After two weeks of straight jamming and bluesing, Ottawa Bluesfest tied it all together with one last night of rock and roll.But what would the capital’s favourite music festival be without something unpredictable happening?
Kicking off the evening, Canadian group the Julian Taylor Band had the crowd clapping and singing along to their popular songs, “Never Gonna Give You Up” and “Just a Little Bit.”
The self-proclaimed “pilgrims of funk, soul and roll” have been touring across Canada all summer, and certainly brought their flare of combined genres to the stage.
Amid solid performances from Chelsea Cutler, the Jerry Cans, and Animal Confession, the crowd’s favourite beats of the evening came from the City Stage.
Juno award-winning, Vancouver-based band Dear Rouge brought Ottawa a stellar performance with their electronic-rock jams. Formed in 2012 by Drew and Danielle McTaggart, the duo kept all eyes glued to the stage, while they performed “Modern Shakedown” and “Boys and Blondes.”
By the time they flipped to their hit song, “I Heard I Had,” the whole crowd was head-bopping and singing along—until the sound suddenly cut, the screens went dark, and Danielle jumped down into a sea of confused fans.
Despite the unexpected interruption, the duo kept the audience engaged and entertained with a drum solo and good humour.
According to Joe Reilly, a media relations representative from Bluesfest, the power outage was caused by a generator glitch. But, within a song’s length, the festival’s on-hand electrician had the City Stage generator switched, and the lights were back on Dear Rouge.
The speakers jarred everyone back into focus when the power flipped on, right in the middle of the band’s formerly unplugged cover of “Seven Nation Army” by The White Stripes—and just like that, they dove straight into the rest of their set.
Luckily, Canadian rock band Three Days Grace were lights-on the whole show, opening with “The Mountain,” from their new album, Outsider.
The group includes drummer Neil Sanderson, lead guitarist Barry Stock, bassist Brad Walst and his brother Matt Walst, who replaced Adam Gontier as lead singer in 2013.
Originally from Norwood, Ont., the band has released six studio albums and has been nominated for several awards.
Playing old and new songs, including the much loved “Break” and “Pain,” Matt Walst commanded the mosh pit like it was nobody’s business. Although the festival has a strict policy against aggressive behavior and violence, their punk-rock energy had the ground shaking from roaring moshers.
During their final song, “Riot,” the whole audience screamed the lyrics, jumping and raving to Sanderson’s bass pedal.
With the crescent moon backdrop of twilight and an energetic crowd, Rise Against, the night’s headliner, took the stage. Originally from Chicago, the American punk-rock band has been playing since 1999.
Members of the band include Tim McIlrath (vocalist), Joe Principe (bassist), Brandon Barnes (drummer), and Zach Blair (guitarist).
Aside from their impact on the punk-rock scene, Rise Against is known for their advocacy support of Amnesty International, It Gets Better Project, and People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.
The group has released four platinum albums in Canada and three gold albums in the United States.
Igniting the show with “The Violence,” from their album Wolves, followed by “Satellite” and “Survive,” the crew of straight-edge punk rockers brought moshers to a new level, with massive circle pits forming in front of the stage.
By the time they played “House Fire,” crowd-surfers were waving through the audience, and security was on high alert. Even though Three Days Grace coaxed the crowd to “start a riot,” and Rise Against rocked the audience away, everyone stayed just on the verge of a dance rampage all night long.
Bluesfest 2018, that’s a wrap!
