bouche Posted July 5, 2012 Author Report Share Posted July 5, 2012 holy crap. Grace Potter and the Nocturnals need to play a show for us here. Her set was incredible.As for attendance, no line-ups for porta-potties or beer. Easy to move around. It felt right for a music fest. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phorbesie Posted July 5, 2012 Report Share Posted July 5, 2012 not very busy tonight for sure...no lineups for anything was nice though!don't eat the pad thai (gross)i enjoyed the melvins the most, followed by grace potter. billy bragg's set was boring. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ollie Posted July 5, 2012 Report Share Posted July 5, 2012 Beer lineup during Tiesto. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davey Boy 2.0 Posted July 5, 2012 Report Share Posted July 5, 2012 Beer lineup during Tiesto. overheard: "I'm not going over there, I'm going to feel like everyone's staring at me" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ollie Posted July 5, 2012 Report Share Posted July 5, 2012 All said, Bluesfest was pretty fun last night. Started with a bit of Tangerine Dream -- was way too early to appreciate a band like that. Caught all of the Melvins set which was great. Then most of Fishbone which was only decent, I thought, due to bad sound (low volume) and a bit of a young "who are these guys?" audience.Checked out the food options. I left dinner really late so wasn't in the mood for a ton of food but that's what each vendor seemed to be offering. I asked the guy at Stoneworks (?) if he could sell me just 2 tacos but he wasn't allowed to because of some Bluesfest pricing rules. Too bad. Ended up having a bad slice of pizza. I also noticed that Fitz' Catering isn't serving their meatball sandwich this year which is disappointing.Back to the music... caught a few glimpses of Tiesto while walking by. Really small crowd for an opening night headliner but the people packed up front were having a good time. I wasn't in the right frame of mind to enjoy it though. Boom, boom, boom.Sat down to watch a few Billy Bragg songs and eat. He talks a lot which I enjoyed. Kept referring to the sound bleed from Tiesto but in a good natured manner all things considered. This looked like a fun show from what I saw.Finished the night with Grace Potter and the Nocturnals. Pretty sparse crowd at the Electronic stage for this. Was super easy to walk up to the rail. I guess I was expecting something more bluesy, a female Warren Haynes maybe, but I thought Grace and her band were pretty cheesy. They skewed too much on the country/pop side for me. I thought the cover of "Rocking in the Free World" was particularly bad. Still, Potter worked that stage like her life depended on it, at one point stepping off it to high five everyone in the front row. This band is trying hard and it will be interesting to see where they go from here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ollie Posted July 5, 2012 Report Share Posted July 5, 2012 Also,- with the new location of the main stage, almost at the complete other end than it traditionally had been, the funnel effect is back, meaning real estate in front of the stage is limited, with fans having to fan out to the left and right at the soundboard, which is massive and creates really bad sight lines for anyone behind it.- on the plus side, you can buy Mill Steet's Chaudière beer at the main beer tent... delicious and 7% ABV! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bouche Posted July 5, 2012 Author Report Share Posted July 5, 2012 I absolutely loved Grace Potter's set. Full on hair flying rock. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davey Boy 2.0 Posted July 5, 2012 Report Share Posted July 5, 2012 I absolutely loved Grace Potter's set. Full on hair flying pop.fify Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rubberdinghy Posted July 5, 2012 Report Share Posted July 5, 2012 1. According to the graphic on this page Bluesfest is expecting / projecting 100,000 fewer patrons than last year. How did this not become news?2. Just when you thought Denis Armstrong was the worst Ottawa reviewer (perhaps tied with the recent Jazzfest ruminations of "Bulldog" Ken Gray), along comes Tony Spears. Horrible.Should we start a "replace Nickelback" petition? Xavier Rudd, and or Michael Franti should suffice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bouche Posted July 5, 2012 Author Report Share Posted July 5, 2012 On the way out of bluesfest last night, I was completely confused as to why Tiesto was considered live music. It sounded to me like there was as CD playing with really great speakers. This Ottawa Sun commentary made me realize that it wasn't just me thinking that. At the same time, I've seen photos today of a guy on stage with some lights, wearing headphones. So freaking bizarre...and that was on the main stage in front of 16,000 12,000 [source - AD] people.I was impressed by the sound blocking of the museum and likely hill that I couldn't hear a beat of this, and completely oblivious to the super loud party sounds while at the Electro stage watching Grace Potter rock. Although, I did hear that it was unfortunately affecting Billy Bragg at the Sheep stage.But — and forgive my profound ignorance — I couldn’t help thinking the desired effect could be achieved a whole lot easier by just tossing on a Tiesto CD at full volume while bouncing around in headphones and twiddling knobs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AD Posted July 5, 2012 Report Share Posted July 5, 2012 One of the papers said there were 12,000 people for the mainstage headliner, in perfect weather, on opening night. Good work Monahan. Brutal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bouche Posted July 5, 2012 Author Report Share Posted July 5, 2012 What was opening night attendance last year? The side stages were programmed great and I was happy I didn't have to go near a super crowd at the main stage for anything Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AD Posted July 6, 2012 Report Share Posted July 6, 2012 All I know is Monahan gambled on this EDM thing, booked the biggest act in the genre, got spoiled with perfect weather, yet still only 12,000 people showed up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phorbesie Posted July 6, 2012 Report Share Posted July 6, 2012 interesting design for the merch this year :doh: i checked out the poster last night and it was a sort of 3D rhomboid of screens, encased in a ball of lightning in a dark sky. t- shirt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bouche Posted July 6, 2012 Author Report Share Posted July 6, 2012 LMFAO @ LMFAO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Booche Posted July 6, 2012 Report Share Posted July 6, 2012 (edited) I'm good on my feet to begin with but I'm more than shocked how easy it is to traverse those grounds during and between acts because it's never been easier as far as I am concerned. Edited July 6, 2012 by Guest Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davey Boy 2.0 Posted July 6, 2012 Report Share Posted July 6, 2012 just a little outside Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Freeker Posted July 6, 2012 Report Share Posted July 6, 2012 "Fuck Plants and Animals I'm going to LMFAO" - Booche Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AD Posted July 6, 2012 Report Share Posted July 6, 2012 Kathleen Edwards will likely sing with the Arkells tonight, should that float your boat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Low Roller Posted July 6, 2012 Report Share Posted July 6, 2012 "Fuck Plants and Animals I'm going to LMFAO" - BoocheTo the gallows with him! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Freeker Posted July 6, 2012 Report Share Posted July 6, 2012 One of the papers said there were 12,000 people for the mainstage headliner, in perfect weather, on opening night. Good work Monahan. Brutal.That number must be inflated, if attendance for Teisto was even over 7,000 I'd be amazed, the crowd didn't even reach the soundboard. LMFAO maybe had 12,000 but even then once past the soundboard people were spread out everywhere so it might not have even been 12,000.No beer lines and access to the rail at every stage is awesome but it doesn't bode well for the fest. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bouche Posted July 7, 2012 Author Report Share Posted July 7, 2012 Here's an update regarding last year's stage collapse:http://www.ottawacitizen.com/News/Ottawa/Freak+weather+alone+responsible+last+year+Bluesfest+stage/6896031/story.htmlAccording to a recent article in the Ottawa Citizen, the Ontario Ministry of Labour’s investigation into the collapse of the mainstage at Bluesfest on July 17, 2011 has been completed.According to the Citizen, the Ministry has found that the stage collapse was caused by an extreme weather event and that no charges will be laid.Bluesfest officials have not been able to confirm the Citizen’s findings with the Ministry of LabourIn response to the story in the Citizen, Mark Monahan, the Executive Director of Bluesfest, issues the following statement:“While we have no direct knowledge of the findings reported by the Citizen, we are pleased to hear reports that the Ministry of Labour has apparently determined that neither Bluesfest nor any of its suppliers are responsible for the stage collapse last year. The weather event last year led us to further strengthen safety procedures at Bluesfest this year, as reflected in our decision to hire an engineer to inspect all structures and our decision to hire a meteorological service to monitor the weather. The enjoyment and safety of our audiences, performers, volunteers and partners are of paramount importance to us."
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AD Posted July 7, 2012 Report Share Posted July 7, 2012 Apparently Gillian Welch played with Conor Oberst tonight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ollie Posted July 7, 2012 Report Share Posted July 7, 2012 It's true. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bouche Posted July 7, 2012 Author Report Share Posted July 7, 2012 I can hear the tears of RobL from here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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