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

[Im going home Donny]

Left Carp this afternoon, hit Kanata to evidence of storm...around Parkdale insane storm hit...by the time we hit Rochester it was gone.

Fuck...anyone seen the 80 something year old sweet lady begging for change at the Rochester exit off the Queensway...I've given her change twice now and drove away crying in my soul...heart breaking!

I hope she's secretly rich and just eccentric but I don't think so...

[bouche]

le meteo etais parfait!

[Northern Wish]

I got to interview Craig Finn on their tour bus- article to come tomorrow.

Can I just say that his blue tele formerly marked with a dancing bear sticker is named "Stella Blue"?

[Ms.Huxtable]

Cool NW!

[Dr_Evil_Mouse]

So, any recommendations for this final day (besides Jimmy Cliff)?

[seejay]

i'm going to check out ty hall & the ez3, bill 'sauce boss' wharton, maybe some ryan shaw and will top it all off with joe krown trio. woot! :dance:

[phorbesie]

occidental brothers dance band at 6 pm in the tent

[seejay]

yeah, i thought of that, but i'm done with the tent. it kinda sucks.

[AD]

My liver is screaming for this marathon to be over.

Hollerado -> Jimmy Cliff -> Weezer -> VICTORY!! ( -> Trailer Park Bingo) -> SLEEP!

[Northern Wish]

If you haven't gotten your fill by the time Weezer wraps- you can check out You Bet Yer Ass Its Bluegrass at Irenes featuring The Dusty Drifters. Pay what you can.....

[Velvet]

So who'd y'all see this year? I stuck around for full sets for most of the bands I saw this year, making the number of bands I saw probably the least ever, but I think this was the best year ever - most of the mainstage act were way better than I expected.

Here's my list:

Iron Maiden, Furthur, The B-52s, Rush, Weezer, Down With Webster, Joan Jett & the Blackhearts, Taj Mahal, Strippers Union, Gord Downie, Staff Benda Bilili, Roger Hodgson, The John Butler Trio, Jimmy Cliff, Kings Go Forth, Caravan Palace, Derek Trucks & Susan Tedeschi, The Flaming Lips, Arcade Fire, Mighty Popo, Hole, Monkeyjunk, Voices Of the Wetlands All Stars, Steve Winwood, The Hold Steady, Santana, and comedians Ryan Belleville, Deb DiGiovanni, Pete Zedlacher, Kathleen Madigan, and Lewis Black.

Top three:

Flaming Lips

Furthur

Derek Trucks, no Roger Hodgson, no Rush, no Roger Hodgson

[Freak By Night]

I caught all of, or at least a good chunk of, these performances:

Dream Theater, Iron Maiden, Further, Moody Blues, Steve Hackett, B-52s, Hole, Babe Ruth, Roger Hodgson, Flaming Lips, The Bush Pilots, Rush, Sarah Harmer, Cat Empire, Arcade Fire, Steve Winwood, Santana, Old Crow Medicine Show, Matt Andersen, Derek Trucks & Susan Tedeschi, Stars, Ronnie Baker Brooks, The Hold Steady, The Musical Box, Joe Krown Trio, Jimmy Cliff, Foghat

I don't want to limit my faves to a top 3 - almost everything was really good. I was pleasantly surprised by the Cat Empire, and a bit disappointed by Stars.

For the first time ever at the Bluesfest, I encountered absolutely no hostility from the lawnchair nation. Another pleasant surprise!

Edited July 19, 2010 by Guest
forgot a few!

[Booche]

I was able to make it out 5 times and I have to say it was easily one of my favorite Bluesfest experience. Very little lawn chair action for the groups I saw and those I did see were most excellent. Loved Furthur, Lips and Arcade Fire. Usually the main stage acts end up disappointing me but not this year, unless your name starts with an R and ends with an USH.

[seejay]

this was a fabulous bluesfest for me. i was out almost every day, and while the majority of the headliners didn't do it for me, many of the side stage acts did.

i saw many full shows, including:

the sauce boss (fun!), blackburn, coolooloosh (wow!), trucks & tedeschi, furthur, garrett mason (wow!), joe krown trio, john butler trio, martin sexton, moody blues, old crow medicine show, paul rishell & annie raines, ryan montbleau band, santana, sarah harmer, steve winwood, terrence simien etc, b'52's (because our 4 year old loves them).

i saw partial shows for alejandro escovedo, arcade fire, basia bulat, campbell bros, carolyn wonderland, the bacon bros, that 1 guy, timber timbre.

solid, enjoyable performances all around, with a few sparkling gems -- like garrett mason and coolooloosh, among others.

now i am going to retreat into withdrawals for a while.

[rubberdinghy]

I only made it out on the weekends and the Plants and Animals Wednesday show. After a rocky start, known solely as the chicken poutine incident, I had a great time. One dissappointment was the cancellation of Tye Tribbett. What happened??? I was looking forward to some gospel!!!

Two highlights Bear in Heaven, and The Musical Box.

Good times!

[ollie]

Two highlights Bear in Heaven, and The Musical Box.

I love you man!

[Velvet]

I was disappointed to miss Tye Tribbett too. Wonder if there's an interesting story there that involves sinning?

[rubberdinghy]

I hope so...we were going on your recommendation.

Turned out nice though...me and Stephie were able to take a nice rest on the grassy knoll, while we waited...couldn't help but be drawn to the crazy keyboard of the Box. Who knew!

[Northern Wish]

Jesse Green, Furthur, Lindsay Ferguson, Great Lake Swimmers, Moody Blues, Andrew Bird, The Soiree, John Butler Trio, Gord Downie, Hole, The Mohawk Lodge, Bear in Heaven, Metric, Roger Hodgson, Flaming Lips, John Hiatt, Levon Helm Band, Aggrolites, Sarah Harmer, Arcade Fire, Rural Alberta Advantage, Islands, Derek Trucks Band, Reverb Syndicate, White Wires, New World Son, Ryan Montbleau Band, The Whigs, The Hold Steady, Ryan Shaw, Hollerado, Jimmy Cliff, Weezer.

Best show: Arcade Fire

Worst show: The Gories

Best cover: Four Strong Winds (Ian Tyson) by Old Crow Medicine Show; tied with Kids (MGMT) by Weezer

Worst cover: Jimmy Cliff doing Wild World (Cat Stevens)

Best food (value): organic poutine

Worst food (value): Souvlaki was HORRIBLE

Best thing I saw that I might have missed- The Mohawk Lodge tied with Roger Hodgson.

Best thing I missed (presumably): Elvis Perkins tied with The Swell Season.

Best one yet for me- but I've only been in town for 4 editions.....

[phorbesie]

I too had such a fun Bluesfest, probably my best! No hassles, all good times.

Best show: FURTHUR

Other bests: flaming lips, santana, musical box, arcade fire

Best food : Thai chicken curry and rice

Beer tents: Yummy!

[Ms.Huxtable]

I think Bluesfest hit it out of the park this year. I have never enjoyed it so much and it's also the most I've attended it, at 6 nights. This year also had me at the main stage more then ever before.

Best show by a landslide: Arcade Fire

Show I missed but wished I hadn't: Flaming Lips

Biggest disappointment: Plants and Animals

Pleasant surprise: Gram Parsons Tribute

I loved Mill Street beer, was amazed by the lack of lawnchairs and the etiquette of their occupants this year and I missed the Black Sheep stage.

[Northern Wish]

Oh yeah and I have to say that Freeker and I pulled off one of the greatest Bluesfest smuggling feats I have yet to witness or take part in:

We successfully tossed a bag of booze from one side of the fence to the other- during full daylight along the back fence of the Subway Stage.

12 tall boys (all nicely chilled), two mickeys (rye and vodka) and 4 nearly frozen Gatorades. We had plentiful cold, free-ish drinks all Hold Steady show......

[TheSloth]

Best Show: Flaming Lips tied with Weezer (yeah that's right, Weezer and I'm willing to argue about it via PM) narrowly edging out Arcade Fire who narrowly edged out Further

Biggest Bed Shitting: Missing Derek Trucks (still beating myself up over it but at least my ticket went to Freak by Night's brother) narrowly edging out chicken poutine Dinghy

Biggest disappointment: Stars, I thought they straight up sucked and I'm a big fan. Worst Stars show I've ever seen.

Biggest surprise: Roger Hodgson (and just how many Supertramp songs I know like the back of my hand)

Best Food: I guess that single french fry I took from Asparagus just before Weezer as all I did was drink the entire time

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

[gentlemonkey]

At the outset, I felt like the lineup was a little wacky. Kind of a mish-mash of stuff i used to like, or wasn't really listening to currently, but with some bands i hadn't seen- or hadn't seen in a while. The lowered expectations coupled with amazing mainstage preformances made this one of my favourite Festivals yet.

Highlights:

-Arcade Fire, they deserve all their attention- seeing a group so inspired to preform their material can't help but give you goosebumps.

-Furthur, beautiful night with great friends, awesome setlist and playing.. wheee

-Derek Trucks/Tedeschi - wow!! Hadn't heard the band going in, and was totally into this from start to finish. Oteil up close was a trrweat

-Weezer, kicked my ass. Awesome singalong

-Andrew Bird, amazing music and coolest rotating speaker I've ever seen.

-Levon/Rush- interesting 1-2 punch

-Bassekou kouyate & Ngoni Ba (awesome despite tent)

Lowlights:

-No proper Black Sheep/ Eff that tent- it felt like an awkward conference with smokey lights and too loud music

-Iron Maiden. Iron Meh.den.

-no king cans

-random fences blocking walkways

All n all a grreat time. Awesome to see everyone... and now to lose this 5 pounds of beer fat!! so soft.

[gentlemonkey]

AAaaaand, I found the Flaming Lips show to be a little dissapointing- Musically speaking, and compared to the last couple of times I've seen them. I did enjoy it- I just missed hearing a few tunes I considered to be standards.