dancing away in front of us and partaking in the herbal form of the summer. We were quite entertained by these folks and they chatted up a storm with us after the show.
Etienne convinced me to stick around for two tunes of Toby Keith since his buddy eventually had to bail on the entire night. Adorned with Ford logos and a giant cowboy hat, I couldn’t help but think that this is what I feel the definition of a country artist from the US of A is. Heck, he even had a song called Made in America. It was entertaining for two songs, but my non-country music fan blood made me run for the hills (literally. I was heading towards Gatineau).
When I said earlier that Bluesfest was the start of the summer, I take it back. I was walking to Hull after the show and two young girls were running past me. Then they stop and I hear one of them yell out “I’m going to yack! Bleeccchhhhhh.” That, my friends, is the official start to the summer and I’m glad it’s here. Here’s to a great Bluesfest for Karilee, Andre, Mike and Melissa who are doing the gauntlet this year. I’ll be there all next weekend with Vero.
Super special thanks to my bro, Etienne for hooking me up with the ticket.
On the other side of the city, all my friends were gathering for supper. Sorry for ditching you all at the last minute!