bungopony

He was also sure about U2 and Paul McCartney. Some of this might eventually stick, but I'll wait for some harder evidence before I'm excited.

Just added: Alejandro Escovedo and Roseanne Cash play the Lebreton Gallary stage on Thursday July 15th.

BTW, if you're planning to buy tickets soon, you might want to do it tonight -- I believe HST gets applied as of May 1 (Saturday) on purchases that will be used after July 1.

Also, Denis Armstrong of the Ottawa Sun's latest rumour: Paul McCartney. Unfortunately, he's also been wildly inaccurate before.

http://blogs.canoe.ca/nowopen/general/paul-mccartney-coming-to-bluesfest/

You can add Hole and the (Kevin) Bacon Brothers to the list. Looks like the first Friday is Rock Chick Night.

I get that for some of the late spots, like on the Saturdays. But a lot of them aren't exactly glamour slots -- there's only one act booked the first Saturday, at 1:45.

Also no hedliner the first Friday on the main stage, and in a few spots on the Subway stage. C'mon, Bluesfest, I can't wait!

Anyone else wondering why so many spots are open on the Black Sheep stage? Only two bands scheduled most nights (6:15 and 9:30, previous years had 3), and nobody booked July 6 and 14, and huge holes elsewhere (no acts either Saturday night at all). Usually they're the most together stage, bookings-wise.

A day off in the middle is absolutely welcome: I'm exhausted by Day 3, and I'm just sitting and listening.

Some of the clashes are epic: Levon Helm vs. Rush, Budos Band vs. Gories, Steel Pulse vs. Robert Freakin' Randolph, finally in a 9 pm slot. I could cry.

Still a headliner to come on the first Friday, and a bunch of slots for other stages (Black Sheep, surprisingly) open. Expect more to trickle in.

Curumin did a weird Brazilian a cappella Beat It version at the end of his set, and I heard a couple of other bands do snippets of Jackson songs.

Oh, and Otis Taylor and the church both rocked.

Favourite shows:

Black Mountain

Dead Weather

Toots and the Maytals

Oumou Sangare

Cake

Iron and Wine

Les Claypool

Blue Rodeo

Amen to most of those. Toots, Black Mountain, Dead Weather all blew me away with their intensity, as did Sharon Jones (Claypool sounded cool too). Femi Kuti and Xavier Rudd were fun, and Girl Talk was amazing just for the crowd reaction.

Les Claypool looked pretty cool, but my heart was on the Black Sheep stage. Sharon Jones is a human magnet, insanely charismatic. What a woman, what a show.

Anyone know if Clem Snide's good? I hear Dave Mason rocks.

also, I left at around 9:25 to catch a bus. On the way out, I held up my ticket and heard "HOW MUCH?".

I turned around and there was an 11 year old (or younger) with his brother and dad. Well, I could have said "for you kid? $20", but instead I just gave it to him and said "enjoy yourself". He said "FOR FREE!???" The look on his face was priceless. Mind you, I bet he sold it 30 seconds later.

Nice move. He'll remember it the rest of his life, I reckon.

I shouldn't be mixing up genres, of course, and they certainly didn't put on a half-assed show, kudos to them for that, so maybe I was wrong to diss them. Guess I'm spoiled by the bluesiness/funkiness of so many bands at the fest.

Apologies to the Kiss Army, but am I alone in being underwhelmed by last night's concert? Maybe it was different up in the Death Metal Mosh Pit, but apart from all the sparkly shiny things, they sounded like an OK bar band with a shortage of memorable tunes.

Sharon Jones, on the other hand, should kick serious ass tonight.

Toots rocked a fantastic show, I thought -- better than the Wailers last year, great mix of reggae and ska, with the man (he's 63) showing plenty of energy and passion. Xavier Rudd also put on a sterling set, though watching an older gentleman getting hauled out on a stretcher in the middle put a dent on the party a bit.

I've never heard of a sellout at this site, though I suppose it's technically possible. Interesting to see if KISS eclipses Van Morrison for biggest mutha concert. Likely will.

Saw Sharon Jones a few years back. She's excellent.

Absolutely. They added a whole day for Van Morrison a few years back. They still have huge gaps in the schedule to fill, most notably the main stage for the final weekend. Iggy Pop and Paul Simon were early rumours: let it be so!

Yeah, got too excited there -- it probably is shortform for a big band jam or something. Sigh. Is it too much to ask for just a couple of old punk bands?

Facebook's Bluesfest app shows The Jam as booked for Bank of America stage final Sunday night. w00t!