Sept. 7 marked the second day of Ottawa Folk Festival 2012 and crowds gathered as it went from cloudy skies to pouring rain throughout the night.
While many came prepared, others just stood there as the rain fell down on them.
Alberta Cross
Alberta Cross kicked off the second day as the opening act. As they performed crowds slowly gathered to watch the high energy band perform some of their songs from 6-7pm.
Although they garnered a minimal crowd in the beginning, crowdgoers slowly gathered around the stage to enjoy this fun rock band. Most of their songs were upbeat and fast-paced, they slowed it down with their song “The Devil’s All You Ever Had.”
Joe Horowitz
At the same time Alberta Cross was playing on the Ravenlaw stage, solo artist Joe Horowitz played on Tartan stage.
Horowitz’s song provided for a relaxing experience where you could just sway back and forth while listening to his music.
Kathleen Edwards
Ottawa native Kathleen Edwards was the first featured performer of the night. Massive crowds gathered around the stage as she began her performance.
Her music embraced the folk style, as she mixed acoustic guitar with the violin among other instruments. Her powerful voice made the performance exciting and engaging.
One of the most exciting moments while she was playing came with her immense guitar skills during one of her songs as she played an intense piece. With the work of her back up singer the harmonization in Edwards’ songs was unbelievable and felt almost transcendent.
Old Man Luedecke
Out of all the performances the evening the artist that seemed to have their audience most engaged was Old Man Luedecke.
This artist truly embraced the folk tradition with the use of a banjo and a mandolin as his instruments for the evening. Every song either had the audience clapping to the beat, stomping their feet, or singing along. He got his audience engaged by getting them to sing-a-long lines of some of his songs like “Yodelady.”
During his set, he told the story of how he and his wife had spent years trying to have children until they were finally lucky to have identical twin girls born just over a year around, and following that sang the song he had written for them.
Lindsey Buckingham
Closing the night was Fleetwood Mac artist Lindsey Buckingham. As he performed the audience was nearly silent.
During the beginning his guitar seemed to overpower his voice, but that quickly changed. The audience seemed to be completely mesmerized as they listened to that one voice on stage with that one guitar. Much like Kathleen Edwards, Buckingham’s guitar playing was insanely good as he played some rifts that were mind-boggling.
The night was full of excitement from the artists and audience alike.
Despite the rainfall, most of the people were unfazed by it and just stood there listening to some of their favourite artists or artists they were hearing for the first time at the Ottawa Folk Festival.
