Bluesfest: A Concert Review Series - Part 2

In keeping with the theme, I will review Sunday's concerts, since I won't be back at LeBreton til Wednesday.

Sunday, July 8th:


Jeff Rogers and the All-Day Daddies


Jeff Rogers is an Ottawa man with a talent for singing and playing the piano. He sings a lot of soul music, favouring R&B and Funk over pure Gospel. The band he had with him for this concert was an 11-piece R&B band, known as the All-Day Daddies. And damn, were they good.

Mr. Rogers was supported by 2 keyboardists (bringing the total to 3), 2 horn players (tenor sax and trumpet), a guitarist, a bassist, a drummer, and 2 backup vocalists. There was also a guy hanging around the stage and I couldn't really tell what he was playing, but he's part of the band apparently. Anyway, these 11 people bring such great passion to their music. Their talent is undeniable, but the art form is really captured in the way the music is played. There is so much emotion, and Jeff Rogers is able to bring a forth a whole spectrum of sound and feeling.

What I'm getting at is this: I bought his CD. Bought.

Sierra Leone Refugee All-Stars


I'll be honest, I didn't spend a whole lot of time listening to these guys. What I did hear was a very interesting mix of reggae, traditional African beats, and animal calls. I hung around there for about 15 minutes before moving on to something else. Not because I was bored or not enjoying the music, but because there were so many good acts at the same time.

The Royal Southern Brotherhood


As with the All-Stars above, I did not listen to more than 15 minutes of these guys. They were a very good blues band, bringing hope that there were, in fact, blues bands at Bluesfest. A lot of people stayed to watch, but I found something I liked even more...

The Bright Light Social Hour


These guys played between Alice Cooper and Iron Maiden on Saturday, and they had a second show right before Seal played yesterday. I liked them the first time, but they were sort of in the background. What I saw of them on Saturday was a band that liked having fun. They all moved around the stage, and the music they played was very cool. Sunday was more or less the same show, but I was able to appreciate the music itself a bit more. These guys are fantastic!

The Bright Light Social Hour is a 4-piece band from Austin, Texas. They love to rock, and they've definitely got a blues influence. I just really love how much fun they have on stage. All smiles, jumping around, waving their instruments (while still making all the right sounds), it was just pure entertainment. Not in the same way as Alice Cooper was entertaining, but very good nonetheless.

The point is, I bought their CD.

Seal


Meh, whatever.

Norah Jones


This came as a surprise to me, but apparently over 10,000 people in Ottawa like Norah Jones. I had not originally planned on seeing Ravi Shankar's daughter in concert, a girl with a piano and a few sad tunes from at least 5 years ago. Little did I know she has new music! And it's fantastic! Her new band (which she has yet to name; one audience member suggested "Nickelback") brings a second keyboardist into the mix (with a specialization in Hammond B3 Wizardry), along with a guitar, bass and drums.

The old material is still not bad, and while I was skeptical at its ability to fit in with the ambiance of an outdoor variety festival, it actually worked. Ms. Jones' solo work is still quite good, and her new material is very prog rock. Not in a King Crimson / Genesis sense, but she has taken her music in the same direction as Yann Tiersen's most recent album (which I reviewed earlier), which made it enjoyable to listen to. I was quite impressed, and did not at all regret missing the Downchild Blues Band (though I hear they're quite good).

I've not bought Norah's CDs, for obvious reasons.


That's all for now. I'll be back later this week once I've seen a few more concerts. Hope you're all enjoying the weather! I'll be writing an exam tomorrow night, but other than that my week is looking to be quite fun.

¡Buenas noches!

Bluesfest: A Concert Review Series - Part 1

Good Evening,

As I write to you from my home away from home this evening, I can't help but think about how fun this week has been. Well, let me re-phrase that: how fun today was, and how much this past week has given me to look forward to later.

Bluesfest has officially started. As is my tradition, I will try to talk about each concert I go to from a purely objective point of view.

July 5 - LMFAO


This concert doesn't really merit a review. It was awful. Of the two main singers (Red Foo and Sky Blue or something) only Red Foo (with the big-ass 'fro) showed up. He had some dancers and a DJ with him. We were treated to a few of the big hits, with only half the vocals. We also heard some music that really isn't LMFAO music, but maybe they were in the video or something. The sound was awful. The set list was poorly thought out, Mr. Foo's performance skills and stage presence are mediocre at best, and the general atmosphere was...well, boring.

We know Ottawa is not a party city. We know that people here are content just to nod and clap lightly when things happen. We know that LMFAO produces music of poor quality with questionable entertainment value. I knew this wasn't going to be a good concert, but it could have at least been fun. It failed at that, too.

July 7 - Monster Truck


DON'T FUCK WITH THE TRUCK! These guys are awesome. I saw them when they opened for Deep Purple back in March. They were great then, they've recorded some new stuff, and they are great now. The sound is nice and crisp, the composition is top notch (very hard rock/blues - think WolfMother) and the energy on stage is fantastic. My only issue is that the new and old songs are beginning to sound very much alike. The music is great and the band seems to enjoy playing it, but after about 45 minutes it just becomes same old, same old. Some stylistic variance (er experimentation) would be nice in the future. Otherwise we may start to see the AC-DC effect rubbing off on them. ("Mr. Johnson, some people have said that AC-DC have 10 albums which all sound exactly the same." "I resent that. We have 11 albums that sound exactly the same." - Brian Johnson)

Alice Cooper


Now this is a show! Mr. Furnier ("Alice") is an amazing performer. He was only given 50 minutes to play, so he had no choice but to pick all the good songs. The crowd was into it, the band was into it, and all the props and background pieces on stage were into it. The music is classic, and the show itself is nothing short of superb. Alice had new fewer than 2 different swords, 6 different costumes, a 15-foot Frankenstein blow-up doll thing, and was even beheaded (by guillotine) right before singing I Love The Dead and ending with School's Out. I am very happy to have seen them perform live tonight. Scratch that one off the bucket list.

Iron Maiden


It was my second time seeing Iron Maiden live. Like Alice Cooper, they put on a great show (in terms of theatrics and stage props and whatnot) but fall somewhat short in the music department. Just not really my thing, I guess. The crowd really enjoyed it, and I certainly got into the mood during the 2 songs I actually knew. There was a lot of talent on stage, no doubt. Also a lot of weed and beer being smoked and/or consumed (by the audience, though possibly also by the band).


Other than Bluesfest, not much to announce. I've officially worked a whole week in my new position. Absolutely nothing new about it so far. I suspect I'll have more to say about that later.

Only 3 weeks until my trip to Niagara now. Definitely can't wait for that!

And that sums it up. I'll be staying downtown tonight for the first time in a while, and probably taking in a few Sunday shows at Bluesfest. Also, a fair bit of studying to do for my Spanish midterm Tuesday. Let's see how productive I can really be.

Good Night Ottawa! (and the rest of you ;)

5 Days in July

First off, I apologize to Blue Rodeo for stealing their album name for my blog.

Now that that's over with, I have a confession to make: I will be writing as much about June as July today.

The last week has been interesting. I managed once again to spend roughly 50% of my time outside of Stittsville, so I am moving ever closer to my goal (95% for those keeping count). Spanish class is still Spanish class, but it is far better than just "tolerable". Also, working 40-hour weeks on a 37.5-hour job allowed me to go watch the Italy vs. Germany match at the Sala San Marco on Preston street, which was, well, friggin' awesome! There was food, beer, and over 500 Azzuri fans screaming, shouting and booing the referee. Best afternoon of work, ever.

Suffice it to say, June ended on a good note. July looked to start off in a similar way, until Italy decided not to show up to its own Euro Cup final. Che cazzi. At about half time, I left home to play a Canada Day concert in Stittsville, which was fun, even with the wind blowing the music everywhere and the sun beating down on the front row. After the concert, I made plans for that night.

After dinner, I drove downtown. Downtown was a good idea, driving wasn't, as all the roads that get to my usual parking lots were closed. I ended up parking close the the Glebe and walking North to around the Metcalfe and Slater area. I was able to get a near-bird's-eye-view of Parliament Hill and all the streets below  my work building. Eventually the awful music stopped and the fireworks started. I took some pictures, but my phone's camera is terrible, so I won't bother posting them. It was a pretty decent view which was only half-obstructed by the goddamn Manulife building 2 blocks away. Oh well, it was still way better than being surrounded by people. All that was missing was a bottle of champagne. I've already started making plans for next year, starting with taking down the Manulife building and buying some Krug Clos du Mesnil blanc de blancs (or blanc de noirs, haven't decided yet).

After the fireworks, I left the office and walked around a bit. I saw the market, and a few awesome-looking parties. I left the market and walked down Elgin, towards the Glebe, where more parties were waiting. I ran into a good friend of mine and we ended up at Hooley's (a bar around Elgin and Gilmour, for those of you who know what those names mean). I stayed until almost 3 am, at which point I decided I should drive home. This is the part where I like having a car. There was not much traffic at the time, and an open road is definitely one of my favourite things.

An interesting thought came to mind this morning when I woke up, just before noon. Of all my Canadian friends, some were celebrating Canada Day in the nation's capital; others were in Toronto, Niagara, St. John's and Calgary; and others still chose to go South to Vermont, Cape Cod or California. Yet all, as far as I know, were celebrating the same thing: the birth of our great nation 145 years ago. That's not exactly an accomplishment for Canada, but it's pretty cool for people all over North America to be united by this one event. I mean, it's got nothing on the Euro Cup, but it's a start. I hope you all enjoyed the party as much as I did, whether you got caught in a storm, or stumbled drunk back to your apartment at 4 a.m. after a night of drinking.

Happy Canada Day