A fresh face at Ottawa Folk Festival; New artistic director hails from Yukon
By Lynn Saxberg, The Ottawa Citizen
A music fan who says his tastes cover folk, roots, indie-rock, blues and jazz, the tall, Dylan Griffith was offered the job of artistic director of the Ottawa Folk Festival after a nationwide search that attracted more than a dozen qualified applicants.
Photograph by: Brigitte Bouvier, The Ottawa Citizen
On his first visit to Ottawa this week, Dylan Griffith, the new artistic director and producer of the Ottawa Folk Festival, was taken on a guided tour of the festival’s Britannia Park site.
The picturesque riverside setting was covered in snow, but for Griffith, who has been living in the Yukon for most of the past decade, winter is one thing that makes him feel at home. Everything else about Ottawa is new.
A 38-year-old native of Vancouver who looks a bit like Lyle Lovett, Griffith is moving himself and his cat to Ottawa this month to take over the festival’s top job, a recently created position combining artistic direction and management. He is replacing Chris White, the festival’s longtime artistic director and co-founder, who resigned in the fall to pursue other opportunities.
Read more: A fresh face at Ottawa Folk Festival; New artistic director hails from Yukon
Drake, Great Big Sea draw waves of support
Who attracted more of the record-setting crowd to Cisco Ottawa Bluesfest last night?
By Lynn Saxberg, The Ottawa Citizen July 17, 2010
Great Big Sea and lead singer Alan Doyle entertained the crowd on the MBNA stage at the 2010 Bluesfest held at the Canadian War Museum in Ottawa, Friday July 16, 2010.
Photograph by: Ashley Fraser, The Ottawa Citizen
OTTAWA — Who attracted more fans to Cisco Ottawa Bluesfest Friday night: Newfoundland’s favourite sons, Great Big Sea, or Drake, Canada’s hot new rap superstar?
It was a tough call. Drake, being the only big-name rapper on this year’s program, drew throngs of young concertgoers to his show on the Claridge stage, although the Great Big Sea army turned out by the tens of thousands, as they always do when their top band is on the main stage. Plus, it was Friday night.
In other words, it was a huge crowd, at least as big as the 35,000 estimated at Santana the other night.
Read more: Drake, Great Big Sea draw waves of support
Bluesfest’s newest stage ruins the music vibe
By Lynn Saxberg, The Ottawa Citizen
Coolooloosh
Coolooloosh hit the Blacksheep tent at the 2010 Bluesfest Sunday July 11, 2010 held at the Canadian War Museum.
Swell Season singer Glen Hansard was not amused by the sound waves from the prog-rock trio Rush bombarding his band on the Hard Rock stage on Sunday night.
If only there was a tent, he mused at one point, where the quieter bands could play their shows in relative peace.
Well, as a matter of fact there is a tent at Cisco Ottawa Bluesfest this year, a monstrosity of a structure just over the hill from the Hard Rock Café stage. Unfortunately, its purpose is not to cushion the soft and earnest acts from the main-stage onslaught of noise.
Read more: Bluesfest’s newest stage ruins the music vibe
Review: Arcade Fire plays with passion
By Lynn Saxberg, The Ottawa Citizen
Arcade Fire took to the MBNA Stage Tuesday July 13, 2010 during the 2010 Bluesfest held at the Canadian War Museum in Ottawa.
OTTAWA-Arcade Fire’s first full-length, headlining show in Ottawa finally took place at Cisco Ottawa Bluesfest on Tuesday night, a long overdue affair that attracted close to 30,000 people.
Believe it or not, the indie Montreal band that rose to global superstardom a few years back has only played two concerts in the nation’s capital in recent memory: a Black Sheep Inn gig in 2004 and a 2005 opening slot for U2 at Scotiabank Place.
“We’re called the Arcade Fire, we’re from Montreal, Quebec, Canada,” declared singer Win Butler early in last night’s show, just in case anyone had forgotten about them. “We don’t know any blues songs.”
No problem.
Read more: Review: Arcade Fire plays with passion
Rock generations old and young collide at Bluesfest
Flaming Lips, Supertramp’s Roger Hodgson and Metric wow large crowd of 28,000
By Lynn Saxberg, The Ottawa Citizen
Two distinct generations of music fans flocked to Cisco Ottawa Bluesfest last night, making it the biggest crowd so far of the festival.
The boomers came to see Supertramp’s Roger Hodgson, while their offspring went bonkers over Metric. In all, organizers estimated the audience at 28,000 people.
Of course, at the top of the bill was the Flaming Lips, an alt-rock band that was expected to unite fans of all ages with their homage to a landmark classic-rock album, Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon.
But that’s not how they started. The Oklahoma outfit began with a psychedelic interlude of noise and lights that gave frontman Wayne Coyne the time to install himself in a plastic bubble, inflate it and roll out over the first few rows of fans.
Read more: Rock generations old and young collide at Bluesfest
The Band proves to be still feelin’ good
By Lynn Saxberg, The Ottawa Citizen
OTTAWA — Bolstered by a 10-piece band, a frail but happy looking Levon Helm let us see what sort of show it would be with the first song of his concert on the Subway stage at Cisco Ottawa Bluesfest on Sunday.
It was a classic Band tune, The Shape I’m In, and although the rock elder opted out of singing, it sounded fantastic. Organist Brian Mitchell handled the vocal duties, the gravel in his voice contrasting with the upbeat organ sounds.
Stepping out with a vintage tune like that seemed a pretty good sign that the concert would be a celebration of the career of the former Band drummer, who’s now 70 and on his first major tour in many years to his latest album, Electric Dirt. In recent years, he has preferred to stay home, performing his Saturday-night Midnight Ramble concerts at his farm in Woodstock, New York.
Read more: The Band proves to be still feelin’ good
Review: Close enough to Dead to delight tie-dye nation
Furthur gets the crowd dancing and singing along
By Lynn Saxberg, The Ottawa Citizen
Grateful Dead veterans Phil Lesh, left, and Bob Weir didn’t exchange many glances, but their playing crossed paths many times as Furthur played Bluesfest Wednesday night.
OTTAWA-For the Deadheads of Ottawa, it was a dream come true: The Dead finally played Bluesfest.
That’s how local devotees of the Grateful Dead interpreted last night’s Furthur concert at Cisco Ottawa Bluesfest. They were celebrating a landmark occasion, the debut of the iconic San Francisco jamband in the nation’s capital.
Sure, it was 30 or 40 years overdue, and there was some debate as to whether Furthur is really the Dead. The band has never been the same since the death of the band’s guiding light, Jerry Garcia, in 1995. In case you aren’t familiar with the history, Furthur is the latest chapter in the saga of the surviving band members, a musical vehicle for Dead guitarist Bob Weir and bassist Phil Lesh. They’re joined by young musicians from other similar-minded bands, including singer-guitarist John Kadlecik, who plays the part of Garcia in the Dead cover band, Dark Star Orchestra.
So, did it sound like the Dead? According to the thousands who showed up, including an American contingent that has been following the band for two weeks, absolutely. They jammed, they rocked, they picked the best songs and Kadlecik sounds enough like the Garcia to make it convincing.
Read more: Review: Close enough to Dead to delight tie-dye nation
Review • Smokey Robinson
Soul legend in top form charms crowd
By Lynn Saxberg, The Ottawa Citizen
Smokey Robinson had the crowd laughing and cheering at Confederation Park during the first official night of the 30th Annual Jazz Festival Thursday June 24, 2010.
Smokey Robinson had the crowd laughing and cheering at Confederation Park during the first official night of the 30th Annual Jazz Festival Thursday June 24, 2010.
Photograph by: Ashley Fraser , The Ottawa Citizen
OTTAWA-Smokey Robinson charmed a capacity crowd at the TD Ottawa International Jazz Festival on Thursday night with a wonderfully entertaining mainstage performance.
The soul legend was in top form, not only as a fantastic singer and musician, but also as an engaging storyteller who shared his lifetime of experience with thousands of fans packed into Confederation Park.
Read more: Review • Smokey Robinson
