One of my most anticipated acts of the festival, DeMarco and his boys meandered onto the stage at 4:00 p.m. looking like they had just woken up in the back of their van and groggily thrown on the same clothes they had been wearing for three weeks straight. Their couldn’t-give-a-shit attitude and appearance is a rather clever way of lulling the audience into a false sense of security before they unleash a crushing wave of sultry musical magic.
DeMarco writes obscenely catchy pop-rock tunes that are all together rather silly yet enjoyable in the truest sense of the word. For example one of his best is a tribute to his favourite cigarette brand, Viceroys. DeMarco’s lead guitarist conjures smooth riffs and laid back solos that seem to gently slither out of his guitar and then smack you right in the ear holes with good vibes.
The highlight of their live performance is the mishmash cover medley breakdown that rears its bleary-eyed head in the middle of one of DeMarco’s songs. It includes a fuzz-soaked cover of “Blackbird” by The Beatles, a hilarious, poorly sung cover of “Taking Care of Business,” an impassioned “Enter the Sandman,” and finally a surprisingly well fleshed out Rammstein cover. The entire time the group ambled their way through this hodgepodge, the audience was losing its mind with laughter while at the same time enthusiastically jamming along with the songs.
The most endearing part about DeMarco’s live shows is their stage presence and audience interactions. They’re just so goddamn funny. Everything these guys do, from a well-timed cough followed by a sly look and raised eyebrow at the audience to a purposefully wrongly remembered lyric, their comedic timing is on point and it melds perfectly with their slacker-centric music and attitude.
Next up on my festival plate was Hayden, the salt-and-pepper bearded alternative country and folk virtuoso from Thornhill, Ont. As The Sheepdogs began their set with a typical bombastic explosion of organs and squealing guitars, a smaller crowd was drawn to the refuge of the Tartan Homes stage down the hill near the bottom of the festival grounds.
The much cozier and intimate stage was bathed in the glow of blue lights when I arrived but Hayden insisted that they be switched to warmer colors because blue lights freak him out. The overbearing sounds of The Sheepdogs were quickly drowned out as soon as Hayden began his set and we were enveloped in the sweet sounds of Hayden’s guitar.
Hayden’s career spans nearly 20 years and he was more than willing to play songs from the entire span of his catalog, much to the glee of the crowd. His range of musical styles was also quite impressive, apparent as the set brought out elements of alternative country, straight up folk music, folk rock, and softer folk ballads. Hayden himself also proved quite the apt instrumentalist switching between guitar, piano, and sprinkling the harmonica in there occasionally for good measure.
A song called “Rainy Saturday” was one of the highlights of his set. It was a more upbeat folk rock song that had some rather depressing lyrics and once it was played it seemed to have called down some actual rain upon the audience. Another particularly good song was a rather creepy number on the topic of home invasion that featured Hayden on piano and harmonica and included expertly placed jarring piano chords that grew in intensity as the song went along as if to allude to the smashing and breaking of one’s possessions and sense of security.
Hayden’s set was one of the highlights of the festival for me thus far and I couldn’t have been more pleased with his humour, the darker nature of his lyrics, and the refuge he offered from the louder and crazier parts of the festival, at least for a short time. Hayden’s performance seemed to have gone on a little long because when I crawled up the hill The Avett Brothers had already taken to the main stage, so I scrambled to the beer tent to grab a couple and weaved my way into the crowd.
The audience crowded around the main stage was the biggest I had seen all festival and The Avett Brothers seemed to have drawn in those of all ages. The North Carolina-based band is lead by the two eponymous brothers, Seth and Scott Avett who play guitar and banjo, as well as a double bass player, a drummer, a cello player, and a keyboardist.
Their sound combines elements of bluegrass, country, folk, rock, and even a little sprinkling of punk and they did not fail to beautifully meld all these styles song after song this evening. Seth had some rather enthusiastic dance moves to go along with his stellar guitar playing a he leaped and hopped around the stage, beard and long hair flopping around along with him in time to the music.
Their final song of the set was my personal favourite, the hauntingly beautiful ballad “I and Love and You,” a near perfect song that melts my heart every time I hear it and I was overjoyed that they played it this evening. As The Avett Brothers wrapped up, I meandered out the park, quite content with the acts I had seen. They were all rather wonderful and kept my faith in Ottawa Folk Fest strong.
