Wednesday, July 12, 2006

Bluesfest: Day Five

I went to see Ball and Chain and The Wreckers at the MBNA Stage first Tuesday evening. Many people have praised the duo of Michael Ball and Jody Benjamin and their backing crew. I quite enjoyed their run through some hardcore country tunes (with a bit of cajun flavouring). Covers by Marty Robbins, George Jones and Hank Williams all made an appearance.



Then I headed over to the Black Sheep Stage, where I caught the last few moments of Joe Grass's performance. Good sounds.



Mark Kozelek was the main attraction for me of the evening. He brought Red House Painters associate Phil Carney with him and sang a fine, but too short set. I wasn't the only one thinking the end to his performance seemed a bit abrupt.





Son Volt closed the night off with some stomping country rock, with the occasional acoustic interlude. I thought they were good, but unlike Kozelek, Jay Farrar's crew didn't make me think I could listen all night.





In the spirit of Bluesfest they also threw a R.L. Burnside tune, Going Down South, into their encore.

2 comments:

mintyfresh said...

Yes....Mark Kozelek did get off stage kind of abrubptly. But I don't blame him - the crowd was terrible with their non-stop chatter chatter chatter. Did anybody towards the back even clap? It was kind of disappointing.

Son Volt was great! But waaay too loud. Great pics though!

Anonymous said...

I regret missing Kozelek.
What I regret even more Ottawa's mass music audience. In a smaller venue, I think Kozelek would have been better appreciated by those in attendance.

ps. Andrew, hope to see you at another gig soon. Once I book one, that is. High five.