Saturday, July 13, 2013

Ottawa Bluesfest 2013: Day 8

My expectations for Friday were not great for this Bluesfest, but it ended up offering one of the festival's highlights. I expected The Waterboys to be pretty good, but they really put on a dynamite set. There was plenty of other good stuff on tap as well, most of it involving violins.

I found Ilvekyo to be reasonably easy on the ears as well, although overly earnest alt-rock is not one of my favourite musical genres.

Ilvekyo at Ottawa Bluesfest 2013
Ilvekyo at Ottawa Bluesfest, July 12, 2013

I also checked out the Back Sheep Stage, which had all-DJ schedule yesterday. Here's The Gaff. He seems to have a good record collection.

The Gaff at Ottawa Bluesfest 2013
The Gaff at Ottawa Bluesfest, July 12, 2013

Then I toddled over to catch Loon Choir on the River Stage. They always put on an energetic show.

Loon Choir at Ottawa Bluesfest 2013
Loon Choir at Ottawa Bluesfest, July 12, 2013

They're headed west on tour soon.

Loon Choir at Ottawa Bluesfest 2013
Loon Choir at Ottawa Bluesfest, July 12, 2013

I also caught a brief bit of Matthew Good's set.

Matthew Good at Ottawa Bluesfest 2013
Matthew Good at Ottawa Bluesfest, July 12, 2013

Mike Scott and Steve Wickham may be the only original members of the Waterboys, but it's always been a bi of a revolving door, so no harm there.

The Waterboys at Ottawa Bluesfest 2013
The Waterboys at Ottawa Bluesfest, July 12, 2013

Not only did they bust out the expected hits such as Fisherman's Blues and (of course) The Whole Of The Moon, they also showed off a couple of hit new tracks, I'm Still A Freak and I Can See Elvis, to good effect. They threw in The Raggle Taggle Gypsy, a reading of W.B. Yeats' The Second Coming (Slouching Toward Bethlehem) and finished with an encore of Will The Circle Be Unbroken.

The Waterboys at Ottawa Bluesfest 2013
The Waterboys at Ottawa Bluesfest, July 12, 2013

For whatever reason, Great Big Sea has never done anything for me. I admire the between-song banter, but the tunes themselves leave me flat. Thus, I went over to the River Stage to check out Balkan Beat Box. They're quite an active lot.

Balkan Beat Box at Ottawa Bluesfest 2013
Balkan Beat Box at Ottawa Bluesfest, July 12, 2013

Saturday I'm hoping to check out Death Grips, Phosphorescent, Austra and Bjork, as well as sundry fine local acts.

1 comment:

Irene said...

This is awesome!