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Bluesfest Hangover


ollie

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Yep, I feel like telling you "I told you so", because I did. Ha. Last night, at around 9:45, Ollie goes to the washroom during Funk Bros., and comes back with yet two more beers!, after already many imbibed. I only bought one beer - I had stomach cramps all day yesterday because of too much Molson Canadian all weekend!

I feel like crap too. Got to sleep around 3am.

We almost saw a fight during Funk Bros. Some guy in front of me was attacked by an angry freak. But since there were some many people around, I think the freak realized we'd all jump on him if he'd do anything else.

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Did that freak have a lawnchair? And was that freak attacking a person for standing/dancing at a ahow where you should stand/dance?

Already I've heard numerous fight stories that fit that scenario. Leave your fu©king lawnchairs at home, or be prepared to be shanked if you so much as mutter a word to me while I stand in front of you

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There were two incidents where we were standing last night. One involved a lawnchair vs. non-lawnchair person. I haven't felt hostility like that in a crowd in a long time. And it was the freaking Funk Brothers on stage! Every year I keep hoping the organizers will address this problem but nothing ever changes. Hey ahess, what's the inside feeling on this?

I was also told to sit down at the Roots stage last night. We were checking out Reckless Kelly (again) and standing about thirty feet from the stage, behind all the lawnchairs. No one was behind us when we arrived but some people did set up chairs while we were waiting for the band to start. Not only did this guy have the nerve to ask me to sit down when we were there first and well back from the stage but he didn't even approach me before the band started even though he knew we were gonna be standing. Total fu©king buzzkill!!

Thanks Sharon. The clouds are starting to part. I need to not drink so much when I have to work the next day!

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I can't give you any inside perspective as I've worked the side stages so far. Fortunately you can sit on the ground or stand and get a good view at Birdman and Black Sheep, whereas the Roots has had far too much sitting...especially during a legend like Taj Mahal!

I'd suppose that the organizers probably aren't too concerned about the lawnchairs unless an artist (like the Hip) stipulates that they're verboten. After all, the lawnchair crowd probably brings in the most money so why discourage them from sitting their pale asses down?

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OK cool. So you gonna have beer with me after work then?

As for the lawnchair thing, it seems to get worse every year and the chairs are getting more and more high-tech. I saw some with little roofs! It's really getting on my nerves but I try to keep it cool. I've heard standees insulting sittees, calling them fat-asses and stuff to their faces. I don't want to stoop that low quite yet.

Anyway, I had a good time last night. It was cool to see Joan. She has a cool voice. Deep and a bit raunchy. I wouldn't mind having that voice. I'm happy Warren is in the Dead, but they also need a female singer.

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After all, the lawnchair crowd probably brings in the most money so why discourage them from sitting their pale asses down?

I wonder if that's true. People with lawnchairs tend to be more organized and probably bring things like bottled water and food. Whereas someone like me, who is completely disorganized, gets fleeced at the beer tent and the food court.

You think they'd wanna do something just to prevent the hostility.

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Guest Low Roller
You think they'd wanna do something just to prevent the hostility.

Well rumour had it that they set aside a standing section for the Bela Fleck show at the Jazzfest (I read about it in the Ottawa Sun the day prior to the show), but in a similar manner to zebra mussels, the lawnchairs spread naturally into the standing area throughout the day. To the best of my knowledge the organizers did nothing to discourage it which led to more "sit down" protests from the lawnchair dwellers even though they were seated in the standing area.

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That's interesting. I heard about the standing section at Bela too but I couldn't find it anywhere! Guess we have to wait for "one of us" to get more authority on the organizing committee to enforce the good intentions.

Lawnchair people are such controls freaks it pisses me off!!

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Guest Low Roller

Sadly I don't think we'll ever have enough pull in Ottawa to eliminate the lawnchairs. The lawnchair-dwellers are the main demographic in Ottawa when it comes to outdoor festivals, and we can either sit down and like it, or move to another town where people know how to have fun. Let's face it, Ottawa fu©king blows when it comes to loosening your tie and having a good time. The majority of the people here wouldn't know a good time if it landed on their face. The only way festival organizers are going to keep people coming to the concerts is if they please the lawnchair public. The festival budgets are so slashed that they can't afford to piss off their bread and butter public and cause further decline in concert attendance.

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There is very little that draws my ire as much as this sitting/ standing scenario. To my mind it's a medium is the message trip, unless you're at a soft seater ie. theatre bums on seats venue there is no place for people telling people to sit down. This is by no means limited to outdoor festivals in Ottawa and has notoriously creeped into the dynamics of arena shows with the norm being sitting down. Partly this is aging demographics coupled with higher ticket prices as a reflection of the increased commercialization of the live music industry. On the other hand it's just a culture clash i.e. participatory music as life young people versus music as mild diversion from mortgage payments old folks. I find the whole thing so insulting particularly in a scenario such as being at the back of a venue and dancing or standing as it were. This whole notion that you own x number of feet of space for an entire afternoon/evening of music is assinine.

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The thing that bugs me the most about it is that someone sitting in their chair takes up the space of about three standing people. So, if there are 1,000 people sitting at the front the people standing at the back end up three times as far back as they should be 'cuz it's like being behind 3,000 standers. Lazy people get priority?

And don't even get me started on the morons that bring umbrellas to outdoor festivals.

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