Lightening crashes the party at Bluesfest on Day 8

July 17th, 2017 by Scott Martin | Published in Concerts, Features

Ottawa Bluesfest featured great performances from start to finish on Day 8.

My first stop was the Barney Danson Theatre to check out Ottawa’s Old Man Grant. Despite the early start, there was a good sized audience in the theatre. The trio played a fun set and weren’t shy about encouraging a little audience participation which made things a little intimate and entertaining. You can catch this fabulous local act again at the Elmdale Tavern on August 6^th as part of the 2 day Black & Bluegrass Fest.

Next up were The Glorious Sons on the Claridge Homes Stage. I had seen the band for the first time a few years ago and Mavericks. I was completely unfamiliar with the band at the time, but walked away from that show a fan. I was eager to see them on a much larger stage. Lead singer Brett Emmons is a fireball of energy as he tears around the stage and it really makes for an entertaining show. Throw in the band’s infectious rocking tunes and it’s no wonder this band from Kingston has been making a name for themselves.

Taking the City Stage at the other end of the field was another Kingston band I’ve been a fan of for a long time, the Headstones. I still remember seeing them in smaller clubs around the city in their early days. Their set contained all the punch of those early days. Frontman Hugh Dillon was all over the place. He even made his way into the crowd which had fans delighted. After he made his way back to the stage, it took about a full song to untangle his long mic wire from one of the cameras used to feed video to the large screens. It was a great performance and it was nice to see the band again with new music.

I also made my way over to the Bluesville tent to catch local artist Drae. I first discovered him opening at Alex Silas’ last cd release show. I was impressed by the performance then, and again at Bluesfest. Accompanied by his band mates, Drae was able to use the larger stage to his advantage as he danced around and engaged with the large crowd gathered inside the tent. Check out his latest album E/SCAPE!

Another music discovery for me on this day at Bluesfest was Anderson .Paak and The Free Nationals. The group was a lot of fun to capture with my camera. There was a thunderous amount of bass coming from the cabinets we stand in front of to shoot, but once I made my way back into the crowd, I really started to get into their music. I recommend you check them out if you aren’t already familiar with them. Unfortunately the set was cut short due to thunder and lightening in the area and then the rain came. They eventually came out for a few more songs, which pushed the start of headliner Live’s set back a bit.

By the time Live finally came on stage, the rain was coming down pretty hard. I gave up photographing them as I couldn’t see anymore and was worried about my cameras getting damaged from the downpour. I left the pit seeking shelter. As soon as I found some, there was couple of loud bangs of thunder followed by lightening. Just like that, after 2 songs, Live’s Bluesfest set was done for the night. With one of their big hits being Lightening Crashes, the jokes quickly took over social media.