Official Ottawa Bluesfest 2010 Thread (first post contains current lineup)

[gentlemonkey]

oh yeah- and Roger Hodgson was awesome.

[Davey Boy 2.0]

Derek Trucks and Susan's set was awesome. I was sitting in the front back stage and to see their chemistry was beautiful. Susan tried to rip it at one point and the smile on Derek's face was priceless.

Is this what yer talking about?

[bouche]

I think this was the best year ever - most of the mainstage act were way better than I expected.

I agree. However, it's strange what I read in the 24H by Denis Armstrong (shaking my fist)

Despite increased ticket prices, a less-than-stellar music lineup...bluesfest was still the biggest ever.

The lineup was at least stellar, if not more than stellar.

...given that the consensus going in was that the lineup wasn't nearly as strong down the middle, on the main stage as when Van Morrison and Bob Dylan headlined the festival

Seriously? Do you need to compare everything to Van "have another drink" Morrison and Bob "horse voice" Dylan ?

...2010 was a year dominated by eclectic bands with targeted audiences such as the Grateful Dead tribute band Further, Montreal's art-rock conceptualists Arcade Fire...

a. tribute band? I don't think that's what they're doing.

b. Arcade Fire had a target audience? They're playing "art-rock" ? What in the fuck is art-rock? geezuz. I think arcade fire had one of the biggest turn-outs of the fest.

[bouche]

Best Show: Flaming Lips

Best Show if I missed Flaming Lips: Arcade Fire

Best Show if I missed Flaming Lips and Arcade Fire: Furthur

Best personal moment: Being invited to stick around photo pit at front of the stage to watch the rest of Furthur.

Biggest disappointment: Plants and Animals. Hire some musicians and play your compositions live!

Biggest Surprise: The Gram Parsons Tribute inside the Barney Rubble theater. The Pedal Steel player was amazing.... so was the entire band.

First time ever trying: 1 beavertail

Best Smell: that bbq ribs stand at the subway stage.

Best View: Thursday's sunset at the subway stage over the Ottawa river.

[Freak By Night]

Isn't this the same Denis Armstrong who said Neil Young was a sure thing to play at the Bluesfest?

'nuff said!

[Northern Wish]

Best View: Thursday's sunset at the subway stage over the Ottawa river.

I got 3 amazing pictures of that sunset from the bike pathway- agreed on its epicness.

[Northern Wish]

Best non-musical moment: NW on the big screen at Hold Steady, priceless, that was a whole lotta love NW

Aww shucks- thanks. It must have been more than a fleeting moment- people were commenting all over the place for the rest of the fest that they had seen me: even strangers!

[Schwa.]

SO! Whose willing to put me up for 10 days next year...oh, say......July-ish?

[amason]

A few of my faves:

Furthur, John Butler Trio, Joan Jett, Flaming Lips, Rush, Cat Empire, Derek Trucks & Susan Tedeschi, Weezer.

Great Big Sea was pretty good too, but I was volunteering that night, and didn't have to do much, and got to stand on the blocks that hold down the MBNA banner and watch the crowd, so I'm biased.

Shows that made me wish I wasn't so late for things so often: Flaming Lips, Weezer.

Best cover: Sinner Man (Nina Simone) by Plants and Animals (I think).

The most-unmentioned-on-here- yet-insanely-good show: Ozomatli. Don't miss them the next chance you get.

[Ms.Huxtable]

Welcome to the board amason. Nice first post!

[AD]

The Good:

Roger Hodgson - I loved this whole set. Grew up on just as much Supertramp as Queen and the sound was awesome, his voice was super clear, and his band was tight. Great show.

Andrew Bird - Didn't know if he'd have a band with him. He showed up solo and played a flawless show. So intricate and melodic.

Furthur - Really good sound, really good setlist, really good performance.

Weezer - So fun and tight. They have way too many bad songs, but at least they played them well and could coast til the next awesome song. Crazy to see that the former drummer is now the lead guitarist. Sweet chops on most of the solos, Four Horsemen (Metallica), Hot For Teacher (Van Halen), and the MGMT / Gaga encore was super fun. Never knew Rivers was such an engaging frontman. He was manic, all over the place. And a great surprise to find out that Bell and the bassist could hold their own singing lead too.

Hollerado - These guys are the real deal. They’re semi-local but played the largest stage in the evening like they owned the place. Nice catchy poppy rock. Great stage presence, good sense of humour, and they invited the now-famous Dubé brothers on stage to sing Twist & Shout. Hollerado is only going to get bigger and better, good for them.

Flaming Lips - The worst Flaming Lips show I’ve seen (out of 5 shows) but still a much better *show* than most other acts at Bluesfest. Setlist wasn’t great, and I was really drunk, but fun times, amazing visuals.

Arcade Fire - Again, the worst Arcade Fire show I’ve seen (out of 5 shows) but still the new songs sounded great for the most part. They lost a bit of momentum with the new songs but still made up for it with enthusiasm. Crap sound where I was standing (midway between stage and soundboard. All bass, no treble).

Old Crow Medicine Show - They made that stage their bitch. Such a great time, even if I’m not a dancing kind of fellow.

My other festival favourites - Planet Smashers, John Butler Trio, Tusks, Woodhands

Other good stuff - The beer! The sunsets! The sound at the Subway Stage! The friendly volunteers! The bike lock-up! The iPhone app! The security!

The Not Great But Not Bad:

Rush - Hey, I’ve seen Tom Sawyer live now. Sweet.

Iron Maiden - I didn’t want to hear new songs. Sorry. Thanks for playing Fear of the Dark though, that was awesome.

Levon Helm - Hey Levon, your hearing is still good right? Surely you can tell that your keyboard player can’t sing right? Kinda wish I had stayed away from this show and left my Band memories where they were - pristine and perfect on albums.

The Bad:

Black Sheep Comedy Tent - This was a brutal “addition†to the festival. Big ugly white tent on the spot where the best open-air shows had happened for the past few years. The sound inside was boomy and inconsistent. There was a screen and speakers set up outside the tent, which was fine if you wanted to sit back on the hill and watch TV, but by giving people this option it meant people didn’t have to go inside and get engaged in the show. So many great bands played to sparse crowds in this uninviting eyesore of a stage. Bring back the proven awesome Black Sheep Stage! Ditch the comedy! (Great musicians opening for comics at a music festival? Sure it's worked at other festivals, but it seemed insulting to have great talents open for ‘The Canadian Comedy Show’)

Swell Season sound - They couldn’t hear themselves over the 3-prong attack of Ozomatli, Levon Helm and Rush. Surely someone is getting in shit at Bluesfest for this programming mistake.

Islands / Woodhands promotion / scheduling - Not until the afternoon did Bluesfest (or anyone else) find out that the sometimes-great band Islands was playing at 6:30. Instead the schedule listed a band called Island (no s) playing at the same time as Woodhands, with the headliner going on at 8:15. At least Woodhands and the headliner (Marianas Trench) had good write-ups in the artist bio section of the Bluesfest website. There was no mention of Islands anywhere. I think Nick Thorburn was bummed about all this and that’s why his band’s show was so lacklustre. Another thing that ticked me off about this situation was that one day previous, the two headliners wanted to go on 15 minutes earlier. Press releases were issued, the CBC and Citizen (and maybe more) immediately got this information out to people. One day later a small Canadian indie band wasn’t even promoted, while the other two had their previously-scheduled timeslots corrected more than hours later from where they were scheduled previously. If it wasn’t for Twitter nobody would have known this before getting to the site. I’ll argue that a small indie band needs much more help attracting people to a stage than Santana. Whether it was Bluesfest not issuing any corrections that afternoon or if it was the media deciding that it didn’t matter, it still didn’t sit right. Or maybe it doesn’t matter at all. Woodhands played a wicked set and Marianas Trench were going to suck hard no matter when or where they played. Still felt bad for Islands.

[Booche]

Best personal moment: Being invited to stick around photo pit at front of the stage to watch the rest of Furthur.

Webeonter next sammah.

[canadianphan]

One dissappointment was the cancellation of Tye Tribbett. What happened??? I was looking forward to some gospel!!!

!

Border trouble, Bass player couldn't get into the country, so they bailed...

[Velvet]

Best band: tie between Furthur and Flaming Lips

Biggest disappointment: Arcade Fire. I know I'm the only one who didn't like them, so it's me, not them.

Biggest surprise: That once I tried the tent I liked it. It's a wholly different environment, and if they get creative with the inside, and maybe have people selling beer in the crowd it'll get better. The Hard Rock Stage is the new Blacksheep Stage.

Biggest non-surprise: that I spent about four hundred thousand dollars on beer again. Ironically though my pass meant I never got searched, my interest in not losing said pass kept me from sneaking any drink in whatsoever.

Best food: for quantity for the buck it was the fairly bland pulled pork, for yummy it was the pad thai.

Most embarrassing moment: drunken bidding on stuff in the silent auction and becoming the not-so-proud owner of a framed microphone signed by Keith Strickland of the B-52s. Wanna see it? C'mon over.

Best cover: I Love Rock & Roll (just to make you wiki it)

Moment(s) I won't forget: Meeting Lesh and Weir, and watching Rush from the pit. There goes a childhood dream scratched off the list.

Moment I'll always regret: Not positioning myself properly to actually meet any of the Rush dudes. The 14-year-old me will never forgive the 42-year-old me.

Proudest moment: Watching both of the bands I mentored absolutely kill it at the Be In The Band performance. Two of the best bands of the day if you ask me. Plus I think I did a good job with the blogs. If nothing else I got 'em in on time.

Lawnchairs: The only time I saw it as an issue was Derek Trucks, but I was more embarrassed than inconvenienced. I think Monahan was right again, it's pretty much worked itself out.

I know I say it every year but I mean it every year: best Bluesfest ever. I just love this festival and I love seeing it grow. These guys go out on limbs and try things - hell that's why the festival exists in the first place, and sometimes experiments work and sometimes they don't, and sometimes people bitch or praise, but y'know what? They introduced the CupSucker to the world, and for that alone they shall be forgiven a thousand sins.

Fuck I can't wait for next year!! (I hear they got U2)

[Velvet]

I'm kidding about U2.

[Freak By Night]

Hey, did anyone buy an Iron Maiden tour shirt at the Bluesfest? If so, how much was it?

I wanted to get a shirt, but it was too hot and too crowded at the merch tent after the show. I just wanted to get out of there. So last night I ordered a 2010 tour shirt, and a Canada event shirt through the Iron Maiden web site.

Funny thing is, even with the cost of shipping from England, and the exchange rate on the Pound, I think ordering the shirts on their web site was cheaper than buying them at the concert! It came to $68 CDN for the two shirts, including shipping.

[AD]

I bought one, $30

[Freak By Night]

Ah, so no savings. Plus I have to wait 6-8 weeks!

[Davey Boy 2.0]

Should be cooler out though by the time you get it

[Freak By Night]

I'll be a lot "cooler" too when I'm wearing a Maiden t-shirt!

[DevO]

Moment(s) I won't forget: Meeting Lesh and Weir

WOW, that's pretty special! Did you write about it? Where can I read more about this?

[Velvet]

Nope, didn't write about it, not much to tell.

[bradm]

Did anyone notice any volunteers doing surveys during blues fest? They were all over the place during jazz fest, but I don't remember seeing one at blues fest this year.

Aloha,

Brad

[bouche]

Hold Steady interview with craig finn by Sean Taylor

Bluesfest ends on high note - by dave barrett

Saturday at bluesfest - sean taylor

please post your comments in the comments area of the article.

[bouche]

Here's a bunch of bluesfest produced behind-the-scenes clips.