The lingering smell of a Sunday afternoon downpour clung to Lebreton Flats’ grassy lawns on the fourth day of Bluesfest. It set a mellow, chilled-out vibe before headliner Shania Twain took to the stage.
As guests clad in bright cowgirl hats and sometimes matching boots trickled in, Buck Twenty opened the RBC Stage in denim jeans and dark t-shirts. Duo Mike Ure and Aidan Johnson-Bujold’s calm demeanor and up-tempo country music made for a performance more akin to a backyard party hangout than Ottawa’s largest music festival.
More energy formed from catchy guitar rings in “2002,” with safe vocals sitting in a lower register. As an homage to growing up in the early 2000s, Buck Twenty also sang a mashup of “Teenage Dirtbag,” “Stacy’s Mom” and “In Too Deep.” The brief moment of nostalgia brought out smiles and jumps around the stage without hindering their sweet harmonizations.
Under a tent across a sea of damp mulch, Darrell Nulisch — clad in a black fedora and a dark green collared shirt — was a few minutes late to begin his set, but made sure to greet each of his band members individually as he stepped onto Lebreton Stage.
He sang easygoing tunes with a jazz club-esque calmness to his vocals. Nulisch clung mostly to his mic stand, hardly interacting with the crowd — the sunglasses glued to his face were stylish but made it hard to connect with any expression that may have been hiding throughout his performance.
Liveliness built in “Morning Train” under red and yellow lighting, thanks to a twangy guitar that gave the richest dynamics to the performance with Nulisch’s steady vocals.
As the sun began to set, a large crowd of young and older adults alike made their way across the mulch for indie-folk band the Paper Kites to take the River Stage.
Seemingly in a hazy daze with hardly any smiles, the band front loaded their performance with relaxing acoustic songs like “Hurts So Good,” matching the gentle sounds of earlier acts.
But lead singer Sam Bentley made sure to lace some dry humour throughout their set.
“We want you to feel involved,” he joked, after telling the audience to make song suggestions — then backpedaling and saying the band would be sticking to their setlist.
“When the Lavender Blooms” (a song Bentley said was never before played in Ottawa), kicked up the tempo and paved the way for soft rock songs like “June’s Stolen Car,” featuring electric guitar riffs and a biting edge to Bentley’s vocals.
“If you don’t know the words, please don’t sing this, you’ll ruin it,” Bentley joked again, before heading into “Bloom” to immense cheers from the crowd as he began the tempered guitar plucking intro.
The energy that slowly built throughout the night exploded at the RBC Stage when Shania Twain greeted the audience in a sparkly black and white outfit to a thumping “Rock This Country” with a Canadian flag waving in background projections.
Twain got the cowgirl hat-wearing crowd to clap along for “Don’t Be Stupid (You Know I Love You)” with an unmistakable twang to her diction, while her dancing relied on gentle hip sways and not much else.
“I’m back home, and it really feels awesome,” the Ontario-born singer-songwriter said. “So, thank you for the welcome.”
“Waking Up Dreaming” and “Up!” carried vivacity throughout, thanks to Twain’s unrelenting smile and the driving, energetic beat driven by the drum kit as the crowd waved arms and beer cans in the air.
“You’re sounding good, Ottawa,” Twain reassured.
With less sweet optimism and more raunchy determination alongside raspy vocals, “I’m Gonna Getcha Good!” served as a brilliantly sassy transition to the more melodic, dreamy love ballads “You’re Still The One” and “No One Needs to Know.”
Crowd interactions literally brought the audience closer to Twain.
After dedicating “Come on Over” to an engaged couple and performing the song with jaunty, rhythmic “oohs,” Twain brought two children clad in glitter and glow bands up to the stage to introduce themselves and sing along to their requested Twain song, “Brand New.” The sweet moment was followed by Twain briefly leaving the stage to get her cowboy hat for the bright, spunky “Any Man of Mine.”
“I look like country music,” she joked, adjusting her hat before sinking into “Giddy Up!” with lasso-movement dance moves and mildly nasally intonation.
“Whose Bed Have Your Boots Been Under” garnered rodeo dancing throughout the crowd as Twain made scathing lunges to the cameras projecting her onto the stage’s side screens. Then, a rock-esque twist on “Honey, I’m Home” relied on vigorous fiddle playing with crashing drums that built from slow and steady to explosive, speedy rhythms.
Twain’s vocals throughout — low and mostly clear, though with little risk in improvisations — felt their strongest in ballad “From This Moment On,” clinging to the ends of her notes with power and grace against a beach sunset-projected backdrop. “That Don’t Impress Me Much” brought back passionate dismay as Twain put in extra attitude, dipping into a speaking voice for parts and jumping into the chorus with smiles and eye rolls.
“Party For Two” saw Twain inviting Canadian singer Lindsay Ell to the stage for a glowing duet, with Ell adding a sweet softness to Twain’s grit.
“(If You’re Not In It For Love) I’m Outta Here!” brought back Twain’s signature sass with grungy guitar riffs, before closer “Man! I Feel Like a Woman” had the audience jumping and screaming along to her party music staple.
The sea of cowgirl hats and the occasional young child on their parents’ shoulders made a graceful exit. The sporadic hum of the closing song trickled among the crowds all the way to the OC Transpo station.
Featured image by Sean Sisk
